Trazodone and weird, vivid dreams

[Alky]

I haven't seen any mention of trazodone here in a long time. I haven't used it in a while, but I took 25mg last night when I couldn't get to sleep. Ordinarily, I am aware that I dream, but I usually cannot recall them shortly after waking. But with the trazodone, I have very strange dreams that remain vivid even after waking. And when I say strange, they're not nightmares (I don't wake up screaming in a cold sweat), but they're not pleasant, either.

Anyway, anyone else have this experience with trazodone? Also, it leaves me too zombie-like in the morning. My prescription is for 100mg, but if I take that much, it literally takes me hours to wake up. So I quarter the tablets and take 25mg at a time until I fall asleep. Anyone have any experience with Ambien CR? My doctor didn't recommend regular Ambien because it helps you fall asleep, but it doesn't help you stay asleep throughout the night, and Ambien CR was too expensive at the time, although it is available as a generic now. I might consider switching to Ambien CR if there's less of a "hangover" with it in the morning.

[Samandkatharine]

Trazodone and weird, vivid dreams

Lol about sleep meds. Where are the trolls when sleep med posts come up?

I'm too afraid to take Trazadone. I've battled insomnia since my 30's and I've tried every sleep med known to mankind. At my age I don't have an issue taking one if it helps. I do, however, want to not feel like a zombie when I wake up. I don't take Ambien, but did until it lost its effectiveness. Don't know about the CR tho. If you do try it, let us know if it works.

And yes, we know about potentiating breathing issues that may arise with a sleep med and Bac. Just heading off comments for you. :l

Sam

[Alky]

Trazodone and weird, vivid dreams

Samandkatharine;1637542 wrote: And yes, we know about potentiating breathing issues that may arise with a sleep med and Bac. Just heading off comments for you. :l

Sam

:thanks:

My doctor doesn't seem to concerned about the interaction since I'm on a much lower dose of bac than most here. I'm also on a blood pressure med and between the very occasional trazodone, the BP med and the bac, my BP still skews high, so I'm not going to worry just yet.

[SKendall]

Trazodone and weird, vivid dreams

YUP I've been on it for 10 yrs, your body gets used to it, I'm up to 150 g now and I still don't sleep and yes the dreams are startling. Never taken it with bac though. Good luck with both.

[Alky]

Trazodone and weird, vivid dreams

Thank you to everyone who's weighed in so far. My hesitations surrounding Ambien CR is that it is a Schedule 4 Controlled Substance in the United States and works on the GABAa receptors, making it cross-tolerant with alcohol (and other benzos, but that point is moot for me). The wikipedia entry states, "It should be avoided in those with a history of alcoholism, drug misuse, physical dependency, or psychological dependency on sedative-hypnotic drugs."

So again, my specific questions for those that have taken Ambien or Ambien CR, are 1. what is the potential for addiction, and 2. how bad are the "hangovers?" (as I said earlier, it takes me hours to become fully awake from a full 100mg dose of trazodone).