Prazosin?

[Shifter704]

Hello all,

For the past year or so (in particular) I have not been able to consistently sleep well. Some of the time I will fall asleep late, sometimes I will wake up multiple times. Lately though it seems that I can't sleep at all. I find that not sleeping is my worst symptom. That being said, I am rather desperate for relief as I feel I am going downhill.

I've seen suggestions on the forum about the possibility of taking Prazosin. However, I've seen some conflicting information about it. Some say it helps with sleep while others say that it only prevents nightmares/bad dreams after you have already fallen asleep (something that I can't seem to do right now!).

I was wondering what others have experienced with Prazosin and if it is worth trying. I haven't tried many drugs for this but I have tried melatonin and other natural remedies but they have lost their effectiveness. I tried Ambien when I was younger to no avail and the very recent addition of amitriptyline seems to be useless so far.

 

[KeepingTime]

Hi @Shifter704 and welcome to the forums.
I am currently taking 4mg of prazocin at night. It does help me.
I don't take it by itself so it's hard for me to say exactly what it does. But I did take it for a few months alone.
I had been having horrible nightmares from a recent trauma and the doctor told me about this medication. I know it helped me sleep for awhile also. That may have began wearing off as I got used to it. Not sure but I could have gone to a higher dose too.
I will say it made me dizzy for a little while until I got used to it. Like when you first get out of bed.
It would probably be a good combo with the amitriptyline.

 

[Panda Bear]

I currently take 5mg nightly.

From my point, no, it does not make me sleep. It only prevents the nightmares from happening. It in no way knocks me out, unfortunately. I found that I needed to take it around 8:30-9pm for it to work this way through, especially when I first started it. The sideffects hit me hard and took a while to fade.

You'll find it to be a slow increase. I was able to add 1mg per/week until I got to where I'm at now.

 

[PTSDfree]

My grandma takes Prazosin and it really helps her with nightmares. I don't think it's meant to be used as a sleeping pill, but I could be wrong.

 

[anonymous]

I started taking it but had bad side effects and couldn't breath properly on it. I felt like I was 100 years old when I was out walking. I tried it three times over a period of a few months and each time it started to happen. A few days into taking it started to get more and more breathless.

 

[Booknerd]

I've been on it for a few years. Now I'm on 4mg because of recent situation. I can sleep without waking up screaming and I consider that a plus. I do dream but not the flashbacks. In my case it's been a Godsend.

 

[Deleted member 34535]

Hello all,

For the past year or so (in particular) I have not been able to consistently sleep well....

I tried Prazosin for OCD Thoughts. It gave me a constant, dull headache and hand tremors. So I tried it's sister Terazosin. Those 2 unpleasant symptoms went away. But it wasn't that effective for me. Trazadone works the best as a sleep aid. I now take, Lithium, Buspirone, and the newest addition...Amitryptiline along with Trazadone. It took me over 2 years to get my RX combination figured out, but I think I finally have it. All old school meds. The Amitryptiline takes care of my depression extremely well.

 

[rabbit92]

I've been on prazosin for about 1.5 yrs now. It's been amazing -- except for a short stint when I was on SSRIs, I've had few to no nightmares. I started at 1mg and haven't been able to tolerate more than the 2mg dose due to very low blood pressure and being too dizzy in the mornings and when standing up. Also, be careful with alcohol -- it can really knock you out in combination with the prazosin. It doesn't help with staying asleep, but the side effects make me a bit woozy and that helps me fall asleep. I now take melatonin as well, and that helps with staying asleep through the night as long as it's quiet.

 

[Phoenix(not)]

I have been using Mirtazapine 30 and also 45mg for four years. It also functions as an anti-histamine and this component gives me sleep quality like never before. Not a drugged sleep - a natural sleep. Before MIrtazapine I was prescribed Zopliclone (and before that) Seroqel - both of which were only moderately beneficial. I described the Seroqwl as "sleep of the dead" and didn't like the drugged-sleep feeling. My psychiatrist was reluctant to keep me on Zopiclone long term because he believes people become dependent on it. But he is very comfortable about my long term use of Mirtazapine. Me too. The only downside to Mirtazapine was the initial phase where I felt the urge to munch (on anything) but this passes. The only reason I am contributing to this thread is because for me Mirtazapine has been brilliant for sleep quality and I rate this attribute very highly because my sleep quality would otherwise be very poor.

 

[theshadowoftheliving]

It helped stop the nightmares, but it made me so, so dizzy that I had to stop it. But, I also naturally have really low blood pressure, so lowering it even more was super problematic for me. Doesn't seem to be an issue for most people - I got dizzy from low blood pressure previous to trying it anyways.

 

[scoop]

Hello all,

For the past year or so (in particular) I have not been able to consistently sleep well....

I have had night terrors nearly my entire life, and only recently learned they are likely from anxiety and PTSD. I just tried Prazosin this Spring and it worked the first night and has been great since. BUT - it does not help with insomnia. Only the nightmares. I take a low dose and have not experienced any side effects.

 

[Jadie Rose]

I progressively increased prazosin to 4mg a night, 1mg increase each week, and after 6 weeks of taking it did absolutely nothing for my nightmares nor my sleep. I'm so used to insomnia and even when I take ambien or trazadone or ativan I still can't sleep, prazosin and ativan together even did nothing for me.

It truly depends on the individual - some meds work for some and not for others. You can always try it for few weeks then stop if doing nothing for you. I still have nightmares about 5 nights a week.