Trazodone..too tired to workout

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ChelzFit
ChelzFit Posts: 292 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have battling insomnia/anxiety for the past several years. I was put on Lexapro last year after my 2nd child and it helped immensely. Well of course I started feeling so well that I stopped taking it 6 months later. About two months ago I started to feel my anxiety creeping up again and started to have insomnia again. I really don't want to go back on an antidepressant because it killed my sex drive. My doctor gave me a script for Trazodone, 50mg to take at night as needed to help with sleep. The drug does wonders and I can finally get a full nights rest. The only problem is I am so tired in the morning and that is when I exercise. I find it a struggle to even lift weights or get through a short cardio workout...can an antidepressant make exercise harder? I am hoping this side effects wears off!

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  • htimpaired
    htimpaired Posts: 1,404 Member
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    I take Trazadone for insomnia too. When I started taking it years ago, I cut my 50mg pills in half, because I felt so tired in the morning after a 50mg tab. After about a year of that, I had developed a tolerance to the half tabs and upped it to the full 50mg. I make sure I have a full eight hours to sleep, and I don't have a problem with grogginess in the morning.
  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
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    I was going to ask if there is a smaller dose you may take... Definitely talk to your doctor about your dosage, especially if you are considering splitting pills...
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Why don't you try changing the time when you workout...stay up a bit later to exercise, instead of getting up early?
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    Cut them in half...I have taken Trazadone, but I find the dry mouth it causes wakes me up almost as much as the insomnia does!
  • jowalters402
    jowalters402 Posts: 1 Member
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    I take 200mg of trazadone before bed every night and I wake up just fine. Try maybe working out at night instead of in the mornings.
  • Athijade
    Athijade Posts: 3,250 Member
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    #1 Talk to your doctor before making any changes to medication.

    In this case I would mention to your doctor that you are having a lot of fatigue in the morning with the current dose and that you would like to try a smaller dose. I know I took a smaller dose for sleeping issues and it still worked, but I didn't have the morning fatigue you seem to be dealing with.
  • TheGaudyMagpie
    TheGaudyMagpie Posts: 282 Member
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    When I was on trazadone my doc said it was pretty safe to mess with the dosage. Just about any dose for insomnia is much smaller than that for therapeutic use so changing the dose only affects your sleep/sedation. I'd try half the dose and see if it works. Unfortunately it didn't do much for me (not much does -- I have paradoxical reactions to some medications, especially as to sedative effect).

    I'm sure you know this already, but different types of ADs work differently. I can't tolerate most of the more modern ADs at all (like SSRI's), but I'm on an old school tricyclic for pain management and I do pretty well on it. Again it's at lower than a therapeutic dose, but it does blunt my anxiety and it promotes effective sleep. It took a little while to help with sleep and I still have insomnia cycles, but I do mostly sleep through the night now. If trazadone doesn't work well for you, there might be some other options that work better.
  • ChelzFit
    ChelzFit Posts: 292 Member
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    Thanks so much, I called the doc and he said try splitting it in half to see if it has the same effect. Lexapro did wonders for my sleep/anxiety but it killed my sex drive. If the Trazodone is not working I might see if another AD out there works that doesn't kill my sex drive. I just hate messing with meds.
  • TheGaudyMagpie
    TheGaudyMagpie Posts: 282 Member
    edited December 2016
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    I'm the same way. The way I felt on previous ADs was horrible so I'm very wary of them in general.

    I hope the trazodone works out for you or you find something better soon.

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