Prazosin for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder User Reviews (Page 4)

• NoOne...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 10, 2016

"After 30 years of night terrors amongst other life traumas and almost a year of Doctors saying you have MDD, attempting suicide, cutting and other anger, anxiety, and and social issues. I learned yesterday that I have PTSD, Social Anxiety Depression etc. I was taken off two Propanolol and Hydroxyzine and they were replaced with Prazosin and Risperdal. Although last night was only my first night taking prazosin and I was told to take it alone. Well I did that around 9 pm stayed up for about two hours after taking it finally getting sleepy around 11pm or close to it. Got up off the couch to go to bed a little off balance. Abruptly awoke at 1:30 am more off balance and cannot go back to sleep. Not sure if I had a nightmare but anxiety is high."

• Liz
• September 25, 2017

"I feel like this drug has helped with my nightmares and PTSD. My dreams are much more vivid and more detailed, but I'm not being chased are dragged anymore in them. I am retaining more water than usual."

• Alex
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 18, 2019

"I was on Pazosin from 2015-2018 I found it minimally helpful. At first I had no nightmares or panic attacks. Within 3 weeks I quickly reached the max dose of 35mg. I have had PTSD since I was a child and in and out of institutions since I was 15. I would not recommend to any of my friends this medication."

• Luka
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 20, 2023

"I have PTSD from law enforcement, retired now. Like most LEOs, I've seen & experienced unspeakable horrors. Prazosin helped me with the nightmares. I could sleep without waking in a panic. Sadly, they have stopped working, but I'm only on a 2 mg dose, so I think that's the problem. I love not being terrorized by dreams. This has been a good drug. If you suffer from PTSD, it can really help. Just be careful with your blood pressure; mine is naturally low, so I have to keep track because this can lower it."

• Barney
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• March 9, 2021

"Started out in 2014 at 1 mg and now it is 2021 and I am at 7mg, this drug has changed my life for the better. I very rarely have night terrors, nightmares since I have taken them daily since 2013. I do have night sweats still, but I can handle that. REM sleep is about 2 hr and 09 min nightly"

• Hal
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 21, 2021

"I started taking prazosin to help my nightmares caused by PTSD. It does help me not feel as panicky or wake up having a panic attack, but the side effects never went away for me. I’ve been taking it for 9 months and I still feel faint every time I wake up in the morning, even though I’m only taking 1mg at night before bed and I’ve never increased the dose. It’ll make me nauseous if I don’t eat before taking it and I’ll have full hangover symptoms the next day. Talking to my provider ASAP to switch to a new medication."

• Vet
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 19, 2019

"I was initially prescribed 2 mg prazosin prior to bedtime for PTSD nightmares. It worked for a couple hours, but upon awakening and going back to sleep, the nightmares continued. It was not recommended to me that I take it during the day, only at night. Again, the first hour or two falling asleep, it is beneficial. If you wake up and go back to sleep, it doesn’t work."

• Gfish
• November 21, 2019

"I was diagnosed with C-PTSD in July, was given quetiapine, today I'm getting weaned off of them & starting tonight on 500mcg of prazosin, next week I will go up to 1mg once the quetiapine is finished, I also see my psychologist every 2 weeks & psychiatrist every 6 months, any advise good or bad about this medication for my diagnosis would be greatly appreciated because I'm nervous about new meds & side effects, TIA"

• AirFo...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• September 3, 2022

"Began taking Prazosin since Spring of 2013 and haven't or will I ever stop taking it. At 1mg a day it lowered my bad temper I had from being Security Forces and deployed to Afghanistan during my 6 year career. Since late 2013 I started taking 10mg a night to prevent nightmares. This drug works for nightmares so long as I do not consume caffeine within 4 hours of sleep. I've begun taking 5mg in the daytime recently for anxiety and stress especially uncontrollable obsessive thoughts. It also lowers my blood pressure which is great because I've been hypertensive since coming back from Afghanistan. The VA will often prescribe this as a first line drug for PTSD because it has no side effects in my case. Great drug. Can't live without it."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• August 10, 2021

"I was hit by an SUV while running. Due to brain trauma I couldn’t sleep more than a couple of hours, I did not go into REM sleep. I take it at night. It is magical. I never take any drugs .. they knew that and highly recommended I try for a week. I slept 8 hours.. every nite. Do not take it during the day. It is not something you take for anxiety specifically. What it does is allow your brain to rest at night, creating a healing for trauma. It will make you lightheaded at first if you stand up to fast out of bed… but that will subside after a week. It does not make you groggy, not a sleep aide, it just puts you into deep sleep once you are. I do have PTSD and it helps by giving me rest… it is not a mood enhancing drug. To me, truly does exactly what drugs should do, help you heal."

• Hanks...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 31, 2021

"I noticed an almost immediate change in my nightmares and sleep disturbances when I started taking Prazosin. I still dream, but not the terror filled nightmares from before. I also feel like my anxiety has greatly decreased during the day. I was able to discontinue my other anxiety medication and just use the Prazosin. Great medication so far."

• Maisy
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 11, 2020

"I took prazosin for about a month and found I felt most disturbed after waking up from my dreams given the loss of time I felt from not being able to recall my dreams, it felt like somebody reached into My brain and took my memory from me, I also increasingly passed out as I took it, even at a low dose"

• joe
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 29, 2022

"The first time I took this med I experienced very odd dreams which woke me up questioning what the heck is this all about? Also, I woke up several times during the with a crazy rapid heartbeat. No way I will ever take this med again."

• adhud...
• March 19, 2023

"I take this for my PTSD and the PTSD-related nightmares, and I’ve been on it for about a month now, and I can absolutely tell a difference. I have only had maybe one dream about my abuser when it used to be every night. I take a mood stabilizer as well so I think that helps me too, but taking this before bed has definitely reduced my nightmares and night terrors. I also have Raynaud’s because I have lupus, and it helps with that too. I love this medicine because it helps several things for me. Give it a try."

• Tkuindy
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• January 13, 2020

"I'm now on 1 mg "prazosin at night time along with 200 mg of trazodone at night time. And yet it doesn't help me to fall straight away. Usually I need a bit of mother nature to do the trick. I will add that they have me on quite a bit of different "pain meds". Only one is actually a pain med. The rest just add to the amount of pills I have to take everyday."

• AS-B
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 17, 2023

"I have severe PTSD from childhood and teenage abuse and thought I was handing things ok. However every day I'd white knuckle my panic attacks/PTSD dreams until the afternoon when I take my Valium. It was awful. Every dream I had was a trauma dream, I was waking up super early due to these dreams. I would have multiple panic attacks during the day that I wouldn't wish on anyone. Strong disassociation as well. I had tried Prazocin years ago at 1mg for nightmares but my former therapist talked me into getting off of it as "dreams are important". After all this pent-up anxiety I finally made an emergency appointment with my psychiatrist and told her everything. She put me on 2mg Prazocin twice a day for three days and then go up to 2mg Prazocin three times a day. She also prescribed some Serax to help with morning panic attacks. The Prazocin has been amazing and it's only been about a week. It literally destroyed any trauma dreams and helps me during the day also. Lifesaver for PTSD."

• R J L...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 24, 2022

"Excitedly reading positive reviews, I felt sure prazosin was just the thing for my chronic PTSD - nightmares making me dread sleep, anxiety, depression, paranoia - AND it would improve my BPH & hypertension! “Silver bullet” (as someone wrote) for ailments ruining my life! But was badly mistaken - for me, more a “wrecking ball”! Took 1mg prazosin before bed for a week, & EVERY TIME, an hour or so after dozing off, I'd wake up gasping for breath, hot prickling all over my body, loud tinnitus, heart pounding out of my chest, with nausea and blurred vision. Blood pressure would then be around 160/100, HR 75 (before prazosin, only about 135/85, HR 55). Couldn’t go back to sleep until I took lots of acetaminophen, amlodipine, and xanax (really trying to taper off, but prazosin ruined it). I'd get up in AM with BAD swelling in calves & ankles (much worse than usual only amlodipine). Truly happy for people for whom prazosin is a great help, but it’s DEFINITELY NOT for some of us!"

• Mdog
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 2, 2022

"Prazosin made my life so much easier when I was on it. I ended up being well rested, didn’t have nightmares, and it helped get my chronically high blood pressure in check. Took 1mg for half a year. Probably going to ask my doctor if I can be put back on it soon. I will say though, if you have to wake up early you’re definitely going to need to give yourself a good amount of time before you attempt standing up."

• AJA
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 20, 2022

"Great for non-combat PTSD and nightmares but developing side effects over time. I developed terrible insomnia and was getting low quality sleep of an hour or two a night if I was lucky. A daily 1 mg dose solved that problem quickly. I love that I sleep a solid 7 to 9 hours a night. Rarely do I have a nightmare anymore, weird dreams yes but no nightmares. An added bonus is that I also have low blood pressure now which is so welcome from previous usual state of stress and frustration. It helped with me letting things go and relaxing a lot more. Because of the negative consequences of consuming the drug with alcohol, I choose to give up alcohol because I was so desperate for sleep, I don’t regret it. I love the feeling of knowing exactly when I’m going to fall asleep and waking up well rested. It may be in my head but I feel like the Prazosin made this a little easier too. Side effects 2 years in - tiredness, low energy & slight depression but still would choose to take it"

• Julia...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 17, 2022

"Absolutely horrid medication for PTSD! I had normal BP prior to starting Prazosin. It lowered my BP too low; dizzy, blackouts, pass out just from standing, caused constant heart palpations and pains even when resting! Night terrors worsened. Raynaud's became extremely painful and hasn't gotten better since stopping the Prazosin!"

• Ben
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 19, 2021

"I've been put on minipress to help with PTSD symptoms because of the dangers of addiction with klonopin. This drug had made me relive trauma in greater detail than ever before. I'm on month three on this medication and I really wanna just stop. It helps me fall asleep but I wake up in a cold sweat after having dreams that seem to combine all my worst traumatic experiences into one night. Unless this is some type of exposure therapy, then this is just torture and isn't helping with PTSD or anxiety. My heart is racing right now. I wouldn't recommend this personally and will be scheduling an appointment with my psychiatrist as soon as possible to insist the dangers of this medication are far worse than becoming dependent on the relief the klonopin gave me. I was only on 1mg of minipress. Nope I don't want to increase and see if it works better."

• James
• August 16, 2021

"Anyone suffering from nightmares or night terrors should try talking to your doctor if it is suitable for you. Prazosin has stopped me from waking in a terror kicking and punching, screaming at the top of my lungs from the traumatic dreams I was having. At 25mg I do not have any dreams. As I lower the dose, the dreams start. This drug is one of those that have saved my life."

• ssric...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 9, 2022

"It helps.I’m on 2mg and it helps me not remember the dreams in the morning so i’m not stuck thinking the dream was real and in psychosis in the morning. It makes me less scared while I sleep, and helps reduce the nightmares. I still have them but not terrible and I have more regular dreams now. But it makes me horrifically tired in the morning. i take a lot of naps. it’s hard to wake up. I shake a lot and my heart beats faster it feels. Worth it for the nightmare relief compared to when I forget to take it."

• Cloud
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 3, 2022

"I have sleep paralysis and a disorder simply called "nightmare disorder no REM sleep". Sleep disorders run in the family, and after being re-traumatised, these normal nightmares became about trauma that I thought was in the past. My PTSD is not from recent events, and I have DID recently diagnosed as well. I got put on this medicine, and learned quickly that the time I eat MATTERS. No food 30 mins before, none an hour after. I have some problems digesting food though, so maybe that's just me. I see some people saying it helped things about their PTSD which are unrelated to their sleep. That is not my experience, but then again, my PTSD is from childhood events- only helped by therapy, its so ingrained. I have no side effects yet! However, since I started dissociating young (hence the DID), I have never gotten used to differentiating short waves of lightheadedness from dissociation. I'm a little dumb for that. I hope this review helps anyone! It's a good medicine for me!"

• Trinn...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 8, 2022

"CPTSD, (also have anxiety and non responsive depression) nightmares, night terrors, sleep paralysis. Never a 'good sleeper' as a kid. Bad side effects from drugs for sleep, increase side effects. Immediately prazosin1mg helped with dreams, no longer stuck in a loop BS. Finally free my own mind back. Doctors do and they kept pumping up dosage despite my objection I was having erratic BP and high HR plus arrhythmia. Two days ago collapsed in a supermarket after light walk for 2 hours. Bent over stood up, went down like a rock, felt like I was dying, not a panic attack dying but I don't know what was happening dying, muscles useless and spasms all over, cold and blue lips. Ambo trip to hospital found nothing in bloods and cardiac. But while I was there I did some bending over and found HR decreased then escalated rapidly. I assume it was dehydration and bending over. Took three days to recover, mind is still a mess I'm exhausted. Staying at low dose for now. Sleep is GOLD but no more of the other."