Uses and Side Effects of Trazodone for Teens
Not getting enough sleep can throw everything off balance – your mood, focus, schoolwork, and even your relationships. If you’re a teen, the chances are you’ve felt that struggle. Between stress, anxiety, and not being able to mentally switch off, it’s no wonder that over 70% of teenagers aren’t getting the sleep they need.1
And sometimes, no matter how hard you try, changing your lifestyle and sleep routine and going to therapy just aren’t enough to curb the sleep problems. If this is the case for you, your doctor might suggest using a sleep medication to help your brain and body reset. One medication that can help is Trazodone for teen sleep disorders.
You might be wondering what trazodone is, and can it really help you sleep? What are the side effects, and how safe is it to take? On this page, we’ll walk you through Trazodone: what it is, how it works, why you might be prescribed it, and what you should know about using it safely.
Whether you are already taking trazodone, or are considering it as an option, this page will give you clear answers – no judgment, no jargon, and certainly no pressure.
What Is Trazodone?
Trazodone is an antidepressant used to treat mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety. It also makes you feel very sleepy, which is why it’s classed as a sedative antidepressant. It is generally used in low doses to help people get to sleep.2
To understand how it works, you need to have an idea of how your brain affects your mood and sleep. There are certain brain chemicals called neurotransmitters that act as messengers in your brain. One of these chemical messengers is called serotonin – a feel-good chemical. These carry signals to do with your mood, appetite, and sleep throughout your brain and body, helping different areas communicate and function properly.
It’s thought that if you don’t have enough of these feel-good chemicals, then you can feel down or anxious, so balancing these out can help you feel better. That’s what trazodone can do. It’s a particular type of antidepressant called a serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor, a.k.a SARI. The important bit here is that it works on your serotonin, i.e., your feel-good chemicals, to lift your mood.
Trazodone also works in a couple of other ways. Firstly, it balances out the levels of other brain chemicals involved in mood, like noradrenaline and dopamine.3 And secondly, it affects something called a histamine receptor. If you’ve ever had hay fever or allergies before, you may have taken a type of antihistamine medication – these, like trazodone, have a tendency to make you feel a bit sleepy after you take them. And this is because trazodone works on similar brain chemicals to make you feel sleepy. It’s like a signal from the brain to the body that says “Right, it’s time to sleep, get comfy, and settle down for the night.”
What Is Trazodone Used For in Teens?
If you have low moods or feel anxious and have tried other antidepressants like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) without getting the results you hoped for, your doctor may suggest trazodone as part of your teen mental health treatment plan.
Trazodone is FDA-approved for treating major depressive disorders in adults, meaning it has been through lots of safety and effectiveness trials and research and is good and safe for use in this age group and for depression. It is also used for people who have trouble sleeping, so trazodone for teen depression and sleep disturbances can help to tackle both issues at the same time.
Trazodone is also sometimes used to treat anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).3 There haven’t been any recent studies on how well it works in teens, but studies going further back show trazodone can be as good as diazepam at relieving anxiety in people with generalized anxiety disorder, as well as improving symptoms in people with panic disorder.4,5 This means your doctor may consider giving you low-dose trazodone for managing teen anxiety as well as other mental health struggles.
As we’ve already mentioned, another use for trazodone is to help you sleep. Although it was first used as an antidepressant, it is now most commonly used to treat insomnia.6 However, it isn’t typically a doctor’s go-to to prescribe trazodone for sleep difficulties in teens. Typically, the first things they suggest you try are
- Changes to your sleep routine
- Practicing relaxation
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
However, if these treatments aren’t helping, then doctors can prescribe medications to help give you that sleep boost.7 They sometimes prescribe low-dose trazodone to help you fall asleep and stay asleep, allowing you to get more rest and give your body a chance to reset.
Trazodone Dosage for Adolescents With Insomnia
Trazodone usually comes as a tablet to be taken in the evening with a snack. While there are no FDA guidelines for doses of trazodone in teens for sleep, your doctor can decide which dose will be best for you to start taking. You’ll usually start on the lowest dose, which is a 50mg tablet, and increase this dosage over time if a higher dosage is required. You can later decrease the dosage, if need be.
Benefits of Taking Trazodone
Here are the main benefits of taking even a low dose. You can:6,7
Fall asleep quicker- Stay asleep
- Sleep for longer
- Sleep better with less side effects than many other sleep aids
- Feel your symptoms improve from depression or anxiety if taken at the antidepressant dose
That sounds pretty good, right? But it’s important to look at the whole picture – this means looking at the potential downsides as well as the upsides. And unfortunately, like all medications, there can be side effects and risks to taking trazodone, which we’ll look at next.
Trazodone Side Effects for Teenagers
Side effects are unintended things that happen to you when you start taking medicine. Like if you take medicine for an allergy, it might stop you from sneezing or having itchy eyes, but it may also make you feel sleepy. That sleepiness is a side effect – it’s not what the medicine is designed to do, but it happens anyway.
Side effects can be unpleasant but are usually temporary (lasting a week or two) while your body and brain get used to something new being in your system. They can range from mild to severe, and no two people will have exactly the same reaction because we are all different.
Some people don’t notice any side effects when they start taking trazodone, while other people do. So, it’s important to know what to look out for if you’re considering a medication like trazodone.
Some of the most common side effects of trazodone are:7,8
- Feeling drowsy
- Feeling dizzy
- Fatigue
- Blurry vision
- Headache
- Appetite changes
- Weight changes
In terms of the last two on the list – appetite and weight changes – there appears to be a link between trazodone and hunger in teens, which can have a knock-on effect on your weight. This is something important to be aware of and to monitor.
Whether you take trazodone for managing teen stress or to help you sleep, it’s very important to attend your review appointments with your doctor. That way, you can tell them if you are having any side effects, and they may be able to help you manage them for those first few weeks. You might find it helpful to write down how you feel in a notepad and take it to your appointment so that you can remember everything you want to tell your doctor.
Risks of Trazodone Use in Teens
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reported that antidepressants – including trazodone – may increase suicidal thinking and behavior in teens.9 When a teen begins antidepressants, it’s important to keep watch for signs of their mood worsening, such as:
This warning can sound scary, but remember that your doctor will have carefully weighed up the risks and benefits before prescribing this medication to a teenager, and will do what they believe is in the best interest of your teen.
Stopping Trazodone Safely for Teenagers
When you feel ready to stop taking trazodone, it’s important to do so with caution. We never recommend abruptly stopping taking it, as you may experience some unpleasant withdrawal effects as a result. Some of the common withdrawal symptoms can include anxiety, irritability, problems sleeping, or restlessness, which can make you feel like you’re back at square one.
For this reason, it’s important to seek the guidance of your doctor and gradually reduce the amount of trazodone you’re taking. In these instances, you’re much less likely to have these withdrawal symptoms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still have some questions? We may have the answers for you. Take a look below.
“What’s the link between trazodone and emotional regulation in teens?”
Trazodone is an antidepressant that can be used to treat conditions such as depression and anxiety in teens.
“Can teens with bipolar disorder take trazodone?”
“Is there a connection between trazodone and weight gain in adolescents?”
Trazodone can cause weight gain if your appetite increases, either through the medication itself or through your depression symptoms getting better.10
“What if I don’t want to take medication to sleep?”
There are many other options available that can be tried before medication, including establishing a good sleep routine, relaxation exercises, and therapy. Take a look here for some ideas on how to improve your sleep.
Get Support for Your Sleep
Getting good quality sleep is so important for your mental health, and taking trazodone can help you get the rest you need. If you’re a teen or a parent worried about a teen with sleeping problems, seeking guidance about treatment options can help you decide which route is best for you. At Mission Prep, we can support you through this.
We specialize in helping teens overcome mental health challenges, including sleep issues, and provide a wide range of treatments to make sure you are supported in the way that feels best for you. Whether you are looking for round-the-clock care and support through a residential treatment program, outpatient services like CBT, or something in between, we can work with you to make a completely personalized plan to help you achieve your sleep and mental health goals.
If it’s time to put sleepless nights to bed, get in touch today to speak to our team of professionals and find out how we can help you.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024, May 15). FastStats: Sleep in high school students. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/data-research/facts-stats/high-school-students-sleep-facts-and-stats.html
- American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Trazodone. APA Dictionary of Psychology. https://dictionary.apa.org/trazodone
- Shin, J. J., & Saadabadi, A. (2024, February 29). Trazodone. StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470560/
- Rickels, K. (1993). Antidepressants for the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 50(11), 884. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1993.01820230054005
- Mavissakalian, M., Perel, J., Bowler, K., & Dealy, R. (1987). Trazodone in the treatment of panic disorder and agoraphobia with panic attacks. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144(6), 785–787. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.144.6.785
- Jaffer, K. Y., Chang, T., Vanle, B., Dang, J., Steiner, A. J., Loera, N., Abdelmesseh, M., Danovitch, I., & Ishak, W. W. (2017, August 1). Trazodone for Insomnia: A Systematic Review. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5842888/
- Ghoshal, M. (2024, November 8). What you need to know before taking trazodone for sleep. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/trazodone-for-sleep
- Fletcher, J. (2023, October 17). Can trazodone help with sleep? MedicalNewsToday. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/trazodone-for-sleep
- Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. (2018, February 5). Suicidality in children and adolescents being treated with antidepressant medications. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/postmarket-drug-safety-information-patients-and-providers/suicidality-children-and-adolescents-being-treated-antidepressant-medications
- Watson, A. R. (2023, January 15). Trazodone oral tablet. MedicalNewsToday. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/drugs-trazodone-tablet
