Prazosin for nightmares and night terrors

[BluMac81]

Hi ya all. So, a while back I was getting recurring nightmares on a moderate level, so I talked to my doctor about it and he suggested Prazosin, and prescribed me 3 pills right before bed. Prazosin is actually just a blood pressure med that had been discovered to help prevent nightmares and night terrors.

Anyway, it actually worked for about a month, but it all came back, and with a vengeance. Every single night I have these horrendous nightmares where I feel like I am dying (a very fearful experience I gotta say), and there is usually something going on with my loved ones, like they are dying, or sometimes they hate me. But the feeling of dying and all the abstract visions involved, and the fact that it occurs EVERY single night is getting to be too much. I wake up (like in a night terror) several times a night.

Now this is all different from when I started on Prazosin. The nightmares back then were more so 'so weird that they were disturbing', they were moderate. These nightmares are exceptionally severe. I'm wondering if Prazosin reversed it's effect on me. Has anyone else used this medication for nightmares or night terrors?

I rarely get to see my doctor since I'm with the VA, so I have to advise myself. I think I will try sleeping without taking the Prazosin for a few nights and see what happens. Maybe someone here can link me a page that discusses cures for nightmares and night terrors? Or maybe one about Prazosin?

Thanks all!

-Matt

 

[Retired]

Prazosin (Minipres) is in a class of medications called alpha bockers and is usually used to treat high blood pressure however is also used, among other indications, to treat sleep problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder in people who experience or witness a traumatic, or life-threatening event.

To understand why this medication is used for that indication and why it seems to treat sleep disorders, presumably nightmares, would have to do with the mechanism of action of alpha blockers, their effect on specific neurotransmitters and their effect on sleep.

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