Nightmare severity decreased by about 50% in those taking prazosin, and it was associated with marked or moderate improvement in global illness severity in 64% (versus 27% of those on placebo) an NNT of 3 (Number Needed to Treat). Case 1 (50 yr old female): Prazosin was initiated at 1 mg daily dose, and gradually titrated based on response over 20 weeks to 15 mg in the morning, 10 mg at noon and 20 mg at night. Copyright © 2008, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Inc. All rights reserved. Prazosin was superior to placebo on all three measures, to a significant extent. Please check for further notifications by email. If you originally registered with a username please use that to sign in. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwideFor full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription. It is unknown how long prazosin should be continued. USD $47.00 You could not be signed in. ]Nightmares related to the trauma are experienced by most people with PTSD. Involving pharmacy students in clinical research: Tips and best practices Herein, we report the case of a patient with major depressive dis-order with marked nightmares who was successfully treated by low doses of trazodone. Heather R. Taylor, Pharm.D., Maisha Kelly Freeman, Pharm.D., BCPS, Marshall E. Cates, Pharm.D., BCPP, FASHP, Prazosin for treatment of nightmares related to posttraumatic stress disorder, Most users should sign in with their email address. Intraperitoneal vancomycin treatment of multifocal methicillin-resistant This is a well known side effect of prazosin; if it occurs, it is usually with the first dose or very early in treatment. GBP £29.00 In this study, prazosin was given twice a day; For men, final doses were 4 mg mid morning and 15.6 mg at night; for women, final doses were 1.7 mg mid morning and 7 mg at night. There was 1 episode of brief syncope (passing out due to insufficient blood supply to the brain). Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University, Birmingham, AL McWhorter School of Pharmacy, Samford University, Birmingham, AL Most patients still have substantial symptoms after a trial of prazosin, and should also be offered evidence-based treatment, such as exposure therapy. These medications may cause some risk when taken together. Thank you for submitting a comment on this article. It is well tolerated when titrated slowly. There are no medications approved for treating nightmares, though trazodone, prazosin, clonidine and sedating antipsychotics are frequently prescribed. The medication was titrated over the course of 5 weeks to get to the final dose, to decrease the risk of syncope.Conclusion: prazosin is an effective medication for decreasing nightmares, improving sleep and lessening PTSD symptoms. Does Prazosin HCL Interact with other Medications? This mean only 3 people needed to be treated for 1 person to have a moderate or marked response, which is pretty good for psychiatric medications (and pharmacotherapy in the rest of medicine). EUR €37.00 Search for other works by this author on: You do not currently have access to this article. There are no medications approved for treating nightmares, though trazodone, prazosin, clonidine and sedating antipsychotics are frequently prescribed. Maisha Kelly Freeman, Pharm.D., BCPS Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. 13 The return of nightmares after discontinuation of prazosin therapy was relatively sudden in patients receiving the medication for prazosin-related PTSD 9, – 11; nightmares returned two days after discontinuing prazosin and resolved when prazosin was reinstituted. The authors point out that women should be treated with lower doses due to greater sensitivity to the medication, and that the drug’s short half-life indicates it is likely to be more effective if taken twice a day.