I understand your concerns and I believe your apprehension is spot on. I’ve also experienced a family dr that helped me in many ways but also threw some heavy duty drugs at my complaints without hesitation. You have to make a split second decision during your visit and the important questions come to you later. I personally wouldn’t take either. I know losing sleep needs to be rectified tonight but risk vs benefit doesn’t add up. I take 300mg of gabapentin an hour before bedtime. It does help with anxiety and depression maybe just slightly but that’s my experience. My daughter is an NP in a gyne office and she orders 100 mg for menopausal women with our same problems. Most everything else I’ve tried gives me a hangover. Good luck to you!

@dorothy1914 I can understand your concern about starting new medications. I can speak from my experience with antidepressant medication and what others have told me. Did your psychiatrist suggest you try Doxepin *or* Trazodone to help you sleep at night? Or did your psychiatrist suggest taking *both* of these medications?

A psychiatrist I saw several years ago changed my antidepressant and anxiety medication. She told me about the class of medications called "tricyclic antidepressants" and that these are the medications available before the SSRIs like Prozac and Zoloft came into market. She said that tricyclic antidepressants are not prescribed as often to older adults (I was in my 60's at the time and I'm now 73 years old). The reason? The tricyclics can affect heart function and so if I was going to take a tricyclic medication I needed to see my primary care physician to make sure I did not have any heart problems. Also, tricyclics affect memory which I recall experiencing when I took desipramine for anxiety and depression when I was in my 40's. That effect on memory was totally reversible so when I stopped desipramine the occasional problem I had with recalling words went away. Despiramine was very effective for me at the time.

Mayo Clinic: Doxepin

-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/doxepin-oral-route/description/drg-20072083

Mayo Clinic: Trazodone

-- https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/trazodone-oral-route/description/drg-20061280

Trazodone is an antidepressant that isn't prescribed for depression as much anymore. I know people who take trazodone before bedtime and it helps them fall asleep and stay asleep. Since it is not a tricyclic like Doxepin is Trazodone doesn't affect word recall and memory. I learned this about Trazodone from doing some reading and talking with people who have taken it.

Here is something I have experienced and learned from reading. Anxiety and depression affect sleep and not getting good sleep has a negative affect on anxiety and depression. Something like this. The more depressed or anxious you are the more difficult it is to fall asleep and stay asleep. Then, when you don't sleep well you feel more depressed and anxious during the day time. If you can "cut through" that cycle by getting better sleep you may feel less anxiety and depression in the day time.

Do you see a mental health therapist? If yes, is this something you can discuss with your therapist so you can make the decision that is best for you?

I have had very bad experiences with trazadone. It leaves me so sedated the entire next day I can’t even drive.
I’ve also taken doxepin when I was much younger (I’m 75 now) and had good results at therapeutic doses for both depression and sleep.

Thank you for your reply. It is appreciated.

I ask my Doctor to take Me off Doxipin personally I did not like it, Doxipin made me sleep, It was hard to snap out of wanting to sleep all day.
All I wanted to do is sleep.
It was not for me.

I take doxepin at night to aid with sleep. It seems to work well for me, most people haven't heard of it.
I have bad sleep problems and it was incorporated into my medicines years ago.
It's worth a try, you can always stop it. I've never had side effects from it, I take 30mg. Hope you find relief!

Trazadone did nothing for me sleepwise. Like taking horsepills for nothing.

Thanks.

What did you end up taking? Hope you found some relief!

When I looked into doxepin, I opted not to take it because you have to take it three hours after a meal, Which means I’d have to eat dinner at 5 o’clock so I could take it at 8pm to hope that I was asleep by 9pm.
Trazodone is an antidepressant in large doses, but 25 to 100 mg is prescribed for sleep; Even up to 150mg for sleep. It works for some of my friends, but it did not work for me. Made me dizzy and caused dry mouth, Plus, it took me two hours to fall asleep.
I’m not a professional, but I’ve done a lot of research online