Sertraline and insomnia, will I ever sleep again?

I have been on Sertraline for five weeks and am will having issues with insomnia. i trend to wake up in the night feeling anxious and have troubles getting back to sleep. I would be interested to hear other people experiences

try taking it in the morning if you don't already.... and try to exercise regularly also in the morning. it should be a moderately hard workout so you tire yourself out. and then try to get in a sleeping routine. turn off your phone and tv and try reading a book to fall asleep. do it for a week and then you'll be on schedule. avoid alcohol and maybe go back down to 50 mg if 75 makes you feel too wired.

Hi,

I feel your pain, I had the same when I first when on it. Switching to taking it in the morning helped me.

I had insomnia, blurred vision, anxiety and bad jaw clenching. Thought I was going mad and wouldn't get through it.

Once I finally settled at 100mg my sleep was amazing! Would fall asleep after 10mins which was way better than pre-med days. It took about 6-8 weeks to fully kick in and feel like a different person.

Stick with it, it will get better. Your brain is just going through an adjustment.

If you want something to take your mind off the fact you can't sleep try an app. I use Headspace. I always fall asleep before the end of the 45min stories.

Good luck!

S

Thank you everyone! I have been taking it in the morning. The dr did suggest going up to 100mg to eliminate all the residual anxiety. He said that I wasn't sleeping because I still had anxiety. I can't tell if its the 75mg dose making me feel spacey or the lack of sleep so don't really want to go up to 100mg.

I've felt pretty calm on 75mg.

Im just really dishartened as last time I was on Sertraline for PND I only had insomnia for two nights.

This time I'm taking it for anxiety over a parents illness.

I've been using the calm app sleep stories and meditation which have calmed me at night but still no sleep.

Ive got a review with the Dr on Tuesday next week. If im still not sleeping ill be begging for something to help.

Has anyone tried any other medication with Sertraline to help them to sleep?

I take sertraline in the mornings (25 mg)... it does make me feel a little antsy for the first hour or so. But then I calm down and all is good. I've only been taking it a couple of months. The doctor said I could increase to 50 mg, but I haven't done that yet. I seem to have more energy during the day. At night, I have been taking a low dose (.25 mg) Alprazalam (generic Xanax) the doctor prescribed as needed a while back. He said that would not be a problem taking it at night for help sleeping. Perhaps ask your doctor what he thinks about that.

No I don't have a problem waking up in the morning with the Alprazalam. No after morning grogginess. The Alprazalam that I take is the lowest dose I think. I take it about 30 minutes to an hour before going to bed. The prescription says you can take it 3 times a day as needed. I only take it once in the evening. I've never taken more than the one time a day. Seems to work ok. Also, a while back my ear doctor prescribed a low dose diazapam (generic Valium) - 2 mg. She prescribed it for tinnitus to help with sleep. I would take it on occasion as needed. The 2 mg is also a very low dose... I first started taking the diazapam at night - which also helped me sleep. My doctor told me that either one (alprazalam or the diazapam) was okay with taking in addition to the sertraline. I liked the fact that you can take either of those as needed and not have to keep taking them when you don't need to. Ask you doctor what he/she thinks about it to help with sleep.

I've been on 50mg sertraline for a while with really bad insomnia to the point where i was only sleeping every other night and, sometimes every two nights, and missed college for months because of it - didn't realise it could be from the sertraline to be honest. Doctors just given me zopicloft to try for three nights which i'm just starting tonight, hopefully it will help.