Sertraline and no sleep - please help!

I also struggled with sleep at the start, it is one of the start up side effects. I was given some sleeping tablets to help me cope at the start. The first 2 weeks are the worst with the side effects, then it eases up. If you’re struggling to cope, go back to the doctors and request something to help. You’re not going to get any better if you’re not sleeping. I’ve just upped my dose but I’m taking it slower and doing 25mg jump instead of the 50mg, so I’ve felt slightly more anxious but not as bad as at the start and my sleep has been fine. 

Hi Matt, I’ve been on it a good couple of months now, but I’m up to 125mg now. I was on 100mg for quite a while and that brought relief from the physical symptoms of anxiety, but my mind is still overactive at times and I was struggling to cope so the doctor upped me to 150mg which I’m working up to now. Hoping that will be enough for me to get well. 

interesting you say that I was Leary to go from 50 to 100 for about 4 weeks, so I hung in there and did 8 weeks of 50 mg and I'm on 100 mg for the past few days. I can't say that I feel any different on the hundred. Over all this medicine has helped my anxiety, but it is not helped my fear of driving. So I don't so much have a fear of driving it's being in the car alone of course having my mind race and worried that something will happen to me. It's also not being able to talk myself down when I start to feel the Panic come on which I was told this drug can help tremendously with. The doctor did suggest going up to 150 I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions or encouragement. I desperately need to drive by myself... it is not a fear of the actual driving as I can drive with other people in the car it seems to be a fear of being alone anywhere

Hi Matt. When I first started this medication my Dr. also prescribed amitriptyline (Elavil) 50mg for sleep and to conteract with the initial increase of anxiety on Sertraline. I take my 100mg of sert in the morn, and the ami 1 hour before I want to sleep.

 

Just watch with the elavil, i gained 50 pounds on that years ago. I took it for migraines

I struggled to sleep too, at first. Bad news, because I have a phobia about insomnia, which is part of the anxiety disorder.  

In the first 10 days, I had 3 nights with no sleep at all but after that it began to improve. I did a lot of work on the phobia, which I think helped. However, what has really helped is taking a magnesium capsule at night. People had been suggesting that to me for months but I didn't want to chuck yet another medication in. However, it really seems to work! Might be worth a try. 

After a week of sleepless nights and a bit of "midnight googling" I have learned that Sertraline is by far the most stimulating of the SSRIs because it blocks norinephrine reuptake too.  Consequently I have been wired for two weeks now - and could not get any sleep onset.  People like me need more sedating ones with histamine blockers etc. to calm me down...

Hope this may be useful to someone else.