Another sleepless night after taking 50 mg Sertraline (Zoloft)

[Tatjana]

Hi,

I have been taking half a tablet of 50mg Sertraline for almost a week and am suffering from the side effects: dry mouth, sickness, loss of apetite, tiredness, but worst of all, severely disturbed sleep. I had sleep problems before I started taking the medication, but it was only the problem of continuously waking up at night and falling staright back to sleep again. Now I wake up at 1 in the morning (like today) and just can't go back to sleep, no matter what I try. Yesterday I went to the doctor, she gave me some very light sleeping tablets 'calmaben' which are antiallergic and should cause "severe drowsiness for a peacefull nights sleep". They worked for my friend who took them, she experienced 8 hours of blissful sleep, after not being able to fall asleep for weeks. I have only had 3 and a half.

So, my question is, has anyone else experienced these type of side effects when starting to take this or similar types of medication? How long can I expect them to last? Can anyone give me any tips on what to do? I really don't want to have to take really strong sleeping tablets as I know they get you totally addicted to them and are really unhealthy. But on the other hand, I dont know how I can function on aso little sleep - I am a student and at the moment its the most busy time during the semester with all the exams etc.

I would be greatful to hear your experiences

[Matt_W]

Ive been taking Zoloft for 3 days now and experiencing the same. Not only with waking up and not going back to sleep, but sleepless nights as well. Its driving me crazy!! my eyes want sleep but my mind wont relax itself. Then on top of that the non stop shaking that happens to me in my legs. ive tried to use meditation and depending on the type of person you are it can be very helpful. A) It keeps you relaxed B) it rids the 4 wall insecurity (basically when you feel trapped in your room because of the walls) C) its healthy for you. I take zoloft for my anxiety because i always tend to assume the worst is going to happen to me, and it puts me in these episodes where my muscles tighten up, my stomach tightens up, heart rate accelerates, and vomiting. I allow myself to get so worked up by the little things. Thankfully to the Meditiation it relaxs me enough to go through the day and my emergency pill (Geodone) if i have an attack to shorten it. All together though i think i might have to stop taking Zoloft because of the simple fact i don't like what it does to me.

[DaneV]

3 Days is way to soon to judge a drug. The fact that it increases your agitation and anxiety is not a bad sign at all; its actually normal.
After about a week these "side effects" should slowly disappear and a week later the effects of the medication should kick in.

For anxiety/panic doctors can prescribe a benzodiazepine to get trough the first stage.

[nervousbutterflies]

i have been on zoloft for 2 months now and just increased my dosage from 50 to 75. So far i am ok. I was really nervous about increasing because when i increased my dosage from 25 to 50 mg i experienced vomiting, felt like my skin was on fire, just felt very strange, felt suicidal and loss of appetite! thank goodness i am ok so far (knock on wood)except for some crazy scary nightmares! the bad side effects go away after a little while and then it is ok!

GOODLUCK!
JUST TAKE IT A DAY AT A TIME!
it will pass