Sertraline: when does intense sleepiness pass?

[Gentlelentils]

I should probably put this in MH but that forum is quite quiet. Been on Sertraline 25 mg for 10 days and my doctor has now taken it up to 50 mg. Already very sleepy on 25 mg and feel like a zombie. Scared of the effect that 50 will have. My anxiety is about the same but I know it takes time, just struggling with the sleepiness.

When did the sleepiness pass for you? I tend to be a bit sensitive to meds. ]

I forgot to say I am taking it at night but doesn't seem to help with sleepiness and nausea.

I had 25mg for 6 weeks then upped to 50mg. It got gradually easier as the weeks went by and I noticed the worst of the tiredness was a couple of hours after taking it so I began taking it mid afternoon so I could get home from work to put my feet up.

I'm sorry to say it took a 2 or 3 months for the tiredness to totally go. It did go though!
I found it worth persevering as a little tiredness was far better than the total sadness, emptiness and PMDD rage I kept getting beforehand!

Good luck

I never had any sleepiness at all, just one sleepless night.

I was on nortriptyline which is a similar type of drug and it took about 6 weeks. I kept taking pregnancy tests. I was about to give up on it completely but by the time I actually got an appointment I went there on that day and I realised I felt totally normal. It was fine after that.

Oh gosh 2 to 3 months. I hope it works faster for me. I have been on other SSRI's before but they either had awful side effects or did not work. Almost at the end of my tether.

@frostedfruits sorry to hijack this thread! In regard to pmdd do you find that it made a significant difference? I've been struggling with diagnosed pmdd for 3 years and haven't found anything to help and am in despair 😞

OP I hope the tiredness settles for you soon!

I got terrible insomnia on Sertraline so got switched to citalopram instead after a few weeks. Strange how it can cause the opposite problem as well. Hope it gets fixed for you soon OP.

Thanks everyone. Did you all find the anxiety got worse at first? I was warned about this but can't tell if my anxiety is worse or it was already high.

Citalopram was one of the ones I was on; didn't work.

@jimpamdwight yes it made a huge difference pretty much immediately. The intense mood swings went away, the rage left me. It took a good 2/3 months for the depression to totally lift but it absolutely did and I amback to full form at work and in personal life. I still get a little pms and can be a bit tteam and a bit irrational but only for 3-4 days and very manageable.

@Gentlelentils my anxiety got a bit worse between days 9 and 14 of first taking sertraline then it tailed off and disappeard by about 21 days. I kept a diary of how I felt so I couldsee that I wS making progress.

I'd never taken anything this before and was very apprehensive but I'm now 10 months on and feel totally strong and I control of my life again so I haven't looked back.

*teary

I only had sleepiness for about 5 days and then struggled to sleep at night for a few weeks but that improved.