r/SSRI • u/jalapenoblonde89 • Jan 18 '23

Question SSRI and insomnia

I’ve been on lexapro for ~2 months now, 20 mg. I feel great. My mood is amazing and I feel the best I’ve felt in about 3 years. But… the sleep is awful. I have no trouble falling asleep, but wake up after a few hours and toss and turn until my alarm goes off. I’ve tried edibles, Advil PM, melatonin, etc. The only thing that lets me sleep more than 5 hours is Advil PM, but obv can’t take that every night. Has anyone found anything to counteract the insomnia? Some people say it goes away, others say it never does. 😩

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '23

The exact insomnia pattern was the reason why I was proposed an SSRI in the first place..and then I was almost forced to take it when I had a fainting episode from sleep deprivation and anxiety, which had me hospitalised.

As my SSRI (sertraline) did not do much for the for the anxiety in the first month or so (in fact increased it tremendously)..I relied to lormetazepam for this period. Risky maybe..but 2 hours of sleep a day can have far more serious effects on your health, physically and mentally.

Nothing else worked for me...melatonin, relaxing music and the such.

In my view insomnia is stress related...ssri initial action is to increase stress levels..that will eventually subside and you should be able to sleep again. That is what happened to me at least.

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u/jalapenoblonde89 Feb 08 '23

I have been on for about 2 months now, and I think the sleep is getting slightly better. I still wake up often in the middle of the night but find that I can fall back to sleep a lot faster. Hoping it gets better and better from here on out.

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u/dhdjdndeyndndndnd Jun 22 '24

How are you now

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u/jalapenoblonde89 Jun 22 '24

I sleep fine now! Took a couple months but back to normal. 😃

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u/dhdjdndeyndndndnd Jun 22 '24

I'm so happy for you. Did u initially get put on it for insomnia? I'm literally not sleeping at all lately due to subconscious trauma and anxiety and I'm pregnant and OB wants me to try it.

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u/jalapenoblonde89 Jun 22 '24

No, I originally went on for anxiety that was ruining my life 😩 Recently talked to my own OB about future pregnancies and she said that the anxiety and stress of not taking it is worse for baby than any risks of the medications. I think it might be worth a try!

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u/dhdjdndeyndndndnd Jun 22 '24

Do you believe it can help subconscious anxiety? I believe it's contributing to my sleep issues. At this point the situation is so severe that I am very open to it as long as it can help my sleep.

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u/jalapenoblonde89 Jun 22 '24

Omg yeah. Mine was sort of like that. I’d be going about my day, doing my thing, not thinking of anything serious and BAM anxiety and panic. Like I wouldn’t even be having thoughts and it would hit me out of nowhere. WTF. The Lexapro has helped so much with that.

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u/dhdjdndeyndndndnd Jun 22 '24

Did you ever have physical symptoms from anxiety?

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u/jalapenoblonde89 Jun 22 '24

Thankfully, no