Bad dreams and poor quality sleep

Hi all, I've been taking fluoxetine for just over a month and have noticed a couple of side effects, some I don't mind (loss of appetite) and some I do mind (loss of the OTHER kind of appetite) but the thing that's bothering me most is the way it affects my sleep.

I have several dreams a night and am able to recall them, every night. The dreams are always bad. In the last week alone I've dreamed I was struck by lightning, that the world was ending, that my sister was hit by a car, that my boyfriend is leaving me and even just that I went to the supermarket and had a panic attack in public.

I've had anxiety/depression for many years and been on other SSRIs before but never suffered with bad dreams before. Sleep has always been a safe haven, a place that isn't scary, an escape. But now it seems that I don't even have that anymore! I'm constantly exhausted and never feel well rested, I don't feel like I've slept at all!

Has anyone else experienced this? What can I do about it?

Sarah xx

Hi Cometstail

Yes I've had very vivid dreams on every SSRI that I've taken. Sometimes they are bad dreams, sometimes just plain weird, sometimes mundane but so vivid I have to work out if it was a dream or something that happened yesterday.

It's a very common side effect. I find it unpleasant but worth putting up with for the good effects of the drugs

hi - I'm the same! I've had some really weird freaky dreams since benig on sertraline. Very vivid indeed.

I have the dreams too. There are other things I think are worse. But my doctor is only worried about my dreams. She said it means I am never reaching rem sleep. She said that to remember a dream means you were about to wake up. Its kind of asleep kind of awake. That's why its vivid. She is worries because I am not sleeping. I do feel extremely tired all the time now. She had me switch the time of day I take it. But it has only seemed to make it worse. But I will say that feeling exhausted and having creepy dreams is way better than the rage I was feeling every month. And my ocd has muted almost completely. Its either a win lose, win win, win lose, or lose lose. I guess its up to me. Im slowly learning that I kind of do have a say so in how I feel. I just wish I didn't choose to feel like shit. The challenging thing is that I think this is what I deserve. Maybe month three on fluoxetine will be better.

Hi,snap! Been having very strange dreams but more recently I just can't sleep at all. Was a bit gutted to find I'm in the alleged 70% of women of suffer a lack of va va voom in the bedroom also. But hey ho,the benefits of this medication is outweighing all that for the minute. I'm trying Lavender oil on my pillows to try help sleep. Having some luck with that and dreams seem less intense. Maybe you cohld give that a try? Good luck and sweet dreams hopefully :-)

Thank you for your responses guys. I'm going to see the GP tomorrow as it's got to a stage now where I truly don't feel I can manage anymore on the sleep I'm getting. I'm still having awful dreams and waking up every hour or so and I'm just so tired!

Hi comet
I have those dreams too , real wierd , it also means im not sleeping well , i know what you mean about the other appetite too , but being a man its either one way or the other with me :( no happy medium yet , but hopefully that will pass soon , ive been on cit for about 14weeks ish i think so hopefully my side effects will pass soon . Good luck

Blade

Hi, join the club ha. It's just a side effect those tabs the weird dreams. In my case I wasn't sleeping at all. I started to look forward to these weird dreams knowing at least I was sleeping. All those dreams were bizzarre. God knows how they were ever thought up in my. You can control your dreams.Think possitive. I no longer have drug indused dreams but the ones I get are still often wierd ha. Don't worry they will pass. John

Hi there cometstail,

You're lucky in a way that this is your first SSRI related sleep disturbance as it does seem to be one of the most common side effects associated with all of them.

There is a reason for this. Serotonin, which the SSRIs is trying to keep active in the brain, is responsible for the regulation of sleep with regards to both need and quality. When the Serotonin balance is affected by depression, many people can sleep for huge amounts of time and some others get very little and this can often make mood worse. SSRIs can change this level to a balance over time, so the snoozy need less sleep and the wakeful get more.

SSRIs can make dreaming more vivid because we're spending more time in REM sleep, which isn't as deep as the restful sleep we have when we're 'dead to the world.' REM sleep, as well as being fruitful for dreaming is easily disturbed as our senses are still alert. A bump in the room or a light being switched on is much more likely to wake you up in REM sleep, so the quality is often poor, even if you get 8 hours. Less deep sleep also means your power of recall is stronger regarding events in dreams. In a way you aren't dreaming more per se, you can just remember them more clearly.

The dreaming itself can be bonkers though. Dreams often make no sense, but SSRI dreaming can be insane, but in a nice way. I'm fortunate never to have had nightmares on SSRIs, but I have woken up with- and worn for some hours after- a big 'WTF?' expression on my face:ohmy:. Sometimes you can audit trail what makes you think of certain things in dreams- a TV news report, a conversation, a song etc- but SSRI dreams can often be so random they're inexplicable. These meds are altering the internal chemistry of the most complex and least understood things on the planet, the human brain. Sometimes it's better not to sit and analyze why you dreamt what you did, just accept it as another side effect. This will settle down by the way and your sleep quality will level out and improve. I can understand it being disturbing to those unused to such drugs.

In SSRI land, I've had dreams where I've done things I could never imagine. Driving a tank through a shopping centre was a particular highlight. You could say it gives you an exciting and varied social life until things settle down! :):)