Sleeeepy

[xiphias]

Lexapro does seem to make me tired. But it also makes me not depressed. Since I started taking it, I got involved in a G&S production, have gotten more hours at work, been a better Hebrew School teacher, dealt with some emotional curveballs life threw at me with grace and without falling apart, and, in generall, I really like the stuff. This whole "not being depressed" thing is very, very strange, but I think I could potentially get used to it. I'm not used to it yet.

But I am tired. I find myself sleeping for ten or twelve hours and waking up tired. But healthy. A lot of the niggling health problems I always have -- annoying rashes and aches and pains -- are gone, so it's not like the sleep is useless.

Maybe I should start using caffeine. I don't drink coffee, like, ever -- I like good coffee well enough, but I tend to drink maybe one cup of coffee every two or three months. Maybe that would help. Lis suggessed tea, which I drink much more than coffee, and has caffeine. Or colas or other caffeinated sodas.

My appetite is somewhat lower than it used to be, and it feels like my metabolism is higher. Or, at least, I find myself snacking unconsiously less than I usually do. Sometimes I go to sleep, and wake up a pound or two lighter than the previous day. Now that clearly has to be water loss, not fat loss, but there is some sort of fat loss going on, too. My body looks different.

So, if my body is reshaping itself, that would explain why I'm so tired -- that's got to take a lot of energy.

I wonder what I'm going to be like at the end of this process.

Comments

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

I slept a lot when I started taking Zoloft, and they told me it was a normal side effect of many anti-depressants: once the depression (and attendant anxiety) phase out, your brain has to re-adjust to what it feels like to actually rest while you sleep. (They had more technical terms for it than that. :)) The effects wore off after a few months for me, but I was taking a really low dosage so YMMV.

[red-frog.livejournal.com]

Interesting. For me, Zoloft prevented me from sleeping. When I first started it I was awake for 36 hours until I knocked myself out, and after that I didn't get a decent night's sleep without medication until I quit about nine months later. I was on a very low dose.

I'm not certain that it was the best drug for me to be taking, but it did get me through the rough bits.

[goljerp]

This thread is just another example of the mysteries of selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (i.e. Zoloft, Prozac, Lexapro, etc.) They work, but the same drug can have wildly different side effects for different people. (And some people find that one drug works for them, but not another...)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Actually, there's some evidence that increased sleep boosts your metabolism (because your body gets a chance to do all the correct hormonal things it fails to do when your sleep time is inadequate).

I of course consider caffeine an indispensable part of a balanced breakfast... but don't rush to overcompensate. If you can manage even while you consciously feel tired (and surely that's less of a barrier than feeling depressed?), then give your body some additional time to adjust. Sleep is, as you say, not useless.

*hugs*

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

My doctor once prescribed low doses of Ritalin for antidepressant-related tiredness. You might investigate the possibility.

[cellio]

Since you're not already hooked on caffeine, I'd suggest a gradual approach. Weaning yourself off of it once hooked is a real bear.

I'd also suggest trying tea (less caffeine than coffee) to start. If you can avoid getting hooked into the sugar-or-artificial-sweetener world of pop, so much the better. With tea and coffee at least you can control the additives.

Good luck.

[goljerp]

So, if my body is reshaping itself, that would explain why I'm so tired -- that's got to take a lot of energy.

I wonder what I'm going to be like at the end of this process.

Oooh, do you think you're going to acquire super powers? Telekenisis could be really useful. Or think about how useful a prehensile tail would be while tending bar...

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I'm really hoping for something like that. Or teleportation. Maybe flight.

[mitchellf.livejournal.com]

So, you want to be PumaMan? Um, did you see that MST3K? It was horrendous....

"Pumaman--with all the powers of a Puma...like teleporation and flight...." ;-P

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

Do you know anything about sexual side effects with Lexapro, and are you comfortable talking about any you might or might not have? (Yes, I know you might not be able to answer that for certain, I'm sorry.)

I hate the thought of ever going back on meds again, but sometimes I wonder if I'm really okay or if I just think I am. Did breakups always hurt this much? Am I really that sick of school? Are my stress levels really proportional to the actual stress in my life? Why don't I care about food anymore? I don't know the answers to any of these for certain. And even if I'm not ok (which I'm really not at the moment), there's still the question of whether or not I'm that not ok.

Going off Paxil was not intentional, I'd tapered my use through forgetfulness over most of a school year and then at some point realized that I hadn't been taking it for some time and yet I was still fine. I feel more me than I have for a while (or at least I did before my own cureveball) and I kind of like having things like a sex drive and opinions. I like not being chained by the withdrawal symptoms I'll have if I run out or forget for more than a couple days. I've also had my first really satisfying sexual relationship since then and I seem to have lost the anorgasmia completely.

It worked well while I needed it, but I don't want to consider it as my only option anymore, or really as an option at all.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

It dropped my libido by like 80%. It seems to be slightly rebounding now, but not much.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

Uh. Wow.

Noted.

[juliansinger.livejournal.com]

Speaking only for myself, it did nothing like this to me. Might've upped mine slightly.

[mswae.livejournal.com]

I've been off caffeine since the summer of 1996. I really wouldn't recommend trying to add it into your diet if you already don't touch the stuff. Things sound like they're going so well -- why mess with it? I understand that shaving 3 hours off of your sleep cycle sounds attractive, but think about how many more productive hours you are having now that you are ON the medicine. Net, I expect that you are gaining.

I'm so glad things are going well for you!