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[pittguy578]

I stopped taking Prozac on Tuesday due to the insomnia I was having. I had my sleep under control until I started taking Prozac.
Now I have been constantly waking up throughout the night..Usually at 1 AM..4 AM..and then I feel tired all of the time.
I do not think I would have slept at all if it had not been for the 20 MG of Ambien my doc has prescribed me.
I am still a little upset my doc would prescribe Prozac when she knew about my horrible sleep issues that I have normally.

How long does it take for this prozac induced insomnia to go away? It is really starting to affect me.

Also, is there anything the doctor can prescribe for me until this is fixed? Possibly a benzo sedative?
I am NOT a fan of those, but if it is going to take a while for this junk to get out of my system, I need to take something temporarily.

Edited by pittguy578, 08 April 2011 - 05:42 AM.

[Tim 52]

pittguy:

The first days are the worst. It will even out. What dose are you on?

It does help to start with a low dose and work up. That is another thing you can talk with your doctor about.

Tim

[Spiritual_Wanderer]

Benzos can make you sleep better. I sometimes take a melatonin supplement that helps me sleep. Maybe phase down to a lower dose (did you stop cold turkey)? That could make the insomnia worse... I think you know this from other threads, but I'm on Lexapro and that has helped a LOT with my sleep. If I'm not mistaken, Prozac is considered one of the more energizing SSRIs... Lex is very sedating, in my view.

Hope you get better sleep in the days to come! That can be so frustrating...

[Sheepwoman]

I found Prozac to be very energizing. If I took it after 0AM, it disruptewd my sleep. Taking it at 6 or7AM was the best. It has a long half life and stopping cold turkey may worsen the insomnia. You need to relat this info to your pdoc for feedback and advice.
Sheepwoman

[pittguy578]

I just had to stop taking it, at least for now. My sleep patterns were getting progressively worse. I was only on 20 MG.
I had been depressed, but I actually had been able to sleep taking ambien and maybe 100 MG diphenhydramine.
I then was not sleeping, and tried everything under the sun to try to get a whole nights worth of sleep including kava, passion flower, etc..
I was sort of an expert when it came to sleep supplements because I had so much trouble before that I knew every possible supplement..

The thing is usually when I would have trouble sleeping my doc would give me trazadone to combine with the ambien. I then did a google search, and I saw trazadone may cause a reaction with prozac so I was hesitant to take it, at least until I feel the prozac is out of my system. But then I read elsewhere on the net where people are taking prozac and trazadone with no side effects.

[Spiritual_Wanderer]

I took traz/prozac for awhile together. Are you sleeping any better? How are things?

[NatureNut]

I.. I actually had been able to sleep taking ambien and maybe 100 MG diphenhydramine.

I was thinking of taking diphenhydramine as I'm soooo darn tired. Good to see someone else tried it and it worked. Thanks.