Impala, Making it through all of the stages of sleep (1-4 + REM) are critical. Each stage serves a particular purpose we're not 100% sure about, but we know they're all important. As an example,...
Hi Sharkbait (ooh haha!), As long as you have oxygenated blood flowing to your brain, you will stay conscious. No fainting for you. You sounds like a healthy and energetic (and very brave; I hate...
Hi S.C. Thank you! Hopefully by the end of 2020 I will have successfully defended my doctoral degree in "pharmacological and physiological sciences". My thesis work is on novel, non-narcotic...
Hi YSC, First, you've already received some excellent advice. You're in good hands here. But also, yikes! You've definitely had a rough time of it. I don't think your fear of new medication is...
Good morning! Excellent point. That's a hot topic in addiction research now. They've found that childhood stress (like maternal separation) in laboratory animals correlates with a greater propensity...
Hello wonderful folks of the healingwell forums! I apologize for my lack of activity. I don't want to be a member of this wonderful community that only comes in when I have issues, but life has been...
Hey Minnesota, About your sleep issues, have you tried changing when you take zoloft? I'm on 50mg and taking it at night was terrible, even though that was the doctor's directions. I started taking...
Hi PG, I've been on Zoloft for almost two years. Like you I've always been slender but recently gained 25 pounds! And no matter what I do while on my 50mg of sertraline for some reason it's just not...
Hi Hopeful! Welcome to the forum. I was on Lexapro (10mg) for a month when my anxiety first surfaced. I felt no anxiety on it, but I slept for 13 hours a day, became some kind of drug-induced...
Hi there! As others have posted before, if you washed your hands you're fine! E. coli naturally lives in our guts and (normally) stays in a happy balance thanks to your natural gut flora. I've...
Hi Gilly! I have problem with low BGL *before* a period of high anxiety. I am a healthy, fit youngster who goes to the doctor on the regular with no history of diabetes. I didn't have this problem...
Hi Mandy and welcome! How are you sleeping? That may be exacerbating your anxiety. I know it's a vicious cycle of insomnia-anxiety-insomnia-anxiety, but maybe looking to your sleep habits would be a...
Another suggestion is maybe take it in the evenings. It could be that, for you, the activating effect is a certain number of hours afterward that just so happen to be when you should be sleeping....
SC, You sound like a magnificent mama. And your mister seems just a little bit dense, but it's good that he was willing to read the article you gave him and see that maybe he did more harm than good...
Hey there Liz! Have you tried switching what time you take your lexapro? I had a similar issue with zoloft. Took it at night, went to sleep just fine, woke up at 4am and couldn't go back under. I...
Hey fam, I just wanted to check in after being pretty quiet the past few weeks. I started on 50mg of sertraline with a side of ativan in August 18, so I think it's been almost 8 weeks since then. It...
Sertraline (generic zoloft) --50mg once a day (almost six weeks--holy cow it feels like forever). For anxiety/OCD. Still seem to be cycling through the side effects a little bit. Really bad brain...
I've been doing pretty well. I'm struggling to kick my cold and move simultaneously! A friend is going through a slight rough patch so that makes my anxiety worse because I /worry/ and I want her to...
Hi Sam, You have been through so much! A note on medication: I am taking Ativan currently and I think it's really great. Do not take St .John's Wort or 5-HTP or any new supplements at the same time,...
Hi MoT, That's rough. :( I'm sorry that your sleep is still interrupted. Consolidated sleep is so important to our physical and mental well-being. And what sleep you must get in-between wake-ups must...
Haha, think I spoke a little too soon. Having a not-so-good day and the weird shivery SSRI yawns returned. I had a bizarre anxiety dream about a good friend being hurt (because another good friend...
Getting ready to finish up an exam, a presentation, and then focus on getting things sorted out for my move next week. I have my first psychiatrist appointment this week, so we'll see how that goes!...
Hey y'all, It's week three-ish and my second week on 50mg of sertraline with 0.5mg of lorazepam before bed. I'm not having the best day between hormones, projects coming due, and moving out of my...
Hi and welcome, Atara! I'm 23 and a college student, too. You've already received some great advice from Hibee and SC. Have you taken advantage of your university's counseling and psychiatric...
Check out the resources tab up at the top and look through the anxiety section. There you'll find tools to help you take the edge off the anxiety if you're open to learning them. Things like...
Monday, If the medication is right for you, it will go away. This could also just be your anxiety. Anxiety gives me fog and paranoia if it's gone on for too long. What is your self help routine like?...
Afternoon, That's awful! But your mother is in good hands with you. A professor of mine has had both of her knees and both hips replaced completely and saw no relief when she took her prescribed...
Monday, it may be that you need the dose increase to see the full effect. Or it may be as you say, you may only need a little bit. Most people are one 10-20mg, but it varies from person to person. I...
Monday, ALL medications have side effects. The severity and kind differ person to person. If you look around the boards you'll see everyone has had wildly different experiences with the same drugs....
It can be a long, slow process. I can't imagine how daunting it must feel, especially with three (three!) little ones to chase after and a job. You are basically Superwoman at this point, fighting an...
Hi Monday! Welcome and congratulations on your baby. I'm so sorry that you've been having so much trouble. Personally, I would stick with the lexapro. It's only day four and it can take your body a...
Hey there! I'd like to add an addendum to the valerian root (which I've heard fabulous things about). Valerian is a GABA agonist, meaning it acts on the same cellular site as benzodiazepines and many...
Still doing pretty well. Something interesting: Doctor insisted I shouldn't be feeling anything on 12.5mg of Zoloft. Even when I went up to 50mg, she insisted I shouldn't be noticing an effect,...
Hey Roxy! If you'd like to get a second opinion from a psych, I don't think that's unreasonable. Have you looked into generic lexapro (escitalopram)? When I was on lexapro it was $100 a month, but...
Oh no. : ( That sounds awful. I too have had a similar feeling when out and about, surrounded by seemingly normal people leading seemingly happy and uncomplicated lives. Why why why do I feel this...
Hi Rspwed, Thanks for asking. I still feel pretty good. I'm going up in dosage today so we'll see if that continues. My counselor lady gave me the all-clear to stop attending therapy and to just...
So I feel like a million bucks,. I ate breakfast for the first time in forever and even though I still have insomnia, I think however little bit better I'm feeling now is magnified by how crap I felt...
Hi! Yep, I got brainzaps really badly when I was in lexapro. They're extremely unnerving and they just seemed to get worse when I was tired or sleep deprived. They're not harmful, just kind of like...
Afternoon everyone, Morning was extremely rough. Zero motivation to get out of bed. Felt like death. I had a relatively good night. Only got up once to be sick at 4am, but managed to doze until alarm...
My mother never practiced (her degree is from '80, I believe) but it's easy to talk to her about it all from an academic perspective. Things have changed a lot in the teaching, treatment, and...
Really rough night. Didn't take the ativan because I was afraid of it on an empty stomach. Didn't matter, had wicked heartburn and upset stomach anyway. My thoughts are picking up speed again but...
It's been rough. Day four of zoloft and week 6 of poor sleep and anxiety - induced nausea, but the fog from anxiety and depression has lifted and I can bully my brain into focusing on other things....
Took zoloft with dinner, minimal nausea. Took a full 0.5mg of ativan before bed. Still woke up in a panic before dawn, thoughts racing, not sure how to space the meds to make them work like they're...
Barbz, I started on 25mg zoloft taken at night with some ativan as -needed on the side about two days ago. I will be going up to 50 mg next week. Thank you for journaling your experience. I haven't...
Hi Cilly, That sounds awful. : ( Have you been sleeping okay? I know for me, even minor sleep deprivation can send my anxiety and OCD spiraling out of control at the slightest trigger, like caffeine,...
Haha, you and me both!...
Oh bless you, always ask questions so you can always learn something new and cool! Please don't worry about it--my parents still don't really get what I'm doing/what I've done ("no, Mom, it's...
I know that nausea is a side effect. It probably also does not help that I had about 5 oz of beer as a last hurrah and took my first round of meds 2-3 hours later. So it's probably partially a...
Morning of day 1 of meds: Holy cow. I still woke up with HORRIBLE nausea, didn't panic. Had the other half of my bedtime ativan and woke up tossing turning feeling agitated and now I'm sitting on the...
It might be hearsay, but I know one school of thought is that A/D make you feel better about life in general so you have more of an appetite for good things like food and friends. Would it help to...