Zoloft sleepiness: does this go away??

[CityGirl]

I've been on Zoloft for a bit over two weeks. I'm glad I'm on it, I can't feel a large difference yet, but I'm sticking with it. BUT I am so drowsy!!! If this doesn't let up, I definitely can't stay on it. I feel like I could sleep ALL the time. I could take a three-hour nap every day if I had the chance (which I don't, of course!). Soooo sleepy. Please, tell me this lets up??

[Jish]

It does. The first month on meds tends to be the rough one. The horrid fatigue lasted about three weeks for me, but it can vary. For me, I also found that it went away pretty quickly. One day I just realized that I hadn't been tired for a couple days. It can also take a while to feel the full effects of the medication, but if you aren't feeling a difference by the 6 week mark, talk to your doctor. Often, the first medication isn't necessarily the best medication for you and a simple switch may make a difference if the Zoloft isn't quite cutting it. There are recent studies that show that a large percentage of people won't respond to the first medication, but simply assume that meds won't work for them and go off. Most of those people would respond very well to a different ssri, it is just a trial and error thing. Best of luck.

[kimmie-pooh]

I am not taking Zoloft -- I take Lexapro. When I first started taking it, I was very tired all of the time. My doctor recommended taking it at night because this was a side effect that wasn't going to go away. Perhaps Zoloft is different? Can you call your doc?

I hope everything turns around soon.

[CityGirl]

Thanks for the replies. My doctor also suggested I take the Zoloft at night but I feel a little uncomfortable with this, since I'm sleeping with an infant. I feel like the Zoloft zonks me out so deeply, I don't want to be unresponsive or a danger to him.

I also like to have a glass of wine at night and I don't want to take Zoloft right after I do that.

I do already feel less anxious, so I want to continue, but I'm glad this is supposed to go away.

[Gale Force]

CityGirl -- I haven't taken SSRIs, so I don't know how drowsy you are feeling, but if there is some way to work out taking it at night, that would be best for a number of reasons. Your blood levels of Zolft peak at about 4-5 hours after you take it and decrease from there. If your infant is also not nursing during certain hours of the night you could time your taking of the medication so that the peak hit when the baby wasn't nursing. And you would benefit on the drowsiness side. Could you get one of those little baby nests for cosleeping that would keep you from rolling over on him? You'd want to skip the wine under this plan too but perhaps you could replace it with something soothing but more benign (chamomile tea?, I know it sucks when you want wine).