Why do antidepressants cause vivid dreams

You can also call the Samaritans in the UK on or email jo samaritans. For news, first-person essays and features check the dedicated hub daily. If you have a story about antidepressants to share email digital. Sign up for the latest news and must-read features from Stylist, so you don't miss out on the conversation. Skip to content.

Sign in. You may also like Why do we think of antidepressants as a last resort when our mental health is failing? The dreams are so real that sometimes there is no real way of distinguishing between them and reality. For antidepressant users like Rufaro, the most unsettling thing is the lack of distinction between their dreams and reality.

For others, the dreams themselves are the most unnerving part. Sunita, 38, has been taking antidepressants for years. I had to deal with losing my ovaries, hair loss, multiple surgeries, menopause and horrible chemo symptoms.

In addition to dream-related changes, antidepressants can affect your sleep in all sorts of ways, both good and bad. People usually think of depression as causing symptoms like persistent sadness and feelings of worthlessness, but it can also lead to fatigue , insomnia, and consistently waking up too early or sleeping too late.

And, of course, sleep issues can have a negative impact on your mental health, leading to a vicious cycle. When you loop in drugs meant to combat depression, your sleep habits can change even more. Chris Winter, M.

These neurotransmitters play another role as well. On the other side of the spectrum, norepinephrine and dopamine reuptake inhibitors, like the popular drug bupropion Wellbutrin , increase the levels of those two neurotransmitters in the brain. That can result in feeling extra-energized, potentially causing insomnia , Breus says. Other types of antidepressants can bring about either fatigue or insomnia as side effects. Not necessarily disturbing but still very vivid.

They fade during the day but stay with me in the morning. Not sure I really want to change again. It was a little traumatic the last time. Hey Dr Tracey, I am currently on amitriptyline , I have to keep increasing dose because it stops working about 15 dyas, Currently on on 75, but this also feels like it has stoped working now again I have to increase dosage, This means one day it will exceed mg or mg , should I switch to other or after some limit I no longer need to increase dosage?

I even have subsribed your youtube channel. Many doctors in my country has no idea regarding anti — deprresant. Will you help me? Hey Dr Tracey. I took prozac for 6 months and went cold turkey later on I experience semen leakage , accumulation of gas in stomach. I got frightened and took myself 20 mg for about a month and went cold turkey. Doctor prescribed many other anti depressants yet so far nothing worked. But then i took Lexapro , it exaggerated the situation to worse.

Now I am crying all time. Any help? Sometimes I would forget to take my medication setraline for 3 days max, and then have nightmares. I would take them again and be okay. Some of these have helped my ocd, such as Prozac and Lexapro, but the vivid, nightmare dreams was too much for me. I wish these medications did more to help those of us with treatment resistant conditions. I do believe they are making progress in developing new treatments that target glutamate, etc. Thanks for sharing Don.

Boy you have had a lot of treatments. Progress on new options is slow, but progress none the less. Hang in there. It varies from person to person. Most of the antidepressants take a couple of weeks to get out of your system, whereas the longer acting ones like Prozac can take a month. Is there anything wrong with the vivid dreams? Despite them not being pleasant, I find it nice to be remembering so much of my dreams. Is it harming me somehow?