Sleeping too much

[Roadyellow10]

I know insomnia is pretty common within this community. I kinda have the opposite, undiagnosed hypersomnia. In other words I'm sleeping for a fair bit of the day. My antidepressant medication, Sertraline, has a side effect of excessive sleepiness but this is extreme. Due to the prior prescription of 50mg being ineffective I was upped to 100mg but now back to 50mg by splitting the tablets in half (2 halves per 2 days) but I'm still sleeping a lot. The pattern goes up I wake up in the morning. Breakfast. Up for a bit. Exhausted. Lie down. Sleep for a couple of hours. When I wake I'm not more with it. Affects me all day.

A couple of years ago I wouldn't be able to sleep in the day even if I wanted to. I'm a bit more awake late at night as is a pattern I've always had. As far as I am aware I sleep fine at night.

FYI I have depression (undiagnosed) and generalised anxiety disorder/panic attacks sometimes (undiagnosed).

This makes it extra hard to do stuff if I'm sleeping excessively. When I am out and about I still feel like I haven't slept for a week often and little motivation/enthusiasm. Just rather flat and unfocused most of the time.

[Alysann]

Hi

Sleeping a lot is a sign of depression as much as not sleeping or having difficulty sleeping. You say your depression and anxiety are undiagnosed. I'm not sure what you mean by this. I was under the impression that sertraline was prescribed for depression. It sounds really hard for you, feeling tired all the time. You say you do go out and that sounds brave when you are feeling tired and anxious. You also talk about a change from before when you wouldn't have been able to sleep during the day. It makes me wonder what changed for you.

Ally

[Roadyellow10 in reply to Alysann]

Although I was depressed before this spiked since my mother unexpectedly died.

The oversleeping though has got worse fairly recently. I'd doze in the day before but not as much as this.

Prior to the incident I forget when exactly but I rarely to never slept in the day regardless of how tired I was and if I tried I was just lie there bored.

[Allestklar123 in reply to Roadyellow10]

Hi,

I am so sorry about the loss of your mother. You mention that it was sudden, which sounds hard. You have noticed a change in your sleeping and that it has increased during the day. Have you checked with your GP about the side effects and how much this extra sleepiness is bothering you? It is always worth mentioning these things so that other antidepressants can be tried.

It is understandable to feel depressed when you have suffered a loss and particularly if it was unexpected. Do you have someone that you can talk to about how you are feeling?

Ally

[SueSuesad]

Hi ! Setraline an over sleepiness ? Yes I can relate to this , as far as I can tell, I sleep well at night, then morning comes, don't want to vacate my bed , feeling flat , get up wash n dress, then like you, any opportunity .......sleep ....... No energy, no enthusiasm to do much at all, tinnitus worse, sweats, wondering sum meds don't work, but is it also possibly true? Sum can make you feel worse, bin few months now, an feel its making things harder, 125,mg feel my recovery would be less hindered without setraline. Am starting mbct next week ,hopefully this will help retrain my poor ol negitive brain of many years, setraline also seems to give me the shakes. All the best with it, but maybe it's not for me x

[Roadyellow10 in reply to SueSuesad]

150mg? That's a big dose, 100 knocked me out a lot.

[IanAmNoone82]

Good morning,

I too am on Setraline 100mg once a day. Have been on them for about 4 years. I am diagnosed with Recurrent Depressive Syndrome, OCD, and severe paranoia.

Being diagnosed or not is purely a formality. It only affects the structure of how a GP Specialist would correspond to your issues.

I too, am excessively tired, all the time too. You're correct that the main side affect is either too much or too little sleep.

I can only tell you that for me, the long bumpy road I took to find the right anti represented for me, was and still is of vital importance to my daily functioning. I changed my life style in order to mitigate the energy out put life takes out.Daily exercise is really beneficial- only 20 mins, floor work, press ups sit ups every other day.

I guess, I'm saying that sometimes the meds "seem" to cause more trouble than good, but they are an integral aid to your battle against depression. I'd try and stick with it my friend.

What ever your decisions, seek your Doctors advice.

[Roadyellow10 in reply to IanAmNoone82]

Thanks. The doctor never seems to give much in the way of advice. Thinking of switching GP as, much as they seem nice, I'm not sure they really have a clue about this. Feels more like consulting a friend rather than a medical professional.

[Hidden]

Hi I am on sertraline of 150 mg a day. I find they work well for me though my mood is often flat and and I get mind blankness. I am retired so being on the ball isn't so important for me but wouldn't suit everyone. I find it a reasonable trade off though compared to how I was. x

[mstirling]

I have depression along with some other serious health problems and since the age of around 16 I began to sleep excessively. Soon after I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Like you, no matter how much I sleep I am exhausted. If I wasn't woken up I would probably sleep continuously for the majority of the day. Perhaps you could speak to your doctor about it as it could be a sign of something more serious.

[Olderal]

One of the theories about what evolutionary purpose was achieved by depression is that in difficult periods of human history, such as the ice ages, minimising activity served a useful purpose. We never learned to hibernate but maybe excessive sleeping was as close as we got.

I think the only solution is to fight the need for so much sleep as much as you can, but only to the point where you get 8 hours ,say, of sleep in every 24.

Olderal