# Dreaming Activity While On Zoloft...............



## NYR22 (Mar 21, 2005)

Ever since I've started taking Zoloft, I have a dream almost every night. Not necessarily ominous dreams, just your regular bizarre senseless ones. They usually involve old friends from high school. Like the other night I dreamed that I was on a cruise ship with my best friend from high school. I can't really recall the details from that particular dream, that's why I'm starting to write most of my dreams down when I wake up. Is this a possible side effect caused by Zoloft? Has anyone else had an increase in dreaming activity while on Zoloft or another SSRI?


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## arth77 (Jun 4, 2009)

antidepressant meds sometimes cause strong extreme dreams that can wake you
this is normal so lie back and enjoy them


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## kenclasix (Jun 5, 2009)

Same here,taking zoloft and having very vivid dreams but this is a very common side effect of just about all SSRI's. 5-HTP was another thing that gave me crazy dreams


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## NYR22 (Mar 21, 2005)

Dammit. I can't recall a dream I had last night. Frustrating.


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## Rubikdew (Mar 18, 2009)

tony0306 said:


> Paxil: had dreams about a Tom Petty video with Alice in Wonderland, where I participated in. Frequency: Every night for about a week or so. Scary!
> 
> Wellbutrin: Conciously hallucinated. Saw floating pink elephants. Good times.
> 
> Currently: taking no meds. Everything is OK except for my SA.


That sounds fun :yes


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## LALoner (Dec 3, 2008)

When you are in the dark your body converts serotonin into melatonin which makes you sleepy. Melatonin is well known to produce vivid dreams. A common explanation for why people in the far north become depressed during winter is that they are in the dark so long that too much serotonin turns into melatonin. Low serotonin levels are associated with depression. The main effect of SSRIs is to increase serotonin in the synaptic gaps between neurons. So if you have high serotonin levels, or at least high in the synapse it is likely that once in the dark you will also have high melatonin levels. It works in the other direction as well, it appears that taking melatonin pills seems to increase serotonin levels.

Anyway, most hallucinegenics(sp?) are chems which attach to serotonin receptors. There appears to be a huge connection between serotonin and hallucenigenic activity. And so most people assume that the vivid dreams resulting from melatonin or serotonin increase is related to that in some way.


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## Trixy13 (Jun 23, 2009)

I have noted a definite increase in dreaming since I have been on Buspar for the past two years. I did have the occasional strange dreams when I was on Paxil, Prozac or Zoloft. My dreams were just only occasional and slightly unusual but nothing great. With Buspar I have extremely vivid colorful and mostly erotic dreams nightly. This is one side effect that I actually enjoy although I have heard tons say it is just a sugar pill and doesn't so sh*t. I also take Xanax a few times a week for breakthrough anxiety and panic. The Buspar definitely does something with the receptors because I never had so many pleasant erotic dreams. Not sure if this is something unusual but I have no complaints here even if it just does that for me it is worth taking.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

I rarely dream (or at least I lack any recall of such dreams if they actually did happen). I've tried up to 300 mg of Zoloft and it didn't change my dreams or, rather lack of dreams. I've never noticed any drug having any effect at all on dreaming.


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## King Moonracer (Oct 12, 2010)

Why do i get the opposite effects? I hardly ever dream
Anymorrnand when i do uts a really boring stressful
Unvivid dream. Like writing a paper or playing sports with no feeling of athleticism.


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## upndownboi (Oct 7, 2010)

I noticed a jump in my dreaming awareness/recall ability every time I went up on my Mirtazapine. Its kinda died down again now though.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

upndownboi said:


> I noticed a jump in my dreaming awareness/recall ability every time I went up on my Mirtazapine. Its kinda died down again now though.


Yeah Mirtazapine always gives me the wackiest dreams too.


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## bben (Oct 24, 2009)

SSRIS purportedly abolish REM sleep, so this could be causing a change.


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## upndownboi (Oct 7, 2010)

bben said:


> SSRIS purportedly abolish REM sleep, so this could be causing a change.


is that the reason ssris sometimes cause fatigue/tireness? cos your bodys lacking the rem?


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

upndownboi said:


> is that the reason ssris sometimes cause fatigue/tireness? cos your bodys lacking the rem?


If I remember correctly slow-wave sleep (stages 3 & 4 NREM) is the most important stage of restorative sleep (more important than REM stage). I'm not sure what implications SRI's have on those stages though.


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## bben (Oct 24, 2009)

jim_morrison said:


> If I remember correctly slow-wave sleep (stages 3 & 4 NREM) is the most important stage of restorative sleep (more important than REM stage). I'm not sure what implications SRI's have on those stages though.


all rem sleep is abolished. This is one reason for the tiredness. The main one though is through decreased norepinephrine release resulting from serotonin agonism .


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## Cletis (Oct 10, 2011)

I had one weird dream when I started Zoloft and then everything went back to normal. :um


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## realkate (Apr 29, 2013)

I am currently on Zoloft and every single night I can vividly remember every one of my dreams. Throughout the day, I can even recite my dreams as if I was telling a story I had witnessed that day. It is really weird. Maybe because I take it right before I go to sleep?


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

uhhh I just dealt with 3 months of crazy zoloft dreams. They're ****ing brutal. Love the fact that I've started Nardil and it makes me stop dreaming. SSRI's turn my dreams into like night terrors


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