[angustios101]

I've been on Viibryd 10mg for almost 4wks now and while it's done wonders for my anxiety I cannot sleep more than 5 hours a night. Pdoc says it either gets better or it doesn't. My question is for those that have taken Viibryd for longer than one month and experienced insomnia: does the insomnia ever "get better" on its own or did you have to resort to sleep meds?

Really appreciate some insight, thanks.

[Otulissa]

I had to stop viibryd because it was messing with my sleep. It gave me terrible weird nightmares and I felt like I couldn't wake up. So, for me it didn't really get better no.

[nicoleb2]

never even considered that viibryd could be part of my sleep issues. I've been on 40mg for a long time now., I started it when it first came out. I take sleep meds though

[Odee]

I can still see the possibility of sleep improving as you continue taking Viibryd, but at the same time I can see it continuing. I never got over sleep issues with effexor and wellbutrin when I took them. They were very activating (and not right for me), and if Viibryd is activating then it might never get better for you.

I initially had issues sleeping when I started Prozac @ 20mg, lasted a couple weeks and got better but I still had broken sleep. At 40mg (been on for two weeks now) the same side effect showed up, but I am taking Trazodone at night for sleep (usually 50mg). Traz works well for me, but had terrible side effects when I first started (headache and nasal congestion for an hour or so after waking up, some tachycardia.) The side effects may sound terrible but not getting any sleep was worse, so I continued using it until they disappeared. Trazodone is an AD.

If Viibryd is working well (Which, btw, CONGRATS!!) , I think it's worth using something to help you sleep. There's nothing wrong with a low dose sleep med. Plenty are non-addictive and non-habit forming. You can start with ambien or lunesta if you don't want to use a sedating AD (which are usually your alternatives, including APs and Benzos.) I heard that ambien is more for inducing sleep but that lunesta will keep you there (longer half life). You can also try melotonin and valerian if adding to your prescription list isn't your thing. It sounds like you aren't having SEVERE issues sleeping, so you might not need more than that. I know how Pdocs are about starting you out on a new psychiatric med for every little issue you have.

[SingDanceRunLife]

At first Viibryd really messed with my already messed up sleep, and then, I decided one night to take it at night instead of in the morning, and it fixed the problem! My sleep was no longer being disturbed by the Viibryd, just by my already disturbed brain. So maybe try switching when you take it?

My pdoc wants me to lower my dose of Viibryd though because she thinks it's stimulating me too much (I'm on 40mg)...we'll see...I voiced my concerns and she agreed that at least "for now" (which now was like 3 weeks ago) we would keep it, but she has "ideas" (her word, not mine...kinda scary, lol).

[angustios101]

Thanks for the comments guys, I really appreciate hearing about your sleep experiences on Viibryd. I haven't had any of the PTSD nightmares on Viibryd although I did have them nightly on nefazodone and Remeron which was really scary/weird. My sole issue is I just feel so exhausted all the time because I think I'm not actually sleeping.. My pdoc said viibryd is known to block one's ability to get into stage 3 and stage 4 sleep patterns which is the deep sleep everyone needs to feel refreshed.

Odee, I hear what you're saying about sleep meds but I just REALLY do not want to take any more frickin' pills. I actually broke down and took 50mg trazodone the other night which made me sleep but then I proceeded to sleep into the next day and had to take a nap in the late afternoon...maybe I'll get used to it.

SingDanceRunLife, I was thinking of switching to nighttime, thanks for that tip. Right now Viibryd is not activating for me since I think I'm just too exhausted from not sleeping but I definitely am striking up conversations with strangers and doing small talk which I NEVER do so I hope this means I'm turning over a new leaf. Thanks again for all the thoughts.

[SingDanceRunLife]

Definitely try it at night then. It wasn't activating for me either, and switching to night made a world of difference.