I'm pretty sensitive to medication so I wondering how long does it take to feel normal?
This so much depends on your current weight, age, state of your liver and general health. This is aside from dosage and your unique reaction to meds. The sleepiness may simply be a side-effect or it may be one of the effects this drug has on you long term.
So if you are sensitive and you are sleeping huge hours, I'd suggest you call or check in with the prescriber as soon as you can to double check if they really want you to go higher in dosage as planned.
In fact, i'd be asking if possibly you could lower the dose by cutting the tablet (in half) and see if you can ditch the fatigue/sleepiness and retain the therapeutic benefits.
The weight gain is really difficult to address. :hug: I know your pain.
One theory is that following a settling of symptoms the patient eats better and that is the reason behind the weight gain. However, the other theory is that the SSRI is actually causing the weight gain and it's
not additional intake of food that is the problem. This also depends on you and how you react to the drug and what you eat too.
When I was trailled on SSRI's the doctor told me I was eating more. I didn't want to argue at the time bc I actually thought he knew what he was talking about. He didn't and he was wrong. I was right. I wasn't eating more food at all. It got out of hand but it wasn't the worst of side effects I had. Just one of many that led to me stopping the drug (s).
There is always a balance between the benefit of any drug and the opposing side-effects or problems they create.
Weight gain is a important consideration and should not be dismissed as mere vanity. It can actually make a person quite miserable and undo all of the benefit that is otherwise achieved by taking the drug.
So my suggestion is don't go up to the higher dose until you have spoken at length to the prescribing doctor and sorted out what is best for you. Remember you always make the final decision.
