Thread: Anti-depressants and Lucid Dreaming

I find that anti-depressants (much like weed), can cause dreams to be vivid and pretty crazy sometimes. I have never noticed a drop-off in clarity or LDs in general. Some say they suppress REM sleep, but I haven't noticed much of a difference, if any. I have noticed that it can be harder to remember the dreams at times, but I counter this by waking throughout the night and writing down my dreams. I do, however, believe that all these factors depend on the person. Some may find it impossible to LD on anti-depressants, while others may see no difference either way.

Thanks for the response on this, I thought no one would reply

>> So from doing more research I guess anti-depressants suppress rem by 30%-100% depending on the class of anti-depressant and how long you've been taking them. Luckily I found one that doesn't suppress REM at all and can even increase it somewhat. The drug is Mirtazapine. I got some from my doctor and I'm going to try using it instead of the Nortriptyline. Would be nice if I didn't need them at all, but I sleep none without them. There's another one too called Trimipramine in case anyone finds this info useful in the future. The MOA class of antidepressants is the worse and often suppresses 100%.

hi there,
you can google your question...
here is a site i like on antidepressants and REM (very scientific)
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/pinealstory.htm

also...
5 htp/melatonin as an alternative?
http://www.holistic-online.com/Remed...n-and-5HTP.htm

Originally Posted by beachgirl

hi there,
you can google your question...
here is a site i like on antidepressants and REM (very scientific)
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/pinealstory.htm

also...
5 htp/melatonin as an alternative?
http://www.holistic-online.com/Remed...n-and-5HTP.htm

Mirtazapine solves the problem mentioned in that article, which is one of the reasons I wanted to switch to it. It doesn't reduce REM. Good for more lucids >>

I think I tried 5htp at one point, but not potent enough compared to available medications in my opinion. Probably good for someone who only needs a little bit of extra serotonin though. I need lots. I think my doctor probably thought I was crazy when I explained one of my motivations for wanting to switch. Although, she did not for health reasons we do need REM.

Interesting... I've never thought about this myself. I was on a course of Fluoxetine (a.k.a. Prozac) for around six months, but that was over a year and a half ago, at a time where I had far more frequent and vivid dreams, so couldn't say if it had any effect with me.

However there's a chance I may be starting another course, probably with Fluoxetine again, so I'll definitely pay attention to any changes in dreaming. Although if I'm using Melatonin as I irregularly do, I wouldn't have a clear picture of any effect. (Melatonin seems to like playing around with my REM cycles, the cheeky thing.)

Originally Posted by w4nd3r3r

Interesting... I've never thought about this myself. I was on a course of Fluoxetine (a.k.a. Prozac) for around six months, but that was over a year and a half ago, at a time where I had far more frequent and vivid dreams, so couldn't say if it had any effect with me.

However there's a chance I may be starting another course, probably with Fluoxetine again, so I'll definitely pay attention to any changes in dreaming. Although if I'm using Melatonin as I irregularly do, I wouldn't have a clear picture of any effect. (Melatonin seems to like playing around with my REM cycles, the cheeky thing.)

Other studies showed Mirtazapine to suppress REM so I switched to Nefazadone. It is pretty undisputed in regards to REM suppression and even slightly increases REM. Trimampramine also does not suppress REM. So far these are the only two antidepressants I have found that do not suppress REM. Prozac greatly suppresses REM. It doesn't mean you don't dream, you just do it 30-70% less than other people do. You can still have vivid dreams, etc., as you have noted. My lucids have skyrocketed since switching though. I have one almost every night.

I take Wellbutrin and it doesn't do anything noticeable to my dreams. I've had better experiences on valerian root.

Does anyone know if Lovan has any effect on Lucid Dreaming/REM cycles..?

Thanks

I take bromazepam (anxiolytic, not quite an anti-depressant), and it seems to improve my dreaming. I had two lucids while taking it, and none last night. I just realized while reading your topic title that I didn't take bromazepam yesterday afternoon.

Edit: interestingly, it has disastrous effects on practical memory (I spent two minutes trying to remember which, out of 3 keys, opened my flat) but I haven't seen any effect on dream recall. Although I've been taking high doses of "LD food" too, so this might counterbalance that.

Im on an anti psychotic called clozapine...

its been good to me so far, cant sleep without it. any cluese as to if this effects dreaming????

I've been taking 20 mg of Prozac for the last 5-6 months, and other than my general lazyness when it comes to recording dreams, I've had no trouble remembering my dreams.

Originally Posted by fy_iceworld

I take Wellbutrin and it doesn't do anything noticeable to my dreams. I've had better experiences on valerian root.

Yeh Wellbutrin is the other one that doesn't affect REM. I forgot to mention it. I have a prescription for it as well but so far the Nefazadone is working for me so I haven't tried it yet.

Originally Posted by FunKtion

Im on an anti psychotic called clozapine...

its been good to me so far, cant sleep without it. any cluese as to if this effects dreaming????

Yes it is known to suppress REM sleep.

I started taking prozac, an antidepressant for mood swings, around a year and a half ago. I did find my dreams becoming slightly more graphic and violent, more blood, but maybe this is just me and not the medication.

I also started having more LDs; one day, I had a really good one and decided to look it up. See if it was possible to induce them. That's how I found DV.

I'm going to be getting prescribed an antidepressant on Wednesday. When I do, I'll start taking it and then report the effects on my dreams here. Hopefully I'll get around to uploading my dream journal to this site just in case someone wants to look for patterns in the before and after recordings.

But yeah, I'm getting a prescription because I have a problem with motivation. I'm not sad all the time, but my psychologist says that might be due to the fact that my pent up anger is masking it. But yeah, this pretty much describes my problem perfectly:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychomotor_retardation