On a big positive note though, sleepiness aside the meds ARE working one month in very, very well. I feel like “me.” There’s always that worry that your personality will change but so far… nope. I just panic proportionally. I even got really upset the other day and had a cry, and crying even a little before meds sent me into a panic and I couldn’t just “cry a little,” it always turned into a 30-60 minute affair only stopping when I was exhausted or nearly barfed from that weird heaving-gasping kinda crying. But this last time, I just had a little pout and cry for a few minutes, washed my face and moved on. So it’s good to feel sad and angry, I didn’t want meds to make me feel different. It’s really great that I still react to stuff, it’s just a proportional reaction. I’m happy. I mean not all the time, that wouldn’t be normal. But right now I’m content that anxiety isn’t going to sit on my chest and keep me from getting up.

And Staple was great! First time I’ve ever gone to a convention or out-of-town big social event and not had a panic attack in my life. I got overwhelmed from the socializing for days, but that was just exhaustion. Not a single panic attack. I feel so good knowing convention season will be without that crap.

So, yeah. Totally fine living and managing this sleepy thing if that’s the exchange. I just have the habits of a lifetime insomnia sufferer that don’t work with the new sleepy-all-the-time thing, and I gotta unlearn those habits and pick up new ones. I used to run off 3 hours of sleep every day but “Work til you drop” doesn’t really fly anymore. I’ll figure it out.

Conveniently I have a doctors appointment already tomorrow. I’ll talk to her and work on just keeping a normal sleep schedule. And setting multiple alarms — a middle school teacher once told me that she used to keep an alarm clock across the room that she had to get up to turn off after a car accident’s fallout made waking up for her extremely hard. I’m gonna try that out.

I started generic prozac at 20mg a month ago and now that it’s working I feel really good! Like, it works better than I thought it would. I am so, so happy and I don’t have terrible side effects (except one) and I feel like “Me” and it’s done wonders.

However the one side effect I seem to feel is extreme sleepiness. I find myself sleeping 10-13 hours at a time, no matter how early I go to bed or how soon I woke up. Naps are impossible. I work for a few hours and find myself gravitating to my bed before I know it. I can’t do markers in the bed any more, because I fell asleep the last two times.

This has cut into my productivity and I feel like a lazy piece of shit. I went from 15 years of insomnia to sleeping my life away in the course of a month, hahahaha.

So I’m just curious if people have any experience or advice. Folks on prozac/fluoxetine: when do you take it? Are you super tired? What helps?