Sleep Paralysis W/ Hallucinations (Page 11)

Has anyone else experienced sleep paralysis accompanied by hallucinations since starting viibryd? I have been on the medicine for about 4 months now and for the last 2 1/2 months have had several very scary episodes of sleep paralysis... I have never been on a anti-depressant before and never experienced sleep paralysis until i started this medicine. I am a 23 year old female and i take no other meds except a daily multi-vitamin. Ive noticed that if i accidentally miss a viibryd pill i have sleep paralysis... but have also had it on occasions of not missing a pill. It occurs about once a week... its to the point where i dread going to sleep at night in fear of sleep paralysis, but the hallucinations that come along with it are what I dread the most. Has anyone else had a similar experience with this medicine?

REPLY

REPORT

I was on the Viibryd for months. Then Prozac....and along came really bad acid reflux. The 1st time it hit (I do take my AD at nite), I sprang out of bed because it felt like a spray bottle of acid shooting up my whole esophagus. I even tried going back to Prozac yesterday & same thing. Could've thrown up. Never had that w/ other meds. So laying down & having a funny taste, my guess that is acid reflux. I used a large fluffy comforter in kind of a U shape & 2 pillows to sleep. Worried about esophageal cancer for me or needing surgery. I feel like taking Prilosec type drugs would make the AD's not work as well. Def. ask your Dr. Is it a metallic taste? You can also raise the head of your bed. Keep us posted! :)

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Thanks for the heads up Marie!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

Trix, I can agree with the bad taste. Almost like zinc. And the sleepy zaps were a sure sign of a night of terrors or long semi-conscious dreaming.

However, as posted below I switched to morning dosage with food and its has been a 180 degree switch from night time. I feel so much more normal.

Maybe give it a shot?

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

Holly - I know what you are going through. I cant tell you that the episodes do get less frequent. I have been on Viibryd now for 15 months. At first it was like 2 times a week. And i could always tell when it was going to happen..seconds before I would doze off, i would hear a loud quick buzz in my ear, almost like a bee flew close to my ear. This combined with a weird sensation almost of falling. And it kicks u awake. Weird! When that happens I fill with dread. What happens is instead of going thru all 5 stages of sleep, your brain goes from stage immediately into stage 5 where your brain turns iff your motor functions. I think since we are so lightly asleep and still aware that it incorporates the worst reasoning behind not being able to move into your dream. Mine often times are I am being smothered or crushed by someone. It feels like hallucinations because we are not in a deep sleep. My very first episode I will never forget. I was completely aware that my husband was next to me in bed and I could even see the Kentucky basketball game inTv and all of a sudden about ten hands came out of my mattress all around my body And grabbed my legs and arms and held me down! And I swear I could actually feel the warmth of the hands on my legs. It terrified me. Now i can control the dreams a little more to where its not as scary and I relax and kick myself out of it. Weird I know.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Oh wow...and you're still on Vii? (lol) You are very brave or tolerant of fear. Would you stay on it if you were raped by a demon & could feel the pain? Or had the grim reaper type demon standing next to your bed? I wish I could get all those horrific images out of my head, including the demon that swatted my feet & laughed as he vanished out of the room. This was my final terror episode, when I had made a plan to tell them demon to GET OUT and it pulled & tugged inside my body, pulling my soul---and I was stronger & the little gray green f***** had to slap at my feet with joy. My husbands too, but he didn't feel it. Whew. So just curious what it would take for you to give up Vii?

Keep us all posted! :)

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

That's horrible! I did have one where i knew there was an intruder hiding on the ground next to my side of the bed and not being able to move. I couldnt get back to sleep after that one. I never plan on giving up this drug. The misery I felt without it and knowing that my husband and five daughters were miserable with me was far worse. For years i had taken prozac or Lexapro and stuck with Zoloft for a long time....loved it but as i neared 40 years old...it wasnt working anymore because me own levels of seratonin wasnt mixing well with it anymore. I did get my own brand of hell when I first started taking Vii. This was July of 2012 and the starter pack after taking the 20mg I was feeling better but I wasnt quite myself yet. A couple days after taking 40mg.... Weird things started happening.... I would wake up feeling tingly and dizzy... And my face was like itchy like I was compelled to rub my hands all over my face like all the time. Then a few days after that I had the worst day ever. I was asleep so deeply that it felt like a coma almost.... You had to shake me awake for about a minute. I was feeling very tingly all over and was sweating badly but was very cold. And i felt like i was walking around in a dream. Like everything I was doing and saying I wasnt really doing or saying. I took a bath and when I got out I didnt know if I just took a bath. I couldnt remember or something. I was very easily enraged...like all of my senses were x10. I was ready to pounce on everyone... And then next second I would start balling. I told my oldest I thought I was going crazy. Keep in mind, I dont call a dr or go to the ER unless my limbs start falling off... And even then I would question the decision:). My sis is an ER doctor and makes fun of the people that come in with a cold... So I always doubleguess an emergent situation. But i thought this was enough to call my doctor after hours.... The nurse called me back and said Do NOT take the pill tonight instead cut it in half and see me first thing in the morning... She kept asking if I was ok and if I needed to go to the ER. The next morning he told me it was Seratonin Poisoning(or syndrome). Just too much seratonin in my system. I told him I was scared to keep taking it. He assured me it was the dryg but just the dosage was too much. So we mixed 150mg Welbutrin with 20mg of Viibryd and it's that mixture for me that works wonderfully!!
Also - I meant to tell ... The sleep paralysis seems to be triggered when I am completely exhausted. If I go a week with little sleep... You can bet I will have an episode about then.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Missed a dose, terrible sleep paralysis with hallucinations. Just one dose so I could switch from night 2 day 'cause of the side effects. I had one night of hell, demons, ghost, killings, and it just was not right. No-one will understand the trauma unless they experience fist hand, everything feels so real, and there is no way 2 escape ur own mind.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 6

Yes this happened to me and really freaked me out. When I told my doctor she had never heard of such a side effect (getting those awful brain zaps and not being able to move.) since she had never heard of it I didn't know what the cause was. With the combo of the brain explosion feeling and vivid nightmares I freaked myself out that it was some kind of psychic attack. Sounds crazy but it all felt very real. Anyways I immediately switched to a low dose of Zoloft to avoid the antidepressant withdrawal thing. No problems since but I still get a slight ear ringing sensation. I think viibryd should seriously be taken off the market ASAP. PS I noticed the bad side effects would happen when I wasn't consistent taking the med at the same exact time everyday.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I have been taking this medication for a month and missed a dose a few weeks ago. It was horrible and the strangest thing ever! Wasn't sure if it was from missing a dose until last night. Missed another dose and had it again! I've never been on an antidepressant before and this concerns me...

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I used to miss doses w/o a problem, just so I could figure out the best time to take it. But then one nite, the SP hit. It was horrific. Up until that night...maybe 3 mos. on the (40mg) med, I had some frightful dreams while napping & some auditory hallucinations at times.

I've been off of Vii since Spring of '12.

I had to wean off Viii w/ Prozac. It saved me. I've been off the Pro. & on Cymbalta for a few mos. I've had 2 very strange auditory hallucinations while experimenting w/ Wellbutrin w/ the Cym. Funny ones (?!) though....imagine sleeping & an atomic bomb goes off in your brain & you see orange & red. Then the other times its a strong male voice out of nowhere shouting my name or something unintelligible straight into my ears, while napping. I ran out of the lower dose Wellbutrin & not going to take it on Cym. because I badly need Cym. to cover anxiety & WB causes anx.

That could be why so many have problems w/ Vii. But if they were to change the formula, then they've lost their perfect AD. I wonder if I am pre-disposed to auditory hallucin. now after surviving the horrible Vii weaning process.

Sweet dreams everyone! :)

REPLY

Was this helpful? 0

I took viibryd for only three weeks when I out of the blue had a seizure in the shower. I never had one before in my life. So after EKG and MRI and EEG the determined it had to be the viibryd. On top of the major seizure I also experience. Seizures in my sleep the brain zaps that everyone's talking about and hallucinations for a week straight all the while never missing a single dose until I got so concerned out lasting effects and not being able to go to work because of the seizures I just quit taking them all together now I'm free of all side effects.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 3

If I had not had the same type of experience I would never believed what you wrote. Thanks for sharing your experience with this nasty med!! I have never felt so awful in my entire life!! I've had severe depression for several years and these last several months on the viibryd has been the worst time of my life. I thought it was all related to being hypothyroid due to thyroid cancer and thyroidectomy in August but I am so sure its the viibryd. Thanks again I thought I was going to end up dead from the paralysis and breathing problems falling asleep.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

This is the scariest thing ever. I haven't been able to sleep all night because as soon as I start to fall asleep I get these horribly real hallucination/dream/occurrences and I'm terrified. It's a Saturday morning and I'm at home alone with my kids and I don't drive. What am I supposed to do?!? I'm exhausted!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

I went thru all that! I recommend calling the on-call Dr. & requesting 2 (20 mg) Prozac so you can get 2 nites of normal sleep b4 seeing him/her Mon. am. This is the only way to stop the hallucinations (auditory & sleep paralysis). You need the SSRI. And stop the Vii as soon as you take the Prozac. BUT! If you are on 40 mg. Vii, I recommend going to the ER so they can give you Xanax or Ativan as well & monitor you. I suffered thru the discontinuation syndrome until I was down to about 15 mg. of Vii, before my Dr. said to take the Prozac. Prozac is easy to wean from. Vii is hell. Any SNRI med is hell to get off of. But Vii actually brings people into hell. It's the scariest drug ever. Hth!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

agree.

been off viibryd 4 months. psych doc weaned me off w/klonopin to basically sedate me so I didn't have to suffer through any more hallucinations/horrific nightmares.

on Zoloft now and feel so much better

please don't wait. hallucinations are not normal and if viibryd is causing it, they won't just get better.

good luck, hang in there

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I've been on viibryd 40mg for 10 weeks now and have never experienced any strange dreams or side effects. It's a very good drug if you ask me. I take it first thing in the morning. I was taking with 0.5 mg Xanax XR for a while but that put a damper on the mood lift so got off it and now back to viibryd and nothing else and feeling good again. Everyone will react differently.

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

Hello Joe,

Not to burst your bubble, but I was on 40mg. of Viibryd for about 6 mos. before the SP attacks, more than vivid nightmare hallucinations, & auditory hallucinations hit me so hard they would make Hannibel Lector or Stephen King quite scared. I was not pre-disposed to SP. I had never heard of it in my life. Just keep watch for any auditory hallucinations when 1st waking. That's how it began for me. Mos. prior to the actual SP attacks.

I always ask my Dr. for the status on the drug & he recently explained to me they believe (Forest Labs) that the extra receptors are somehow being turned on AT NIGHT, while sleeping. So I would say progress has been made & hopefully Forest can fix the problem with the med. I am still traumatized from Viibryd.

At least we all know that Prozac (1...20mg pill at nite in place of a 20 mg. dose of Vii) does cut out all Vii SP attacks.

Survived Viibryd...

REPLY

Was this helpful? 1

I have been taking vibryd for about a year now and ended here in the middle of the night by searching for an answer for why I have started having sleep issues this week. It seems to be every few nights but don't sleep well the good nights either because the bad ones have been so traumatic that it now scares me to sleep! I have never heard of sp until now but it is horrible! The first time it happened I couldn't even figure out how to explain it. The zapping in my head and the sound in my ears was bad enough but the creatures trying to come after me and wrapping me up in my blanket to smother me as I felt like I was crying for help and telling it to leave was horrible! I will be making an appointment as soon as my doctor is available in the morning to get off of this med!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 4

Ok So i don't take any meds and suffer from SP. I feel so alone in this since noone I know has even heard of it let alone relate to what I go through. I am part of the lucky ones that have Accompanying hallucinations too :/ From being held down and screamed in the ear to faceless figures 3cms from my face. Its hard to explain without seeming crazy :( I was hoping to find a chat room with other ppl that have SP?

REPLY

Was this helpful? 2

PLESE HELP ASAP
I have not slept in three days because of the 80 mg of Viibryd I was on that caused me both auditory and visual hallucinations as well as unbearable sleep paralysis every single time I fall asleep. I feel like I am being choked to death and can't move or scream to stop it! I am currently In the ER over this and they are doing absolutely NOTHING to help me. They are CLUELESS! I was take n off the viibryd last night but it's still in my blood because the attacks of sleep paralysis are ever single time I try to sleep. After 3 days of not sleeping, I wonder what will happen to me if they can't help! Does anyone know of any treatments that have worked for them, while waiting for the viibryd to leave their system? Klonopin has done nothing. Please help me I'm so desperate and depresse!

REPLY

Was this helpful? 4

I have done a lot of research on this drug all over the internet for the last week because it's been the absolute wo...

2 REPLIES

After reading the post sleep paralysis w hallucinations I felt omgosh Iam not the only one, also scared to be on this me...

6 REPLIES

I only missed my dose by a few hours. I lied down to go to bed and it was like I was tripping on hallucinogens. Everythi...

2 REPLIES

I just need to know if itis safe going to sleep when im hallucinatin of a teva 74. I just took half of pill ## Hello, Jo...

1 REPLY

I've been on Lunesta 3 mg for about a week now. The bad taste is Horrible (!), but twice now I've had what I thi...

2 REPLIES

I took only 3 of my script. The first night it was like I was sleeping in cotton candy. Night, I was paralyzed physicall...

5 REPLIES

my son was on vyvanse for a year his doc raised his dose he started hearing voices and we lowered the dose. he was off t...

37 REPLIES

How frequent are hallucinations while taking lexapro? Has anyone experienced this side effect? I am taking lexapro for a...

2 REPLIES

Hello. My mother (77 yrs old) has been prescribed Ecosprin AV 75, Hosit and Calcium. She's been having it regularly ...

1 REPLY

been on simvastatin for about 12 years during that time have had nightmares sleep problems and the most awful episodes t...

1 REPLY