POZ Community Forums
Meds, Mind, Body & Benefits => Questions About Treatment & Side Effects => Topic started by: RobbyR on January 20, 2013, 05:54:45 pm
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I've been on this amazing medication for two years and no major complaints overall, but lately, WOW it has been trippy! Like, I have always had dreams at night, but you know how most dreams are sort of distant, like vague? Well these dreams I've been having lately are SO vivid it's amazing, and I remember them for hours afterward! And before you ask, no, I haven't done any illicit substances beforehand either! Haha. I would call these "play by play" dreams! It's like I close my eyes and immediately start dreaming, and it's like a script that plays out in my head, and there is vivid dialogue. Last night I dreamed I was at the dentist office and the hot dentist was sedating me for a root canal and he started morphing into a male stripper, it was like out of body while out of body! And I dreamed I was looking for my car, forgetting where I parked it, only to look into a mirror to learn that I had turned into a car myself! But the kicker was near the end of my dream when I dreamed I was seducing a WWE wrestler and it was so real that when I woke up I actually felt my body to see if there was any sex marks LOL! I've never had dreams this wild and vivid, I don't know why I didn't have them when I first started Atripla but I am not complaining! They are actually kind of fun, other than that one scary one when I was at a 17th century guillotine! Anyone else have crazy wild vivid dreams on atripla? I notice when I dream on it, I also have the sensation of warm, almost hot hands and feet, when goes away the next day..
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I did.
Bonus acid trips - you're lucky - enjoy them as long as they last.
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Enjoy :-) but also consider switching, for this bonus is a side effect and affecting your sleep quality, even if it don't feel like that. The warm feeling is because (probably) efavirenz stimulates a part of your immune system called cytokines, which is just as if having flu or sommat. No-one knows what this phenomenon means long-term.
- matt
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I get these trippy dreams quite often on Atripla, as well. The other side effects (drowsiness, strange buzzing feeling, dizziness, etc.) have stopped completely, but I still get the craaaaaziest dreams even after a year and a half. I kinda like them :) Enjoy them!!
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I have been on Atripla since the dawn of time and I still get crazy dreams . I was briefly switched to another combo and when I switched back I got really nauseous for a time also . I thought it odd because I never had that side effect from it before . After a week or so the nausea subsided .
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Yeah I find it strange that I didn't ever have these wild dreams the first year or so I was on it, and am suddenly having them now. It's like when I dream, I don't feel fully asleep, but I do, if that makes sense. It feels like I am sort of out of body while I am sleeping. I am not complaining though! I do feel drowsy the next day, but nothing major. My latest wild dream was of me as a doll, living in a doll world, and a doll house, it was insane! lol. Interesting about what you said about it stimulating the cykotines, because lately I have been having these crazy sneezing fits! I will start sneezing and keep sneezing for several times! I don't think it's allergies because I never get those in the dead of winter, so that is an interesting observation.
On another good note, I get these constant hardons when I wake up in the mornings, which last for a long time! I also sometimes wake up in the night and am hard as a rock. My sex drive is through the roof so even though atripla is making me trippy, I am not complaining! :)
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On another good note, I get these constant hardons when I wake up in the mornings, which last for a long time! I also sometimes wake up in the night and am hard as a rock. My sex drive is through the roof so even though atripla is making me trippy, I am not complaining! :)
Yeah, I don't know why this isn't mentioned more with Atripla. You would think they would want to advertise this instead of all the "it causes bad dreams" info. Would definitely make people more interested in starting meds. Enjoy :-) but also consider switching, for this bonus is a side effect and affecting your sleep quality, even if it don't feel like that. The warm feeling is because (probably) efavirenz stimulates a part of your immune system called cytokines, which is just as if having flu or sommat. No-one knows what this phenomenon means long-term.
- matt
Thanks for this bit of info. I have never heard this before. Every day about two hours after I take Atripla I get soooo hot. It only last about 30-45 minutes and I have gotten used to it. I have saved quite a bit of money on heating bills. I had never seen this listed as a known effect.
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Yeah I find it strange that I didn't ever have these wild dreams the first year or so I was on it, and am suddenly having them now.
It's not uncommon for people on a combo that includes Sustiva to sail through the first few years, then suddenly start having Sustiva-associated side-effects.
You might want to monitor your moods as well (or ask a close friend to keep an eye on you, often times people don't notice their mood swings that are apparent to everyone else) to make sure you're not having other, not-so-pleasant Sustiva side-effects. It never hurts to be aware of possibilities like this.
Please also be aware that the dreams, while fun, may eventually impact negatively on your quality of life due to a lack of solid rest. If it becomes a problem, you have alternatives to consider. Good luck!
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Agreed. I've known plenty of people that don't develop the nasty, near suicidal, rage-like depression associated with Sustiva/Atripla until around the third year. It's like whatever is going on takes that long to screw up brain neurons or something. Actually I think that's one of issues why I don't like it -- most people won't associate it with the medication because of this delayed effect. And with people now going to their HIV doctor appointments on a six-month schedule that's a big time period before having the conversation with the doctor for most patients.
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These are all great points. I did try Complera on a trial basis for a week and a half, because of trouble falling asleep I was having. My doctor thought maybe my issues was underlying, not related to medication, but I never had sleep problems before I started Atripla. However, I noticed with the Complera, I literally could get no sleep at all! So it was worse for me than the Atripla, at least with Atripla I eventually fall asleep (although I feel really tired the next morning) and come to find out, Complera is notorious for insomnia! So why the hell would the doc have tried me on it given my issue? Anyways, I am back on Atripla now for the last month, and have noticed that I have moodiness and feeling down sometimes, mostly in the mornings, not sure if that is related to the medication. I am seriously considering asking to change regimens again, but this time to something besides Atripla or Complera, to see if that helps my sleep. It couldn't hurt to try! I do like Atripla overall, and the intense libido I have, except for the sleep issues and occasional feelings of sadness/malaise, which I can't 100% prove is related to the medication.
Miss P, you make a great point, I actually have been experiencing some crazy mood swings and feelings of anger and depression which is NOT like me at all, and I definately don't think I have a clinical depression issue, so maybe it is a side effect. I never really thought about that. But I will tell my doctor. I am thinking of trying a friendlier regimen, but just not sure where to start, or what to ask for, there are so many options! Some have suggested Truvada/Isentress or Intelence, or maybe the Quad..I guess I'll do some research about it. The brain side effects of Atripla do worry me some, but it has done well for me otherwise.
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Isentress has been noted to cause insomnia in some people.
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Do you know if anyone has linked this to integrase inhibitors in general? I'm on Stribild (it has elvitegravir), and it's hard to get much information. Everyone just says 'oh, those new ones don't have side effects' and then I just feel like I'm being a baby about it. I've mentioned in other threads, so maybe you saw my whining over there. It's hard to know what's a side effect and what's unrelated, but the main ones are food and sleep are both take-em-or-leave-em for the past, um, 2-5 weeks (?), and and lately (the past week) I often feel like I'm on a boat, like, the whole ground will just sway back and forth for a while. It's not *like* I'm on a boat, as in reminiscent. It feels exactly as if I were on a boat and moving several feet. Or sometimes down seems to be over to my left or right instead of, you know, down, where it's supposed to be. It's not terrible, and it's better than the alternative, so I'm afraid to make a big deal of it to the doctor. I'm more afraid of Atripla than this, so... Sorry - I'm re-reading this and it's a lot of stream of consciousness. Stribild activates some latent mania, I think. Ugh, and now I'm self-diagnosing. Blah. OK, I'd appreciate it if anyone knows anything about anything and can share.
Isentress has been noted to cause insomnia in some people.
Oh, and here's an article about recreational Sustiva: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/18/167523601/dangers-of-whoonga-abuse-of-aids-drugs-stokes-resistance
Regarding this:
Yeah, I don't know why this isn't mentioned more with Atripla. You would think they would want to advertise this instead of all the "it causes bad dreams" info. Would definitely make people more interested in starting meds.
:) I was on a month of Sustiva (and some other things) as PEP therapy a few years ago, and damn that was some weird stuff.
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Melatonin is my friend.
I've no recollection of my Efavirenz-dreams since
melatonin puts me in a deep dreamless sleep more often tan not,
and I don't sleep for more than 7 hours to get REM rebound anyway.