My Antidepressant Makes Me Tired — What Can I Do?

Antidepressants may produce fatigue, which is significant if it occurs often. It’s unhelpful for many, particularly those with depressive weariness. Ninety percent of depressed people are tired. Who wants side effects that double fatigue? No one!

Antidepressants include Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), Norepinephrine & Dopamine Reuptake Inhibitors (NDRIs), Tricyclic Antidepressants (TCAs), Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOIs), and Serotonin & Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs).

Antidepressants That Cause Fatigue

SSRIs help your brain manufacture enough serotonin, so doctors usually start therapy with these. SNRIs are administered when your brain needs more serotonin. They block serotonin and norepinephrine reabsorption, thus their name. Not all of them produce weariness.

TCAs may cause significant tiredness. This medicine reduces pain and improves sleep, so fatigue is common.

TCAs have secondary and tertiary amines. Desipramine and nortriptyline inhibit norepinephrine reuptake better than amitriptyline and doxepin. Secondary amine TCAs induce less tiredness. Amitriptyline and doxepin are other insomnia remedies.

Older antidepressants have more severe adverse effects. If you use Elavil, Asendin, Sinequan, Anafranil, or Surmontil and have weariness, dry mouth, disorientation, bladder difficulties, or a racing heart, tell your doctor.

MAOIs cause extreme drowsiness. All MAOIs—Nardil, Parnate, Emsam, and Marplan—cause tiredness. MAOIs and TCAs have more severe side effects, yet your doctor may recommend them. This may increase weariness.

Trazodone and mirtazapine are also sleep aids. If you wish to avoid weariness, avoid the most sedating antidepressants.

Why Do Antidepressants Cause Fatigue Anyway?

Histamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, and serotonin are affected by antidepressants. All of these substances affect sleep and waking cycles. Thus, altering these neurotransmitters in your brain might make you feel more fatigued or alert.

At the beginning of antidepressant therapy, weariness is more prevalent. As your body adjusts to