Zoloft is one of those drugs in which it takes a while to A. get used to it and B. for it to work to its full effect. It has what is called transient or start up side effects. These generally peter out as your body adjusts to the Zoloft and may go away completely. This can take 6 or so weeks to work through. And the drug is fully effective at around 6 to 8 weeks. So, giving it time to do that is best to give it a proper chance to help you. Sleep issues are a common transient side effect when starting Zoloft. You can ask your doctor and sometimes they switch the time of day you take it (morning to night or vice versa). Hang in there, this should get better. You are on a pretty low dose by the way. good luck
The issue here is why you have insomnia. Zoloft is for anxiety and depression, and you do indicate you have anxiety. If the anxiety is the reason you're not sleeping and the Zoloft takes care of that problem by tamping down the symptoms, you should sleep better. But your sleep problem could also be unrelated to any anxiety you're having. Anxiety causes insomnia in only some people who have it. Antidepressants can interfere with sleep as a side effect or they can help with it, but they're not a sleeping pill. Lunesta is a sleeping pill, and if you take it on a regular basis you'll get worse insomnia, so your doctor is right to try and get you to another place. I'm wondering if you were ever suggested to try therapy before being put on medication, and how much your anxiety was interfering with your life other than the sleeping problem. Like many of us, you may be seeking the magic pill, but those of us who have had long-term problems can tell you there aren't any. The best treatment is a cure, and therapy might be that cure. Medication never is, it just treats symptoms. There are also other ways to help sleep, again depending on why you're not sleeping and how severe and disruptive in the rest of your life your anxiety is. You don't say, so I don't know. You could have sleep apnea, you could have a melatonin problem that would be more easily treated with melatonin, you may not be exercising enough -- there are a whole lot of reasons for insomnia. I have a sleep disorder that was caused by taking medication for anxiety, but the anxiety itself never gave me chronic sleep problems -- it only affected me when something really hard for me to do was coming up. So it differs by the person, and the correct diagnosis is important. Something that helped me a lot until the medication problem was exercising regularly and meditating daily. As for the Zoloft, Mom has already explained that for you. Some people are sedated by medication, some are stimulated. It's the sedation that helps people sleep. Only time will tell how you will react to the med. Good luck and know you have options.