The abnormal dreams only hit 1 in 10 people, the somnolence about 23% at the dosage i received. There are many people out there that do not understand that statistics say nothing about any specific person - but i have had mathematics and statistic courses during my university time, because molecular biology (and most other sciences) needs statistics to produce actual results. Out of the thousands of patients they have, i would've been one of those who understood these facts, and i would've never declined any medication just based on the chance of side effects.

And they would not even have to actively inform me about them, but one of the 4 psychs i had there over the years should have reacted the moment i explained that i avoided going to sleep because i had so much fear that i would have another of these nightmares. These dreams were brutal, filled with fear, violence, death and gore (rated 18+ for sure). I don't ever watch such stuff, but my dreams still were able to produce it. I never before had such graphic dreams, and the worst of them took days to shake off, because i could remember them so well.

One of the sleeping meds i was prescribed "funnily" was preventing me from sleeping - my nose became so stuffy that i only could breathe through my mouth. So i was laying there, half-conscious, fearing the dreams and being held awake by my nose. Fun times.

Not actively informing to prevent patients from just not taking the medication is one thing, and possibly needed in some psychiatric conditions. But not informing when their patients suffers severe side effects from the meds they prescribed and instead trying to suppress these effects with ineffectual additional medication is something i can't forgive. This medication was planned to be taken until the end of my days - if its a medication for something acute, i would just deal with it. But giving up a good nights rest for the rest of my life is not an option.

I've had a lot of different medications too in my life, and most doctors at least told me to watch out for the most severe of them (Lamotrigin e.g. can lead to very bad, potentially deadly complications in some patients). And most of the time i was pretty lucky - i tend to not have side effects or they are negligible. The only other case where i had to discontinue the med was Aripiprazole, a.k.a. Abilify. Mentally, my mood was fucking great - i loved it and really liked how positive i became. But i wasn't able to sit or stand still anymore, even on 1/2 tablet of the smallest available dosage per day. I was running around in circles for hours and couldn't stop, because sitting still was torture.

It's good advice to always ask for side effects, i will do that for sure going into the future. I just hope i can find a psychiatrist that i can build a working relationship with, because currently i wish every one of them an itching rash on their butts that doesn't go away.