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Originally Posted by bluebicycle
Interesting experiences, BirdDancer.
Seroquel just gave me a bad hangover, and the XR just made me feel "blah"/flat until the dose was increased and it gave me depression. No weight gain here, either, although I only went up to 250mg of the XR before calling it quits because of the depression.  Plus, it made my already-high cholesterol skyrocket.
I had the same experience on Abilify, minus the akathisia and severe mania. I had mania on it, but it doesn't sound as bad as yours. It also stopped helping my depression at some point. I'm just not sure if I hallucinated because of the mania or because I hallucinate all the time anyways. It's possible I was delusional, but I don't know and therefore don't remember, since it was so long ago.
Did you get heart problems on Geodon/Risperdal? I've heard of QT interval issues from a lot of people. A friend had rapid heartbeat on it and had to stop it.
Invega sounds interesting if it helps with mania. I don't think mania is my biggest issue, but psychosis is of course. I just hope it won't end up like Seroquel for me.
Now that I think of it, Zyprexa is olanzapine and Seroquel is quetiapine... I wonder if the "pine"s will have a negative affect on me... |
Hi bluebicycle. I do have high cholesterol on my mix. After posting in this thread, I realized that maybe I should have mentioned that, but it was too late. I'm not 100% sure Seroquel XR is a culprit, but I wouldn't bet against it. The last time I had blood tests done, my triglycerides and glucose levels were normal, but the cholesterol was still high. My glucose levels have been normal for about 8.5 years since losing weight after going off Depakote and Invega. I've mostly also struggled with the triglycerides, other than the last year and a couple years after losing the 40 lbs after Depakote and Invega 8.5 years ago. I am still 20 lbs less now than I was before that diet. Yes, that indicates weight gain since then, but honestly, I am only 4 lbs more now than at my heaviest BEFORE my bipolar diagnosis and meds, 17 years ago. Considering, I am not sure that Seroquel XR's weight gain has been that bad for me.
I've never had issues with QT intervals on any of my meds, including Risperdal or a high dose of Geodon (160 mg/day), but do get an EKG every other year. I know Geodon is especially notorious for that, so think people should have thorough annual physicals.
I don't feel flat on Seroquel XR at 600 mg. I feel normal. I do wish I had more energy, but I think if I had as much as I'd like, I'd probably be hypomanic or manic 😉
I have no idea if olanzapine and quetiapine are closely related. I never heard that they were, but they do seem to have things in common. I have read, and my psychiatrist told me, that quetiapine has a comparitively low incidence of EPS and hyperprolactinemia. As mentioned in my original post, this has clearly rung true for me. Risperidone and paliperidone (Invega) are similar. The originals were developed by the same company, too.