Seroquel for insomnia, anyone else?

I know that this isn't the Psych Meds forum, but I have been newly diagnosed with Bipolar II and thought this was a more appropriate place to post, since this is the Bipolar forum
I went in to see the Psychiatrist, after years and years of dealing with terrible anxiety and deep depression. I had previously gone to my regular doctor who had tried me on numerous anti-depressants and benzo's. (Zoloft, Paxil, Prozac, Celexa, wellbutrin XL, Xanax, and Ativan, to name a few I've previously tried.) And none of them worked for me. All of the anti-depressants seemed to do the same thing, make me extremely anxious, irritated, agitated, almost hostile feeling. The benzo's just made me tired, and didn't help at all with my anxiety.
So after talking with the pdoc, and telling her all she needed to know, and with my family history of bipolar (mom) she said it looks to be very likely that I am bipolar. She told me that things may get better once I get to sleeping more regularly. She prescribed me Seroquel to help me sleep. So far, it makes me tired, but I am still waking a lot at night (6-8 times). She said if it didn't work she would up my dose, but I have 2 small children and need to be able to be roused if they wake in the night or need something, so I am nervous about upping my dose. So far it hasn't helped with my daytime symptoms at all, and I am wondering if I should ask her about getting something to help with my hypomania/depression cycles which happen daily, and are making it hard for me to function. I hate feeling so edgy, and feeling like I could crawl out of my own skin. would it be right for me to ask her about getting something to help during the daytime, or would that be like me trying to do her job? Also, has anyone else been prescribed seroquel for sleep, and what was your experience like?

Trazadone works for me for sleep. I've gone as high as 400 mgs. when hypomanic but now I take 100-200 mgs. and it works fine. Seroquel made me gain weight very fast and I couldn't deal with that side effect.

I am concerned about the weight gain as well, since I am already overweight. How does it make you gain? Does the pill itself cause weight gain, or is it the side effect that increases your appetite cause the weight gain? So far my appetite is about the same, actually I have been eating a little less than usual if anything.

It didn't help me sleep but it did make me walk like a drunk. I stopped taking it after six weeks when I had to crawl back in bed when I couldn't walk when I awoke.

In the hospital, they do normally seriously mess up my meds. A friend of mine that was there the same time as me has been telling me stories of things I was doing in there. She said I was totally out of it for groups, conversations with other patients, meals, etc. When this girls mom came to visit her, I had my wheelchair pulled up to the table & had my face on the table next to my bowl of cereal & when she tried to introduce us, I just grunted & didnt even pick up my head. I could go on for days with stories about this stuff.....funny but not cool. THey could really hurt me in there doing that stuff.

I saw my psych doc on Friday.......she wants me to add 600mg Seroquel to my meds. I used to take it several years ago. It is supposed to completely knock you out. For me, some days it does that & some days I am wide awake. My problems are with getting ANY sleep at all & keeping me calm throughout the day. I asked the doc if I could take 300mg at night, 150mg in morning, 150mg in afternoon. She said that was fine. I am really hoping it wil help.....wish me luck.......

I actually had and have great luck with seroquel, in combination with my AD med. I take a really small dose - half the 25mg pill about a half hour before bed and I sleep a nice 7-8 hours. I also take my AD at the same time, and the combination is great.

I have used Ambien, Ambien CR, trazadone, and one other one that I can't remember for my insomnia. The only one that worked was the Ambien CR but my insurance won't cover it.

Mom just told me that I apparently sleep walked last night. She said things were arranged differently than when we went to bed. She also said the television was on this morning but she had cut it off.

At low doses (25-50mg) I use seroquel as a sleeping tablet. I feel fine in the morning and it really helps me sleep. I don't need it that often.
I also take abilify (15mg) as a mood stabiliser and effexor (150mg) as an antidepressant.

tThere is a website (google "Crazy Meds") with information on all the psych drugs and this site has information as well (Drugs). From what I've read the SE of weight gain may be dose related. There is a craving for junk food in some people taking it. It also affects the pancreas and a SE is diabetes.

I used it to sleep after mania once.

Serequol makes me very drowsy.... I am only on 100mg at night very low dosage. It knocks me out big style unless I am Manic that is lol. I also take 25mg during the day for anxiety/agitation. Plus I can take a further 25-50mg if needs be for anxiety/agitation.

But Serequol does work for me as a sleep aid

Like Miss Laura, 100mg Seroquel knocks me flat. Yesterday's dose put me lights out for 17.5 hours, and now 24 hours later I am still feeling very drunk. I couldn't drive today.
So I guess it did help me sleep, and a sledge hammer would have done a similar job.

About 300mg of Seroquel would put me to sleep but I stopped taking it because I gained a fair bit of weight on it.

I take 200mg with Topamax to balance out the weight gain. It is working food isn't awful and I am not gaining much.

I also gained a LOT of weight or Seroquel. It was AMAZING for sleep though. I have never had such regular sleep in my life. Seroquel was a part of my treatment for OCD, bipolar, and anxiety. I believe it was mainly for the latter. I started at 25 mg and was like a zombie. As my dosage increased, I believe I was at 325 when I stopped taking it, my sleep was more stable. That is to say the higher the dose, the less groggy I was.

One thing I did find, and PLEASE be careful with this! Is that the Seroquel would make me hungry, but it also relaxed me so much that I would choke trying to swallow. It relaxed my throat so much that I could not eat after I took my meds. It was maddening! I would crave chips, cookies, etc, but I knew I could not eat.

Seroquel "quelled" my racing and agitated brain. I slept and slept and slept. No other pill could induce sleep but seroquel. Seroquel did NOT help my bipolar depression. And, unfortunately, the drug made me quite stupid. It took me almost 8 months to titrate off of the evil chemical.

I'm temporarily on seroquel to overcome this mixed episode I've been in for weeks. The first night, the seroquel had me out like a light, the 2nd night, not nearly so much. The third, barely any drowsiness at all from it, and by the 4th night, none at all. Will see how it goes tonight, but I'm not expecting much. This is all at 25mgs.

My quitiapine (Seroquel) definitely helps me sleep.

It's getting to the point now that if I don't text my night dose of it, I cannot get to sleep at all. It is a side effect that Seroquel can cause fatigue, even though it isn't a primary use of the drug.

I am on 50mg of Seroquel for sleep; it does wonders for me. It worked the best at first, because I have still been in a low hypomanic state. The first week, it knocked me out and I slept hard. I had been sleeping 2-5 hours a night for several months, so that first night I slept 10 hours straight and had REM sleep and dreaming for the first time in over a year that I can recall.
I am now titrating onto Lamictal (25mg dose daily to be doubled in a few weeks) and my pdoc wants me to stay on the Seroquel at night for now. I am sometimes a little groggy in the morning, but a hot shower and a single cup of coffee seems to clear away the cobwebs and I am calm and peaceful in the mornings. By afternoon, the anxiety and twitchy-ness seems to come back a bit, but I am hoping that will calm down as meds increase and also as the season is changing and I typically head into a calm period through the holiday season before crashing into a major depressive episode in January. Hopefully meds will mitigate that this year.
So, for me, that 50mg of Seroquel around dinner time has been a godsend when it comes to a real night's sleep.

My pdoc had me on 12 mgs Ambien and then added 300mgs of Seroquel. I take Lamictal at suppertime. With the Ambien and Seroquel together I was completely unconscious. It took weeks to realize that I was sleepwalking and sleep eating before I went to bed. I don't know how I ever even made it upstairs to bed. Pdoc cut the Seroquel in half and then next split the Ambien. That still knocked me out and I woke up totally drugged. Now I take a microscopic piece of Ambien along with the Seroquel. I sleep like a rock and I'm still drugged when I wake up in the morning. I hate taking these meds, but I hate lying sleepless in bed for hours even more. I gave that nearly invisible piece of Ambien twice; both times I had a hard time falling asleep. Since taking the drugs I've gained alot of weight, and I have a horrible, dry, metallic taste in my mouth twenty four hours a day.

Thank you all so much for your replies! It means a great deal to me, sorry I haven't updated lately. Here's a little update. I have been on Seroquel for about a month now. The first two weeks I was on 25-50 mgs. At first it worked great, and gradually the effect was less and less. I had my follow up appt. with pdoc, she upped my dose to 100-200 mgs per night at bedtime. I am working on upping it, but since I still have a bunch of 25 mg pills left, for three days I have been doing 75 mgs. I am going to do that until my 25 mgs are gone, then I will up to the 100 mg pills. I don't want to be too out of it,because I have two little ones, and need to be able to be roused if they awake in the night. pdoc wants to get me up to 300 mgs, because that is the therapeutic dose. As far as weight goes, I have actually lost 15 lbs while taking this, because instead of being up half the night munching, I actually go to bed at a decent time and am not snacking all night while I can't sleep. I hope when I up my dose, that doesn't change, because I am already overweight as it is.

Looks like seroquel aids in getting some sleep. I will try it too

I've been taking Trazadone, I started at 100 MG and now I'm taking 200. I fall asleep but then I wake up at 1,2 or 3 am, and can't get back to sleep. I asked my pdoc abt Ambien she wouldn't authorize it.

They had me on it for a while and it works great

-There is no such thing as normal.

I use seroquel for sleep and it works for me very well. I gained a lot of weight but i took also depakote then. When I stopped Depakote I lost some weight. If I dont take seroquel i dont sleep and then I get quickly disrupted what can result in a mania. So I'm happy with seroquel, but there was a time when seroquel didnt work,i took then extra sleep medication.