[TRNRMOM]

am a 65 yr. old female. i take lithium as my mood stabilizer and klonopin for my anxiety. lately ambien does nothing for the racing thoughts and insomnia. my p/doc suggested taking a small amount of seroquel for sleep. i've taken as little as 6 mg. a nite, and it works great...however, all my research indicates a lot of weight gain on it. i exercise daily. has anyone used seroquel for sleep in small doses and not gained weight. your experiences, please.

[Miss Laura]

Hey TRNRMOM,

I take 175mg XR Serequol and I have put a lot of weight on.... makes me very hungry. I started off with just taking 25mg for anxiety and then another 25mg for sleep.

I have read a lot of people do gain weight on it.

[BipolarBug]

I take 150 mg. a day and I've put on 10-15 pounds in the last 3 months. I am not complaining because I needed to gain the weight, but I am sure I am the minority on this one

[TRNRMOM]

Originally Posted by BipolarBug

I take 150 mg. a day and I've put on 10-15 pounds in the last 3 months. I am not complaining because I needed to gain the weight, but I am sure I am the minority on this one

I'm hoping maybe taking such a low dose nightly won't cause weight gain. sent an email to my p/doc hoping he'd reply w/an honest answer but i like to rely on those who actually take the med. thanks.

[Anneinside]

When I too 25mg at night for sleep I did not find that I had excessive hunger and didn't gain weight. When I increased to 200mg then I became very hungry and gained weight.

[fergus]

I've taken it for sleep and now I'm serequel extended release for anxiety depression. I really haven't gained weight but I asked my psychiatrist about it and he said weight gain has nothing to do with the amount of serequel you take you can gain the same amount of weight on a small or large dosage.

[bipolarmedstudent]

Originally Posted by TRNRMOM

am a 65 yr. old female. i take lithium as my mood stabilizer and klonopin for my anxiety. lately ambien does nothing for the racing thoughts and insomnia. my p/doc suggested taking a small amount of seroquel for sleep. i've taken as little as 6 mg. a nite, and it works great...however, all my research indicates a lot of weight gain on it. i exercise daily. has anyone used seroquel for sleep in small doses and not gained weight. your experiences, please.

I don't know about the seroquel. But if you're looking for an alternative...geodon is a drug in the same class (an atypical antipsychotic) that is very sedating for most people but it is more weight-neutral than seroquel. I took geodon for a while...it made me pass out randomly everywhere (seriously...I would even fall asleep while eating or talking), and I didn't gain any weight on it.

[Freefall1974]

I take 150mg each night for sleep and have not gained any weight. It was a slow taper up to that dose. I am curious about your 6mg dose. Where I am from the lowest dose of Seroquel is 25mg. Are you on a suspension?

[hanners]

Originally Posted by Freefall1974

I take 150mg each night for sleep and have not gained any weight. It was a slow taper up to that dose. I am curious about your 6mg dose. Where I am from the lowest dose of Seroquel is 25mg. Are you on a suspension?

I'd imagine she quarters the tablets. 25mg/4 = 6.25mg

[greylove]

I wish I could say I didn't gain weight when I went on Seroquel but I gained alot. The interesting thing was that as my dosage was decreased (I started at 200mg and went down to 25mg) I decreased in size as well! I couldn't believe it. I never expected that but it was the Seroquel; nothing else had changed. I didn't even realize I was losing until one day I noticed that my clothes were huge. Weird, huh?

[BlackPup]

I take seroquel for sleep in low doses but not every night, only when needed. I haven't gained weight on it. Good luck.

[cocoabeans]

I take 50 mg/night and haven't gained weight. I don't always take it though.

[TRNRMOM]

Originally Posted by hanners

I'd imagine she quarters the tablets. 25mg/4 = 6.25mg

yes, i cut the 25 mg in 1/4. i find that works just fine and if i wake up or feel i need more, i just take another 1/4. i have only needed 450 mg lithium for 35 yrs. (get tremors at anything higher) and only 1/2 of .5 mg klonopin daily to keep anxiety and agitation at bay. still concered about wt. gain, even on this low dose, but i sure slept well last night.

[sb7777]

Yep, I think experiences vary person to person. I've been taking a hefty dose of Seroquel for the past 6 months with no weight gain.

[noneedtoknow]

Taken up to 600mg for a while-no weight gain-understand your fear-especially if your a woman who works hard at keeping fit

[dillpickle1983]

I was on 300mg Seroquel, it was an awesome go night night drug, but I also woke up in a fog the next morning.

[cocoabeans]

Originally Posted by chandlerT660

I was on 300mg Seroquel, it was an awesome go night night drug, but I also woke up in a fog the next morning.

Exactly why I don't take my measly 50 mg often anymore! I wake up so groggy, grouchy and pissed off that I have to get moving and after like 10 hours of sleep!!! Why do that when I can get 4 or 5 and wake up ready to go!

[eskielover]

I had gone through a trauma with the home care person when my mother was dying of cancer.......the stress caused me to feel so sick, I ended up in the hospital with anorexia on a central line & IV nutrition. It was right after that, the nightmares were so horrible that my pdoc put me on 600mg seroquel at night so I could sleep. I was definitely groggy the next morning & the whole next day....probably because my weight was so low. I stayed on that dose for over a year. When the year anniversary hit me with everything that had happened, I was still in bad shape & low weight.

I have been able to quit that med....left my husband & didn't feel safe being that out of it when I was dependent on myself to take care of everything.....not on any meds now other than the same pain meds I've been on since 2003.

Seroquel definitely didn't help me with my anorexia condition.....hmmmmm probably why my pdoc chose that med other than the fact that no other med would allow me to get any sleep without horrible nightmares.

I must say it was great at knocking me out & giving me a good night sleep since I didn't need to function the next day.

I was prescribed 50mg Seroquel for sleep and took it every night for a few months. It worked well and had no side effects. The following year I was prescribed 300mg nightly for mood stabilization and often I would get an urge to eat a lot of food after taking it. I didn't gain a significant amount of weight but I would binge a few times a week at night. There were other side effects that ultimately led to me changing medication.