[CopperStar]

My pdoc appointment to decide on which medication to try first is on Wednesday. I've been obsessing about it for almost two weeks now, since the last initial appointment, and have been all over the place from damn-near-suicidal apathy to extreme agitation to terrible anxiety to full-blown paranoia that my psychiatrist is secretly hoping to kill me or make me go insane or something. Once in a while even a feeling of sorrow like I am going off to die with this and don't actually want to. Gotta love paradoxical mind****s in a mixed state. Oh and then there's the occasional almost giddy excitement, as though my brain is interpreting this as going off to try LSD or something, like maybe I'll feel 'crazy' and it'll be fun. Goodness gracious.

After changing my mind about 200 times in 2 weeks, right now I'm actually leaning towards asking to try Seroquel. Because a lot of material I've read on it, from articles to studies to a slew of reviews from people who have tried it, seems to strongly indicate that it is very unlikely to be activating and can really help people mellow the hell out. I know that initially I'll probably be sleeping like a log, and that I might gain some weight, but neither of these side effects really bother me all that much.

My biggest fear is that whatever AP I try will make me even more wound up, agitated and nuts. I already spend more days than not, and more waking hours than out, restlessly pacing, talking to myself, being all wound up, agitated in a like a physiological festering way and having horrible intrusive thoughts some of which are suicidal or homicidal in nature. I think the fact alone that my pdoc wants me to try Abilify first and then reading those negative Abilify reviews about agitation, insomnia and aggression have had me in like a constant state of doomsday thinking ever since. So I'm really honing in on choices that seem to be mostly sedating, because I am starting to scare myself a little at this point.

Other than too much sleep or too much foraging in the kitchen, has anyone had positive results with Seroquel? Like if you set aside any side effects, just focusing on how your symptoms responded to it, has anyone had any luck? I'm asking from the perspective of someone who is okay with gaining a few pounds or sleeping like a log for the first several weeks. I know some of you have probably quit Seroquel because the side effects sucked, which I understand. But did it at least work?

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Seroquel has pretty much kept me alive for the last 8 years. I was very afraid to go on it because I'd been on other APs with really bad results (extrapydramidal syndrome, blood pressure problems that landed me in the er twice, double vision, akathesia) and the psychiatric facility where I worked used it a lot and the patients on it were snowed. It turned out that the psychiatrist there was using it to purposefully snow people so that fear was unnecessary although I had to try it to learn that. I've never found it to be as heavily sedating as people complain; it used to help me sleep (probably still would if this episode would ever end) but I took it plus high dose depakote and other sedatives together and was still working and was on it with klonopin and sometimes valium and slept 5 solid hours every night for the time I was stable about 5 years ago and continued sleeping like that for quite a while past the stability.

I did go up on the dose very slowly but that was because of my history with the other APs that I'd tried.

I've had some weight gain on it, nothing enormous compared to what other meds have done. Until I was on a high dose (1200 mg) it didn't seem to make me gain that much on its' own and I'm hoping that if I can get below that dose using my 2nd new AP that I'll be able to get some weight off. I've lost some with the new AP already so I'm hoping that continues.

It's been a good drug. I've done better on XR than regular; literally from the 3rd day on XR I felt better. I begged to go on XR when it was coming out because it was supposed to help people who were on higher doses and were overly sedated. I don't know what it did for that b/c of too many other drugs in the equation but something clicked and it has worked better for me.

SInce I've been on it I've also tried Zyprexa, Latuda and now loxapine and the first two didn't help much (Latuda wasn't given a very fair chance) and loxapine is too new to be sure about although it seems to be helping some but the dosing is extremely low still.

[gemini_double]

Seroquel has been a very good med (for me). Try it, what do you have to lose? Every med has a side effect. It's your responsibility to work your life around the side effects.

[meganb22]

Seroquel saved what was left of my sanity back in 2011 and 2012. (I took the XR and it never made me tired.) I had extreme anxiety as well as depression. I don't know how is works or why, but it helped me tremendously. My anxiety lessened enough for therapy to be helpful. I started getting back to myself. Unfortunately, as much as I loved it it was one of the big reasons I gained weight. I was just starting to get my appetite back after a few months of being too hyped up to really eat anything substantial, when I started taking Seroquel. I'm pretty sure it amplified my appetite and caused me to gain weight. I think I gained something like 60-70 pounds in around 2 years.

I know that kind of weight gain doesn't happen to everyone, although it is one of the biggest side effects. I'm sure there were many factors that went into my weight and it wasn't entirely the meds doing. If I had to do it all over again, I would still choose taking it. It made me sane again and I didn't experience any other symptoms besides the weigh gain.

Good luck!

Seroquel at bedtime is sweet honey in the rock.

[Crazy Hitch]

Yes.

I'm not at "stable" .... but I'd be up in the clouds if I wasn't on it right now .........

This looks a bit like the cauliflower I'm eating for dinner, think this is just where my brain is at today

[raspberrytorte]

Putting side effects aside, it has worked pretty good for me. When I consistently take it it keeps me from depression, and even more important it helps a lot with my anxiety! It is sedating, but for me it's not too bad.

Abilify was horrible for me. Made me agitated and anxious and the inner restlessness. I'd try seroquel over abilify.

[Luctor]

Originally Posted by Lefty the Salesman

Seroquel at bedtime is sweet honey in the rock.

This. I take a very small dose every night as a sleep aid. Wake up a little groggy but feeling like I had a proper night's sleep.

[LettinG0]

Meds work differently for each individual. I couldn't take Seroquel. Terrible side effects.

[Juniebug]

Seroquel stopped the stomach problems that I could find no answers for. I had become skeletal for months and did all kinds of tests to determine why I had diarrhea (sorry that's gross) on a daily basis. My doc prescribed it at night, and my problems stopped immediately. It stopped the mental turmoil that was making me physically sick.

[StressCadet]

I took seroquel for a couple of years. It was a big help for both sleep and reducing the effects of mania. I'm type 2 diabetic and it spiked my glucose beyond the safe level. I had to be hospitalized for the glucose and a diabetic ulcer on my right foot. I ended up having 3 surgeries which resulted in a partial amputation. They had to take over half of my foot.

[mathrye]

I've been on Seroquil for just under two months, and it is my first medication for the manic-depressive issues. Not knowing that I was bipolar, I was absurdly wound up for about a month this spring until I landed my manic self in the hospital.

My psychiatrist immediately set me on 100 mg/night Seroquil and allowed me the option to take some throughout the day as needed. It was an incredibly effective way to pull the emergency brake on a wild mania, without crashing me into a depression or zombie state or anything like that.

During the first few weeks, I administered 25-50 mg a few times a week (in addition to the 100 mg/night, of course) whenever I would start to feel myself trying to wind up again. Now that I'm ~2 months in, I rarely have to take any during the day, though I don't hesitate to if things start rolling in the wrong direction.

In my experience with intermediate-term Seroquil use, side effects included:

> Mild soreness and muscle tension (most of which I can dispel with 10-20 minutes of yoga/stretcheng)
> Increased appetite (eating three times a day instead of once!)
> Increased ability to sleep (averaging a healthy 7-9 hours instead of 2-4),
> Mild dizziness for the first week or two, however I haven't noticed this in the last month...
> Not freaking out and ending up hospitalized...
> For the first few weeks, I thought it might be impairing my memory, however in retrospect I suspect this had less to do with the meds and more to do with the mania itself. Memory seems fine now, and operates in a normal/functional manner instead of randomly pelting me with whatever unrelated nonsense it digs up.

As was said above - it doesn't hurt to ask/try. It's quite easy to go on, beats the mania, and I'm told that it isn't too hard to go off of (I had _no_ issues when I dropped from dosing during the day to only at night)

Good luck & best wishes!

-:- M

[~Christina]

Seroquel was the first medication I was put on.. It s-l-o-w-e-d down my brain so much... My mind has never been so slow. It felt very abnormal.. My pdoc laughed and said.. Yeah this how all us neurotypicals think . LOL

But I wasn't able to tolerate the weight gain side effect. My anorexic issues don't play well with weight gainers..

" IF" it didn't have that side effect? I would probably take it daily, well maybe.