[liveforsummer]

Just been prescribed Seroquel 50 mg morning and night. Looking for any feedback from those who use/used it. I've looked it up online and of course the massive list of side effects is terrifying (esp TD). But I would like to hear personal feedback

[Sunflower123]

The only feedback I have is that it was so sedating for me that I slept all the way through my second day of a new job! Fortunately, they worked with me but I still came off of it. That's the extent of my recollection. Best wishes.

[Victoria'smom]

at 50 mg my head turned to the left on it's own every couple of min. I got off it and was fine.

Please, please, PLEASE watch your blood sugar and cholesterol. My blood sugar was fine, but my total cholesterol went up 72 points in one month (yes, literally 72 points) when my dose reached at a certain point.

Also, make sure to stay well hydrated. Too little water can lead to double vision. As the warnings say, do not operate machinery until you're used to the drug.

[*Laurie*]

50mg. is a pretty low dose., usually used to treat insomnia. The thing I'd watch for at that dose is weight gain. In my experience, any amount of Seroquel causes people to feel really hungry, and can cause weight gain.

[Guiness187055]

Seroquel at 100mg gave me diabetes and from time to time it would make my heart race. Now I have to live my life with diabetes because of that drug. I took it 14 years ago for about a year.

[still_crazy]

ugh. seroquel. i tried the old version, back in the day. i felt like i was being poisoned. too sedating. vivid nightmares. i sometimes woke up with sore muscles, clenched jaw, etc.

some people swear by it, though. td happens. "experts" seem kind of...conflicted...about how common td is with the "atypical" tranquilizers. some say rare, especially the lower potency ones (such as seroquel...) at low doses. others say the overall frequency of td is not that much better than comparable doses of the older drugs. turns out, one big problem with the older tranquilizers/antipsychotics is that they were used at excessively high doses on a regular basis. surprise, surprise; that ruined peoples' lives. early data made the "atypicals" look benign in comparison, but now...some "experts" are sounding the alarm.

wish I could provide some good news, lol. have you ever tried hydroxyzine? its an old school antihistamine that also serves as a tranquilizer and, at high(er) doses, as a sleeping pill. one former psychiatrist told me it can "boost" antidepressants. i dunno. there are case reports of tardive dyskinesia from hydroxyzine, but it seems to be an infrequent, possibly rare, occurence. its generic and available in a number of strengths. i don't think its particularly difficult to taper.

[liveforsummer]

I soooooo appreciate all this input....part of me is tempted to just stick with the Divalproex until pdoc assessment in Aug. Just put up with the boring blah feeling and upset tummy. Hmmmmm, I did fill the Seroquel Rx so will decide before bed tonight.

[liveforsummer]

or maybe I'll continue to stick my head in the sand and let denial take over

[Wild Coyote]

You likely know this, yet for the sake of readers, I'll add:

It's very important to know which symptoms are being targeted for treatment, along with all possible treatment options.

I wish I had more to add about Seroquel. I'd had a very short trial of it several years ago and just remember it wasn't what I'd needed then.


WC

[liveforsummer]

Chief complaints explained to fam doc today are rapid swinging from slightly hypomanic, irritable, ok, depressed, self injury, very agitated/fidgety in the evening. Is Seroquel the right choice? I dunno. I just seem to peak my head out of low moods/depression and glimpse something better then fall back down again. He opted not to Rx AD at this time. Really hoping appt in Aug will be highly informative.
Thoughts?

[bioChE]

My thought is August is too long to wait. Isn't there any way you can get in to see someone sooner?

[Unrigged64072835]

I gained weight and had an extreme appetite on Seroquel. Other than that it was sedating.

[Wild Coyote]

I wish he had given you the option of trying Lamictal (lamotrigine).


WC

[liveforsummer]

We discussed seroquel, lithium and lamictal today. All 3 scare me. Feeling pretty good this evening so won't start it yet.

At this point short of calling pdocs myself and even then I'm likely looking at a wait until being seen, the only short cut is to show up at the ER suicidal.

Will be checking in with my fam doc regularly. See him again next week. Will feel guilty tho if I haven't tried the seroquel but I'm terrible at compliance. Fear of side effects takes over.

[Guiness187055]

I take lithium and lamictal I love them both. The blood work is a pain in the butt though.

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by liveforsummer

We discussed seroquel, lithium and lamictal today. All 3 scare me. Feeling pretty good this evening so won't start it yet.

At this point short of calling pdocs myself and even then I'm likely looking at a wait until being seen, the only short cut is to show up at the ER suicidal.

Will be checking in with my fam doc regularly. See him again next week. Will feel guilty tho if I haven't tried the seroquel but I'm terrible at compliance. Fear of side effects takes over.

That fear is understandable.
I don't take some types of meds until I see I have little choice.

WC

[*Laurie*]

Many people find Lamictal very helpful to stabilize moods.

[Tkb1966]

I saw my GP today because I don't have an appt with my new pdoc until Aug same as you. My GP prescribed seroquel. I take lamictal only right now because I stopped effexor without my old pdoc because he wouldn't listen to me that it was making my depression and anxiety worse. I've been taking lamictal about 11 yrs and several things to pair with it but they would become ineffective.
After reading about seroquel I'm going to wait until I see my pdoc in Aug. She will probably want to do something else so why get started with that? I really don't want to take it anyway. More weight gain and diabetes would make me more depressed. I think this pdoc does a lot of ECT though which really freaks me out. Good luck on what you decide. I just got over yet another major depression but I still want to wait and hopefully have something that's going to work for me.

[liveforsummer]

Originally Posted by Tkb1966

I saw my GP today because I don't have an appt with my new pdoc until Aug same as you. My GP prescribed seroquel. I take lamictal only right now because I stopped effexor without my old pdoc because he wouldn't listen to me that it was making my depression and anxiety worse. I've been taking lamictal about 11 yrs and several things to pair with it but they would become ineffective.
After reading about seroquel I'm going to wait until I see my pdoc in Aug. She will probably want to do something else so why get started with that? I really don't want to take it anyway. More weight gain and diabetes would make me more depressed. I think this pdoc does a lot of ECT though which really freaks me out. Good luck on what you decide. I just got over yet another major depression but I still want to wait and hopefully have something that's going to work for me.

***post an update after your Aug appt if you don't mind sharing how it goes
I haven't taken it tonight.

[DylanToback]

I'm only on my 4th day taking 25mg, but here are some thoughts/comments:

1. After I took my first dose, which I did on a Saturday morning, I felt drunk. Truly, do not drive until you are adapted to it. (I felt OK to drive the second day.)
2. I got a charlie horse this morning, so of course I now think I have neuroleptic malignant syndrome. :-(
3. Today (morning about 10am) I feel restless and agitated. I am currently testing out whether this is due to combining Seroquel with coffee. I think it might be.
4. I took the first dose in the morning with my other pills, but I immediately switched to evening since it is so sedating. I felt groggy earlier this morning, but I am also on Metadate (like Adderall) so that might be helping me be more awake than some other Seroquel users.
5. I'm not noticing any effect on my appetite. (I know that Metadate reduces appetite, at least at first, but being adapted to it, that effect has pretty much gone away for me.)
6. I feel a little scattered, and like my eyes want to bounce around. I experienced something similar for quite a while after I started Lamictal, which I am still on, so it may just be something specific to me.

That's about it thus far.

[liveforsummer]

Thanks Dylan keep me updated!!!!!

[xRavenx]

Seroquel and I have a long history.....

I've been on both the regular and XR versions, but mainly the regular, since XR makes me feel especially sleepy and sometimes dizzy during the day.

As far as regular (ER) Seroquel goes, I've been on all different doses. When I first started years ago, I started on 50 mg. Eventually I stepped up to 100, 200, 300, etc. (eventually hitting 800 as time went on, when my newer Psychiatrist determined it would be necessary since at the time, I was having an acute mixed manic episode).

At 50-100: These doses were very sedating in the beginning. I slept so easy. It would knock me out.
200 mg- I started to feel immune to the 50-100 mg doses for sleep, so this dose started to be more effective. This is when I began to notice it also had more of an affect on lowering anxiety a bit.
300-400 mg: The mood stabilization effects started to really kick in. Especially at 400, which is considered a "maintenance dose" for preventing Bipolar depression and mania. Right now, this is the dose range I am on, since it is helping prevent me from going into such a severe episode, although I still have my issues. The downside: sometimes I feel lightheaded in the morning still. It helps me sleep very well. Actually, I can't sleep without Seroquel, but it starts to feel quite powerful in a way that sometimes makes me feel kind of nervous from time to time. It does help anxiety during the day.

600 mg +: I needed time getting used to 600 mg for sure. At first, I'd get lightheaded in the morning. There were days that I didn't think I would make it to work due to feeling dizzy driving. I would need to sit down, since my blood pressure would drop a little bit. It did wonders for mood stabilization and getting out of swings between mania and depression, but I'm glad I didn't stay on this dose long-term. I would get hand twitching, especially when I would do something simple, like pick up a pencil. I was hardly able to stay away from sweets and gained a little bit of weight, but not noticeably so to others. Sometimes it felt scary-sedating. I am glad I am off of this dose, but would consider going back to it short-term, if I enter a severe episode in the future.

I just stepped down to 300 mg for the first time in years and have decided I will never ask to lower it from this point on, but I will only increase it , if I feel it's absolutely needed. It is the only medication that helps me sleep, unfortunately. If I don't sleep, mania will set in quickly. It does help reduce some anxiety though. Tapering down was a bit tough. Angry outbursts came out a lot, interfering with some of my relationships temporarily...but I'm adjusting (I think).

[liveforsummer]

I went to my bipolar drop in group this afternoon and told them my fam doc had prescribed me Seroquel 25mg 1 tab twice daily then after a few days go up to 2 tabs twice a day (100mg), a bunch of them immediately spoke up and told me to try it, that they have had a lot of success with it. Anyway despite all my fears I just took my first 25 mg tab and am sitting here typing...so we shall see....

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Seroquel is one of the only drugs that has worked for me. I was on doses up to 1500 mg (nearly double the recommended max). I was on 800-1200 mg for the longest time.

I was really afraid of it because I worked in a psych facility where the psychiatrist used it to snow a lot of the patients. I was terrified that I would be snowed too. My pdoc had me go up very slowly over probably 2-3 months (to maybe 300 mg) and while it helped me sleep I wasn't overly sedated. I was on it with a really high dose of depakote too and still wasn't too sedated. When XR came out I switched to that and it made life a lot better; all the sedation during the day left but I still slept at night.

I was on it for 9 years before it stopped working and I changed to clozaril. I did gain weight on it but also lost about 60 lbs at one point on it.

I found it a good med but not perfect. I'm still waiting for the perfect med .