Quetiapine (Seroquel)?

Recently, my abilify seemed to have just stop working. When I first started taking it I had all kinds of sensations and things letting me know it was starting to work throughout my body. Even waking up with severe anxiety. Which was scary at first. But I always felt better in a few weeks. Then I’d stupidly came off of it and started back on it again. It was kinda a relief to go back on. I suffer from pretty bad anxiety, bipolar 1, and OCD tendencies. Which I always feel like are false whenever I’m feeling better. So, I’d come off my abilify. Now it seems I’ve come off and on so many times my body is just use to it or something. 10 mg use to work. Now I’ve reached 20 mg and have severely rapid heart rate.

Now my doctor wants me to try Seroquel. Which is terrifying me because abilify is the only medication I’ve been on, and worked so well when I started it. I’m afraid I ruined the one good medication that could help me. Has anyone gone from abilify to Seroquel with successful results? Or even just had good experiences with Seroquel? I start Seroquel tomorrow night. As I said before I’m terrified that nothing will work for me the same again. But I have nothing else but to at least try. I swear, if this does help me though, I’m never coming off it unless it stops working.

Thank you so much for reading.

I took it for years, starting on about 200 and at one point taking 800mg. I eventually had to stop it because it gave me very low blood pressure and very high heart rate. It did help, a lot, with anxiety. It was initially prescribed for insomnia, related to bipolar 1. I found I needed to take it about 20 minutes before sleep time, and be ready and in bed on time, because it usually knocked me out like a hammer. Sometimes it didn't work at all, but nothing would anyway. You might feel hungover the first several days, and that's normal until your body gets used to it.

I don't think there is just one good medication out there for you. I hope Seroquel will help.

What I have learned from this forum and being in the hospital a lot and trying a bunch of different atypicals over many years is that each of us responds in our own unique way. There just does not seem to be any predicting it. So, give it a go. Lots of people love Seroquel. It just made me sleepy and hungry, for awhile, then, it did nothing. But t is great for lots of folks.

Good luck!!!!!!!

Maybe you’re right! I hope so anyway. I suppose only time will tell.

Thank you for responding! You’re right the everyone responds differently. I’ve seen a lot more positive about it than negatives. Which abilify had a LOT of negatives. I’ll generally know within a few weeks if it’s worth sticking it throughout. At least for me anyway

I hope I have similar responses then! I don’t believe I’m starting at such a high dosage. But I see my dr in a weeks time so we’ll see about adjusting dosages then.

Seroquel XR (I take the extended release) has been my favorite antipsychotic yet and I have tried about 10 different ones over the years. Seroquel XR helps calm my manias and I believe is also helpful at keeping depression and anxiety in check for me. It is a good sleep aid and usually has a lower chance of causing people EPS (i.e. akathisia, Tardive Dyskinesia, dystonia) or elevated prolactin levels than other antipsychotics. That has been my experience.

Seroquel can be initially very sedating, but if it is, that usually eases for most people over time. It eased for me. Many complain about weight gain on Seroquel. That's common, but not that bad for some. For me, my Seroquel XR can be weight neutral up to 600 mg sometimes. I'm currently taking 700 mg. I'm hungrier than before, but the increase helped what it was supposed to help.

I've taken regular Seroquel at various doses in the past. I thought it was helpful, but prefer the extended release.

Seroquel was a nightmare for me. I was on it for 5 years because every pdoc I saw insisted that it is a good med. For me, Seroquel had no benefits at all. Over the 5 years I gained 147lbs and developed a series of health problems. I finally insisted that I would not take the stuff anymore.

I’m sorry no one would listen to you. I have an okay doctor. She’s rude but I feel like she’s at least listen to me is something wasn’t working right. Were you taking a series of other medications?

Thank you for answering! Did you find this was the first one that really worked for you over the years or just so happen to be your favorite because of lessening of side effects?

Seroquel was alright for me. It worked at higher doses (800mg of the XR and 100mg of the regular), but the weight gain was a no no for me. It was my first medication so I didn't really know what to expect. If I knew every psych med that works for me also causes weight gain I probably would have stuck with it for longer!

Seroquel was a huge failure for me. Some people really like it because they find it helps with their mood, but as others mentioned, it carries the risk of causing weight gain and drowsiness. (For me, though, there was no weight gain... BECAUSE I WAS SLEEPING THE WHOLE TIME!)

I used to take Seroquel PRN (25mg) with Abilify to make me sleep if I was getting minimal sleep. However, when Abilify pooped out on me, we moved onto Seroquel XR. What a mistake that was!

Seroquel XR (at 150mg) wasn't helping with my psychosis or mania, so we decided to bump it up to 200mg. Unfortunately, the increased dose triggered a VERY nasty depressive episode in me, one of the worst I've ever experienced in my life. At first, I thought it was a crash from an elevated mood state to a depressed mood state, so we increased the dose to either 250mg or 300mg to combat the depression (can't remember which dose because it's been a while). Then my depression got even WORSE. At that point, I demanded to be taken off of it. And, to no one's surprise, the depression went away very quickly after stopping it!

But anyway, YMMV with this med. I don't think most people have the depression problem that I had. I haven't found anyone else who's had this problem... but the risk is there, and even some websites warn you about it triggering or increasing depression. So, if you increase your dose at some point and you find that your depression is worsening, it's very possible that Seroquel XR (or regular Seroquel) is causing depression.

Hi ladyconfused. It was a long road getting to my current cocktail. It's hard to know what my situation would have been on my current cocktail, say 10 to 14 years ago. Various factors have gotten me to where I am, including mastery of coping skills, the ending of the "kindling effect", and the change in my life situation (lowered stress levels, healthier lifestyle) to name a few. But that's not exactly answering your question.

Seroquel regular was effective at curbing my mania even years back, but it took high doses in the range of what I take now. I was also on a moodstabilizer, but not Tegretol XR. At times, because I had severe mixed states, some psychiatrists added an antidepressant. That was always destabilizing for me and I rapid cycled (not the multiple times per day kind, but the multiple episodes per year kind). It took a while before finally my private psychiatrist said "No more adding an antidepressant to your mix!" Really, they were bad news! Perhaps Seroquel regular and a moodstabilizer wouldn't have been great back then if the antidepressants weren't sometimes trialed.

Seroquel XR and regular Seroquel were initially over sedating for me, at times, but I grew used to them, and the sedation eased significantly. However, Seroquel has always helped me with sleep, unless extremely manic. That was not always the case with other antipsychotics. Seroquel and Seroquel XR never gave me akathisia. That's something I can't say about three other antipsychotics I took. Seroquel and it's XR never elevated my prolactin level. That's something I can't say about two other antipsychotics I took. Seroquel and XR never caused me a dystonia, which one other antipsychotic caused. So basically, once I got over the over sedation, it's been the most side effect friendly, while still being effective.

I have had periods when I gained some weight on Seroquel (mostly the regular, not so much XR). However, factors like depression, at the time, may have played a role. The reason [I think] regular Seroquel was less weight friendly than XR is because of the sedation spike, as I call it.

Obviously, some people do gain a lot of weight on Seroquel, like BethRags said. However, Seroquel has never been the worst weight gainer for me. Seroquel XR has probably been in the lower quadrant for me, in terms of weight gain, or even weight neutral at lower doses (below 500 mg). We are all different, aren't we? Since starting Seroquel XR about 8 years ago (doses 350 to 700 mg), I have gained 20 lbs. In its defense, that may not have been unusual even if I had taken zero medications. I had been about 5 lbs less than I am now 16 years ago at age 32, having never taken medications at that time. I consider it understandable that I'd be at least my current weight 16 years later in my late 40s, having taken antipsychotics and moodstabilizers for 14 years. My lifestyle has been somewhat sedentary these last 6 years. Perhaps if it had been more active, I'd be thinner now than at a point before bipolar medications.

I just want to add one additional thing I neglected to mention before. I was in a very large hospital for close to five years where a large percentage of all the schizophrenics and bipolar patients were on Seroquel. Pretty sure the hospital had negotiated some kind of favorable deal with a distributor or the mfr., though I cannot document that.

Anyhow, that hospital had and still has a massive, massive problem with metabolic syndrome. Drug-induced diabetes is everywhere, so much so that the USDOJ investigated and demanded reforms. Long story.

My own community pdoc basically will not prescribe it. He feels it is much, much more dangerous vis a vis diabetes inducement than any other option and does not have enough upside for most people to justify that risk. He thinks it should be withdrawn from the market.

The more we learn about diabetes, even type 2, the more of a killer we discover it to be.


So, Seroquel is effective for many and safe probably for most. But once you develop diabetes, there is no getting that one back. So, I suggest paying close attention to yourA1C and other labs. And being very cautious with your diet.

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Originally Posted by ladyconfused I’m sorry no one would listen to you. I have an okay doctor. She’s rude but I feel like she’s at least listen to me is something wasn’t working right. Were you taking a series of other medications?

Yes, I was foolish not to insist stopping the Seroquel. I have never heard of anyone gaining the amount of weight I gained - and the subsequent health issues due to the weight gain.

I was on other meds, but none that should have cause such weight gain.

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Originally Posted by bpcyclist I just want to add one additional thing I neglected to mention before. I was in a very large hospital for close to five years where a large percentage of all the schizophrenics and bipolar patients were on Seroquel. Pretty sure the hospital had negotiated some kind of favorable deal with a distributor or the mfr., though I cannot document that. Anyhow, that hospital had and still has a massive, massive problem with metabolic syndrome. Drug-induced diabetes is everywhere, so much so that the USDOJ investigated and demanded reforms. Long story. My own community pdoc basically will not prescribe it. He feels it is much, much more dangerous vis a vis diabetes inducement than any other option and does not have enough upside for most people to justify that risk. He thinks it should be withdrawn from the market. The more we learn about diabetes, even type 2, the more of a killer we discover it to be. So, Seroquel is effective for many and safe probably for most. But once you develop diabetes, there is no getting that one back. So, I suggest paying close attention to yourA1C and other labs. And being very cautious with your diet.

Kudos to your current pdoc. I, too, believe that Seroquel should be removed from the market. It's killing people. Seriously.

Everyone reacts differently to meds. Abilify for me was a freaking Monster, Akathesia from hell.. Seroquil XR was a god send for awhile.

Meds are often like coping skills.. You keep throwing one at it until you find one that sticks and helps you find stability.

I hope it helps you.. Yes often when people take something, start to feel good and think they no longer need the med, they quit.. life goes to hell and hop back on the med and it can lose its effectivness, Honestly I have never met a Bipolar person that hasn't dumped there meds a couple times LOL It is just part of Bipolar. But over time most people learn that its not a good idea..

bpcyclist, I'm glad you brought up the metabolic syndrome issue. I neglected to mention in my post that my cholesterol has been high for a long time, most surely thanks, in part, to Seroquel. Sometimes, but not always, my triglycerides are quite high, too. Luckily, I have not been pre-diabetic since my Depakote and Invega days, over 8 years ago, when at my highest weight. My blood pressure has luckily been mostly normal all along, perhaps thanks to the propranolol I've taken for 11 years, for tachycardia.

I'll admit that at 600 mg and higher, my blood work results do tend to be worse. Watching my diet carefully seems to help lower my triglycerides, but it doesn't do as much at lowering my cholesterol. It's a stubborn bugger! It's easy for me to forget about my high cholesterol and triglycerides, because I haven't suffered any consequences from them...yet. My GP will not put me on a statin because he considers me to be still "low risk" at under 50, and with normal blood pressure, etc.

Diabetes is pretty prevalent in my family. It would be extra bad for me to eventually get it, because I already have mild kidney damage as a result of past Lithium usage. I need to be more vigilant about eating a healthful diet and exercising more. So easy to say, and less easy to do, especially because I don't think of myself as being that overweight. On that note, I have had high cholesterol, while on Seroquel XR, even when I was less than 10 lbs above my normal BMI. I know that weight doesn't always matter.

I used to take 600 mg of seroquel, it was somewhat helpful but didn’t fully get rid of my symptoms, Thorazine and vraylar have been what’s working for me now.