[ramonajones]

I have had terrible insomnia for years and in the past few months it's gotten so bad that I'm barely sleeping at all. My hippy dippy psychiatrist who has had me try every alternative medicine treatment in the book finally agreed that I needed a sleeping medication and prescribed me 25 mgs of Seroquel each night. It definitely knocks me out and I DO sleep, but I have horrible nightmares. Has anyone else experienced this? Is this just something I'm going to have to get used to or does it get better with time? I'm going to be starting with a new psychiatrist soon because the guy I go to now is out-of-network and not really helping me anyway, but I don't even know what to ask for in terms of sleep with a new psychiatrist. Any recommendations? I took Ambien years ago and it didn't put me to sleep at all. I would actually stay up and writing grad school papers on it and even went driving once without even realizing it--I woke up with a receipt from 7-Eleven covered in Doritos on my couch totally freaked out that I'd gone driving when I was clearly drugged out of my mind.

[leomama]

I take seroquel and I have PTSD so I can't blame the seroquel for my nightmares. In fact the p doc who prescribed the seroquel for sleep is the one who diagnosed me with c-PTSD .
I've also tried : trazadone, ambien, sonata, lunesta, gabapentin , valerian, melatonin. I always come back to seroquel. It's the only thing that puts me in a deep sleep. Have you tried prayer or meditation or exercise during the day? Are you taking anything else?

[Travelinglady]

I didn't have nightmares, but my dreams were so vivid I had to think later whether I dreamed something or it really happened.

Do you have a therapist? He/she might be useful in helping you with issues, especially recurrent themes, that occur when you dream.

[sherrimayne]

I was on Seroquel XR a few years ago. I started out with a low dose and eventually got up to 300mgs/daily. It definitely knocked me out, but like you, I suffered from extremely scary night terrors. Because of how real and vivid the nightmares were, I would wake up in an extreme panic and it would take me a good minute or so to convince myself that I had a nightmare and it wasn't real! I just did a little research on what other people have experienced while taking Seroquel and out of 11 people, 6 people experienced nightmares and 8 out the 11 experienced some type of anxiety/panic attack upon waking up, but not all experienced nightmares. I actually tried taking Seroquel a few years before I tried the Seroquel XR. I do not remember night terrors with the regular Seroquel, but difinaltely had them with XR. Have you tried taking a small dose of Xanax at bedtime for sleep or Lunesta? I've been told Lunesta works, but then again, everyone is different. I've only ever tried Trazadone for sleep and my cousin ended up overdosing on it and died, so that freaked me out to the point where I just couldn't take it anymore. She overdosed accidentally, meaning she wasn't trying to kill herself, she was just wanting to get high from it by taking way more than she should have taken. She had substance abuse issues since she was a teenager so it was pretty foreseeable that eventually she would accidentally take too much of something, so... even though the family expected the eventual outcome, I just couldn't continue to take the same medication she overdosed on. Honestly, I really don't think it worked anyway. I do not remember the nightmares ever going away nor do I remember ever being able to tolerate them. I explained to my psychiatrist how I couldn't tolerate the night terrors nor the way I felt when I woke up. I would wake up in absolute panic because I thought my nightmare was real. I also felt dopey and groggy almost as if I were high. I certainly did not like that feeling at all. At that point, I was switched to the Trazadone. I would never take Ambien. I've heard too many horror stories; like the one you told. When you see your new psychiatrist, I would ask for something different. Night terrors are not good for you mentally, emotionally or physically. Good luck and keep us updated on how you are doing.

[LucyG]

Here's another hippy dippy suggestion for you: magnesium.

Meds block the body's ability to utilize magnesium not to mention how the liver is depleted of it in detoxing meds so chances are you're deficient which can and does lead to insomnia where you can't sleep to save yourself.