Would anyone actually recommend seroquel?

I’ve been prescribed seroquel at a low dose for insomnia.. But I’ve only ever heard and seen bad reviews. Or, more so bad side effects. I get that it does make you sleepy, but are the risks worth it?

I definitely don’t want a weight gainer and I can’t really afford to be drowsy throughout the day..

Any advice/shared experiences would be much appreciated

I take it, and have been on it for a number of years, albeit at a high dose. I started at a low dose for sleep, but found it helpful so we gradually increased it.

I didn't gain any weight on it, although I understand that weight gain is common. Really my only side effect is muscle stiffness, which is annoying but not a huge problem.


I didn't find I was drowsy during the day, but I did need a solid 9 hours of sleep after taking it, otherwise I'd be a bit spacey from it the next day.

Good luck with your decision to take it or not.

I was encouraged to stay on it longterm for depression. I declined. Though I did find that it helped me fall asleep, that's about the only benefit I got from it. I did not find it did anything for my depression. I was turned off by what I read about it. It affects your blood sugar. I think I saw that it can make you diabetic. To me there was too much of a downside to be worth it.

It seems that every second person with chronic psych issues gets put on Seroquel, sooner or later, no matter what their psych diagnosis is. I'm suspicious of psychiatrists using drugs in such a non-specific way. Pretty much anyone who sees a psychiatrist is going to walk away with a prescription for some drug. That's really all pdocs do - prescribe drugs. If you continue to show up with a psych issue that isn't improving, a psychiatrist is going to cycle the patient through one psych med after another. After a few years, we can almost all say that we've been on most of the common psych meds - antipsychotics, anticonvulsants (both of which get renamed "mood stabilizers), antidepressants, antiparkinson's drugs, anxiolytics, sleeping pills, stimulants. I've been on each of those. So have patients with diagnoses very different from mine. They're just "throwing spagetti against the wall" to see if anything sticks.

I think, for most of us, the solution isn't going to be found in a pharmaceutical. This doesn't mean that therapy is the answer, either. I don't think going to a T helps all that much.

What we all need to have in our lives is love and friendship and a job to do that we're good at and mental stimulation and fun and some financial security. When any of that is sorely lacking, life is going to suck. That's just that.

Seroquel is an antipsychotic drug, but I have never been on it (despite having a diagnosis of schizophrenia). I concur with Rose76. There seems to be a general lack of real science in psychiatry. Or proof that a specific medication will target a specific ailment.

It always boggled my mind when I read that the exact mechanism of action for a particular drug is "unknown"; but then it would go on to say that "it is proposed that the effects [of the drug] may be mediated through [antagonistic or agonistic affinity] etc. etc..."

I'm no doctor, so I really cannot say for sure. Just speculating. Anyway, if you are not already feeling better, I hope you feel better soon!

I've been on Seroquel for years from anywhere between 25 mg doses and up to as much as 600 mg. Now, I'm on 200 mg. On high doses, it made me too fatigued and a bit "twitchy" at times. It also helped me out of these horrible episodes, and now I'm able to stay on a lower dose for maintenance and sleep and those side effects aren't there the way they were on 400-600 mg.

Sometimes I feel as if I need more sleep even after a good 8 hours on Seroquel. But once I get up and adjust to being up, and I am not too sleepy during the day. Now, I just go to bed earlier and take my medication earlier, and that seemed to have helped. I don't think it has made me gain weight. I just experienced a bit of recent weight gain from a different medication....pretty sure it isn't Seroquel since I've been on it for a long time.

This is just my experience, and in general, the benefits have outweighed the side effects for me. But everyone's experience on these meds are completely different. Just sharing how it has been for me.

I was on Seroquel years ago... It worked fairly well, slept like a baby... However, my PDOC then neglected to tell me that it should be a slow process to titrate out of it... I had severe withdrawals from HELL!
That's my 2 cents

It definitely makes you sleepy and if you take it often, causes weight gain. It really helps if you're having a hard time sleeping, though.

You can try it and if the side effects are too concerning, you might wish to switch to something else. You can try some other sleep aid, since you indicate that's its purpose for you.

I take higher dose Seroquel. Actually, I combine 400 mg of the extended release with 200 mg instant release (total 600 mg). I've been on more. It is used mostly for moodstabilization for me. Any sleep aid aspect is subsidiary. I have taken small dose in the past, for various reasons. I don't think small dose gave me any significant side effects. Higher dose does, but the value of the medication's efficacy exceeds side effects for me.

We can all react differently to medications, even ones who tend to cause side effects in many. As for weight gain, my greatest gains were due to depression, not Seroquel. I'll say that other meds did cause notable weight gain for me. For the last 13 years, I've weighed less than 13 years ago. During these last 13 years, I've been on high dose Seroquel XR for about 8. I do weigh about 15 lbs more now than I did 20 years ago, before meds, but many people do. I'm over 50.

It gave me bad restless legs when I took it. The Dr. said "It doesn't do that" so she totally minimized how I felt.

I'm currently taking it again, 300mg. Last time I was on it it gave me horrible sugar cravings.... I used to eat plain jam out of the jar! This time it hasn't done that though. I don't think it's really increased my hunger this time around. I don't know why. It also doesn't make me very sleepy this time around. I take it for my depression. Good luck!

I did not like being on high doses of it, but I like using 50 mg for sleep.