Seroquel side effects

[hippychick]

Hi,

I have been on seroquel for a while now, and mentally I am great - feel normal most of the time, functioning well at work, haven't been in hospital for nearly 2 years.

There is one major problem though, my stomach is so bloated and it is painful, I look and feel 6 months pregnant.

I have been wanting to see my doctor about it for months, but I have been so scared to do anything about it and it just keeps getting worse and worse.

Seriously it looks like I have a huge tumour in my stomach, and it is so tight it feels like it is about to explode.

The reason I am scared is, I am scared of stopping or changing from seroquel, because I do not want to lose my mind. I am so stable at the moment, I am about to move out to a new share house with friends etc,

What should I do? Potentially sacrifice my mental health for physical comfort/vanity or stay mentally stable and suffer.

Has anyone else had these symptoms - are there any other similar drugs that do not have these symptoms?

thanks,

hippychick

[Angelwhore]

Hi hippychick - I don't claim to be an expert on Seroquel, but I've been on it for a while too now. I do know, however, that weight gain is a fairly well-known side effect, and that it seems to do funny things to the metabolism in some people, particularly with respect to processed wheat (eg white bread, pasta etc). The reason I bring this up particularly is because what you describe sounds remarkably similar to a friend's wheat intolerance (no crazy meds invovled though). If she eats bread, for instance, within about an hour she gets bloated and looks about six months pregnant.

Anyway, my somewhat rambly point is that you should talk to your doctor about this - it might be something you can adjust your lifestyle/eating habits/whatever for without sacrificing you seroquel. If you don't ask, you'll never know!

xx

[hippychick]

thanks I will check it out, I was wondering the same thing myself - just don't want to have to give up wheat/gluten - what a hassle....