seroquel - weight gain at 50 vs weight gain at 300

[stable not balanced]

if you take a low dose (25-50mg) will you gain weight? what about at 300? is there a certain mg at which weight gain begins?

what about memory? does it give you short-term memory problems? what kind of cognitive impairment is involved, if any?

i am thinking about quitting ambien and switching to seroquel for the latter problems.

thank you!

[tryp]

I think I gained weight pretty steadily throughout my time on various doses Seroquel, though I was never really as low as 50 mg (started at 150 mg). At the low, low doses, it'll probably just give you the munchies at night, which can be avoided by taking it and going straight to sleep.

My problem has been primarily because I take 300 mg in divided doses, so I'm always hopped up on the stuff, so I'm always eating.

As for cognitive impairment, I tend to have noticeable effects when I started it and when I increase the dose. The biggest problem I have noticed is word finding. I will be in the middle of a sentence and not be able to come up with the word I want. I would also start saying a sentence and then forget what I was saying mid-sentence. Also I would go somewhere in the house and totally forget what I was doing there.

But it's never been a huge issue. It wore off after the first couple of months. Also, I am a full time student, so cognitive functioning is very important to me, and I did not experience academic difficulties.

To be honest, it sounds worse than it was. It was never more than a mild annoyance to me and I never even considered stopping the med over it.

[BIMBO]

Have been up to 300mg nightly. Did have increase in appetite but weight gain was manageable with exercise. No cognitive problems at any dosage.

[jess19]

I take 50 mg at night to help with sleep. I will admit that after about 30 minutes I get the munchies and crave something sweet. I control this by taking the meds then getting into bed. However, in the first few months my husband would find me in the kitchen eating cereal half asleep but I craved sweets. I have not gained any weight though.

[OscillateWildly]

The weight gain at a low vs high dose is different, but all doses of seroquel can contribute to weight gain.

At a low dose, you are experiencing the effects of antihistamines. Antihistamines make you ravenous, like, take benadryl and you'll find yourself super hungry. If you take this sort of thing every day, you are constantly short circuiting your body's fullness mechanisms and so weight gain will result.

At a high dose, seroquel starts blocking various neurotransmitter receptors like dopamine and then you experience the effects of hyperprolactinemia and metabolic syndrome. Dopamine is necessary to regulate body weight, metabolism, it makes your body burn fat, lack of which results in higher insulin and glucose metabolism dysfunction leading to weight gain and diabetes.

At any dose seroquel can cause weight gain, but it is actually worse at the higher doses because then you start dealing with induced metabolic syndrome.

[Quack]

My psychiatrist told me it's only the high doses that will affect weight gain. 300mg+-ish

To be honest I hadn't noticed any 'munchies' problems to relate to the seroquel, but I think I wouldn't have associated it with the seroquel because I didn't realize it was a side-effect. Since starting seroquel I've had a binge-eating/BN relapse.. it could explain that ??? =O There was probably 3 months between the two though.

If you take only one low dose at night and then go straight to sleep would you be having that side-effect the next day?