tommy000 Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 i used to be on regular seroquel 1200mg back when i was 18-20 years old. i found it extremely sedating and i had to take it 3 times a day. 200mg AM. 200mg MIDDAY and 800mg PM. anyway after 2 years i got what i think it to be AKATHISIA. tried cogentin, benzos, beta blockers to try to treat it but didnt do anything for the restless legs. so i had enough and told my doctor to switch me to clozapine even though seroquel was working okay AND the main reason why i asked him to switch me to clozapine was coz of the restlessness which was uncomfortable and annoying. however the restlessness didnt go away with the clozapine even though i was on it for over 2 years. clozapine wasnt treating my schizophrenia aswell as seroquel did. which was weird considering clozapine is meant to be the most powerful while seroquel is to be the weakest dopamine blocker. anyway i got sick of the drooling with clozapine and i was hallucinating quite a bit and couldnt fuction. the reason i stayed on it for soo long was coz ive been on ALL of the atypicals and could only change to something ive already been on. so last october i had enough of not being able to function properly and asked my pdoc to switch me to seroquel XR. after 2 months after the change the restlessness has disappeared. and over the last couple of weeks my anxiety, paranoia and voices have nearly all stopped! it has taken a couple of months to get that full effect. i find XR to be HEAPS more effective than the regular seroquel. im on 1200mg of XR by the way. my main questiion is how is XR more effective than regular for me?? any explanations?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SashaSue Posted July 18, 2011 Share Posted July 18, 2011 I'd guess because with the XR you've got a consistent level all day long, while with multiple dosing, you're having some ups and downs. But that's totally just a guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 I would also guess steady state dosing, most likely. It seems to be a general consensus that for the most part, XR/XL doses can eliminate some side effects for some. With depakote, the XR seems to help a bit with hunger, etc. For me the XR quel doesn't do much diffferent, but it does reduce the EXTREME sleepiness, as a rule. I used to be a total non believer in XL/XR formulations and thought they were merely patent extenders, but there do seem to be some instances where they are quite useful. If the restlessness was caused by a sudden "flood" of the medication into your bloodstream rather than steady state releasing, this could make sense. That being said, there are times when you WANT the side effect. I take ER seroquel at night because I WANT the sleepiness factor, man. So, YMMV. But, it's good to have options. Glad it's working for you. Anna Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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