theswordandthepen Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I've only heard horror stories about Seroquel - it makes you a zombie, it makes you fat, it makes you sleep all the time - and it's what my psychiatrist wants to put me on next (because I don't like the side effects of Abilify). Any happy stories about it? At all? Whatsoever? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly23 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I am on 500MG of Seroquel nightly. I have gained no weight, actually lost a bit. I need 8 to 9 hours of sleep and then wake up just fine. If I wake during the night (which I dont) I can be groggy. Initially I had issues with memory, dry mouth and constipation. All have gone away at this point. it has helped stabilize my moods along with my other meds. I experience rapid cycling as well. Initially it did not seem to help at all, I might have just been super symptomatic. I seem to be stabilizing. I began at a lower dose and was slowly raised to where I am now. I started taking it in October of 2014. The only side effect that really took getting used to as well as recognizing, was that I cannot drink alcohol at all. AT ALL, I turn into a drunken mess with only one drink, followed by days of depression. Otherwise its been a great med for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowan77 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I did gain a lot of weight, about 40 lbs which was making me miserable. So with pdoc's permission I weaned off it slowly. I did lose weight but also became manic, ended up in hospital so went back on 400mg XR for about 2 years. Again it worked well for me and because I was very much aware of potential side effects I was proactive in eating well and exercising and have actually managed to lose weight, albeit very slowly. and if I didn't take it before 7:30pm I would be so drowsy the next morning. I have been taking 800mg XR, twice the previous dose for over 2 years and it doesn't cause any sedation at all! It doesn't matter when I take it. I now carefully monitor my weight. I joined a slimming club, am careful about what I eat and try to exercise, which really helped. I guess you just have to weigh up the pros and cons of a medication. Seroquel is a great medication and works wonders for me. It really helps my depression, quashes my mania, makes me feel much less irritable and anxious and helps me sleep without sedating me. So I continue to take it and also work hard to eat a healthy low fat diet and exercise. I believe that prevention is better than cure. So my advise to anybody starting Seroquel or any medication that may cause weight gain, is to try and eat a low fat diet and exercise..... You can get stuck in a rut and feel crap with weight gain so try your best to be proactive in preventing it. Not always possible, but worth a shot It has been a great medication for me and hopefully you will find it beneficial too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theswordandthepen Posted April 28, 2015 Author Share Posted April 28, 2015 Okay! Thank-you, it helps to hear people giving it a good review. Dragonfly23, can I ask how long it took you to get over the side effects, if you remember? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfly23 Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Difficult to answer, cus I was changing and adding meds at the same time. I would say it most likely took like 3 months. Most bothersome was memory. But Lamictal can cause the same. Seroquel and Lamictal did not help my depression well enough so Wellbutrin was added in March sometime. I still get dry mouth on occasion. But during the same time I was quitting drinking and an opiate addiction. Anyway, at this point, not drinking, not using and my cocktail seems to be working and I am sure Seroquel is part of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiaB Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 Seroquel is the mainstay of my med cocktail, and I don't know how I would function without it. I took high doses of the instant release form for several years before switching to the XR, with a small top-up of the IR. I still need a mood stabiliser (Trileptal) and another AP (Clozapine), but I really believe the wheels would fall off completely were I to quit Seroquel. My advice would be to give it a fair shot and not let yourself be bogged down by horror stories. I've been on it for a total of about 10 years now and never suffered excess weight gain or the dopiness that some people report as a start up effect on the lower doses. rowan is right about acting pre-emptively by watching your diet and setting up an exercise routine to combat any negative effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puddle of fire Posted April 28, 2015 Share Posted April 28, 2015 I really love Seroquel IR. I take 800 mg spread over 3 times a day. At one point, they switched me to Risperdal then Latuda, but the akathisia sucked on both. So I got to go back on my beloved Seroquel. When I was off it, I had a pretty difficult time getting to sleep. I'm not sure in total how long I've been on it, probably a year? Like rowan said, it's good to watch your diet and exercise while on it. I may have gained 10 pounds, nothing horrendous though. I'm taking it primarily for psychosis, and it works quite well in that area. Except for paranoia...nothing seems to help that lol. I hear people say that it makes them a zombie, but I felt like more of a zombie on lower doses of it. It's a weird med in that it's less sedating at higher levels. I demanded that my pdocs raise my Seroquel IR back up to 800mg. I didn't feel fully in reality on the lower doses. I'm practically doing a commercial for the med now, so I'll shut up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theswordandthepen Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Commercial away, it helps! Thank-you, all, I feel a lot better about this now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
San Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Seroquel is the only AAP that helps me (I haven't tried Saphris or Latuda because they aren't covered by my insurance) and keeps me stable. I am on Invega Sustenna as well (and other things) but the seroquel helps even everything out. I'm taking it as a mood stabilizer (400mg XR at night) and I'm stable right now, looking for a job. It does make me hungry, but I need to gain weight. It has caused weight gain in the past. But it's been a great med for me and one that always gets added to my combo if its not there already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeremonyNewOrder Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Seroquel helped with anxiety and sleep. Not with depression or psychosis though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Within Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Seroquel is my savior without it I'm a complete mess with no sleep and the anxiety level is off the charts and the weight gain well I put it down to the fact that I struggle to get off the lounge some days thank you bp depression Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wj74 Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 I am on it to help with mania and mood swings in general. I was taking Abilify with my other meds for depressive symptoms but went manic so he put me on Seroquel and it knocked me down a few pegs. I like it. I gained weight, but I have always been overweight so I don't know how much was the Seroquel. I'm not hungry all of the time. It makes me sleepy/fuzzy, but I take it at night so sleepy is a good thing when I am wired and can't sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wonderful.Cheese Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 I took 800 mg IR for years. It is a great med! I never got manic on it I don't believe. Maybe hypo but not full blown like now ish. I too it 4 times a day. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christinaazgilger4 Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 On 5/2/2015 at 1:29 PM, Wonderful.Cheese said: I took 800 mg IR for years. It is a great med! I never got manic on it I don't believe. Maybe hypo but not full blown like now ish. I too it 4 times a day. Good luck! Are you still on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephiroth999 Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 (edited) I'm not against meds at all, but there is something off about quell. I have never witnessed a person on Seroquel have anything more than a zombie life, if any. One guy I met on 600mg was given quell because he "kept having the urge to shoot at Arab looking people". Is this the best they can do for homicidally? I took 25mg of this once. Threw the rest in the trash and then fired my pdoc. It feels like it was meant to restrain "bad" people. I do not get this feeling at all from Risperdal, abilify or even Zyprexa. Does anyone on this actually maintain an active social life, family, high-paying job etc. etc. etc? Edited January 19, 2020 by Sephiroth999 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
confused Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 It is sedating. Helped my agitation. 200mg did not touch my psychosis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephiroth999 Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 4 minutes ago, confused said: It is sedating. Helped my agitation. 200mg did not touch my psychosis. I promise this is not a troll. Vistaril and Xanax are sedating, this med for me was nothing less than paralyzing... Like it was meant to take down an elephant.My pdoc says it takes over 400-600 ish to help psychosis … "voices" for example. I'm not one to pick on meds but after my experience with it I am perpetually mad at it. It did help my paranoia, but at the expense of every single other emotion. Even worse, the ability to express it physically and verbally . To be honest I'm actually jealous of people that this stuff works for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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