Switched from Seroquel IR to Seroquel XR

[IcePrincess88]

I have been on the regular Seroquel for Bipolar and insomnia for almost 10 years. The dosage was usually around 50-100mgs a night. Recently it was upped to 200mgs for the last couple months and it knocked me out wonderfully at bedtime, but my moods were swinging back and forth very frequently. I went back to my doctor on Monday and she upped it again to 300mgs and switched it to Seroquel XR. I took it at 9 last night and stayed awake until midnight. The only reason I went to bed then is because I took some Xanax. I was awake by 8 this morning. The postitive effect is that I'm a lot more level and calm today. I'm looking for any advice or experiences with anyone that has swicthed from regular Seroquel to the extended release version concerning sleep and mood stabilization. 

[rowan77]

The one thing I found was that the IR version was much more sedating than the XR version. I'm sure that isn't the case for everybody but that was my experience.

 

Regarding mood stabilization, there was no difference for me

[MiaB]

You need to experiment with the time you take the XR dose (perhaps over a weekend or on a day when you don't have to worry about when you went to sleep).  I take mine at 4pm and feel the effects kick in 4-5 hours later, which is when I take the rest of my night meds and try to go to bed.  I still take an additional small dose (100mg) of the IR, but have found that the XR (600mg) has become the mainstay of my med cocktail.  I couldn't do without it.

 

eta sorry, you asked about sleep and mood stabilisation. I'd say it's done more for the latter than the former. I have been through periods of extreme insomnia while on the XR, but that's currently being managed with other meds. In terms of mood stabilisation, I find it more effective on the whole than the IR, which I was on for many years at very high doses before switching over.

Edited May 6, 2015 by MiaB