waitingforgodot Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I take 800 mg of Seroquel XR and two doses daily of 150 mg of Lamictal for bipolar disorder, Wellbutrin XL for depression, and Klonopin PRN (up to 1 mg, three times a day) for anxiety. My mood disorder is almost gone (as is my cigarette habit; yay, Wellbutrin!), so long as I take my meds, but nothing relieves my near-crippling anxiety, except for hefty doses of Klonopin. (I have even exhausted things like calming teas with camomile, valerian, and kava, DBT, yoga, meditation, certain supplements, and a lot of other things I've forgotten. I find the Klonopin very frustrating because it does not seem (in terms of dosage) like I can find a happy medium with it; it either does nothing or is too sedating and, as much as I've played with the dose, it seems like there's nothing in between. Also, I don't want to take Klonopin on a regular basis for fear that I might become tolerant. So, anyway, my psychiatrist wrote me a prescription for two doses of Seroquel IR 100 mg PRN twice a day for anxiety. I feel like it works, but only for a few hours, and, because I want to spread my IR meds throughout the day, I don't want to take the doses back to back.I feel like I'm going to be accused of seeking medical advice and told to talk to my pdoc, but I'm really not. I see her in a few days and will bring this up with her. In the meantime, though, I was wondering if (1) anyone else has taken PRN Seroquel IR for anxiety, (2) it was it effective and at what dose, and (3) you experienced weight gain - I have an eating disorder so this terrifies me - or other serious side effects while taking a relatively small dose as a PRN. I presume that it will not cause weight gain because the Seroquel XR does not (for me), but side effects can be very unpredictable, so who knows? Again, I'm not using your answers in place of medical advice; they will just help me be more prepared for my pdoc appointment. Any thoughts? (Also, I hope I'm posting in the right forum...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash19 Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 I was on Seroquel for just over two years and it was practically a miracle. I would've carried it on if it wasn't for the weight gain, as that was making me feel worse than I would without the meds, so I switched. Anyway, I never took it prn but I can imagine it'd be massively helpful and there's very little chance of experiencing any noticeable weight gain with irregular and small doses. I hope it goes well for you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjs190 Posted October 23, 2015 Share Posted October 23, 2015 (edited) When I first started seeing a psychiatrist, she gave me an SSRI + Seroquel IR 25 mg PRN for panic attacks. I didn't gain weight at that dose. This interesting thing here is that you're already on 800 mg of the XR; and yet 100 IR in addition to that helps, as you've said. It might be worth trying to increase to 900 mg XR (3 x 300 mg tabs) or even 1,000 XR (5 x 200 mg tabs). It just seems to me that if additional doses are helping, you might as well get them in XR formulation so that it covers you around the clock. Maybe discuss this with your doc?Other mends/PRNs you could take for anxiety (if you were to step away from the IR Seroquel) are the antihistamine hydroxyzine, the blood pressure meds clonidine, guanfacine, propranolol, and prazosin, or you could also look into Lyrica/Neurontin as well. Those are just suggestions, as I know they're meds that are useful for anxiety disorders when one can't take an SSRI. PS - I have found taking Risperidone as needed is also very helpful, and I have heard others say the same. Edited October 23, 2015 by mjs190 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts