SEROQUEL Quetiapine Fumarate)

[Arisa1536]

Hey so what is everyone who has heard of or taken these dreaded pills, opinions and experiences with them?

The doc gave them to me twice, once in 2006 and i felt like i was stoned and that was just on one 25mg tablet per night
they knocked me out til next tuesday lol and the cravings
Do not take them if you are trying to keep fit, lose weight or just maintain a healthy BMI

the weight gain is chronic, the worst i have ever experienced

then to try to get me off my zopiclone addiction, which are sedatives for sleep, they combined Quetiapine with zop and i went up to 100mg to sleep since i have chronic insomnia, and man they helped me sleep and stopped the anxiety but i could not wake up and i was eating, while half asleep.

seriously i could go through an entire bag of chips, a whole pizza and a packet of biscuits and i do not even EAT cookies and stuff like that (Biscuits and cookies) but there i was stuffing my face and gulping down soft drink by the bottle

is anyone is on them and is not putting on weight or sleeping til next tuesday then thats cool but for me they were awful awful awful

[jim_morrison]

I havn't tried it, but it reminds me alot of how I respond to mirtazapine (makes me sleepy and groggy all the time and constantly hungry.)

Is the insomnia natural or braught on by meds effexor etc? If so you could try taking your whole dose of klonopin before bed, thats what I do, and it seems to last the whole next day if I take it at 1.5 mg or above, since the half life is long.

[Akane]

I used seroquel for insomnia for years. The side effects aren't worth it. I'm switching back to ambien and dealing with the headaches it gives me. It is highly sedating which is why I used it as an insomnia med. I would not suggest going over 100mg unless you have some great need. I know noone that can take the 200mg the doctors suggest as the average dose and many get benefits from 50mg so you don't have to go up to the dose that causes the problems. I was ok for years on 50-75mg and then tried 150mg and gained 50lbs. My doctor was so concerned she ran all sorts of blood tests to check for "fallout". Seroquel can do some serious damage to your body. At low doses it is safe enough in my opinion for the benefits particularly if nothing else works well. However if you aren't getting benefits and there might be something else that works I never ever suggest getting up to much less surpassing the 200mg dose. That's the established average dose for some reason no doctor can explain and again I know noone that can tolerate that dose. You'll be out cold most of the day, in a drugged stupor the rest, and probably suffering physical damage.

[meyaj]

I hate it. Highly antihistaminergic, which accounts for the intense sleepiness and grogginess of the drug. The overeating is bad but I find Remeron hard to... that drug will have you still eating even when you feel you're about to burst.

Aside from that, antipsychotics to me are like a chemical lobotomy. If there's one thing people know me for, they'll usually mention my intelligence and wit (apologies if this post is riddled with errors, I'm on a high dose of both zopiclone and hydromorphone, and can barely manage to keep myself in the waking world long enough to write this answer). The antipsychotics make me feel so cognitively slow that my eventual goal of going back to university seems impossible if I were to have continued using them. I argued on a lot of points with her, but ultimately I had to explain to my pdoc how the use of antipsychotics is totally incompatible with my life goals, and are therefore more DETRIMENTAL than helpful to me.

They also pretty much obliterate any emotion you'd normally be feeling. Now, I know I feel sad, guilty, hopeless, helpless, and worthless the vast majority of the time but after my experience with antipsychotics I can only say I'd rather be able to feel that emotional pain than feel nothing at all.

Some people swear by their effectiveness, but they are undoubtedly being overprescribed as a less addicting alternative to benzos, as well as the go-to drug when patients aren't responding to the first few trials of treatment. If ever there were a class of drugs that could be called "EVIL", there's no question in my mind that antipsychotics fit the bill. They strip of much that makes up your humanity, and replaces it with apathy and complancenc. Oh, not to mention the potential for PERMANENT movement disorders and, in the case of seroquel and zyprexa in particular, there's been a highly demonstrated link between the use of these drugs and the development of diabetes.

Very few times I have said this... but never again will I do these drugs, ever.

[crayzyMed]

I would google this article:

Documents on Seroquel show drugmaker knew of risks

I dont know the truth in it tough, but i wouldnt take it if its benefits are minimal...

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by meyaj

I hate it. Highly antihistaminergic, which accounts for the intense sleepiness and grogginess of the drug. The overeating is bad but I find Remeron hard to... that drug will have you still eating even when you feel you're about to burst.

Aside from that, antipsychotics to me are like a chemical lobotomy. If there's one thing people know me for, they'll usually mention my intelligence and wit (apologies if this post is riddled with errors, I'm on a high dose of both zopiclone and hydromorphone, and can barely manage to keep myself in the waking world long enough to write this answer). The antipsychotics make me feel so cognitively slow that my eventual goal of going back to university seems impossible if I were to have continued using them. I argued on a lot of points with her, but ultimately I had to explain to my pdoc how the use of antipsychotics is totally incompatible with my life goals, and are therefore more DETRIMENTAL than helpful to me.

They also pretty much obliterate any emotion you'd normally be feeling. Now, I know I feel sad, guilty, hopeless, helpless, and worthless the vast majority of the time but after my experience with antipsychotics I can only say I'd rather be able to feel that emotional pain than feel nothing at all.

Some people swear by their effectiveness, but they are undoubtedly being overprescribed as a less addicting alternative to benzos, as well as the go-to drug when patients aren't responding to the first few trials of treatment. If ever there were a class of drugs that could be called "EVIL", there's no question in my mind that antipsychotics fit the bill. They strip of much that makes up your humanity, and replaces it with apathy and complancenc. Oh, not to mention the potential for PERMANENT movement disorders and, in the case of seroquel and zyprexa in particular, there's been a highly demonstrated link between the use of these drugs and the development of diabetes.

Very few times I have said this... but never again will I do these drugs, ever.

Great post, yeah I agree that the whole 'prescribe an antipsychotic (or even mirtazapine, which if it had D2 antagonistic properties could almost be classified as an antipsychotic) thing as a safer alternative to benzos or z drugs' is ridiculous. I mean ok so positive allosteric modulators of GABA-A can be habit forming, but hey they actually work you know, and with little if any unwanted side effects, so it's crazy to not give them to a patient who needs them, and give them antipsychotics or mirtazapine etc instead, considering the detrimental effects that they can cause which youv'e covered above.

[Vini Vidi Vici]

Originally Posted by Arisa1536

Hey so what is everyone who has heard of or taken these dreaded pills, opinions and experiences with them?

The doc gave them to me twice, once in 2006 and i felt like i was stoned and that was just on one 25mg tablet per night
they knocked me out til next tuesday lol and the cravings
Do not take them if you are trying to keep fit, lose weight or just maintain a healthy BMI

the weight gain is chronic, the worst i have ever experienced

then to try to get me off my zopiclone addiction, which are sedatives for sleep, they combined Quetiapine with zop and i went up to 100mg to sleep since i have chronic insomnia, and man they helped me sleep and stopped the anxiety but i could not wake up and i was eating, while half asleep.

seriously i could go through an entire bag of chips, a whole pizza and a packet of biscuits and i do not even EAT cookies and stuff like that (Biscuits and cookies) but there i was stuffing my face and gulping down soft drink by the bottle

is anyone is on them and is not putting on weight or sleeping til next tuesday then thats cool but for me they were awful awful awful

SSeroquel = complete crap. made me incredibly stupid, i didnt care about the passage of time. i just ate, slept, and watched life pass me by, and oh i forgot, i ate some more! and i ate. whenever i took it t night (25 mg) the next morning i would have this horrible hangover...impossible to describe, but i always thought my brain was destroying itsefl from the inside or something like that. Seroqeul is great for sleep....but in terms of SA, it did nothing. it made my depression worse....only good thing, is it decreased my agitation/akathisia that i always have....so i could just sit still.

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by Vini Vidi Vici

SSeroquel = complete crap. made me incredibly stupid, i didnt care about the passage of time. i just ate, slept, and watched life pass me by, and oh i forgot, i ate some more! and i ate. whenever i took it t night (25 mg) the next morning i would have this horrible hangover...impossible to describe, but i always thought my brain was destroying itsefl from the inside or something like that. Seroqeul is great for sleep....but in terms of SA, it did nothing. it made my depression worse....only good thing, is it decreased my agitation/akathisia that i always have....so i could just sit still.

It's weird but that could pretty much word-for-word describe my experience with mirtazapine lol.

[jakeforpresident]

Originally Posted by jim_morrison

It's weird but that could pretty much word-for-word describe my experience with mirtazapine lol.

CRAp. I just got some Remeron prescribed.I had no idea it was on the same level as antipsychotics.

Seroquel is good for schizophrenics or particularly annoying manic-depressives but not for anyone else.

I took Risperdal when I was feeling great and they calmed me down and made me think clearer. But when I took Abilify it just made me feel like not talking and not doing much of anything.

You have to be really hyper in order to benefit from these drugs. period.

[meyaj]

Originally Posted by jakeforpresident

CRAp. I just got some Remeron prescribed.I had no idea it was on the same level as antipsychotics.

Seroquel is good for schizophrenics or particularly annoying manic-depressives but not for anyone else.

I took Risperdal when I was feeling great and they calmed me down and made me think clearer. But when I took Abilify it just made me feel like not talking and not doing much of anything.

You have to be really hyper in order to benefit from these drugs. period.

Remeron isn't really on the same level of antipsychotics. It doesn't turn you into a complete idiot (to the same degree, anyways.)

Even when my stomach is about to rupture from too much food intake though, Remeron makes me STILL feel hungry. It's kind of torture in a way, and practically guaranteed to make you put on weight... something that probably undermine the confidence that SA'ers are trying to achieve. I can't speak for anyone else, but the strong antihistamine action they share with those particular antipsychotics make me groggy and pretty much guarantee I oversleep to like 12+ hours. That antihistaminergic action, i've come to learn, is responsible for many of the qualitative similarities between the drugs, which I had always complained to my pdoc felt exactly like being conked out on benadryl.

Some people prefer the utter removal of emotion that antipsychotics cause, but in my opinion that's a bit dehumanizing and I'd even go as far as saying barbaric.

[TheDaffodil]

I took it at night. Started on 25mg and moved up to 50mg. So much sleep. ^__^ I never really had problems with it till after I was off of medication for a while. I was advised to continue to take it only if my anxiety was particularly high. One day I did and I practically passed out at school with made me afraid. We were doing our senior award ceremony and I had to sit on the stage. Before we got to the stage I had to sit down at a table because I felt so weak. Everyone was all concerned and I was afraid that if I couldn't go on it'd be embarrassing...so anyway I'd never take it during the day. Ever.

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by jakeforpresident

CRAp. I just got some Remeron prescribed.I had no idea it was on the same level as antipsychotics.

Seroquel is good for schizophrenics or particularly annoying manic-depressives but not for anyone else.

I took Risperdal when I was feeling great and they calmed me down and made me think clearer. But when I took Abilify it just made me feel like not talking and not doing much of anything.

You have to be really hyper in order to benefit from these drugs. period.

I should reiterate my post, mirtazapine is not on the same level as antipsychotics, reason being it is not a D2 antagonist. The point I was making was as meyaj suggested, the fact that both agents are such strong antihistamines gives them SOME similarities in terms of side effects.

But don't get discouraged remeron works great for some peoples depression so by all means try it.

[Arisa1536]

thanks guys, it seems this dreaded drug has the same effect on most of us
and jim, i have not heard of this mirtazapine but since its not an antipsycotic like Serequoel perhaps its not as bad

i think its rather offensive they give people with anxiety disorder an anti psycotic, or bipolar med, thats not what we have, i am not manic depressive or psychotic LOL but the doc said it combats the benzo dependancies, well i would rather have them, as they do not give me hunger pangs, sleepiness, dreary hallucinations and headaches from hell, infact the zopiclone i am on (15mg) does wonders and gets rid of the head ache

[jim_morrison]

I wish my doc would give me zopiclone *sighs*.

[meyaj]

Originally Posted by jim_morrison

I wish my doc would give me zopiclone *sighs*.

It's been a lifesaver but it doesn't do anything for MY headaches lol

I keep forgetting to ask my pdoc, but I think I'm going to see if I can switch back to temazepam which I took for a while about a year ago. It's about the same in terms of efficacy IMO, and also gives me better quality sleep like the zopiclone does. The main difference is that now that I'm on Disability and have drug insurance, temazepam is covered while for some reason zopiclone isn't... which is silly because doctors are more likely to be comfortable with zopiclone than with an actual benzo... I think mine will be too =/

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by meyaj

It's been a lifesaver but it doesn't do anything for MY headaches lol

I keep forgetting to ask my pdoc, but I think I'm going to see if I can switch back to temazepam which I took for a while about a year ago. It's about the same in terms of efficacy IMO, and also gives me better quality sleep like the zopiclone does. The main difference is that now that I'm on Disability and have drug insurance, temazepam is covered while for some reason zopiclone isn't... which is silly because doctors are more likely to be comfortable with zopiclone than with an actual benzo... I think mine will be too =/

Yeah my pdoc didn't want to give it to me because of supposed abuse potential, but considering I've been a chronic insomniac for years which has had many detrimental effects on my life, I'd much prefer a lifelong drug addiction to a sleep medication that actually works, than the alternatives, i've been on mirtazapine for the past 6 months, and I feel it just completly kills any motivation or soul that's in me, I don't think I can stand antihistamines anymore, and antipsychotics sound even worse.

[meyaj]

Originally Posted by jim_morrison

Yeah my pdoc didn't want to give it to me because of supposed abuse potential, but considering I've been a chronic insomniac for years which has had many detrimental effects on my life, I'd much prefer a lifelong drug addiction to a sleep medication that actually works, than the alternatives, i've been on mirtazapine for the past 6 months, and I feel it just completly kills any motivation or soul that's in me, I don't think I can stand antihistamines anymore, and antipsychotics sound even worse.

Yeah, an erratic sleep schedule can definitely make me feel like I'm absolutely losing it.

Now I'm up with the rest of the family (less isolated), and my memories are happening in discrete days. Before the sleep meds, I'd have a bit of Tuesday mixed in with Monday, with some memories from a dream thrown in for good measure. I don't know if I'm explaining it well enough, but when that kind of **** happens I really feel like I'm going insane.

Temazepam/zopiclone have been the most useful meds I've tried so far... they actually accomplish something WITHOUT making everything else worse. Doctors need to start realizing that drug dependencies CAN be justified if the tradeoff lets you gain some functionality in your life. Dependency does suck, and that path should be avoided if possible, but if the end result is improving the life of the patient, they shouldn't make their patients suffer for the sake of their own distorted values.

[jim_morrison]

Originally Posted by meyaj

Doctors need to start realizing that drug dependencies CAN be justified if the tradeoff lets you gain some functionality in your life. Dependency does suck, and that path should be avoided if possible, but if the end result is improving the life of the patient, they shouldn't make their patients suffer for the sake of their own distorted values.

Agreed.

[Arisa1536]

Originally Posted by jim_morrison

I wish my doc would give me zopiclone *sighs*.

its a shame the doc wont
they are a god send, seriously

ALTHOUGH
research has proved that they can be (in some people) twice as addictive as your average benzo, since they are hypnotic sedatives, they work rather fast and you find yourself feeling so rested and good when you take them, the desire for daytime relief comes and you could end up on three to four per day including two at night, like i did

with me they gave me creative energy to write, and i love writing my books and they helped but all those nasty irrational thoughts in to perspective

However when u do not take them, the side effects are bad, the withdrawals are not good, you know? trembling, headaches and depressive crying

but jim, clonazepam is a better more smarter choice
even though in my perfect world i would be on both (well i still have some left so i am on both )

[meyaj]

I AM on both zopiclone and clonazepam and it works well.

Clonazepam during the day, zopiclone at night.

I've been taking 15mg (7.5 for a while in the middle) for over half a year now, and have occasionally skipped a dose due to utter exhaustion, and haven't really had much in the way of withdrawals, even when I don't take the klonopin either.

At first, well before I started taking the clonazepam, I took the zopiclone during the day a few times for the anxiety relief. When I realized one day that it had given me amnesia of the ENTIRE DAY before, I stopped taking them. My parents thought I was going nuts. The few people I've shared the zopiclone with a handful of times have also noticed how amnesic the drug is (or rather, other people do - it's usually not overtly obvious but when people start bringing up stuff that happened and you repeatedly swear to god you weren't there, it clicks in eventually.. Definitely not good for taking during the day.

Clonazepam, on the other hand, is the least sleep-inducing benzo I've tried (the others being lorazepam, diazepam, alprazolam, and temazepam). Although it actually made me a bit fatigued - not sleepy, though - at 0.5mg, whereas at 2mg it's almost like it's giving me MORE energy. I don't know how broadly this can be applied, but in my experience, clonazepam is a lousy sleep med and is unlikely to really help someone with serious sleep problems.