Seroquel XR

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I've been on Seroquel XR for a yearish. I was put on it because I was having mood swings and getting so angry that I would have the urge to bang my head on things and bite myself. I was originally put on 150mg, but that dose turned out to be way too strong (I was dizzy and extremely tired), so I went down to 75mg. Several times, my doctor and I tried to move my dose back up, but I would get really tired and dizzy and nauseous. After a while, I realized that this medicine wasn't doing enough for me, if it was even doing anything at all. It made me really tired all the time, and if I ever accidentally missed a dose, I suffered EXTREME insomnia. So on monday, I talked to my doctor, and we decided to slowly take me off this medicine and leave me on just my Celexa 10mg. Two days on 50mg instead of 75mg has left me less tired, which is sort of a bad thing since I have a hard time falling asleep. But next week, I'm going down to 25mg, until I am completely off it.
I was just wondering if anyone else takes/took this medicine and if they had similar problems.

I was on Seroquel for anxiety and it did not do me any good. I also got very tired. I had a self-harming incident and was taken off it.

My medication (for anxiety) was then switched to Concerta (high dose for good decision-making under stress), risperidone (for controlling feelings of fear) and lamictal (to stabilise moods). That combination worked well, and I am doing fine now, no longer any need to see my psychiatrist regularly. I have also stopped using the risperidone, I don't need it any more.

For insomnia I take melatonin; I also use a sleep CD fom SleepPhones.com, I have a bedtime routine, I follow thinking exercises and build myself a nest of pillows for physical pressure. (It works most nights.)

I was put on 50mg of Seroquel for Anxiety. I wasn't as anxious, but I was always tired. And then I gained weight on it. Basically, it made me lazy and chubby. I went off of it and stopped gaining weight. Now it's beginning to come off.

I'm on 100 lamactil, for mood stabilising and anti depressant effect, and 300 seroquel XR (it's also known as quetiapine.) Before I went on quetiapine I was on rispiridone, and had every side effect you can think of. I had to come off it, even though it controlled the psychoses. Then I gradually went on quetiapine till I was up to 300. I still occasionally get mild psychotic symptoms, but so long as I know what they are I don't want to increase my dose. In fact, I'd like very much to get it down to 200, and see how I do on that. I'm not ready yet to do without it, I've only been "well" for a few months, maybe six. I know I feel better, but if I came off my meds I'd probably go right back to where I started.

The rispiridone made me gain a lot of weight... I lost some when I went on quetiapine, but now that my body's used to it I find myself very hungry a lot of the time.

I know what you mean about the extreme insomnia if you miss a dose... yet even though it makes me tired it doesn't help me get to sleep at night. It just makes me woozy and sleepy the next day. The doctor I'm under at the moment is thinking about changing my meds... fingers crossed.

I'm glad you're coming off this slowly, and with the doctor's help. Let us know how you get on.

Yeah, I think its made me gain weight, but I've been on it for so long, im not sure if its my lack of activity or the meds making me gain weight. I hope that I lose weight when I get off this med. that would be awesome.

That is a well-known side-effect. I gained a lot too. I reduced my dose a while ago, lost some of the weight, recently stopped using risperidone altogether, and am still losing weight. (The Concerta and Ritalin also helps with the weight loss.)

I have a friend who says Seroquel helps him, but for me, but didn't really help. When my best friend started learning to help me during meltdowns (instead of trigger and exacerbate them), my anxiety got a lot better. I also learned useful things through the self-help CBT I got from Nick Dubin's book, 'Asperger Syndrome and Anxiety' and applied them in my reaction to anxiety-inducing situations.

First off, everyone takes meds for different reasons, but everything you describe makes since given that it is Seroquel.

For me personally, I quite sensitive to anti-psychotics. I only take Seroquel when I feel that I am about to get hypomanic or if I have insomnia that I can't control otherwise. For those times when no matter what I do I can't sleep for more than a few hours a day and my mind is racing. I have a stash of 50mg tablets for that reason, I rarely use them though. I find 50mg Seroquel knocks me out pretty hard. I could not tolerate taking the stuff every day.
Anyway that is my experience.

I'm on a very high dosage of seroquel, mainly because my anxiety was out of control (and I mean out of control). I have picked up weight too, but i am much, much calmer now, so i'm willing to live with it.

Seroquel just dulls everything too much

I'm on 25 mg and am in the process of reducing it to 12.5 mg. I know that when I drop a dose as I have gone off it before then I will have a few sleepness nights, but once my body adjusts it is fine again. The sleeplessness never lasts for more than a week. I was at one stage on 50 mg, but it just numbed me out too much. I am working with a psychologist to try and deal with the problems, rather than just numbing myself out. There is certainaly a role for medication but for me I find that once I am stablised on a med, ie. have been on it for a month or so, I can very easily reduce the dose to a more tolerable level. I do not believe that anyone should be on high doses permanently, the body just adjusts to it and when something happnes that makes things out of control again you then have no where to go to cope with it. Life is about ups and downs and while I do think that I can find ways to cope with things without medication, I also feel that there will always be a role at some times, but I have no intention of numbing myself to oblivion to the point that I am not able to function. It is not doing anything to help me to live my life and to cope with the ups and downs that life throws at me.

It has never done anything to really help me sleep, but is sure caused me to be drowsy, and the weight gain I have experienced, but nothing like when I was on olazipine.

I am sceptical of any doctor that simply presribes drugs to cure every problem without doing anything or referring to someone who can help a person to find non medication ways to cope. Sure for some people there will always be a role for medicaiton, but the aim should always be to have that at the lowest dose possible and I never see that being done, it seems to be about drugging people up to the max and then wondering why they can't function, and why they can't cope when things go downhill again for them.

I am officially off seroquel. After I stopped it, i had 4 days of horrible insomnia. Now, I am over that. I have also unexpectedly lost 8 lbs. so that's nifty.

Well done!! !

thanks. unfortunately, now i've begun to get randomly angry, esp while playing computer games. i've begun to bite my hands and arms and hit my head.

would antidepressants help you instead?

Hi, I was on 400mg so dose must be a personal thing. Mine was more for mood and sleep. slowly weened on and now I am off it again to compare differences but a big draw back for me so far has been getting to sleep at a reasonable hour without it.

I am on 10mg Celexa, but I guess its not helping like it should. What sucks is that I am inbetween doctors right now (child and adult) and am not sure who to go to about this.