Seroquel--anyone take it?

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We're twin sisters who both suffer from severe insomnia. We've taken every drug under the sun to help it but they just aren't very effective. Our psychiatrist is suggesting a low dose of seroquel (25 mg) as a final option. We're very frightened of some of the possible side effects of the drugs, namely weight gain and diabetes. We're not sure if these side effects just happen if you eat too much sugar or something because sometimes Seroquel can cause sugar cravings, but we'd love to hear if anyone here has had any experiences--good, bad, or ugly--on the drug. Has it helped with your sleep? Has it made you gain weight or have a ravenous appetite? Thanks for any feedback!

Yeah.

I take it for anxiety/OCD and "paranoia". It seems to work for those two. Weight gain seems to be the most frequent side-effect that people experience.

That dose will make you sleep (O boy, it'll make you sleep alright). It's more of a sedative, anti-adrenergic and anti-histamine at that dose. The anti-dopamine and increased serotonergic activity starts at higher doses for the most part.

Yes I take Seroquel but not just for sleep. I have Tourette's and before I started taking medication it was quite severe. It even made walking more complicated because I had knee tics. I could still walk but it was a bit more work and I looked like a freak while doing it.

I understand why it is justified for me to take Seroquel. I'm not sure why it is prescribed for sleep and nothing else in some people. I guess at a low dose it wouldn't have as many side effects. I have to take 300 mg because the anti-dopamine effects are necessary to control my Tourette's.

It also helps me sleep and that's why I take it in the evening. I've been on it for a long time. It sedates me in the evening and I'm alert the next day but I've seen some other people having serious problems with daytime drowsiness when they started taking Seroquel.

Seroquel has a mild weight-gain side effect for me but it's a lot less severe than with Risperdal. When I was on Risperdal I had a seemingly insatiable appetite. I gained a lot of weight. The side effects were pretty extreme. That's why I switched to Seroquel. The side effects are much milder for me.

I know two people who are on it. I've taken it once or twice when one of them gave me when I was having sleeping problems. I dislike the way the next day I feel so hungover from it though.

I've heard that it can cause certain facial tics after taking it for a long time and actually have a friend that developed a facial tick after years of abusing a substance that is frequently cut with Seroquel. One friend of mine is on 100mg but she doesn't like to take it so she doesn't. Another is on a lower doseage and he usually takes it but I think his is for crazy not for sleep. He can sometimes be a bit, well, over the top.

It's also a fairly popular drug around here that speed freaks use to come down and finally get some sleep. It's about the only one that will knock out a several day long tweak so they can get some sleep.

That's all I know about Seroquel. Maybe TambourineMan will chime in on this thread. He knows a lot about meds.

Yes, I took Seroquel extended release version at 50mg in the evening for a few months. It was prescribed to me by my GP, weirdly, to combat the side effect my anti-depressant had of very frequent vivid and disturbing dreams. I later spoke with my psychiatrist about it and she said it was unusual for my GP to prescribe it for that purpose. I had some issues with Seroquel so p-doc changed that rx to Elavil (amitriptyline).

Seroquel is pretty effective for making you drowsy, definitely. The weight gain side effect did affect me, which was one of the reasons i stopped taking it. The other reason was financial. I don't have prescription coverage so Seroquel XR was pricey. The non-extended release version is now available generic though, that's cheap.

Elavil has been effective for me so far, both in terms of making me drowsy and cutting back on the vividness of my dreams.

Yes and I hated it! I had extreme drowsiness, blurred vision, dizziness, I could feel the blood rushing in and out of my head, I felt like I was floating, and I had a dry mouth. I had my psychiatrist switch my meds the next time I saw him.

25mg left me virtually comatose when I used to take it. Blurred vision, weight gain, side effects mostly the same as others have mentioned. I know someone with bipolar who was on 400mg, smoked pot all through the day and was still bouncing off the walls. I saw him again recently after about 10 years and he said they upped him to 800mg. I am amazed that he is capable of walking and talking, let alone drive without wrecking

Took it for a very short stint, for Autism (antipsychotics tend to be experimented on Autistic individuals a lot as of recent times), and for anxiety and insomnia. I was instructed to take it right before bed. Each time was a terrible experience! The feeling of being "under the influence" of Seroquel is just awful. If you can't sleep after taking it, enjoy feeling totally loopy and unmotivated for hours until you can actually fall sleep. The stuff didn't even make me tired like it was supposed to. I hated it.

I'm not sure if it's a matter of some people being affected differently or getting used to it. I'm on 300 mg. I've been on either Seroquel or Risperdal for most of my life.

Maybe I'm just adjusted. While I was in hospital a friend I met there was put on Seroquel for the first time. I was shocked by how drowsy he was during the day. He was out of it. The change was pretty extreme for him.

I can't even remember how I was when I first started. I don't know if I was like that once. Maybe I was and I adjusted. Maybe the medication just affects me differently. It was just as surprising for me to see the debilitating effects of Seroquel on others as it was for you to see someone that could function while taking it.