Quetiapine (Ketipinor, Seroquel, Xeroquel) as Sleeping Medicine?

[meeruf]

I tried this medicine two nights now. I have been sleeping like a little kid. Anyone have any experience with this medicine?

Quetiapin is meant for people with bipolar disorder, but anyone can use it. Bipolar people use it to tame thoughts and don't have to many ups and downs. But it have a drowsy effect to. After 40 minutes taking this medicine, there is no way I can stay awake. It just shuts me down.

 

[object16]

Hi, this is a major league medication, originally developed to deal with schizophrenia. it has powerful sedative effects. it should not be over-used because it can cause very nasty movement disorders. with time, you will get used to it, and its effect will be much less, as with all things. It will also cause weight gain and metabolic syndrome such as diabetes. I have been using it for years, this past year I have needed a lot more of it, because my tinnitus has become very bad. Plus a bag full of other meds as well.

 

[Dr. Ancill]

Long term effects very much depend on the dose. Dosages of 12.5 mg t0 50 mg are probably not going to cause any of the metabolic or neuroligical problems. The most important issue to take whatever works to give you 6+ hours of sleep.

 

[jeannie]

i have been perscribed seroquel by my phyc. doctor today. anyone have taken this before, she said it is a mood stabilizer ,but helps with all kinds of stuff,, depression ect...any thoughts on it?

 

[Dana]

@jeannie
Yeah, I have some thoughts about Seroquel. Very fashionable theses days. One of the latest "trends" in psychogenic drugs. I was prescribed it for PTSD.
Took it for many months. Don't remember much from that perods of time, except for the fact that I was laying in bed ALL the time. I got hooked on it, but I do not remember why. Didn' t help me with anything, but I was able to realise that only after a long time. T was not reduced at all, but it changed my state of mind. I received gladly this change of state of mind, because my previous one was very bad, so I was glad to exchange it with anything. But the new state of mind given by Seroquel was not good either. For me it was an addictive drug, T was not reduced and all I could do was to sleep or just lay in bed and gain weight, cause I was not able to do much of anything else.
Maybe your experience with it will be totally different, but I personally don't have anything good to say about it.
I looked once on the psychogenic drugs that have an effect on T.
Seroquel wasn't on it.
My advice is try is to try other drugs, about which at least some people say they resolved their T: SSRI drugs (firstly) and the benzo Xanax. I don'the see why those people would have lied in their testimonials.

 

[jeannie]

Does anyone know if Seroquel is octoxic to the ears?im supposed to take to help me sleep and help my racing mind.which is caused from tinnitus.tired of taking meds .that have so many side effects.just don't seem fair.but I remind my self there are people worse off...

 

[jeannie]

OK thanks Dana!!

 

[jeannie]

Does anyone know if seroquel will make tinnitus worse? Or is it toxic to auditory system?

 

[Purple Parrot]

I took this in small amounts for over a year, when I was suffering from terrible anxiety/insomnia. Sometimes it is prescribed as an off label adjunct to antidepressants, when treating anxiety.

It is a nasty drug in my opinion. I would take it and feel completely body stoned (in a very unpleasant way). I was so dopey that I *would* sleep, but I never really felt rested the next day. I had to drink a lot of caffeine to try and function and it made my thought processes extremely slow. I would get heart palpitations sometimes, after taking it. I gained weight because I was ravenously hungry after I took it and would go on huge binge fests.

Have a look at the side effect list - it's longggg and there are some nasty ones.

I would not recommend it for anxiety, insomnia or depression, due to the side effect profile. The benefits do not outweigh the risks. It should be used for on label purposes only.

 

[linearb]

at low doses it tends to be more of an anticholergenic than a dopamine antagonist, but, this is a seriously scary drug and I have seen people get really messed up from it, or be unable to withdraw from it. Withdrawal after long term use has been known to provoke psychotic breaks in people with no history of psychosis.

I would not take this stuff again for $10,000.

The main risks of not sleeping are just being tired, unless you're chronically sleep deprived over a really long period of time. As someone who's taken it, I have to respectfully disagree with @Dr. Ancill , I think the risks of this drug are much more severe than the risks of insomnia, even at a low dose. (Granted, if you are sleep deprived, don't drive a car).

If you really must take a drug for sleep, there are many safer options.

 

[jeannie]

OK thanks. I was only taking a quarter of a pill because it was helping me sleep at night aong with a low dose of Xanax.. But didn't take tonight.maybe I will take every other night so I can get some rest.I have just started it a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Tamika]

If you really must take a drug for sleep, there are many safer options.

I've just been prescribed this as well. I really don't like it not to mention the listed side effects. Psych didn't seem to like sleeping tablets but surely they are safer than this.

 

[jeannie]

Tamika, how much are you taking?I didn't take tonight and here I am awake at 300 am .ears hissing loudly.sound machine on,but not masking.I guess I will keep taking my quarter of a pill just to be knocked out sleeping.I'm all stressed and wide awake.hate this!!!!

 

[Tamika]

Tamika, how much are you taking?I didn't take tonight and here I am awake at 300 am .ears hissing loudly.sound machine on,but not masking.I guess I will keep taking my quarter of a pill just to be knocked out sleeping.I'm all stressed and wide awake.hate this!!!!

In hospital they were giving me 25mg but I still would wake up so they gave me 2 doses close together. When I left the dr gave me a script for 100mg tablets but I'm afraid to take that much. They also gave me a dose in the day to help with anxiety, but it didn't seem to help that and made me feel very ill like a bad hangover. I just took 50mg the other night first night home from hospital but while I was waiting for it to kick in while watching tv my T suddenly ramped up like someone flicking a switch. Scared the heck out of me. Coincidence I don't know, but its never happened before. When I woke in the night the T still seemed to be raging. I used sleeping tablets last couple of nights but don't have many left. I'll try the Seroquel again tonight. I am scared of the stuff though. I'd be interested to know as well if anyone else has had any T increase or spikes when using it. I don't want to look at the list of side effects again as its too scary.

 

[linearb]

I've just been prescribed this as well. I really don't like it not to mention the listed side effects. Psych didn't seem to like sleeping tablets but surely they are safer than this.

Anti-psychotics are now the most profitable class of drugs sold in America. Think about that for a minute, and then ask yourself to what degree you might want to exercise some healthy skepticism about any claims being made as to their safety or efficiency. Forget side effect pamphlets, I can show you plenty of real-world stories from people who went on these drugs for one reason or another, and ended up severely fucked up as a result (or simply have been unable to withdraw from them).

Benzos and Ambien have a lot of problems, too, and that's why I basically encourage people to find other ways of sleeping, but if someone needs to take something occasionally and short-term, I'd say, stick with the stuff which has been designed with that purpose in mind, and has been around for a lot longer.

As for sleeping without taking anything, this is something that was super helpful to me when sleep was the big demon in my life: http://www.sleepnet.com/insomnia27/messages/537.html

 

[Tamika]

@linearb @jeannie

I have tried everything to get some sleep but am only getting about 3 hours a night and the rest of the night I lay there with massive anxiety raging verging on panic attacks - heart pounding, hot flushes, sweating. I use to sleep 8-9 hours every night like a baby before T. I hate taking drugs. I'm the most anti drug person I know. So I hate the fact it has come to this. I am so desperate. Its the anxiety keeping me awake I know. My health is deteriorating from constant anxiety attacks and lack of sleep. I've tried laying there every night thinking surely I'll get some sleep soon. Sometimes very rarely I might manage 5 hours broken sleep. I've even tried doing 40 bike rides a couple of months back but still only slept 3 hours. I can't even be bothered riding now as feel too sick with anxiety.

Last night I gave in and tried the Seroquel again. I took 25mg which gave me 3 hours sleep. I then took another 25mg when I woke in the night after 3 hours and the same again 3 hours later so I got a long sleep. The dr had given me a script for 100mg a night but I don't want to take that much in one go as scared of side effects. I have a few 25mg tablets left which I'm using. I did not notice any rise in T last night after taking the seroquel. After taking the first 25mg last night I did notice some minor side affects. I felt my breathing to be a bit tight and noticed mucus in my lungs causing me to cough for a while. I checked and found others have had the same side affects as well. It has also been prescribed for me as a mood stabiliser to help with the anxiety until the ssri antidepressant hopefully kicks in in a few weeks. I do agree with @linearb that this is a nasty drug. You have to be desperate to take it.

 

[linearb]

@Tamika sorry this is so tough. If it's helpful, I went through a period of exactly what you're describing, complete with some of the same drugs, the extended periods of no sleep, panic attacks etc and I'm basically fine now and not on anything. And, as much as it sucked at the time I don't think it did me any real long-term harm.

 

[Tamika]

@meeruf
Are you still taking this drug?

 

[Tamika]

@Tamika sorry this is so tough. If it's helpful, I went through a period of exactly what you're describing, complete with some of the same drugs, the extended periods of no sleep, panic attacks etc and I'm basically fine now and not on anything. And, as much as it sucked at the time I don't think it did me any real long-term harm.

Thanks for letting me know that. So the drugs did help you in getting back to normal?

 

[linearb]

Thanks for letting me know that. So the drugs did help you in getting back to normal?

No, in my case the more drugs I took the worse things got and finally I had to go way out of my way to find an MD doctor who was pretty anti-drug to get me through it all. In some ways that period of my life was the hardest part of my whole tinnitus experience so far.

I still have periods where I don't sleep well, but it just doesn't faze me anymore, something has changed. I can be overtired without getting that sweaty, anxious desperate feeling.

 

[jeannie]

I'm like you Tamika,as far as anxiety .. I did sleep good while on the seroquel. But tonight I took a Vicks sleep aide that I had tried before only a larger dose of it .it's over the counter.and a small dose of Xanax.I have had panic attacks for years and horrible anxiety and since getting tinnitus 3 years ago it has went crazy.the seroquel I took was the most sleep I've gotten in the 3 years since I got T.it was 7 hours a night maybe 6 but usually it's 2 -4 hours.my tinnitus has been loud since I stopped taking it yesterday...don't know if I got my brain chemicals all messed up or not...

 

[meeruf]

@meeruf
Are you still taking this drug?

Hi @Tamika

No, I'm not at any drugs anymore.

I remember I got some side effects from these pills in the long run. I got very restless legs when I was on them. It started 30-40 min after I took them. It was always gone the next day. I had no side effects in the morning except that I was a little groggy at times.

I got very numb of the pills too, but that did not bother me at that period of time.

I also got an insane appetite from them. I remember I took the pills, then 20 minutes later I would go to the kitchen and eat anything I could find until I passed out.

Had no withdrawal symptoms when I stopped with them.

 

[jeannie]

Tamika,just wondering how you are doing with the medicine?is it helping you?sure hope so!!

 

[jeannie]

Is there any update from anyone using seroquel?

 

[Marxman]

I started using seroquel for sleep a few months after getting tinnitus. Initially, i was afraid of the side effects.....but i was willing to trade for good sleep. My dose has ranged betwwen 12.5mg to 50mg. It typically gives me a good 6 hours of sleep. Never had any issues coming off of it besides less sleep. Also, it has never affected the volume of my tinnitus. Overall, its been a good med for me.

 

[Tamika]

Tamika,just wondering how you are doing with the medicine?is it helping you?sure hope so!!

Hi Jeannie

Initially when I took them for first week or so they seemed to knock me out in that I had to stagger to the bedroom once they took effect. The best I get from a 25mg tablet is about 3 hours. Then I just take another one, and if I'm lucky I might get back to sleep. Lately they have not been working so well. Even when I upped it to 50mg it didn't keep me asleep longer. I've been taking them 3 weeks now and even taking 50mg I've laid there awake for 2 hours so got up and took 5mg zolpidem sleeping tablet. I still get the arms and leg muscle twitching at the lowest dose, and also now at 50mg get the tight hard to breathe feeling. Despite a perceived change in my T one night it did go back to baseline.

Changed to a diff pscyh dr today as she is much closer to where I live. She said the Seroquel does not work for everyone. To me it feels like my anxiety is so off the charts that it takes a lot to knock me out. I do try breathing and mindfulness techniques as well to try and relax in bed. The new dr today was not so against the sleeping pills and gave me another script but said try to limit them to 3 times a week. Maybe I'll still try and use the Seroquel on the other nights.

In my previous post above I mentioned the bike rides. Typo there. I was trying to say that I'd even tried doing 40km mountain bike ride on rough tracks with 1200m of hill climbing. I still only slept 3 hours! My anxiety level is just at the max 24 hours a day. Due to this I've also been prescribed some Beta Blockers today as well. These are to be used during the day to reduce the physical symptoms of racing pulse and high blood pressure.

 

[jeannie]

Thanks Tamika.hope you start improving with your new meds!!!it seems like my tinnitus has gone up,I was taking seroquel and only a quarter of a 25 mg tablet,and I got sleep but I also took a 0.5 Xanax at bedtime and I got 6-8 hours of sleep but woke up with screaming tinnitus after about 2 weeks of taking .at first I thought it was helping lower it but now its higher.my tinnitus fluctuates alot too.but I didn't take it last night and its roaring today too.of course I always think something I take is going to spike it so I know that doesn't help anything.maybe I'm not taking enough.but even on my small dosage it makes me have a hard time getting up the next morning.

 

[Roberth]

No, quetiapine is a safe and effective drug for sleeping. It does however depends of the dose but often one can get sleep from only 6,25 mg. That dose can be used year after year and will not cause any movement disorder what so ever. A little weight gain though, but just a bit.