Anyone here taking quietapin /seraquil. Been prescribed it by my psychiatrist and feeling a little worried about taking it I know its a strong drug. Hoping it will help me sleep though ?

I was taking it as a mood stabilizer about 3 years ago, but then dropped down doses, and was used for sleep. I can tell you that, initially, I got knocked the hell out, which was great, but eventually it mellowed out. It was still effective, for sure, but less aggressive. It did make me feel sluggish the next day, especially at first, but I also took it much later than I should have, and it would last further into the next day. It has a reputation for giving people the munchies, and for some can cause weight gain (as part of its properties, but the munchies don't help, I'm sure). I gained maybe 5 lbs, but lost it once I stopped taking it. The weight drops once you have stopped it, so it is pretty easily reversible, as far as I can recall. Weight gain doesn't happen to everyone, however. Some peoplw get restless legs, some people have weird dreams, but dry mouth is by far the most common side-effect, from what I have seen. As far as atypical antipsychotics go, I believe it is rather modest, and the doses at which it is clinicly useful for sleep aid, versus treatment for bipolar disorder, and especially schizophrenia are widely different in mass. Why I stopped taking it had nothing to do with the side-effects or anything like that. I was on a lot of meds at the time, and quetiapine was the easiest to kick, as I was no longer using it for mood stabilization, and just as a sleep aid, and sometimes to relieve anxiety when it was too high for me to manage. All this said, I find myself wishing I were on a small dose again, because when I start doing bedtime ritual bullshit, knowing I have a sort of kill switch (as in I take my Seroquel dose, and will quite reliably be out like a light in 45 minutes, give or take) is /very/ comforting, because I know I am going to have to stop the rituals, otherwise I will miss doing truly important stuff like flossing, brushing teeth, etc., as I will likely be way too tired to do anything but flop and pass out for the night. For this reason, I give it a 10/10.

Hopefully all of that text isn't too intimidating. I get intimidated by large blocks of text, so I try to break my longer posts up, as I know I appreciate it. Let me know if you have any other questions or what have you! I'm happy to help. I hope quetiapine works well for you! :D

Your psychiatrist is going to give you bette information than anyone on here. The degree that it will effect you is largely based on the amount prescribed. Typically, for a sleep aid it is going to be a very small dose, like 25mg or 50mg. Seroquel can be used in much larger doses as a true antipsychotic (for aggression, delusions, etc). The good news is that it only stays in your system a small amount of time. I personally got great relief from my OCD caused insomnia from 2 mg of abilify.

Bless you thank you for your reply! I completely spelt it wrong lol duh me?? I appreciate your honest reply that's exactly what I wanted for someone to be honest with me about how they felt on it what their experience was. I was just feeling very nervous about taking it. I'm not a fan of meds really. Took me ages to take just the sertraline I'd been prescribed but I've been on that a few days now. The psychiatrist said this quetiapine would help with my intrusive thoughts and impulsive feelings. I'm just not looking forward to feeling too groggy or doped up. ? I've been pushing myself to get out more latley after not going out for so long so I don't want it to affect that too much. But hey If it helps my sleep that will be great cos I can never stay asleep all night I always wake up and nothing else has ever worked. I'm gonna maybe take it around 10.30?pm its 9.35 pm right now I'm in the UK not sure where you are? Lol. I just don't want to feel too doped up all day tomorrow I want to be able to get stuff done. I know for the first few days it is probably gonna do that though ? I really appreciate your detailed reply and honesty that's exactly what I wanted and needed. So thank you so much for that really! ? And yes I like to break text up too usually but it wasn't intimidating don't worry ?

I’ve been told medicines commonly used to treat psychosis make ocd symptoms worse, but don’t quote me on that obviously do ur own research. I will tell u tho seroquel can have some weird and nasty side effects. Trazodone is much better if you ask me

Trazodone also helps you sleep and manage anxiety but without a lot of the side effects

Damn ? my psychiatrist said it would help with the intrusive and impulsive thoughts. I have harm ocd which mostly feels like physical urges impulsive feelings he said it would calm that ? I'm also on sertraline but it's very early days only took 4 so far. I refused to take antidepressants for so long I had a real phobia of them cos the first two I was on (mirtazipine and fluoxetine) made me worse anxiety wise and made me very sick Some doctors thought I was silly because I was willing to take sleep meds like zopiclone and I do take diazapam (vallium) too. But those didn't give me any side effects. The diazapam works a treat for moments of anxiety and works fast. The doctor wouldn't give me any other sleeping medication after the zopiclone, also promethazine, amitriptyline. Ive just took my first seroquel feeling abit worried now ?

Couldn't handle it if it made my intrusive thoughts and urges worse. I became so bad because of how bad they got I isolated myself for a very long time just started to get myself back out ? when I read it was an anti psychotic it did make me worry. I have spoke to someone who takes it in a massive dose and it works well for him. But I read it is common in the treatment of bipolar and schizophrenia and also major depressive disorder. I was diagnosed with ocd, anxious depressive disorder and emotionally unstable personality disorder. Damn I don't like even typing that out makes me feel like a nut job.

Yes that's true! I didn't really like him but he took on board everything I told him, I was 100% open and honest with him and I have to trust his diagnosis and his recommendations of medications. He gave me 25mg, any more than that and I would of freaked out and probably not took it. I was abit freaked out when I read it was an anti psychotic. But he did say it would help with my racing thoughts and impulsive feelings Took my first one last night it didn't knock me out as quick as I thought it would took maybe an hour an half. I still kept waking up but was able to fall back to sleep quicker I did have some very strange dreams but that's pretty normal for me anyway lol. I'm glad to hear it helped with your ocd I really hope it does with mine too. Thanks for your reply ☺️