Seroquel for insomnia--how it impacted me

[HereIGoAgain]

I'm not schizophrenic and Seroquel is usually prescribed for that but I took it for 5 years for insomnia. I started with 1/2 pill per night and I was asleep in 10 minutes and slept through the night but as a typical alcoholic I built up a tolerance to it and was taking 2 pills per night, which is almost what a SZ is suppose to take daily.

My doctor prescribed it for me after I experimented with my son's medicine. My eldest has SZ. He won't take meds for it but he told me it puts him to sleep and told me to try it for my insomnia.

It lowers dopamine in the brain and SZs have too much dopamine (the feel good neurotransmitter) so it makes sense that it was depressing me.

This last time I quit drinking, I went cold-turkey off of Seroquel as an experiment to see how I felt, I had been on it for 5 years.

I relapsed a little over 2 years ago and from what I can tell Seroquel had something possibly to do with my relapse because since I've gotten off of it, I've found my self more content and not craving alcohol like I did before in the last couple of years that I've quit over and over.

I'm not sleeping well (obviously, it's 1:54 a.m.) and I don't get to sleep sometimes all night long but it's worth it to me to not be depressed.

I just wanted to tell people that I can see now that certain meds may impact sobriety.

As of today I am sober 1 month. YEEHAW! And I'm happier than I have been the other times I've tried to get sober, well other than the 22 years I was sober before but I wasn't taking that med back then.

[barb dwyer]

HIGA -

Congratulations on the 30 days !!! (or is it 31)

Interesting read. Hmmm...

[HereIGoAgain]

Originally Posted by barb dwyer

HIGA -

Congratulations on the 30 days !!! (or is it 31)

Interesting read. Hmmm...

Well as of midnight it was 31 days.

Thanks barb!

[gypsytears]

I guess everyone is different. I was prescribed seroquel for insomnia and this is what happened : nothing. It didn't help me sleep at all. I tried one... nothing. Doc said take 2... nothing. Doc upped it to 3 and I finally felt something. My heart was pounding as if I would have a heart attack but I never did fall asleep. Needless to say, I don't take it anymore. I still have the insomnia.

[51anna]

I think it's very, very hard to stop drinking if you're depressed. In my case the depression came long before the drinking and though I wanted to stop, I really didn't care enough to follow through. I had to get the depression treated with meds first, then things worked for me.

[Lbad]

I was prescribed Seroquel during methadone withdrawal for sleep.........
It kind of worked but during the day I felt like I had to stop and take a nap on my way from bed to bath. lol It really paralyzed me physically and mentally. I only took it for a week then stopped cause it scared me. I guess everyone's experiences can be different.....

[CarolD]

I have never heard of Seroquel
but I can certainly tell you that alcohol
depressed me for years.
That is exactly why I quit drinking.

Well done on your sober time!