Thoughts on Seroquel
 

I posted in the mental health forum but thought maybe I could get some opinions here. The rehab doctor has prescribed Seroquel for my daughter due to anxiety issues. Tomorrow she and I are going to her addiction doctor. Anyone with any experience with Seroquel or other anti-anxiety drugs. My problems with the Seroquel is that my daughter also has an eating disorder and I have heard that you gain a lot of weight on Seroquel. Not good for someone with an ED. Also the cost. We are helping with her Suboxone and have sent in forms for free prescriptions through pparx for her other meds. If there is a non-addicting anti-anxiety med that will do the job for her and is a generic let me know. I will discuss this with her doctor tomorrow as she has given me permission to go with her and bring any of my concerns to him. It may be possible for her to get the Seroquel for free through AstraZeneca. We will see. Thanks for any imput. Marle

Marle, I am so glad your daughter is still in recovery. I wish I could help you out with your question but I don't know the answer.
Hugs,
Diane

My daughter took seroquel for probably the first 3 months she was on subs but not every day. It took her a little while to adjust to subs. I'd ask her to get on here and fill you in but I don't want to share this place. From what I saw it helped her calm down but it really started to interfere with her ability to function. It was too strong, even at the lowest dose. She'd sleep forever and then was sluggish the rest of the day. She got to the point where she was taking little bites off the pill, trying to reduce the dosage.

When she was in rehab getting off subs, they offered seroquel to help withdrawals and that anxious feeling, but she turned them down. Said she'd end up sleeping 24/7.

Wish I could be of more help, sorry :(

Hi Marle, good to hear she is actively working towards her recovery. My AH took Seroquel for several years after a bad relapse left him paranoid. It really helped him get back to normal, but it did make him sleep a lot. He gained weight, but he was also taking Methadone at the same time, so I don't know how much is solely because of the Seroquel. After a while, he stopped taking it because he was having trouble breathing at night.

More recently, my cousin's son was taking it for Bipolar, but it made him feel too sluggish, so he stopped.

Since then, my AH has tried other things without as many side effects.

Hope you can find something that works for her.

kava kava root!

get it in the liquid form. it sucks to injest but works ALMOST as well as xanax.

The kids that I saw from rehab on Seroquel would come to the meetings on friends and family day and they would just sit and nod off. They were clean but the Seroquel made them look like junkies nodding on heroin. That is a concern with me. My daughter sleeps well at night being on 50mgs. of Trazodone. When she is here on the weekends she can sleep good for 10 hours. It is during the daytime that she has the problem with anxiety. Will talk to the doctor and see about increasing the Trazodone. Maybe that will help. She does not get bad anxiety everyday and her Seroquel prescription is for "use as needed". It is way too expensive though. Hugs, Marle

My sister was on seroquel.... she was taking 200 mgs in the morning and 600 mgs at night. It was insane! She would fall asleep while eating chocolate and it would just drip out of her mouth at around 10pm.

Is she going to take it only at night? Is it's main purpose just for anxiety?

My guy was given ativan for anxiety when in rehab... low dosage, but helped with the creepy crawlies from the opiate withdrawal and sleeping.

I think many of the issues with seroquel should be brought up with the doc... especially the ED.... I think your daughter will appreciate that too.

Look into the kava kava root...... too.

Seroquel is an anti-psychotic used to treat bi-polar, but a lot of rehabs prescribe it to help calm addicts. There is supposed to be a low incidence for addiction, but since my daughter did heroin so that she could just sleep her life away, it is probably not the best choice for her. And she did ask my opinion, I am not just giving her unsolicited advice. But I did tell her in the end it is her decision. Hugs, Marle

I HATE that drug! AH takes it at 150 mg and he's a walking zombie for about 2.5 hours until he "wakes up" in the morning. He walks into walls, slurrs words, for me it's an in your face reminder of a high addict every day. On this drug he can easily sleep 12-14 hours a day. Part of this COULD be because he was using other things, but him on that is a mirror image every day of him abusing oxy, xanax, valium etc. He IS obviously high on it, but says it's not the "same type" of high that he seeks out. I've been on him for a while to get on something else. Also AH did gain alot of weight when he was rx'd it for rehab (maybe 40 lbs or so??) BUT part of that could have been because he didn't have Methadone eating away at his muscles and he'd gotten an appetite back after rehab.

I agree with Abs, maybe try valerian root, melatonin for sleep? Also, I think if you are NOT an addict that the drug would be fine, but if you ARE an addict it is obviously that that drug can make you loopy. This is my opinion only - I hate seeing him "high" every day from an rx drug. I see it enough with drugs not rx'd. AH was rx'd 300mg @ night. Sometimes he breaks them in 1/2 sometimes not. HTH - ALSO, he was rx'd it because they "think" he has bipolar - but he's not been off drugs within the last few years long enough to firmly diagnose it.

Well I also answered your pm but I've never heard of or experienced any kind
of "High" on seroquel..... It may work for some but like some in here said I've seen it mainly be a zombie kind of drug. The doctors love to give out that drug, I do not know why. If you argue with them it's not even worth it sometimes, just easier to smile and nod seems like and then toss them.

If she does end up staying on them I think you have a good chance of getting them for free Astro Zenica also loves to give them out for free..
But even at my lowest dose like I mentioned I just end up having to compensate to wake up with some type of energy caffeine or whatever the next day just to be able to function.


Those are good, but I would also be careful about mixing homeopathic
with meds, your not really supposed to do that, they can counteract
on some cases and it can be dangerous, from what I have been told,
lol, cuz I used to do that... I would check or ask before you do that. :)

Good Luck! :ghug3

Seroquil
 

Hi Marle,
I've seen it given out for anxiety lots...seems to help calm some people down. I use it for sleep; I can comiserate with your daughter "slowing down". If I took it in the day, I'd be nodding off...
Never, ever, noticed weight gain. Dosage could change that, but I don't know. Perhaps a look a the dosage being taken could help. One more thing: when I stop using Seroquel, I don't sleep for a night at least. So there's something to consider
Good luck with your daughter...

Marle,
My daughter takes seroquil for bi polar disorder and it really helps her. She takes it before bed time and therefore she is not affected by its sleepy side effects. When she gets up she if fine. She also did not gain weight on it. She was on lithuim and she gained weight on that. No longer on that drug. I guess it is different for everyone.

Good luck to Megan with her descision. My daughter's meds are also her descision, they know what is right for them.

Marle, our girls are the same age and seem to share amny of the same issues.

My (R?) AD was in three back to back rehabs with the last being a dual diagnosis. Seroquil was one of the many medications she was prescribed. All in, medications were running us about $3000 a month, out of pocket, as she has no insurance and her mental health issues have been deemed pre-existing conditions, on an independent policy.

I looked into getting Seroquil from Canada and even then, we could not swing it, long term. Once back at home, her local Psychiatrist substantially reduced the dosage and gives us bags of Seroquil samples along with a script for Lithium. She takes both about an hour before she retires, for the evening.

She sleeps a good 12 hours a night but then again she slept 12 hours a night, without the stuff. She is not any more sluggish than she usually is, with or without the stuff.

I have done a lot of internet research on Seroquil looking for opportunities for abuse, resale, a high and so on. I have seen a few instances on message boards devoted to all things opiates that occasionally someone is able to snag a few Seroquil when they are dope sick or trying to kick it on their own.

While it is not addictive, tolerance does seem to build in some people, overtime. Quitting Seroquil also seems to be an issue for some people, some of the time, because they do not seem to be able to sleep without it. Who knows, maybe they can only sleep 8 instead of 12 hours?

AD gained a lot, and I mean a lot, of weight, while in rehab. They said this is common when the DOC is heroin and espeically because of the meds. Once home, I saw that she was eating enough for 3 people and although I am no MD, I wondered if this was the reason for the weight gain. :)

Since then, she has lost most of the weight. How much, if any, of this weight loss has been potentially assisted by some other non prescribed drug or intentional restricting, I do not know. It's always something.

Just an FYI... :)

In the mental health forum there is a sticky on how to get some 'Prescribed' meds with your doctors help for a significant reduced cost if not free.
I know Astro Zenica is good about helping people who cannot afford meds...

Your post reminded me at one time there was no way I could sleep without
seroquel, that was one of the reasons I took it. It affects me differently now,
but when I was sicker mentally (before meth) I could never sleep, it helped, didn't make me lethargic like it does now... It was the ONLY thing that stopped my brain, slowed it down and let it not think...

The doctor gave her two months worth of Seroquel samples for free. He is a great doctor with a lot of compassion. They talked about the best way to use it and he suggested that she take it in the morning, 25mgs. She will still take the Trazodone at night because she is doing well on that as far as sleeping. Megan wanted to take the Seroquel as needed but he said it is best taken regularly so that she can get the maximum effect. That is what she has decided to do and so that is what is happening. Megan lost weight in rehab and the halfway house, about 15 lbs. When she was doing heroin all she did was lie around and eat. Opiates had the effect of weight gain for her. Since rehab she has been a lot more active as the recovery house requires daily walks, chores and volunteer work. So far I don't see any evidence of the eating disorder. She eats normally at home on the weekends and they know about the bulimia at the house. But just like her drug use, it is up to her to figure things out. Hugs, Marle

(((Marle)))

It sounds like Megan is doing great on all counts!!! I'm really glad she has a good doctor and he is working with her.

Hugs and prayers!

Amy

Please do be careful before you mix herbal meds with pharmicuticals.
There really can be dangerous mixtures.
Ask your pharmacist; they have much better training than the docs do! :yup:

Marle,
I had very good luck years ago with BuSpar for anxiety.
It's kind of fallen out of "fashion," if you will, lately, now that there's the "new and improved" meds on the market. These newer ones are aggressively marketed by the reps to the docs who give them lots of samples to hand out. So, they kind of forget about the older ones that are still effective.

You may want to ask about BuSpar.
No weight gain. No addictive qualities. It works.
What more could you want? :e058:

I'm very happy for both of you that she's doing so well! Please give her my best wishes for continued health and recovery. :hug:

Shalom!

This med was approved by the FDA for schizophrenia. It was prescribed to both me and hubs for anxiety. We both had bad experiences with it and will not touch it again. My first thought the first time I took it and it kicked in was that it was a heavy duty easily abusable drug.....kids are mixing it in with their pot now, I hear. It changed my husbands personality completely. Both us became zombies. They are handing it out freely but they will never convince me that there aren't better things for anxiety. jmo

Seroquil for anxiety sounds like a serious overkill.

25 years ago I had severe generalized anxiety attacks and the only response I received from any MD was a script for meds that were addictive, over time. I refused them all beleiving then as I do now, severe anxiety is bad enough without risking addiction to control it. Like with everything, it passed. The attacks eventually stopped as suddenly as they started.

I have no doubt kids are mixing it with pot. Kids will mix dirt with pot if they think it will be a new buzz.

I often think we are turning into a culture of addicts.

I had a terrible reaction to it. I went to my doctor after 10 days off suboxone. He had given me Lunesta to help me sleep, but it wasn't working well (I'd take 2 pills just to fall asleep, then wake up 2hrs later and need to take another couple).

He gave me a prescription and a free 4-pill sample of Seroquin and said it will really help me sleep. I took just 1/2 a pill last night and felt SO much worse!!! Couldn't sleep for the life of me -- very nervous and really, really bad restless leg syndrome (which I thought this stuff would help prevent!)...and even restless arm & torso syndrome, if there is such a thing.

REALLY sucked because I was feeling so good that I think I COULD have slept without taking anything. Guess I should have tried that first, but it's been 10 days with very broken sleep, so I figured I'd try anything.

Anyway, I'm sure it's great for many people, but I'm glad he gave me the free samples because there's no way I'll ever take it again.