Need Help With New Medication - Seroquel

[lost611]

My doctor has just given me a prescription for Seroquel and I am not sure if I want to take it I do not know enough about it and am confused as to why she prescribed it for me- she says it will help me sleep- have not gotten more than three hours for several months- does anyone else have a history with this medication - if so can you tell me what your experience has been with it.
Also she says it could help with the flashbacks, they are coming often and am causing me to lose time spans ---------want to get my life back but medication -----it scares me

Thanks Elaine

 

[BassistKara]

Hey Elaine....i was on seroquel a few months back for my anxiety, but after a week and a half it gave me the shakes and oculogyric crisis(where you cant control your eye movements), but not everyone gets that though, and it did help with sleeping a whole lot. But coz it is an antipsychotic, i was on Zyprexa last year for about 7 months and that did help immensely with the flashbacks...but it also turned me into a fat zombie! But yeh, i didnt mean to try and scare you with this, its just my own experience and hope it has helped some...
If your unsure as to why she prescribed it apart fromt he 2 reasons you listed and dont know much about it, maybe try asking her for a more in depth explanation as to why she has given it to you and what it can do for you...
Who knows though, it could be the thing your looking for!

 

[wildfirewildone]

Welcome to our community!!!!!!

:hello: I do take seroquel....it's for taming down the nightmares and is classified as an anti-psychotic...another reason that it was prescribed was to take care of hearing voices and seeing things that others did not....I have been taking it for several years and it does have a sedative effect but as I've said that's not why I take it....Talk with your doc [a psychiatrist?] about your concerns about taking meds...Hopefully you have a good working relationship ......You can also do a web search on the medicine....Also ask your doctor what the side effects are [you need to ask that about any medication] I am on several meds which make it possible for me to lead a functional life and to be able to gain the benefits of therapy....Also ask your doctor if there is something else you can take instead if you are very concerned about taking seroquel....Is this the first medication you've been put on???? I can understand your concern about taking medication....I was also but since I couldn't stay functioning I took the chance and went with it....I do have an excellent doc and therapist to rely on...They are very familiar with PTSD...I hope that this answers some questions for you....If you decide not to take it after gathering your information discuss it with your doctor....If you are already taking a medication...DO NOT ABUPTLY STOP IT as you will get physically and psychologically ill...I wish you well and keep coming back to this forum as we are all very supportive of each other and there's a lot of information here :smile: GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

 

[mouse]

HI Elaine,
I am on 500 mg of seroquel a day to help with sleep it also helped with the fleashback frequencey which made ever side effect worth it for me. I at first was scared as well but after the drug is in your system, it gets way easier the side effects lessen and life goes on . I at first was really tired and felt really out of control when they started the seroquel it made me feel " goofy" too for a while but after a while it became leveled out in my system, and it has helped so much so in my opinion you should be cautious but it has done wonders for me to the point I can work again. Good luck what ever you pick

 

[YoungAndAngry]

I've been on Seroquel for a year, and I've been lucky enough not to have bad side-effects.
It really calms me down (I take it several times during the day)
Unfortunatly for sleep, I need to take additional sedatives as Seroquel alone wasn't allowing me to relax enough to go to bed.

 

[Pitt Bull]

I am currently on seroquel. It has not helped with the sleep as of yet but when I was on this drug last year it made me tired but still very functionable. Keep track of what you feel and talk to you pdoc if you notice anything other than being tired. That was what I was told to watch for. My doctor plans on increasing my dosage to help with sleep. I just don't want to be a zombie so we are taking it slow. You are doing the right thing by asking for information from some users. WE can be honest with you and let you make your own decision on the drug.

 

[nov_silence]

I used to take it for sleep. It helped with sleep, but made me feel zombie ish, that a part of me just wasn't there. At first, I didn't mind bc I was a) getting sleep and b) less anxious. I did experience strange side effects. I stopped bc I tried to overdose on it. I have ultimately stopped taking sleep meds as I was taking a crap load of medication and turning into someone I didn't want to become. I would rather wake up for a little while during the night instead of take it.

All in all it did help. Good luck with your decision.

 

[RNning]

Hi Lost

I also take Seroquel and found that it has helped tremendously. I have been on a low dose 50mg at night and I have found that I sleep much better, feel rested and more optomistic. In terms of nightmares, I still have some, but they do not provoke anxiety attacks and I can go back to sleep. My partner on the other hand - is certainly losing some - but like I said, I am feeling better, not cured....but better.

 

[Linda]

I was prescribed that stuff for taking as needed for sleep. It was helpful in the beginning, but made me very drowsy in the morning, so I could take it only at nights before my days off. However, at some point it just stopped working.

 

[mouse]

I found that it worked the best in the begining and I didi get that zombish feelingtoo!!! But i didnt care either cause at that time in my healing sleep and less flashbacks were all i cared about now it hels with the flashbacks and maybe the sleep but Iam on imovane to sleep at 15mg which is max dose. I dont take my normal dose when I work I decrease it by half at least because I cant gamble on it making me sleepy not tha I think it does but just in case, I also dont take the imovane and the clonazepan at work. have to be redy for anything at all times

 

[zoe]

I took 50 mg for sleep, it helped but was a little to drowsy the next day. It also affected my blood sugar levels ,but that went away when I stoped taking it. I'm not a diabetic but it did elevate my levels.

 

[auntypsychotic]

hi elaine

My doctor has just given me a prescription for Seroquel and I am not sure if I want to take it I do not know enough about it and am confused as to why she prescribed it for me- she says it will help me sleep- have not gotten more than three hours for several months- does anyone else have a history with this medication - if so can you tell me what your experience has been with it.
Also she says it could help with the flashbacks, they are coming often and am causing me to lose time spans ---------want to get my life back but medication -----it scares me

hey elaine,:hello:

im new here but i have been on seroquel for over 4 years and it has literally changed my life.

it is an anti-psychotic (hence my nickname) and does a number of things for me. the primary things r allowing me to get to sleep and stay that way, lessen the frequency and severity of the nitemares and take the edge off the hypervigilance and mood swings. according to my pdoc at the time, the VA likes to use seroquel for ptsd patients because it is one of the few meds that goes thru the blood/brain barrier in the place and in such a way as to block the nitemares. not sure if i said that right but it works regardless.

when i started on it i had a fantastic treatment team at the VA clinic in rapid city, sd. my mdoc, pdoc and therapist were all in the same building and were wonderful about sharing information. my pdoc was a firm believer in minimum doses tho so we started me out on 12.5 mg a day taken at bedtime. eventually, we got it up to 200 mg at bedtime and an extra 25 or 50 mg bump if a day was or was to become particularly stressful.

there r some side effects that r more common than others; weight gain, drowsiness and elevated blood sugar r the most common ones. i have had both the weight gain and the drowsiness of the two the weight gain is harder to fight and the drowsiness lifted after i was used to the med in a few weeks. i dont like the weight gain but the drug has been so wonderful that i wont even consider going off it.

i am particularly susceptible to the rarer neurological side effects from most drugs so wasnt surprised when i started noticing some things last year. the primary things were shaky hands, full-body tremors, sweats and the occasional "muscle lock" in my legs. since i dont want to go off the seroquel my new therapist and i decided to try me on ARTANE an anti-parkinsons medication. worked like a charm, within a couple of weeks no more side effects. there is another med for the same sort of thing called COGENTIN tho i have not tried it.

other than the above the only issues i have noticed with the seroquel is that, since i am more susceptible to neurological side effects, when i am put on other meds for physical reasons (like pain killers or muscle relaxants) they can inter-react with the seroquel (i may develop dysphasia and/or aphasia aka speech problems) so we have to sort of "shop around" to find one that works and doesnt cause me trouble. also, i have noticed that if my body is not totally metabolizing full seroquel dose i will develop the dysphasia and/or aphasia (speech problems) but not to much trouble to tweak my doseage which my treatment team encourages since they tell me i know my body and what its doing better than they do.

over all, seroquel has been a godess send and would recommend that anyone be willing to give it a try.

sorry to be so long winded but its not something that can be explained in a two liner.