How does seroquel work?

Question

my doctor gave me seroquel (25 mg) to take before bedtime to sleep. i'm not schizophrenic or bipolar, just depressed and have sleeping problems. so why is seroquel prescribed for to help me sleep.

also, i'm having a bad night and just want to go to sleep, will 50 mg hurt me.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

................. Don't take it............ seroquel is serious medicine.. used for the worst cases of hallucinations, delusions, and psychotic confusion........ mostly prescribed for bipolar.....

Call a lawyer... seroquel for sleep problems.. what..the..f*ck. really.. now.. i've never heard of that.. your doctor must not care about you at all.. but it should put you to sleep.

Answer 2

I took seroquel for about 3 months when I was having trouble sleeping. This drug is used for a number of different reasons as well. Have you tried any relaxation methods to help you sleep? Please don't increase your dosage without talking to your doctor first. Although it is helpful for sleep, caffeine, chocolate, stimulants, and too much 'other' activity can cause your body to work against the meds. Good luck.

Answer 3

Seroquel(quietiapine) is an atypical antipsychotic. It is a 5ht2/D2 receptor antagonist indicated for the treatment of schizophrenia and acute mania. With that said, it will help you sleep by blocking your brains response to external stimuli allowing you to achieve a restful sleep. This action or reason is not clear, but it will help. It is an off lable RX but backed up by years of use for sleep and in the literature. Depending on your level of stress and diagnosis, the dose may be increased by your MD. If you are bi-polar or have any psychotic disorder, the dose will need to be increased to a much higher dose. It is a good sleeper and give yourself a good 8 to 10 hours time to sleep the fist few times. It is not addicting or habit forming. Good luck..Oh, and dont drive or anything like that. ok..

Answer 4

Seroquel works by inhibiting dopamine in the brain. It was probably prescribed for you because one side effect is sedation, and it may also help clear your thinking. I've seen people with depression on this drug when they are having feelilngs like 'something bad is going to happen' or 'I'm being watched'. This may or may not be you. I do not recommend taking 50mg without your doctor's advice. If you take too much of this drug, it can give you Parkinsons-like symptoms (shuffling, not able to control your muscles), or you can have a low blood pressure reaction. Any time you're taking something that affects your brain chemistry, it's a really good idea to take it as prescribed. Try some warm milk, or a hot bath, or some other non-drug method of getting to sleep.

Answer 5

I take 50mg Seroquel every night. I am bipolar and it does two things for me. It helps keep my mood a little more stable and it helps me sleep. I also take Paxil for depression. Except for the moment I take Welbutrin instead of Paxil to help me quit smoking. I was smoking 2 packs/day until Oct. 4 when I had open heart surgery to put in 5 bypasses. I'll be going back to the Paxil soon, it works better for my depression. In any case, I was taking 100mg Seroquel each night but that was too mush and made me feel doped-up the next morning. So my doc and I agreed 50mg might be good. Has worked so far.

Doctors often prescribe low doses of these types of drugs to help a patient sleep. 25mg is such a low dose that it should be of little concern unless you are allergic to it or it has caused some bad side effect. If it works I'd keep using it. It is a common use and method of relief. 50 mg probably would be OK but you should ask your doctor about increasing the dose first. Seroquel has proved to be rather safe and effective when used as prescribed.

Sincerely,
Terry
E-mail : [e-mail]

Visit "Our Bipolar World" at:
http://www.ourbipolarworld.com/


PS: I just wanted to say that "high beamin'" (the first answer) does not know very much about this subject. Seroquel is and has been proven to be a very safe and reliable sleep aid. If "high beamin'" knew anything about the historic use of Seroquel or did any research on it he would know that this off-lable use of Seroquel is very effective and presents little risk of side effects for the vast majoriy of patients. Don't pay any attention to those people who are against all forms of drugs for the treatment of mental health issues. And yes, sleep deprivation is a mental health issue. Loss of sleep affects your mood, ability to concentrate, and general mental functioning.

Source(s):

Here is a link that will take you to the governments "MedlinePlus Medmaster" page on Seroquel (Quetiapine):
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/drugi…

Answer 6

SEROQUEL IS AN ANTI-PSYCHOTIC MEDICATION I.E. MOOD STABILIZER THAT HAS A SEDATING QUALITY. IT IS NOT AN ANTI- DEPRESSANT. 50 MG IS A RELATIVELY LOW DOSE AND SHOULD NOT HARM YOU. HOWEVER YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRY TO BE AS WELL INFORMED AS YOU CAN ABOUT ALL MEDICATION PRESCRIBED TO YOU. SO DO SOME RESEARCH AND KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS.

YOU MIGHT ALSO WANT TO DISCUSS THE POSSIBILITY OF TAKING TRAZADONE INSTEAD AS THIS MED IS AN ANTI-DEPRESSANT THAT IS MAINLY USED TO TREAT SLEEP DIFFICULTIES IN PATIENTS WHO HAVE DEPRESSION.

I HAVE BEEN TAKING BOTH TRAZADONE AND SEROQUEL SINCE 1993 AND AM HAVING NO PROBLEMS WITH EITHER MED.

ONE MORE THING BOTH MEDICATIONS IN THE BEGINING, CAN BE QUITE STRONG. TO WAKE UP MORE EASILY PLEASE PLAN TO INVEST IN A FULL 8 HOURS OF SLEEP SO YOU DON'T WAKE WITH MEDICATION HANG-OVER SO TO SPEAK !

GOOD LUCK,
DODA

Answer 7

My doctor gave me Seroquel a few years ago for acute mania, which one of the problems with that is no sleep. I was on 100mg and I passed out behind the wheel and wrecked my car (I was ok). My doctor took me off of it (duh). Now we agreed to try it again at a much lower dose (25mg) to see if it can break my mania this time (I have not slept in about 8 days except for a 30 minute nap today). I started the 25mg dose on Tuesday and nothing has happened, either with my blood pressure OR the mania/psychosis/insomnia. My point is, it is NOT just a "mania-breaker" or a hallucination med. It is commonly used for sleep. I have a friend with unipolar depression (he only has depression, not bipolar). He takes Seroquel too, just for sleep.

There are lots of meds that are not "approved" for other uses. This is called "off-label" usage. Example: Lamictal, which is used in bipolar (and sometimes unipolar depression) was, at first (as many other mood stablizers), used to treat seizures (anti-convulsant). It has just recently been approved for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses, though it's been used in psychiatry for years. Also, I take Atenolol for shaking caused by Lithium. The original use for it was for high blood pressure (it is a beta-blocker), but it works great for the shaking. So don't worry that the Seroquel was first meant as a schizophrenia or bipolar med. It doesn't mean that that's your diagnosis. It just means that your doctor is using it as a "off-label" use. Try to relax and let the drug work instead of analyzing the drug to death. Just give it a chance.

You can safely take 50mg, though you should check with your doctor first (as you should with any med change). My doctor says that he can't put out a vending machine in his office and let people pick what to do (ok, my p-doc is a little weird...). Many people in my support group are on 200mg to help them with their sleep, and they're doing fine.

Source(s):

Personal experience, and those from my support group have offered lots of info.