Quetiapine for Insomnia User Reviews (Page 4)

• J Texas
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• May 22, 2016

"I've been taking seroquel for 8 years. Yes it puts you to sleep. Yes it makes you dumber. Yes it makes your body hurt. It changes your body so much. I can't sleep without it but I wish I'd never started on psych meds. I now have chemical dependencies on the medication and problems that I can't fix and doctors don't want to help with because they're just side effects of the medications. Be strong. Learn to stand on your own especially if you're in your teens or twenties. Doctors and drug companies do not have your best interest in mind. They want you to be slave to their services and products. I have migraines 3 or 4 times a week for the last 6 years and the doctors tell me is because I smoke cigarettes. BS"

• Minni...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 9, 2014

"I have been taking this medicine for a little over two years, but I recently stopped. It is a wonderful medicine for doing what it's supposed to do: making you sleep and stopping your racing thoughts. I don't regret taking it because I badly needed it at the time. However, this medicine has horrible side effects. For me, they outweigh the benefits. I developed an intestinal problem, high blood sugar, and gained over 30 pounds that I could not lose no matter what I tried. I also feel like my mind is slower, and I can no longer retain as much information. I would not recommend taking this medication long term. There are also other negative effects that I was lucky enough not to experience."

• Anonymous
• December 3, 2010

Seroquel (quetiapine) "This medicine has changed my life. On for 2 months now. Almost didn't try because of bad postings. 46 y.o. male with lifetime insomnia, worse the last 8 years. Off and on sleeping pills and self-medicating daily with alcohol was destroying my marriage and life. Sleep 7 hrs every night without fail now. A little slow to get going first thing in the morning but otherwise feel like I'm 20 again. Taking 200mg at bedtime. Zero weight gain. Just had bloods. Cholesterol 140, Triglycerides 53, glucose 79. I work out daily, eat extremely healthy, take no other medicines, and have had no alcohol for 2 months with zero desire for it."

• Disco...
• May 3, 2016

"I am in my late 40s and struggled with insomnia for years. I got by with Zopiclone for a long time, but it started to become ineffective. Finally, after many fears about side effects, I tried quetiapine. I have gradually increased to 50 mg at night, which seems to be the optimal dosage, and I have been sleeping very well and feeling much better. The main side effect is dry mouth, so I have to be mindful of dental care. There is no increase in appetite or sweet cravings, which I feared. It is worth trying if you are really struggling. I am very happy with this medication."

• blake
• October 15, 2013

"I started taking 100mg a night 9 years ago, lowered my dose almost immediately to 75mg, a year or two later down to 50, and as of the past 10 months down to 25 a night. It works EVERY night. I get perfect sleep. I do sometimes find the urge to binge on food right before it knocks me out but not always, especially at the lower dose. Higher doses I would always binge eat. Although I'm lucky because I'm a 26-year-old male who weighs 120 pounds healthy weight for my height. Seroquel is a wonderful medication if you need the sleep. I used to get a sort of 'zombie' feeling in the morning and be slightly irritable, but nowadays not so much. A cup of coffee and I'm good to go."

• Danno
• August 26, 2020

"My doctor started me out at quetiapine 100 mg for sleep deprivation due to a frozen shoulder. Turns out opioids have fallen out of favor even if you have a history of taking them as prescribed. After an acclimation period which was tough it mellowed out and did the job. I ended up at 200 mg. Folks, with this drug lower dosages are going to have a very massive sedation effect. My advice is to really talk to your MD about that. As you raise the dosage the sedative effect weakens. I rate it high although the first few days I felt really funky lol!"

• Doug...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 1, 2014

"I have had chronic insomnia for three years along with occasional anxiety and mind racing. I've tried many of the major hitters, Ambien CR, Temazepam, Lunesta, etc., along with many other OTC ones. Tried all the ‘before bed’ tips (tea, no TV, even tried massages, meditation, music). With three years of insomnia, I am surprised I don’t have some kind of mental illness going on. Anyways, after my doctor tried putting me on Quetiapine, 25 mg – All I remember is laying my head down on the pillow and it was ‘lights out’. I slept 8 full hours then had to use the bathroom. Then went back to sleep for another four hours and slept like a baby. Wow! I was a little ‘out of it’ when I got up, but after a hot shower and a cup of coffee, I felt great."

• Julie...
• September 20, 2019

"I've been taking Seroquel since 2015. Before that about 2 years I started having trouble sleeping after a string of deaths in my family, including my husband. I mean I would be up for days. It was torture. And like with any medication over time, your body gets used to it. Now I'm on 300mg and will see my doctor to up the dose. It was a life saver for me and I've had no problem gaining weight like I've heard others say. Every great now and then I get restless leg syndrome but not often. Let me say again this medicine was a life saver."

• Anxious...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 1, 2014

"I had been suffering from pretty severe anxiety and sleeplessness. I would usually be able to fall asleep, but would then wake up 1-4 hours later and never be able to fall back asleep. I started Zoloft (50, then 100, now 150mg) a little over a month ago, and my anxiety is basically gone. In conjunction with that, I started taking Seroquel at the same time for sleep, and it has been wonderful. I started out taking 50mg but am now taking 100mg a night about 30-45 minutes before bed. Within about a half hour, I feel incredibly tired and relaxed, it's wonderful. For whatever reason, this medication does give me the munchies, so watch out for that. After a couple of weeks on the medication, I no longer feel drowsy in the morning, which is great!"

• JLB
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• July 23, 2019

"Quetiapine 12.5mg puts me to sleep every night. Be careful on higher doses, as it caused me to gain a lot of weight and it’s very well known for weight gain. 12.5mg doesn’t give weight gain or any other side effects."

• Anony...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 23, 2019

"Horrible drug. Quetiapine has basically turned me into a disabled person. I’m in bed for about 18 hours a day. I have no motivation, interest or energy to do anything. This drug is not meant to be used as a sleeping aid and now I know why. Stay far far away from this drug."

• Matvei
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 19, 2020

"I was prescribed Seroquel as an emergency sleep aid earlier this year when I was having the worst insomnia of my life. I had some awful endocrine dysfunction (high cortisol, adrenaline attacks in the middle of the night, physical anxiety) that at its worst had me sleeping 1-3 hours a night and literally shaking with hypertension, serotonin syndrome, anxiety attacks, and God only knows what else. Seroquel is supposed to be like a mental whiteout, a chemical lobotomy, some sort of emergency shutdown switch that turns your crazy misfiring brain off for a few hours to give you a chance to escape. I couldn't find the dose to get there, though, and didn't want to go any higher for fear of the side effects. (It probably would've been at least 100mg.) I kept waking up, and the seroquel ended up giving me some sort of mild serotonin syndrome, with crazy restless legs and pins and needs down both legs."

• Chris
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 13, 2020

"The quetiapine is difficult for me to get off. I started on a dose of 50mg in November now up to 400mg. It was prescribed for sleep along with klonopin. I am tapering of Klonopin. So, that is why the does of Seroquel went up. I suffer insomnia horribly. Now afraid how long it will take to stop using this drug. Have had intrusive thoughts since starting both these meds."

• Anonymous
• August 1, 2009

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I am 49-year-old female with a lifetime of insomnia. I had been taking Ambien for sleep for over a decade for my insomnia but had been waking up during the night, cooking, cleaning, drawing, etc., so my doctor suggested I try 50 mg of Seroquel instead. I've been taking it for two weeks now, and I am sleeping and waking alert (YES!) and not semi-foggy...you all know that feeling, right? An added benefit is I am less anxious throughout the day."

• Natalie...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• September 15, 2014

"I take 3, 25mg of quetiapine fumarate at night before bed for insomnia. It works very well. I sleep well on it without waking through the night. I have found out that I've had to cut out citrus as it interferes with my meds, stops them from working, but apart from that, it's great. And I found when taking it I have to drink a lot of water when taking them and have to eat something after them to help them kick in quicker."

• Kieran
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• June 14, 2020

"I was given seroquel to SLEEP, because I complained of insomnia ONE TIME. This drug is very addictive and made me very photosensitive, and I couldn't handle heat at all anymore. Those symptoms, at least photosensitivity, are not written in the side effects because of how rare they are. It took me one year without the drug to get back to normal."

• Jano
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• November 20, 2019

"I take 25 mg quetiapine at night along with zopiclone 10, this makes me sleep , deep sleep for 7 or 8 hours, I do not sleep on zopiclone alone so I have to take quetiapine to sleep well, so I HIGHLY recommend it for people who can't sleep."

• Borni...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 15, 2020

"I have depression coupled with panic disorder. I have been on 20 mg of paroxetine coupled with Xanax then as of late Clonopin for the past 30 years. I started feeling very depressed and drugged out lately, so I cut down very, very slowly on my benzodiazepines, and I switched to Saroquel for my chronic and I mean chronic insomnia . It’s very strange, during the day I feel as if a white hot glow light is on deep in my brain making me more aware, but it is not attached to my nervous system meaning it does not make my heart beat faster. I have only been on it for three nights but I have slept all the way through those three nights, what is funny is for about an hour it gives me restless leg syndrome!"

• MBrook
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• October 6, 2015

"This drug was a life-saver. I had severe insomnia, the doctor said one of the hardest cases he has ever treated. I tried all the usuals, would get some sleep every couple of days. I started on this medication at 50mg, and moved up gradually to 300mg. Within a week I was sleeping wonderfully. It is a deep deep sleep, and it was hard to rouse at the higher dosage. Very vivid dreams. I did not experience any hunger or weight gain. I moved back gradually to 25mg, and would sometimes only take half of that tablet. I just quit taking Seroquel totally after 8 months."

• julie...
• December 11, 2014

"I have extreme social and general, am bipolar, and insomnia so bad I would cry on and off all night, every night. Besides other anxiety meds, I take 50mg to 100mg of Seroquel every night about an hour before bed. It shuts off my racing thoughts, and I actually sleep. This has been my miracle because I was barely functioning, if at all. It does make me hungry, but I find if I eat a little something before I take it, I can control the munchies. This is a little payment for the new life it has brought me."

• JDano
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 1, 2019

"This drug is great at making me sleep. However, I also have panic disorder. After taking at bed time I awake in a state of extreme anxiety or in a panic . Do not recommend this drug for anyone with anxiety or panic issues."

• RA1
• July 21, 2016

"You guys seriously need to stop making people anxious about the weight gain. If you don't eat you WON'T get fat. I've been on seroquel since one and a half month and had no side effects except at first a little. When i started taking it i was checking every inch of my body on a daily basis, acting so paranoid cause of your reviews, thinking that it has some kind of a magic spell in getting people fat. I workout almost every day since I have an Endomorph kind of a body which is the worse kind. (Bad metabolism, hard to lose weight and maintaining it..). Been taking it cause i was having some very minor panic attacks, due to some stressful past events I experienced, which were preventing me from sleep All night. I take 12.5mg most of the time."

• natalie...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• July 8, 2013

"I am on this medicine for insomnia, works very well. I sleep like a baby on it. I sleep right through the night. Would recommend it to anyone, however, I've found that I have to take it with lots of water to get a much quicker effect. Other than that, it's amazing. Where would I be without it?"

• Dfhhfxg...
• November 5, 2013

"I take 25 to 50 mg at night to help me sleep. It knocks me out and keeps me sleeping. I switched to this after other sleeping pills didn't help. I'd always wake up 3 hours later wide awake, which annoyed me. I do feel groggy in the morning, but I'd rather be groggy than not sleeping at all."

• 929rr
• October 12, 2017

"First a quick rundown, I'm a 44yr old white male with a whole slew of physical problems. Here's the short list of things hat's been keeping me awake days at a time. I have CRPS (2012) ,Degenerative Disk Disease C4 -C7 moderate to severe(2001 since 1.5" shorter). I suffered a T.B.I.( Subdural Laceration .60") in 2012. Both rotator cuffs that have been torn several times each both of them have SLAP tears and tendonitis ,arthritis in various places. 8 weeks ago I tore my left R.C. for the 3rd or 4th time this time it came with the SLAP tear too. I've had issues with not being able to sleep because of pain for the past 5 years, starting shortly after CRPS reared it's ugly little head. If you aren't familiar with it just imagine all ten of your toes are broken both feet being beat with a hammer repeatedly accompanied by a little fella with a flamethrower that follows you everywhere you go. This is a 24/7-365, It made me reconsider my position on voodoo dolls because at times I feel as if I'm being stabbed with an ice pick every 10-15 seconds then after 5-20 pokes it moves to a different joint. Imaginary time over now, on the McGill pain scale it's the highest rated pain 48/50 childbirth is a 36,cancer 32 many others listed too. The only difference is those pains go away or have treatment options. Recently the surgeon general changed the approved therapy from opioid pain medications to No Approved Therapies simply because nothing works for more than a couple of months then your body gets use to the nerve blockers and any and all types and dosages of pain meds. Some choose to have thier feet amputated knowing there may still be phantom pain but that's much lower on the pain scale. Okay now that you know why I'm not sleeping well or at all here is my experience with this RX. 8 days prior to going to see my Doctor I went to my 1st P.T. session( hurt too much B4 then). During the 2hrs there she pulled and tugged on everything that hurts trying to figure out the range of motion and all that. This was 2 Mondays ago from that day until the following Monday I had slept a total of 9.5 hours going a minimum of 48 hrs between 1.5-2.5 hr naps before the pain would wake me the same as if someone had dumped a bucket of bricks on my head. After a week of this I saw my Dr for my monthly visit and explained everything including how I tried shifting my medications around ,changing the times taken and completely stopping 1 of them for 3 days and another for 2 days with no effect what so ever. He gave me a few choices of medication to try and I choose this one because I've never seen a commercial for it on TV. I refuse to take anything that's advertised on TV. The side effects are usually a more severe of what ever you needed to take it for plus another 20 possible side effects, not 4 me No. I didn't get home until after 1pm so I planned to take it the next time I felt like I was completely drained and might be able to sleep I would take the RX then as it was the best shot for it to work. That ended up being 10am the next morning,Tuesday. I took 1-25mg pill 15 minutes before I laid down and I don't remember my head hitting the pillow. In the past 15 years that has happened maybe 5-8 times. I woke up twice to use the bathroom and take my other meds for pain, less than 5 minutes after getting up to pee I was asleep again. I woke up 5:30 am Wednesday morning and felt more human than I have in the past 5 years. The pain was tolerable enough that I laid there for a couple of more hours. The best sleep I can remember. Since then my shoulder is feeling a little better so it's not making my normally terrible situation worse and since I've learned to deal with it as best as one can I'm getting back to sleeping 3.5 to 4.5 hours every night. I've only needed to take 1/2 of one since the first. My situation is very unique but if spilling my guts about things I hate to talk about helps someone else get the sleep they need then it was worth it."