Quetiapine for Schizoaffective Disorder User Reviews (Page 2)

• Redfoxy
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 14, 2020

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "Hello, I have been taking seroquel XR for just over a year now, started with 25mgs dose, now up to 200mgs dose. I found that my thoughts are controllable, relatively a good sleeping aid. Just be careful not to eat after an hour or so of taking certain brands of this medication. Seroquel XR blue/white pack 100mgs makes anything hard to swallow even water. Best to go straight to bed. Would like to try managing my own emotions and thoughts one day without medication. I hope for everyone who struggles. Thank you and good luck!"

• tired...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 11, 2014

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Unfortunately this medication does not suit me as I get a lot of the undesirable side effects. Slurred speech, terrible confusion, drowsiness but not able to sleep, cravings for sugary foods, a sort of spaced out feeling, and restless leg. Apart from that it's great! :) Wish I could continue taking it, but it's not worth the side effects in my case."

• dynam...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 20, 2017

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Seroquel did not work for me (this is NOT to say it may work for you, because everyone's biochemistry is different). It caused me to sleep 16 hours a day or more on a extremely low dose (75 mg), and over 2 weeks caused me to auditory hallucinate and creepy or hellish nightmares (worse than my normal ones). Over time it actually caused anxiety instead of reducing it. Hope you have a better time with Seroquel than me!"

• Anonymous
• August 18, 2013

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I take this medication for its side effects primarily. It works great if you have severe insomnia. This medicine makes you very hungry when you take it. It also helps to relive anxious feelings and help calm feelings of stress. Again my doctor prescribed this medicine due to weight loss, insomnia, anxiety. This is not what the medicine is exactly made for but I have tried dozens of medicines and this is the only one that has helped with my problems."

• Doug
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 4, 2021

Seroquel (quetiapine) "If you are forced to pick an anti-psychotic then take this one. You can sleep through the hospital or jail time when you take seroquel extended release. Avoid aripiprazole, haldol, paliperidone and all the other ones. Seroquel is most least worse of all anti-psychotics doesn't block dopamine as much as all the others. Sedation is pretty heavy so take it at night time."

• Eileen...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• March 17, 2020

"I have been taking Seroquel for approx 10 years. I have gone through doses from 25mg to 500mg. I am now on 350mg for about 2 years now. 500mg made me sleep a 9 hour nite plus about 3 hours of naps every day. Also, as I got into my 40’s, 500 mg started giving me heart palpitations, scary enough that one time I thought I was going to die and had my adult son sit on my bed and hold my hand because I got scared I was going to die. I went down to 350 mg and it doesn’t give me that effect. Part of schitzoaffective is the inability to have relationships. The Seroquel doesn’t seem to help with this, or the inability to care about much. But it does help with paranoid delusions, and depression. I basically go around emotionally flat. But if you spent all of your pre medication life crying, scared and suicidal, feeling flat is a relief. I am Canadian and disabled (only working part time at minimum wage) so my meds are $0."

• Rayac...
• December 31, 2015

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I have a complicated relationship with this drug. On one hand, I've been on everything for depression (specifically), and nothing helped. I'm talking like 20 medications here, so it's been a rollercoaster. most antidepressants were useless for me and the time period for effectiveness is usually over 1 month. Seroquel usually takes 2 weeks to start having an effect. It works for my depression - but I'm sedated and have to sleep a lot. Being a student can make this challenging. shift work and the like would be hard too. It's my last bet for now because I literally start to crumble to psychosis without it. However it is debilitating and feels restrictive. Beats the psych ward I guess. good luck and keep trying, sometimes it takes a while."

• Neuro...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 12, 2018

Seroquel (quetiapine) "All began well and I was on a small dose for a while. Then I had a relapse and we upped the dosage. Then I started awful side effects every night after taking it! Then my Mum came to stay and said "It's the medication." So I called my shrink and asked to go off it and he said OK- no more side effects!"

• Anonymous
• May 30, 2009

Seroquel (quetiapine) "This drug is good for controlling symptoms. You can lead a normal life on this drug. It is sedating at first and on higher doses. I find that the only troublesome side effect has been weight gain (around 2 and a half stones). Overall a good drug."

• TJGR
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 4, 2018

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "Unfortunately I have no idea what is wrong with me, but what I know is that Seroquel works great for me. I suffer from severe mood swings, mild psychosis, Generalised Anxiety, and have experienced mild religious auditory hallucinations. I switch dosages pretty often due to my mood swings because if I am manic I need more, and if I am depressed I need less because Seroquel works as a major sedative to kick mania and when I am depressed sedation is a con because it makes me more depressed. In general it does work but I am really sad that I have to take prescription medication in order to be normal."

• Renee
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• October 2, 2023

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Honestly, it's a godsend for me. I've been taking Seroquel/quetiapine 300 mg for 7 years. It controls my symptoms of paranoia, auditory hallucinations, and inability to sleep due to racing thoughts. I take it just before bedtime, and it knocks me out within an hour. I'm not thinking about anything, which is great because lack of sleep triggers manic episodes for me. I also take Lamictal/lamotrigine for mood swings. My only complaint about the Seroquel is the late-night hunger and weight gain. I've gained about 5 lbs or more every year and have also developed cataracts, which can be a side effect of the medication."

• Anony...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 6, 2022

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Seroquel has worked wonders for me. I had been on Abilify for 9 months but it eventually stopped working. I asked my psychiatrist if I could try out Seroquel and we started at 50mg. It worked wonders within a matter of days. My paranoia had completely gone away and so did the delusions. I’ve been on this medication for about 7 months and all of my psychotic symptoms went away. It also has helped my anxiety so much (in addition to being on Zoloft and Propranolol) and mood swings. I feel more at ease since being on Seroquel and highly recommend this medication. Do be aware of its weight gain effects tho - my doctor added metformin to help control that."

• Lou
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• July 13, 2021

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I had a nervous breakdown February 2020. I had to do 20 days inpatient. They gave me Invega, which did not work at all. After I was released, I still wasn't right at all. I ended up even getting arrested for criminal trespassing. I started doing therapy, and met with a medical provider. I asked to be put on Seroquel, because I could not sleep at all. I take 200mg a day, and it's very effective in stopping racing thoughts. You have to really watch what you eat on it. I have worked very hard to have gained zero weight. I also continue to take Doxepin, which I was previously prescribed."

• JRano
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 18, 2020

"I got switched to this med after having extrapyramidal side effects on saphris. My motivation, especially in the morning is VERY low. I can't hold a job that starts early in the morning. Often times throughout the day, I don't know what to do with myself or what I should be striving for. I have much less output most days in terms of activity, speech, and overall communication, probably tied to not knowing what the hell I want. I upped my dose to 200mg from 150mg and the following nights, I woke up with a delusional thought, which was pretty scary. It's as hard as being psychotic to make up my mind on 150mg. I haven't experienced weight gain, but I also eat 800-1,200 cals/day"

• Eli...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• May 13, 2018

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I am a male and I have been using seroquel for 17 years. I started with 25mg seroquel per day and then got up to seroquel xr 800mg per day. I have gained 10lbs or less in 17 years. I have experienced side effects and developed true gynecomastia that can only be removed through surgery that isn't covered by insurance. My prescribing doctor says I am too skinny and need to gain weight. My other doctor says I have gynecomastia that is noticeable when I take off my shirt. My doctor recommended that I get tested for male breast cancer and insurance covered the ultrasound and mammogram but because the gynecomastia isn't cancerous it's not covered by insurance. I don't recommend because I developed breast growth and breast pain while on it. I can't wear t shirts because people noticed my breast growth and feel the need to mention it in front of me"

• Bunny
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• January 19, 2021

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I started seroquel when I was 13 after 7 years of talking to people who weren't there. I'm 18 now. I heard it's not possible to need this at that age but here I am. I think at first I was kinda empty, didn't talk, kinda a vegetable. Took about a while to get used to, maybe a week, then I remember completely losing it and attacking my brother and also feeling suicidal, but I didn't stop taking it when I was put in inpatient. Then everything got better, now I still hear and see things but only specific things and I talk to people more even though I have social anxiety. So it didn't really work for my hallucinations just maybe depression and anxiety."

• Tom
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• October 5, 2021

"I've taken quetiapine for 4 years now. Since taking it I have Schizoaffective disorder type 1 diabetes and lot of ECGs since the heart palpitations giving me a lot of chest pains. Quetiapine was the cause of my type 1 diabetes confirmed with Doctors and chest pains to. And I believe my diagnosis as well as soon as I took quetiapine I had intrusive thoughts 24 hours of the day constantly with that and the severe anxiety it gives me I have OCD now. It been so hard for me to live with. I would advise people to take quetiapine with caution. Most attempts of coming of this drug made me ill. I would give this drug a 1 and doesn't even deserve that."

• Annab...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• September 4, 2022

Seroquel (quetiapine) "In my experience seroquel literally saved my life and helped control the symptoms of schizophrenia correctly when the dose was increased to 400mg+. I felt more like myself again and far less paranoid. My downsides include drowsiness, tiredness, and dry mouth so drink more water than usual. D"

• Quins...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 8, 2024

"So close to being the one. It helped with maintaining a deep sleep and helped a lot with nighttime auditory hallucinations (I rarely have visual hallucinations), but that’s where the issue lies with this drug. I was consistently tired, and it leaves a foggy/dizzy head feeling for a few hours after waking up. The drug did for me what it needed to do, but the side effects even after cutting my pills in half left the same feeling. I can’t see why this would be prescribed for those with major depressive disorder because lack of energy is a pretty typical issue with depression, and this drug will make you feel low energy, especially the first few weeks. I try to get around 5 hours of sleep a night because that’s what works best for me, but taking this drug, that simply won’t happen. Once you’re asleep, you’re ASLEEP. If you already struggle to get out of bed, this is your worst nightmare. If your issue is only insomnia and you don’t deal with depression, this would be a great option."

• Liah
• September 6, 2015

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "*English is not my main language, so if something is not understood, know why* From the age 16 to 17 I had depression and I had social anxiety, then I tried to kill myself and went into a mental hospital. The trauma I had there made me do the same thing again. They tried every single medicationon on me, and than they decided seroquel xr is the best med for me. It really made me be balanced, but also made be apathetic and not connected to my feelings and thoughts. My memory was terrible, and I barely talked. I stopped taking it for one day and went into a manic-psychotic mood and I'm writing it from another mental hospital. I'm happy that I stopped taking this, I wanna feel alive, not like a zombie"

• Illum...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 23, 2019

"Well this time I am technically using seroquel 50mg for sleep issues though it does help with my schizoaffective as well. When I first tried this years ago I slept for 23 hours after one 50 mg pill then felt like a zombie for 2 days after. This time I slept for about 12 hours and now I just feel really relaxed like I took a muscle relaxer and I don't feel stressed out anymore about the road workers ripping up our road outside - the reason I have had trouble sleeping the last 3 weeks. Finally got some good sleep. I also want to say for all the people using this and saying it makes them hungry. I actually ate dinner before taken the pill and so I didn't have the issue of feeling hungry after taken it. So try to eat something that is filling before taken the pill and it might help to deal with the hunger issue. Just a suggestion I know everyone is different on medication."

• JoSo
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• November 16, 2018

"Been taking Seroquel XR for about 8 years for severe insomnia and schizoaffective disorder. It's great for sleep but I've put on about 50 lbs. since starting. Currently trying to titrate off of it and I'm down to 50mg. I do workout 3 times a week, so I'm not gaining but I'm not losing weight either. I'm not a fitness God but I've been pretty active all my life and skinny, so being 50 lbs. overweight is a dealbreaker for me. I want to have my knees & hips functioning in old age, can't do that when I'm lugging extra weight around that's crushing my knees. There's just too many negative physical symptoms that my pdoc doesn't care to address that affect quality-of-life."

• delus...
• August 4, 2020

"quetiapine made me way too tired, it also worsened my paranoia and psychotic symptoms from my Schizoaffective Disorder. overall it just felt like a sleeping pill that didn't really take care of the schizoaffective. When I was starting to fall asleep I felt like I couldn't move my body because it was too heavy, this gave me panic attacks at night. So I guess it didn't work for me hopefully you don't have this experience."

• TyTy
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 26, 2020

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I was on Seroquel XR 300mg for a year. It worked for the most part but the sleepiness during the day was just to much for me. I gained 83 pounds and developed NA-Fatty Liver Disease from it. Can’t say I would recommend this medication."

• Jt13131
• April 27, 2016

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "Been on regular seroquel for 4 years fine. Started this for mania/depression and paranoid thoughts. Awful. Weaned up from 50mg to 450mg then back down to off in 1 week. Stomach pains. Out of touch with reality. Groggy. Weight gain immediatley. It helped the symptoms, but no way to live."