Seroquel and Weight Gain: What Users Say

• Mol...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 28, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "This medication has saved my life. I was having the worst episodes ever: high, low, high, low, no sleep, totally impulsive, on the downward spiral to self-destruction. Spending money, running around town at all hours, telling off people at work... then the crash. Sobbing in my doctor's office, she wrote the script for Seroquel. I had zero faith because all the antidepressants, etc., she'd tried me on never worked to calm the chaos/PTSD reactivity in my head. I was ready to end it all. Thank goodness I filled the script and took it. I slept! That in itself is a miracle. I kept my job, and I'm hopefully on a journey to wellness. My mind is calmer. I can think one thing after another in a logical order instead of a cloud of white noise and traumatic memories flashing. I think with this med and some good PTSD therapy, I might have a second chance... at life. I don't care if I gain a little weight... I want to live without constant chaos. So grateful."

• Mrm...
• August 29, 2019

For Schizophrenia "This drug has really helped me with the voices and the paranoia. I have been on it for nearly 3 years. I have been on pretty much every antipsychotic there is and have been dealing with this illness for a long, long time. The downside is that you will gain weight. I have lost some of it by reducing calories and taking metformin. Walking seems to help too. If you do take this one, stay as active as you can to avoid diabetes because as my psychiatrist told me 'It will happen eventually'. Also, I adopted a vegetarian diet to help lower other risks with this one. The other downside is that it can make you very tired. I take 400mg at night and 75mg in the morning and another 75mg in the afternoon. I still hear voices and don't want to be around other people but it is much more manageable and I can at least have some kind of life. To be honest, I probably would have killed myself if it were not for this drug. I am surprised I even wrote this as I am a very paranoid person."

• Max...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• September 4, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "I have bipolar mania with stages of depression. It has been like this since I was very young. It comes along with episodes of mood swings. I am on 25 mg of Seroquel now and have been on both 50 mg and 100 mg. 25 mg does great things for me. No more sleepless nights. No more intense spending sprees. No more major anxiety most of the time. A lot less depression and a lot less irritability I experienced as well. I get tired and a little unmotivated in the morning, but I have coffee and breakfast and I'm good. Weight gain is the other concern but I have controlled it with walking good amounts each day. Well worth a try and definitely something to consider for a bipolar patient."

• Ann...
• August 30, 2013

For Bipolar Disorder "I too gained masses of weight taking Seroquel but lost it all (35lb) in 6 months by healthy eating & being AWARE of the pitfalls. Seroquel does not make you gain weight. Seroquel makes you crazy HUNGRY craving all the bad stuff - salt/sugar/fried food for me. The secret is to ANTICIPATE your munchies. Prepare a large but healthy snack in advance or save half your evening meal and have it at bedtime just before you take your meds. This really worked for me. Taking my meds on a full stomach took the cravings away."

• Lan...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 3, 2020

"This Seroquel has so far been a game changer for me. I am a 25-year-old female, roughly 55 kg, insomnia sufferer. I usually have very broken and inconsistent sleeping patterns. I came to the conclusion that I probably needed sleep assistance after years of issues. I take 50 mg at night around 11-12, and it knocks me out within half an hour. Don’t make the mistake of staying up on your phone or doing other things because you will end up staying awake in a daze raiding the fridge. Take it when you are ready to switch off and go to bed. I have noticed I wake up ravenous, so I do cardio and caffeine in the morning to avoid weight gain. I can see how easy it could be to gain weight on this drug. Overall, it works well for me. I could probably be getting away with 25 mg instead of 50 mg, but I have such sleep anxiety that 50 mg is my safe amount that I know will knock me out without overthinking."

• Pol...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 3, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "This drug absolutely did not work for me. Well, the sleeping part worked... I never slept so much in my life. Instead of waking up from 12 hours of sleep feeling well-rested, I woke up angry and wanting to punch someone in the face. Sure, I can have anger outbursts, but only while on Seroquel did I want to punch someone. Started low at 25mg, and my doctor kept increasing my dosage to 100mg. At 100mg, I would sleep 18 hours straight, and my days and nights were blurred. The anger caused me great urges to drink alcohol, which is ironic because I don't even like alcohol. Eventually, I just stopped cold turkey, and to this day, I have never woken up as miserable as I was on Seroquel. Also, I gained 60 pounds in a little over 2 months and had severe impotence. So definitely not for me."

• EpG...
• February 13, 2021

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel has been nothing short of a miracle for my depression, anxiety, sleep, and mood. I take 800 mg at night around 10 pm, and it has helped me in ways I couldn’t have imagined. The side effect of weight gain has been significant, but I’ll gladly take the trade of being fat."

• kay...
• November 14, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "I love Seroquel but not the XR type. Helps you to sleep well at night and wake up feeling great. Gives you major munchies at night and woke up with Reese's Pieces all over the bed. Does help with a lot on highs and lows. So for me it's worth a little weight gain. Overall this medicine has changed my life."

• Dru...
• February 15, 2020

For Schizoaffective Disorder "Seroquel knocked me out so badly that I slept 18 hours. The heavy sedation effect does go away, though. It did not help at all with my schizophrenia, but it did make me put on a lot of weight. Altogether, antipsychotics have made me put on a ton of weight. I've tried many of them, and I used to weigh 160 pounds and now I am 220. So far, that's all these drugs have done to me, they should be called fat pills."

• lis...
• July 18, 2016

For Bipolar Disorder "When I was first put on this medication in the emergency room, I was coming off heroin, and my mood swings were horrific, and my anxiety was off the charts. They put me on 200 mg immediately and told me to take it 3 times a day. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, PTSD, severe anxiety disorder, hearing voices telling me to kill myself, sleep disorder, among a few others. I have loved this medicine since day one almost 4 years ago. I have ended up 150 lbs. overweight and diabetic. However one may see this, I call this my miracle pill. I wish I had been put on it as a teenager. I have told my psychiatrist not to ever try to take this away from me, I get paranoid thinking about it. I may be fat and diabetic, but I have a good life and a great family."

• ECC...
• November 14, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "At first, it was horrible. I felt like I was dying every time I would take it before bed. I felt as if I were to fall asleep, I'd never wake up. This lasted 2 weeks, maybe a month. My body eventually adjusted to it, the voices went away, slowly but surely. I was also in a serious state of depression, and it takes some time. But now, after a little over a year of taking it, being bipolar and having countless manic and depressive episodes, Seroquel has saved my life. I've never felt like myself like I do right now in such a long time. The only downside is you have to seriously monitor your weight on this thing. The pounds just pile up if you don't watch your weight carefully."

• Gem...
• November 10, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel has worked wonders for me. I have been diagnosed with Bipolar 2, and after 7 months on Seroquel, I feel like a whole new person. I had been severely depressed and was self-harming before getting on Seroquel, and now I have never been so happy before! The only problem is the weight gain - I have gained about 20 pounds since I started taking this medicine. But this side effect is worth it to have my depression and anxiety gone!"

• Sea...
• October 16, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "I've been taking Seroquel for 7 years, after 20 years of delusional thoughts, mania, and large amounts of depression. It worked within two weeks, and I noticed that when I woke up each day, my delusional thoughts were getting easier to identify and let go of. It changed my life. Since taking Seroquel, I have been able to learn how to drive, work in permanent jobs, save money, travel overseas, socialize, have a successful relationship, and reconnect with the real me. I have also worked on my cognitive and emotional development and continue to attend counseling. I have gained 30 kgs, but this has probably come about due to the combination of Seroquel, inactivity, diet, and sleep apnea (of which I have only just been diagnosed)."

• Hap...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• March 7, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "I was off meds for a while and thought I was fine - nope! Had a manic episode. I take 100 to 150 mg of Seroquel at night. Before this, I took Geodon and lost weight, but I had uncontrollable muscle movements. I didn't want to switch, but my family was embarrassed by my non-stop hand movements. I switched to Seroquel and feel a million times better. I sleep great (used to not sleep for days). BUT, I have gained 40 lbs. I wake up the next morning and see what I ate the night before and get so irritated with myself. It makes me want to eat everything bad for me. If I don't eat, it's like an itch I can't scratch. I don't feel foggy, but well-rested...then again, I sleep till 8 or 9 am. To me, it's worth the weight gain to feel stable."

• Baz...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• January 4, 2016

For Schizophrenia "I've been taking Seroquel for 17 years. I am diagnosed as schizophrenic, but for the last 10 years, I have had very few symptoms. After 6 years of being shifted from one med to another, all of which made me feel awful, put on weight, and had no effect on my condition, I was happy to be put on Seroquel purely because I felt normal. However, it still had very little effect on my symptoms. I was very reluctant to change meds again, so I stuck with it. I had my energy back, started getting out exercising, and began losing the weight I had put on. The schizophrenia was still there, but at least having a break from just sitting there with it. It took a while, but after 2-3 years, the symptoms started to decrease and kept on decreasing."

• ins...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 10, 2014

For Bipolar Disorder "Took for bipolar. Good side effects: more or less consistently put me to sleep every night. Bad side effects: gained roughly 20 lbs 6 months in, had a difficult time getting up every day, needed more sleep than usual. It helped for a while, but it mostly made my episodes less severe, did not effectively stop or prevent them."

• Aff...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 14, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "They don't call it the demon drug for nothing. I was prescribed 25 mg in the evening for extreme irritability and 'insomnia' off-label. I cut it in half because I'm relatively small at 115 pounds. Knocked me out like a light. Went up to 50 mg and became nauseous, saw stars, had heart palpitations, and my body felt extremely heavy. I stopped taking it immediately after. Please note that the mood-stabilizing effect only kicks in at a minimum dosage of 100 mg. Anything under that is a sedative, like Benadryl on steroids, with the added benefit of developing akinesia and metabolic syndrome. You WILL gain weight on this drug regardless of dosage. On the bright side, it'll get rid of your allergy sniffles."

• Tka...
• April 9, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "Due to weight gain, I tried other medications to help control manic thoughts at night and help me sleep. Nothing works. What I decided to do was actually up my dose with my doctor so that the effects of sleepiness would kick in before the hunger. I take 200 mg Seroquel at night with a combination of 300 mg Wellbutrin XR for depression and 150 mg Lamictal for mood stabilization during the day. I take 15 mg of BuSpar twice a day for anxiety. I got off all of these when I was pregnant and was a complete basket case. This drug cocktail worked for 10 years and I spiraled when I went off of it. Since I’ve been back on my meds for four months, I’m completely normal again, functioning at a high level. I run a very successful business, and I know that I could not do it without these medications. I have virtually no side effects except for if I stay awake for too long after taking the Seroquel, I will get uncontrollable hunger. Seroquel does cause dry mouth in the middle of the night, but it’s worth it."

• Tlg...
• March 28, 2015

For Bipolar Disorder "I have been on Seroquel for 2 years. It really is a miracle. It has helped with my mood swings and problems sleeping. The only issue has been the weight gain. I've probably put on 35 lbs, and I've never had a problem with weight gain. The benefits of this medication make up for the weight gain."

• Anonymous
• September 24, 2010

For Schizophrenia "Seroquel was a Godsend for me. I've been on it for 7 years, and it's the best medication I've been on for hallucinations and the voices I heard on a daily basis. It does, however, make me extremely tired, so I take it half an hour before I go to bed. I did get a little weight gain, but I would rather have weight gain than hearing voices and seeing things any day. Amazing medication."

• Ott...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 17, 2020

For Schizophrenia "I've had a lot of side effects caused by this drug. I never knew it was caused by this drug. I had high blood pressure, terrible gas that lasted for days, muscle cramps, seizures. I gained 60 lbs or more. Imbalance drug for 5 years or more. I would not recommend it for anybody."

• Hap...
• August 7, 2013

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel 100 mg saved my life. For 9 months, I did not sleep because of an anxiety disorder. I tried to kill myself three times. Finally, I was given Seroquel and 130 mg Trazodone. I have been sleeping well and not depressed for ten years. It has saved my life, I am so grateful. I did put on 50 lbs, but better that than being dead. Very grateful."

• Jen...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 9, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel is terrible. I felt completely disassociated. I knew words were coming out of my mouth but sometimes had no clue what I was saying. I was only on it for a few months, but I called my Dr. in a panic when I’d realized the weight I’d gained. I lost 100 lbs in my 20s and have been able to keep it off give or take 10 lbs. I’m now 40 years old, and I instantly put on belly/waist weight, a place where I have NEVER gained before. I know my body well, and this was pretty extreme. I went up a pant size in 2 months. I told my Dr., and he said it makes you crave carbs, but I KNOW it’s more than that. What type of meds makes you gain weight in a specific area? After losing the 10-15 lbs, I am stuck with saggy skin after 3 months! It’s not worth it. It created a whole new set of permanent problems like saggy skin and my confidence with undressing around my husband. Horrible!"

• Bab...
• October 13, 2009

For Bipolar Disorder "I am 53 years old and was put on this drug just over a year ago. I was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder 13 years ago. I knew something was wrong with me when I was 17, but bipolar was not really known back then. This drug is by far the best thing I have ever taken. Don't worry about the weight gain, after a year, it will go away. It is a small price to pay for sanity. Everyone will get the munchies from this. I eat grapes at night, they do the trick. Have some in a bowl by your bedside, this will help keep the weight gain down. Stay away from ice cream and eat yogurt with preserves in it, or just fruit when you get the munchies 1 hour after taking it. I also take temazepam at night, 100mg."

• Blu...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 15, 2012

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel makes me feel like I'm on a level playing field again. I don't feel like my thinking's distorted, and I don't cry uncontrollably like I have all of my life. I have gained weight, but I'm fixing to start taking Topamax to counteract that. If the Topamax doesn't work, I will still continue to take Seroquel. I rather gain weight and be able to cope with life 100% better than I did before."