Quetiapine for anxiety anyone?

[Chocattack]

Hi, has anyone been prescribed this, in addition to an anti-depressant, for anxiety? And if so, do you take it regularly or only when you feel you need it? Thanks.

I take it for different reasons, but when I was in hosp a large number of people were taking it for anxiety or as an adjunct to antidepressants. Some people do just take it as needed (from memory approx 50mg) - I think it's very much down to the individual.

I've taken it once - when I had a massively bad reaction to citalopram causing my anxiety to derail completely. It worked in 15 mins and made me feel very fuzzy warm and sleepy (very welcome at that point). And that was on a very low dose. It's heavy stuff though and I'm not sure I would be keen to take it all the time.

My son took this in conjunction with escitalopram for a couple of months. He took 25mg at night. It worked but he found he was very groggy in the morning. This sometimes made him like a zombie until lunch time. It did reduce the anxiety very effectively though.

I think it varies individually as how much people get used to it - I take 600mg at night, feel groggy in the morning and zombie like as lazymumofteenagesons describes - on 150-300 I'm ok.

Thank you all for your responses mnetters .

"It's heavy stuff..."

madmouse, exactly why I'm reluctant to take it all the time.

lazymum, this is good to know as I've been prescribed the same dose. I'm definitely concerned about the grogginess, especially as I'm already quite drowsy until around lunchtime.

I think 25mg is the standard dose for anxiety. People taking it for bi-polar or pychosis take a dosage in the 100's. When he took it we wondered if the brain is acting differently with the different conditions because could not work out how anyone could function on such a high dosage. He stopped after a while because it was affecting him too much. Maybe you get used to it over time.

I've been taking it on a as-and-when basis for the last 3 years. I take 50mg. It does make me tired in the morning so I have to be careful to remember to take it by about 9pm and be ready to go straight to bed. Tbh, the tiredness is the reason why I don't take it every day. As a drug to help me calm down, help me sleep and stop the agitation it certainly does its job (I take it as an adjunct to venlafaxine 300mg for severe depression)

That's really interesting Aerobreaking. Thanks. If you don't mind answering, can I ask whether it was gp or psychiatrist prescribed? And also whether it was prescribed as a daily dose but you've just decided yourself to only take it as-and-when? Also, do you find it stops the agitation to ready you for sleep or could you take it during the day if you were suffering? Basically, I'm after a replacement for diazepam (addiction concerns - not by me ) although I'm hoping that a recent increase in venlafaxine will be enough by itself. Sorry for all the questions.

Sure, ask away :)
I was initially prescribed quetiapine by a psychiatrist as a daily dose that I took for about a year. At that time I wasn't working (and I don't have children) so the tiredness wasn't so much of an issue. Once I needed to get up in the mornings I started to not take the quetiapine every day - initially without telling my doctors - but after a while I 'confessed' and they said it was absolutely fine for me to do that, so now I just tell them when I need a new prescription and they give me one.

Re the agitation, I find taking it at night helps to reduce the agitation for sleep but also carries on having an effect the next day as well, I wouldn't be able to take it in the day because it makes me too sleepy, although if I can ignore the sleepiness it does wear off after an hour or so, but I find that very hard to do so I only take it at night.

I have also taken diazepam in the day as well but I find I don't need it when I am on my quetiapine. I've been on many drugs in the last five years and I can honestly say that the quet has done more for me than any of the others (although it is hard to know whether that is due to reduction in anxiety and agitation or whether I feel better because I sleep better when I am on it - but either way it makes me feel a bit better). Not a wonder drug, but a bit better.

What venlafaxine dose are you on? I take 300mg. Have you found it is helping? (being nosey)

Thanks Aerobreaking, I really appreciate you coming back . This will be my fourth week at 225mg venlafaxine having previously spent a few months at 150mg. The last few days I've really found it beginning to help. That said, at each dose increase my anxiety did lessen for a while before ramping up - hence the ocassional need for diazepam. It feels different this time though as I feel less depressed and more stable, in addition to reduced anxiety, which hasn't really happened before so fingers crossed this will be it .

I decided not to take the quetiapine for now (gp knows) because I wanted to see how I did with the extra venlafaxine first and also because I was put off by the psych saying it would probably make me feel quite tired. It's useful to hear other peoples experience so thanks for sharing. I'm glad the drug helped you.