Quetiapine

[cheekymouse]

I have had terrible insomnia (an hour a night) : / My Mirtazapine has conked out on me and it is sending me manic and agitated. It is really affecting my mental health now; I also have autism, so I obsess and get very depressed when no sleep. I have a telephone appointment with psychiatrist later this week. I really want to try low dose Quetiapine. The GP says she can't prescribe it. Psychiatrist can, I think. Any Quetiapiners out there tell me about it?

I was prescribed Quetiapine over summer by a nurse prescriber from our community crisis mental health team. I was newly diagnosed with borderline personality disorder after 20 years of being told it was depression. I do suffer from insomnia and PTSD nightmares.

It was FANTASTIC for sleep. My insomnia was cured - the first three nights I'd take my tablets, be asleep within ten minutes and sleep through. By the end of the month it had lost that immediate conk out effect but I was still getting at least 8 hours of sleep. I was taking 100mg a day, originally as 50mg morning and 50mg night but ended up with it all at night because the morning dose just left me drowsy all day.

I did come off it at the end of the first month though because of weight gain - I wasn't eating more but I put on a whole stone in just a month. As someone who struggles with their weight anyway and who had worked very hard to lose a few stone I mentally couldn't deal with the idea of having my brain destroy yet another thing for me - it's done quite enough over the years!

I was on it for years, never failed to knock me out. I didn’t gain much weight but I know some people can do. I found it really hard to get up in the mornings after taking it, and this is something I’ve heard from pretty much everyone who I’ve ever spoken to whose taken it. Also when I came off I didn’t sleep for 18 nights straight, it was awful.I did come down from 150mg though, all be it slowly, and I’d been on it for a few years.

Oh dear, I could have written this myself. My mirtazapine stopped working and I've had four years of chronic insomnia which has now lead to crushing anxiety and a full on breakdown. Sorry OP no advixe, but just wanted to sympathise. Are you off the mirtazapine yet?

Thankyou so much for your replies. The insomnia is giving me nasty thoughts as I imagine you have all been there. Every night I am a nervous wreck! I hope I get to try something that sedates me anyway, as the Mirtazapine just stopped sedating me and the mental health team say keep taking it but it is just making me worse! x

I am down to 7.5mg but it is like taking a tic tac! Glad I am not alone as I am feeling so isolated right now x

4 years????? Have they not helped find you a sedating medication. I am moaning and it has been 2 months x Sends Virtual hugs X

It's been and is still, hell so I do know exactly what you're going through OP unfortunately. Hopefully you have a good gp and psychiatrist as mine is shocking and for personal reasons, I don't want to go down the mental health team route again. I've tried trazodone and amitriptyline, but both were useless and contributed towards feeling more agitated. Mirtazapine was the only thing that worked for me and it's so crap that it can stop working. No one ever warns you about that. I've just looked at quietipine - please let me know if you manage to get it and how it works for you. Looks like we're going through much of the same thing. It's horrendous.

Hugs back to you x

I have been on quetiapine since 2012/13 at doses between 150 and 700mg for bipolar.

It has been the only thing that has stabilised my mood. I need at least 300mg to maintain a steady mood and then ~600mg to manage an episode. I find it works well for my high and low moods which is good as I can't take antidepressants - they send me high in hours.

I don't find it too sedating now but it does a good job of regulating my sleep. I'm currently on the modified release verison so I don't get that hit of sedation 30-60 minutes after taking a tablet that I got on the standard release version. You do have to be wary about when you take the modified release version as it must be taken on an empty stomach at least 1h after & before food.

I do feel I am going to be on a very slippery slope into mania land if this sleeplessness carries on. I go to bed and it is like a surge of adrenalin overwhelms me :/ And if anyone suggests a warm, milky drink or tibetan chanting I will cry hahahahaha : )x

Have you tried zopiclone or zolpidem and clonazepam. I take that combo with quetiapine and find it works well

I love zopiclone...too much.: ) I don't think I will be prescribed it for much longer. :/x

And yes Superscientist, I do not want to be on any more antidepressants as this has taught me that I do not suit them : / PS My daughter is off to study physics at Bath Uni tomorrow. She is my reason to get better. Even when I have felt terrible, I know she is nearby and that I cook for her and wibble to her : ) I owe it to her. I like that you are a Superscientist : )

I have had quietapine before at 25mg. It was great for sleep. What time do you take your mirtazapine? I take this too and it sends me off to sleep within an hour. Are you on 15/30mg?

It helped me thru a very bad patch. Had 25mg in the evening plus an extra 25mg if I was having a particularly tough sressy day.
.alongside fluoxetine.

Didn't have trouble coming off it. But I do miss it kind of!! That ability to relax and let go was great

Yes I take quetiapine before bed and it always knocks me out. I can’t take it too late as I feel too drowsy the next day and no way could I take it in the morning.

I’m not the best example but I only take it about 3 nights out of 7 as I don’t like the way it makes me feel in the morning. So I sleep little for 4 nights and dead to the world for 3!

My GP prescribed for me and psychiatrist agreed at my next appointment.

GP can prescribe it. My son was given it this week by out of hours. He’s still paranoid but at least he can sleep.

i take 400mg quetiapine at bedtime, along with 45mg mirtazapine, 300mg pregablin and a zolpidem.

mornings is 50mg quetiapine, 20mg vortioxetine and another 300mg pregabalin. i also wear a buprenorphine patch for arthritis pain.

i still don’t sleep! the quetiapine does keep me fairly level but my god, it’s made me fat. i’ll still take it tho - i have BPD amongst other diagnoses and it helps level my mood.

@fucknuckle

i take 400mg quetiapine at bedtime, along with 45mg mirtazapine, 300mg pregablin and a zolpidem.

mornings is 50mg quetiapine, 20mg vortioxetine and another 300mg pregabalin. i also wear a buprenorphine patch for arthritis pain.

i still don’t sleep! the quetiapine does keep me fairly level but my god, it’s made me fat. i’ll still take it tho - i have BPD amongst other diagnoses and it helps level my mood.

Wow that’s a lot! Just wondering how you came to be diagnosed with BPD? Every online test I do I always score high on this. I can relate to a lot of the symptoms. But my psych has never asked anything about my relationships with people or anything so I’m diagnosed with MDD and anxiety.

OP- when you say you score highly on self-tests... by BPD do you mean bi-polar disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder?

Borderline personality disorder

i already had the GAD and MDD diagnoses. i had a total breakdown in 2012 and spent 6 weeks on the psych ward, where i was diagnosed with BPD and heavily medicated.

however, they chose not to give me my diagnosis as they felt ‘there was no benefit’ to me knowing. which is utter bollocks - i’m entitled to know everything about me! i was told my diagnosis by the link worker at my GP surgery a month or so after discharge.

since then i’ve also accumulated C-PTSD and OCD.

when i got my BPD diagnosis it was a huge relief. my life was disintegrating; i was an active alcoholic, i’d had a terrible childhood, all my relationships were disasters. and the crux of it all for me is that i just don’t know who i am. i had to be so many different things to different people that i learned to just copy what other people were doing.

i still feel that way. it’s like a huge emptiness. i’m whoever you want me to be, this has obviously put me in a number of dangerous situations over the years and i’m a survivor of CSA, adult sexual assault and marital rape.

so yeah, the BPD. beware the diagnosis - it closes more doors than it opens.

@cheekymouse yay more women in STEMM! I hope your daughter enjoys uni!

Good luck with your appointment today, I hope you get a medication that will suit you better. Maybe go in with a list of things you are currently struggling with and why you think an AAP like quetiapine would suit you better.

Thankyou Superscientist. I have been told to try Trazodone. Just got to get off the Mirtazapine now, so cold turkey time, which is gonna be a rollercoaster. Fucknuckle (love the name) you sound very inspirational to me. My relationships have also been fuck ups hahaha. My latest beau has schizophrenia so at least he has empathy with social anxiety and not fitting in and saying the wrong thing. Others have been narcissistic to the extreme. I also have that weird feeling over the years that you are acting out a role with friends, adopting a personality that they would like hahahaha. And beer is a constant companion. Beer makes me forget albeit temporarily relief. I have only an aspergers diagnosis at present, but think there may be more going awn.
Saw my daughter off on the train, all I know about Bath is that Tears For Fears come from there (love them)

I was on 15mg Mirtazapine but it just stopped sedating me. Now I have to try Trazodone x