Quetiapine side effects

[Oakmaiden]

My dr has just started me on Quetiapine. I started them 2 days ago. Since then I have been living in a fog. I slept all day yesterday, and while I have struggled out of bed today I am finding it very hard to link thoughts together.

And I have so much to do... What with Christmas and demanding teenagers and stuff...

Does anyone have any experience of Quetiapine, and specifically how long the side effects last? I am tempted to just stop taking them til after Christmas... Not that I am functioning very well generally anyway, but this is even worse.

What is your dose OP? Unless there’s a pressing reason to start you off high they should be starting you off low and titrating you up. If they put you straight on a high dose it’ll be like a sledgehammer, quetiapine is powerful stuff. If they’ve started you high I’d go back and tell them you want to be titrated up, especially if you’re not coming across from another antipsychotic.

The brain fog shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Like I said quetiapine is strong stuff so it can make the thoughts flit around a bit but it doesn’t turn you into a zombi like the older antipsychotics. It might just be a case of giving it a week or so until you get used to it, or like I’ve already said, titrating up from a low dose.

The tiredness however is a quetiapine thing. Every single person I’ve ever known who’s been on it says that getting up in the morning is awful. I used to have to set several alarms so I didn’t just go straight back off to sleep. The tiredness wears off by late morning but mornings will always be horrible, sorry.

Another one that’s asking what dose?
I didn’t get brain fog exactly but I was hypo manic at the time so it brought me a bit closer to ‘normal’. Any other side effects I got went within about a week of the final dose increase (it went up fairly quickly).

Maybe I should add I take it in the morning as well as at night. I have heard it seems to be worse when taken as an add on to an anti depressant or to help insomnia, not sure how true that is.

Yes, what dose? I was put on 50mg at night and 25mg in the morning but I told my dr I was going to have to stop the morning dose as it sent me back to sleep. I now just take the night dose and it sends me to sleep - I find it’s like being stoned without actually being stoned, if that makes sense? I’ve built up a tolerance now, when I first started in summer I’d be comatose within half an hour, now I can stay up for a couple of hours after taking it. I would highly recommend taking it in the evening/before bed

Yes, take it all at night. I know there are doctors who recommend taking some in the morning and some in the evening, but clearly they have never tried to take it in the morning themselves. It is actually more affective as a sleep aid at a low dose. Oddly enough, the more you take, the less it knocks you straight out. Every Doctor Who has ever recommended to me to take some in the morning/afternoon has always caveated it with, if it makes you too sleepy don’t bother.

I have been started on a single dose of 150mg. Is that a high dose? I don't know...

I am feeling a bit less dreadful today, though.

That’s a pretty high dose to start on.
We’re you on other anti-psychotics before?

No, I haven't been on anything similar before. I have been given them to take alongside my existing meds (venlafaxine - 112.5mg).

I just reread my post above - when I said I was feeling bit less dreadful today, I meant this evening. But time is rather disjointed right now...

I am hopeful that the side effects will get less awful though, since I am not feeling as bad as I was yesterday.

I was started on a much lower dose then that even though I was coming from being on some very hard core anti psychotics I’d say a week till two weeks but I’d make sure they’re taken at night or even early evening so the worst of the effects shouldn’t be to bad after a good nights sleep I can now happily take 600mg and function the next day it is a very good drug IMO so try to stick with it If you can

150mg is a massive dose to start with, especially as you’ve never taken an antipsychotic before. Are you in the UK?

Second that, isn’t the starting dose 50mg?

Initially very sleepy, but as long as you increase gradually, you should be fine. I also take Sertraline in the morning.

I was started on 150mg too, I was being heavily sedated by my depression so it's hard to say when that wore off.
I started it in 2012 and since then I have been on 300-700 mg. Each time the dose is changed I feel groggy for a couple of days.

Are you on the standard or modified release version? I now take the modified release version so I don't have to take the high doses as a split am/pm dose. It is also a little less sedating if taken correctly. It must be taken on an empty stomach 2h after or 1h before food.