Quetiapine experience please help

[Catsservant]

Hi all, I have been prescribed quetiapine 50mg for anxiety disorder, I’m also on citalopram for 11 weeks now which has helped with depression but not my anxiety. What are your experiences with it and did it work for your anxiety thanks

Anyone?

Hi. I was prescribed quetiapine alongside an SSRI for an anxiety disorder. At first I was a bit reluctant to take it but I did in the end.
Not sure if the quetiapine helped me get better or if it was just natural progression of an anxiety episode but I definitely haven't had any bad side effects.
At one point I was on 150 - 200mg which made me overwhelmingly tired. I now just take a 25mg at night.

It’s really good if you can’t sleep. I felt such relief from knowing that about 15-30mins after taking it I would be asleep no matter what I was worrying about.

thanks for your replies

I was on this, went up from 400-800mg. Is left me with mild tardive dyskinesia and brain fog that I can’t even put into words. The withdrawal after 4 years was the most awful I’ve ever been through with full body hives turned into raised welts, the most intensive itching I’ve ever experienced, vomiting, extreme paranoia and zero sleep at all for 4 days at which point I started hallucinating. And tbh my sleep pattern has never ever been the same since. Totally destroyed. But that was a pretty high dose and while it kind of worked for 4 years I don’t think it was worth the trade off for me. I was very lucky that I found a psychologist that supported me in doing my own research and working towards a holistic way to control my bipolar and becoming as drug free as possible. Ten years on and I take promethazine 4-8 times a month to quieten my mind and help me sleep. I practice mindfulness and journal and I got an allotment and greenhouse and they have been life changing. I also keep busy with arts and crafts and honestly they are my therapy as well.

the drugs that the drs give us to treat these things, I used to honestly believe that they worked and were the best thing. But in hindsight, large doses of these sort of drugs just turned me into a personality free, biddable , zombie. I wasn’t “me” anymore and I just slept, ate and sat. It was like there was a glass wall between me and everybody else.

I've been on quetiapine since 2012 at doses between 300-800 mg for bipolar and it has really helped me manage my mental health. I don't find it that sedating but it has regulated my sleep which has had a big impact on my mental health. I sleep 10.30-11 until 7.30 every week day and 11-11.30 until 9 at the weekend. I do find I need at least one day a week where I'm not woken by an alarm to not get fuzzy head.
I was on standard release until my dose went above 450mg and now take extended release so I can continue taking it all at night rather than split dose half in the morning and half in the evening although I did do that for a while.
I still get anxious but it's no where near as debilitating as it used to be and usually a tweak to the dose can help

thanks @OnyourbarksGSG @Superscientist

I was on it 50mg for anxiety/PTSD and sleep from 2021. It’s a potent antihistamine and its sedative actions are strong. When I first started taking it, I’d fall answer sitting up within the hour. But I got used to it pretty quickly, I’d take it around 2 hours before bedtime.

It did help my anxiety a bit in the evenings - at 50mg, its main mechanism of action is on histamine and a2 adrenaline, both of which have a calming effect.

The downsides - weight gain and becoming dependent on it for sleep. Also it didn’t really help my anxiety in the day. The instant release half life is 6 hours, so mostly out your system by the morning. My psych tried prescribing 25mg for the day but I just couldn’t function on it as I was too tired.

I’m titrating off it now (I’ve successfully treated my anxiety/ptsd with EMDR - highly recommend) and I’m down to 12.5mg. It’s been slow going as the insomnia is mad. You really do become dependent on it for sleep. All the weight has come back off too. On the subject of weight gain, some of it you can’t help, but you do get something called “the quetiapine munchies”, when it kicks in, you just want to eat everything in sight. 😭

If you don’t need it for sleep, and it’s just anxiety, I’d go for a Beta Blocker instead. Propranolol is magic.

Having said all that, everyone is different and this is just my experience with it.

Happy to answer any more questions you might have!

@FlyingUnicornWings thanks for your reply. So I was on mirtazapine for sleep which I find much better but psych suggested quetiapine or pregablin/gabapentin. My GP thinks quetiapine is good as it’s a mood stabiliser so I agreed on starting the quetiapine. I’m worried they will keep putting the dose higher it still doesn’t work and then I struggle to get off it. I already take 80mg propranolol daily as well. Does emdr work I don’t have any trauma but I have read good things about it. Did your psych suggested anything else, I’ve had buspirone that worked as well as a tube of smarties 😂

I take 225mg instant release at night and 25mg instant release in the morning for bipolar type 2. It really helps me regulate my mood and sleep at night

From what I understand, it doesn’t start acting as a mood stabiliser until you’re on 150mg, did they say they were looking to reach that dose?

Emdr worked miracles for my PTSD to the point I no longer have it. I know it’s mainly a PTSD/trauma treatment, but I know someone having it for anxiety and they’re getting on well with it. I had mine on NHS and as far as I’m aware (in my trust at least) you can only access it with a diagnosis of ptsd, but if you can afford it privately it’s well worth giving it a go.

Do you have any idea what triggered your anxiety? I ask because with EMDR, you work with a target memory. Do you have an “Incident” that may have triggered your anxiety? If there’s nothing specific, another way of doing EMDR is thinking about the first time you ever felt anxiety like you do now, and working with that memory. If you find a decent therapist (make sure they’ve done level 4 emdr training), then they’ll take your history and guide the process according to your needs.

Wishing you all the best!

Dd had jt for anxiety and sleep. It was brilliant for the sleep-not so effective for the anxiety

@FlyingUnicornWings I’ve paid privately to speak to a psychiatrist, I’m supposed to book a review appointment with her but it’s just so expensive. I have been referred twice on the nhs but I keep getting refused as my gp can deal with my illness it’s so frustrating. not sure what triggered it tbh, I have struggled the last 8 months and depression as well.
@piscofrisco I don’t find it any good for sleep mirtazapine is better tbh I think I will stop and go back to that with citalopram

@Catsservant , please do remember that you are in control here. Whilst you have capacity, decisions surrounding medication are yours. You may find it helpful to speak very directly to your prescriber about your concerns.

I'm so sorry to hear about the lady who had truly awful withdrawal symptoms. I do not take quetiapine for anxiety, but for bipolar. In the winter I talked to my psychiatrist about weaning off and planned a schedule with him. I had no withdrawal symptoms but did have a moderate relapse so have had to go back up again to original dose - another reason why it's important to have a good dialogue with your prescriber.

@ByLimeAnt I will make another psych appointment I think so what she thinks

Yes, it did help but also made me put on weight, gave me chest pains and breathing difficulties and heart arrhythmia (all stopped when I stopped taking it). When I was really insane though it was worth the side effects.

@Ratisshortforratthew did you have bipolar or was it prescribed for anxiety?
doctor said it should work for anxiety within a few days but it’s still just as bad as before starting quetiapine. I will book another appointment she did suggest pregabalin that might work better

It was prescribed for intrusive thoughts (OCD) and BPD but I’ve since been diagnosed with ADHD and think the BPD diagnoses was wrong

I take 600mg for Schizoaffective/Bipolar type 1.

Be wary of taking it in sub- therapeutic doses as there is very little evidence that it has any effect other than mildly sedating at those dose but still carries the risk of the more serious side effects, which are not related to dose.

It can be a very nasty drug long term, if it gets control of a severe illness or is worth the risk but doctors definitely aren't being upfront about the risks.

Definitely ask exactly why you are being prescribed it & what evidence there is for treating the disorder you have & whether there is an alternative.

Thanks everyone decided to stop due to psych recommendation, I feel worse not better

What risk are you talking about? And Why nasty Long term? I just started 😳

What are the risks? I’m just taking 25mg at night to help sleep with 40mg citalopram for treatment resistant depression. My psychiatrist said it is not a therapeutic dose but he doesn’t want me to stop taking it in case it destabilises me, which seems to be a contradiction to me.

It causes metabolic changes so it changes how your body regulates fats & sugars leading to high cholesterol & blood sugar/diabetes. It results in weight gain - the reasons are not fully understood but it causes permanent metabolic changes.

It significantly increases the risk of developing dementia.

There is also a risk of developing dyskinesia which is a permanent Parkinson's like movement disorder.

They are life saving important drugs that allow people with serious mental illness to lead more normal lives but they are being over prescribed with very little evidence & the doctors prescribing them have a poor understanding of long term effects & don't do enough to explain the risks to patients.

I have been on 300mg for about two years now.
I have found it wonderful for my mental health; I think it has saved my life tbh.
I had to really fight to be prescribed it - I had previously been on Prozac, Citalopram, Mirtazipine and something else I forget.
I was worried about weight gain as I ballooned from a size 16 to a size 22 when I was on Mirtazipine. But the Quetiapine did not do that.
It regulates me - I went through a lot of traumatic events in a short space of time and was a shell of a person getting upset about really random stuff. It was like I had constant PMS.
It does knock me out I think, although nobody told me at the time so I was taking it in the morning 😅 do not recommend doing this!!
But I also take a number of other medications that also make you sleepy.

Anyway I credit it with getting the "old me" back and other people have said the old me is back too.

I do suffer if I miss a dose: feel really upset and like chills and stuff?

Also my memory is shocking- don't know if Quetiapine is to blame for that or the other meds as as I said I am on a lot.

I don't remember stuff e.g. we were talking about something that happened this Xmas and I had no recollection.

I do worry a bit about what'll happen if / when I need to wean myself off it given what happens when I miss a dose (and PP's post). For now am happy taking it.

To add - a few people were a bit funny when I said I was taking it. More so than when I said I was taking anti-depressants. I guess the words "mood stabiliser" are quite heavily-loaded?