Quetiapine. How long did it take to work?

[Goingmadyetagain123]

I've been taking mirtazapine and diazapam for a few months due to a severe depressive episode. I saw my psychiatrist on Monday who has now added in Quetiapine 25mg am and pm to help with sleep and overwhelming anxiety. If you have experience of this how long did it take to have any effect? I've felt even worse the last couple of days and am struggling to sleep. He said it would help to calm my racing thoughts "quite quickly" but I have no idea how long that means.

It helped me with sleep immediately but I’m not sure if I was taking 25mg or 50mg at night. Isn’t it making you drowsy having it in the morning as well?

It's not making me drowsy at all so far. A bit spaced out the first day but nothing since.

It’s not like an antidepressant which can take weeks to take effect, it is more like a sedative that works within an hour or two.. Maybe contact your psychiatrist to see if you can take 50mg at night. If I remember correctly, that put me to sleep within an hour of taking it at night and I still felt drowsy during the day so I cut it back to 25mg which still worked for me despite not being a therapeutic dose.

Thanks @Goatscheeseandbalsamic I'll give my key worker a call in the morning and see if she can have a word. I could really do with a good night's sleep it's been months and the tiredness is not helping 😴

I know what you mean. I found it such a relief to get some sleep when I was on them.

25mg did nothing for me. I’ve just started on it again going from 50-300mg within a week for bipolar depression. The first night taking 50mg I slept from 10pm -9.30am with a brief wake up around 7am when my DH got up. Previously I had been getting about 2 hours sleep a night. So I agree with what’s already been said, I’d ask to try 50mg evenings only. If you’re taking it for sleep then I see no value in having it in the morning.

@GiantInsectBites it's not just for sleep, for severe anxiety too. That's why it's twice a day. Doesn't seem to be doing much. It's only been 3 days though.

Oh sorry I missed that. Makes sense why they’ve made it twice a day. I would ask about 50mg prolonged release in the evenings then. That way you’d get the sedation of 50mg in the evening but it would extend into the morning. Although it is hard to source the prolonged release at the moment. I would definitely report back, as the difference between 25mg and 50mg was huge for me. The 50mg worked from night 1.