Been on seroquel 400 mg for a about 2 months now and have treatment resistant sz. I feel that seroquel helps me sleep , stay calm, and also calm the voices. My only concern is will the sleeping well benefit stop in the future? Without seroquel i habe terrible insomnia which caused me to be psychotic and was wondering will i sleep well forever
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I think it should help you continue to sleep well.
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I think pretty much all meds are subject to potential “poop out”. But more than likely it while last you quite awhile. It may last your entire life. No one can say for sure when or if a drug will lose its efficacy, I don’t think.
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Why im asking is because no med really made the voices go away but seroquel atleast helps me sleep and makes the voices calmer even though its still 24 7 so i was just worried
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I hope so because sleeping alone greatly improved quality of life
Sorry forgot to tag you in my last reply
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Yeah, I don’t think anyone here can answer that question reliably. It could work well for you for 20 years or more or poop out on you in a couple. Everybody reacts differently to APs. I wouldnt be too worried about it pooping out on you after a couple months though. I would guess you should be good for at least awhile.
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Thanks for the reply do you think the calming effect will remain?
I don’t have any personal experience with seroquel but I remember a guy that had been taking it for years when I was in a temporary group home/institution. It still put him to sleep after being on it for years…
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I hope so because i tried pretty mich every med and the voices wouldnt go away with seroquel i feel more balanced and can cope with the voices better even though its constant
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My advice is to try not to worry about potential problems. You can’t do anything about it but hope that it continues to work well for you. I would cross that bridge if you ever come to it.
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I’ve been taking it for one year and it still works.
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It works good for my wife but she takes a lot of it too. 300!mg. That’s a psychotic dose not a sleeping dose. She told one nurse practitioner that what she took and she wouldn’t prescribe it. Said she would lose her license. So she got Ambien from her instead.
The wife has severe insomnia. She can go days without sleep. Ambien knocks her out for about 4 hours but on the high dose of Seroquel she can sleep 6 to 8.
I take Lunesta. That doesn’t do anything for the wife. But I get 9 to 10 hours a night on it.
Seroquel makes me psychotic. I can’t take it.
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For me it sometimes causes a small increase in positive symptoms like anxiety and voices but I fall asleep within thirty minutes to an hour so it doesn’t bother me that much. If you force yourself to stay awake or take it in the morning it can be an unpleasant experience.
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According to this paper you can seniitise to some effects and build tolerance to others. As @Bowens says I don’t think anyone can give you a definitive answer, they don’t really fund these kind of long term studies.
Since Seroquel is used as a sleep agent it’s acute sedation effects will probably be one of the highest to begin with. As @TomCat says the dosage they use for sleep is quite small compared to indications for psychosis spectrum disorder. It is likely that you will build some form of tolerance to it but if that stops you from falling asleep is another question. Simply put if you take enough of it then it won’t stop working anytime soon.
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Eventually all antipsychotics loose effectiveness. That could happen in 3 months or 10 years. Glad Seroquel is working for you but have you tried daily exercise or if needed OTC sleep aids like benadryl or melatonin? If you are able to regulate your sleep with these things you might be able to lower your dose.
Effectiveness as in sleep wise or psychotic wise? I try to workout 3 to 4 times a week and tried benadryl which didnt work but melatonin i havent
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Both those things. That might be why benadryl doesn’t work for you since your antihistamine receptors have built a tolerence from the APs you are taking. Low impact daily exercise is a much better thing for sleep anyway, I just walk as much as I can and by the end of the day I am tired enough to sleep usually without any sleep aids. You should only take sleep aids as needed and not daily so that they don’t loose their effect from your body becoming used to them.
I’ve taken seroquel for 7 years, and it never lost effect on me noticeably.
But I’m also really responsive to it, so even 25mg will have me zombiefied for days unless I’m psychotic
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