so I’ve tried at least four medications to help me sleep since i was seven (remeron as a child, trazodone, vistaril and clonidine) and either had no improvement in sleep (remeron) had some improvement but they lost effectiveness (vistaril and trazodone) or was never REALLY helped by them as much as I should’ve been to stay on them but stuck with it anyway (clonidine). I can’t sleep lately, so my nurse practitioner is having me try seroquel. she wants me to try 50 mg, 100 if that doesn’t work and then 150 if that still doesn’t help. she did mention that its also an antipsychotic so she doesn’t want me to start taking it every night if i can get by taking it every other night or a couple nights then skip a couple nights. I’m kind of worried about being on another antipsychotic, with the increased risk of side effects plus I’m really scared of gaining weight. I’m also just worried it wont even work lol. for those who have been prescribed seroquel as a sleep aid, did it help you? did you get many side effects? was it particularly sedating the next day?
I was given 100mg Seroquel for sleep and it worked pretty well,
Not any better than benedryl or something like that.
But still,
It worked.
I didn’t notice weight gain until the doctor decided to use it as my main AP,
I bumped up to 600mg and gained nearly 60 lbs fast.
Soon as I quit, with a little diet and exercise, it came off.
So, I’d say its worth a go,
You just have to be very careful at higher doses.
I was initiated into Seroquel after trying many drugs. At first I thought it would work for me. It is true that it induces sleep more than other anti psychotics. My doctor said that it would work well for chronic cases. I was chronic at the time I took it. I took pretty high doses and it increased my cholestrol and triglyceride levels. So we had to stop the drug. This is my experience with Seroquel.
Seroquel is my favorite sleep aid so far. Like you I’m just on it for sleep, 50 mg. Only thing is it makes my dreams VERY VIVID which is mostly pretty cool unless they’re nightmares. When I first started it I would sleep so deeply I’d be aware of being sedated in my flipping dreams. And I couldn’t wake myself up if I was having a nightmare. Scary. But eventually I just got accustomed to the dreams and I guess learned how to wake up out of them too because I’m not sedated in them anymore lol.
Seroquel does not sedate me into the next day UNLESS I take it very late at night. To be safe, I take it about 12 hours before I want to wake up. (I tried going up to 100 mg but that did sedate me well into the next day)
Other than the vivid dreams it gives me no other side effects and I’ve been on it for a number of months now. My sleep is more regular than it’s been in ages and I love it!
Also keep in mind that at a really low dose seroquel doesn’t act as an AP, I actually don’t even think it binds to dopamine receptors or else it barely does, so don’t worry about it giving you TD or adding onto the effects of your other AP or anything. Also at the low sleep aid dose you’re not really likely to gain weight, unless you’re super sensitive to it or something.
The normal dose for sz is like 300+ mg.