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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Is Quetiapine dangerous for non psychotic people? Is it addictive?

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Byzek

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May 9, 2020
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397
I am taking seroquel for 2 weeks just because for sleeping issues.
But i feel kind of flat, cant describe it.
Thinking about to stop it.
 
Hey @Byzek

As drugs go, Quetiapine (Seroquel) is pretty well-tolerated and is thus considered safe. There are a lot of people who use Quetiapine as a sleep-aid without issues, as it is effective for this purpose, but it can cause side-effects. Quetiapine is an antipsychotic drug, as it's useful for controlling symptoms of psychosis, but this typically means a higher dosage than what would be used just for insomnia. A typical dose for insomnia is going to start at 25mg-50mg Quetiapine and most people find this to be plenty, whereas dosages for antipsychotic symptoms go into the 100's of milligrams.

Antipsychotics are known for their ability to "slow down" or "sedate" psychotic patients. Patients often describe this as a blunting of their emotions or imagination, so it's not strange for you to experience this "flatness" that you're describing. If the drug is not working for you due to these symptoms, I would suggest trying something else, but these effects don't indicate anything medically dangerous.
 
Keif' Richards said:
Hey @Byzek

As drugs go, Quetiapine (Seroquel) is pretty well-tolerated and is thus considered safe. There are a lot of people who use Quetiapine as a sleep-aid without issues, as it is effective for this purpose, but it can cause side-effects. Quetiapine is an antipsychotic drug, as it's useful for controlling symptoms of psychosis, but this typically means a higher dosage than what would be used just for insomnia. A typical dose for insomnia is going to start at 25mg-50mg Quetiapine and most people find this to be plenty, whereas dosages for antipsychotic symptoms go into the 100's of milligrams.

Antipsychotics are known for their ability to "slow down" or "sedate" psychotic patients. Patients often describe this as a blunting of their emotions or imagination, so it's not strange for you to experience this "flatness" that you're describing. If the drug is not working for you due to these symptoms, I would suggest trying something else, but these effects don't indicate anything medically dangerous.
Click to expand...

I feel lil bit empty which means I have everyday hangover and its hard to get out of bed and when I take 5-htp for mood I dont feel so much.
Yesterday I took ritalin the first time after 2 weeks and I felt like the effect was decreased.
Usually it kicks more in after a break of 2 or 3 weeks .
These are the pills from my grandma I dont have bipolar or whatever, im taking it just for sleep.
 
Byzek said:
I am taking seroquel for 2 weeks just because for sleeping issues.
But i feel kind of flat, cant describe it.
Thinking about to stop it.
Click to expand...

After two weeks? Absolutely you should be fine just stopping. If you've been taking it at night, you may have difficulty sleeping the first few nights you don't take it.
It's not addictive because it isn't really enjoyable (the sedation is more lethargy and apathy than the sedation from the likes of benzos or barbiturates), but I stopped it cold-turkey after taking 600mg/day for maybe 18 months and definitely has symptoms...I'll leave out anything related to psychosis coming back since you said you don't suffer from that anyway...I had mildy increased anxiety and INSANE insomnia (I mean literally zero sleep for several days until I looked so terrible the emergency room threw a ton of Zolpidem (Ambien) at me...and even then I needed 20mg with zero tolerance for like 4ish hours sleep)...also, weirdly, I wasn't sad but I couldn't stop crying. I mean, full-on crying for hours at a time, multiple times a day, even though I wasn't depressed or upset at all.
 
quetiapines effectiveness is partly for its robust h1-inverse agonism
you can also explore other, more selective drugs which involve that mechanism
like trazodone, hydroxyzine and mirtazapine. Ok mirtazapine and trazodone involve also antagonism of 5ht2-receptors, for example (which can cause sedative effect).
antipsychotics generally can be unhealthy, even dramaticly so
however quetiapine is pretty tried and true and many who can deal their psychotic and bipolar symptoms are grateful they don't need to go further
 
Im kind of curious which kind of impact aeroquel has for healthy people.
Do they get bipolar or what
 
akathisia is one common issue with antipsychotics, in some sense unpredictable, fucked up phenomenon
which happens for antagonizing dopamine receptors, but quetiapine does not cause particularly bad saturation of dopamine receptors on lower doses
it is also somewhat anticholinergic which increases risk of parkinson's disease and is generally just unhealthy
 
Byzek said:
Im kind of curious which kind of impact aeroquel has for healthy people.
Do they get bipolar or what
Click to expand...

lol, no. Mostly just sedation/lethargy/tiredness. And of course the endless side-effects.
But if binge eating enormous amounts of carbs and then sleeping for 16 hours sounds fun, give it a try :p
 
Pissed_and_messed said:
akathisia is one common issue with antipsychotics, in some sense unpredictable, fucked up phenomenon
which happens for antagonizing dopamine receptors, but quetiapine does not cause particularly bad saturation of dopamine receptors on lower doses
it is also somewhat anticholinergic which increases risk of parkinson's disease and is generally just unhealthy
Click to expand...

Yeah AP's - the older ones are definitely worse, but it can happen on any - cause both pseudo-parkinsons and pseudo-alzheimers, meaning they basically give you those diseases without actually having them. Like, every symptom of them and just as serious and debilitating etc, just you don't have the actual disease.
If I'm explaining that okay?
 
fuck I apparently got it wrong again I always mess up dementia and parkinson's
www.health.harvard.edu

Anticholinergic drugs linked with dementia - Harvard Health

Anticholinergic medications used to treat bladder conditions, Parkinson’s disease, and depression are associated with an increased risk of dementia, suggests a new study. People who got dementia ...
www.health.harvard.edu www.health.harvard.edu
what that does mean for quetiapine I am no sure, how strong of anticholinergic it is and is there any countering effects involved, like better sleep?
 
At low doses (25mg or so) it doesn't really behave like an antipsychotic. At those doses it mainly acts as an antihistamine (along with having some fairly mild antiserotonergic and antiadrenergic effects -- which probably explains why increased appetite is so prominent even at these low doses).

For it to be an effective antipsychotic, high doses are required, in the multiple hundreds of milligrams, enough to reach majority occupancy of the D2 receptor (I think the antipsychotic "sweet-spot" is something like 60% or greater occupancy of D2). That said, 100mg of quetiapine will definitely have some dopamine receptor blocking effects.

I like quetiapine as a sleep aid at low doses. It is the only "antipsychotic" I would ever willing put into my system, but only at non-antipsychotic doses.

The best way (by far) to take quetiapine for sleep is via sublingual administration. I usually take a small amount (10-25mg) and hold under the tongue until it dissolves. It works far more quickly this way, but even more importantly, it doesn't last as long as oral administration, which significantly reduces any unwanted next day effects.
 
I stopped it after 3 weeks coz I got very lazy and my libido disappeared.
Im afraid that this will be forever coz there are some concerning reviews in the web.
 
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