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Article on Seroquel on ABC site.

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berocca

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Joined
Aug 8, 2007
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Someone posted this on reddit and thought it worthwhile reposting here:

ABC: Growing concerns over the side effects of seroquel

Related reddit thread is here.

That's a ridiculous increase in prescriptions to say the least...

I was prescribed it once as an off-label sleep aid and the minimal dose was debilitating. It worked, but so much so that the inertia you had to overcome to just get out of bed was almost insurmountable and increased viscosity of reality you had to wade through didn't wear off unitl late in the day at which point you felt capable for the first time and didn't want to waste your precious moments of clarity by going to bed. Can anyone see a problem here...? This was on a minimal dose. Needless to say I stopped taking it pretty quickly. Of course this is one anecdotal case, but I can relate to some of the other comments on reddit.

At least in Brave New World soma was interesting - this stuff is oppressive blandness.

It's getting to the point these days, that if the doctor finds the right drug to medicate, the patient 'goes away' and doesn't persist, and also becomes a revenue stream for big-pharma.
 
Nice pick up man! Will be good to see how it's played out - I've been prescribed everything from instant release 25mg to 800mg extended release......a sloth could move quicker than me on quetiepine. 8(
 
WTF

The drug is increasingly being prescribed for a range of conditions - anything from sleep disturbance to anorexia - but there is a growing body of concern about the harmful and disturbing side-effects it can cause.

Musician Heidi Everett has been on Seroquel, which acts as a powerful sedative, for a decade.

She started on a dose of 1,000 milligrams a day - more than three times the daily dose recommended by Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Click to expand...

To start on 1,000mg of Seroquel of course someone is going to become a zombie, shit, some people use 25mg as a sleeping aid 30 mins before bed, 1,000mg that is such an intense load on the body, from sober to no tolerance 100mg is debilitating so no wonder...


Seroquel, sold by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, initially excited the medical community as it seemed a promising alternative to more addictive sedatives like Valium.

Medicare statistics show that in Australia, the prescribing of Seroquel grew from about 1,500 scripts a year in 2000 to almost a million by the end of last year.
Click to expand...

:\

I hope people realize just how powerful this anti-psychotic is before it is too late for many :(

In the decade to 2011, ambulance attendances for emergencies associated with the drug rose from 32 a year to 589 a year - something not seen with other similar anti-psychotics.

Victorian Coroners Court statistics for the past three years show it contributed to 10 per cent of drug deaths.
Click to expand...
 
Evil evil drug. Took it a few times to sleep after smoking meth and 4-mar, even if it did knock me out (and sometimes it didn't, just skipping straight to feeling horrible and zombified) I felt worse afterwards than if I hadn't slept at all.
 
I read recently this was one of the biggest money makers for the company, I also think that the patent ran out recently so they lost a large chunk of their cash cow. I believe that's why prescriptions sky-rocketed. I imagine a lot of doctors now own jet-skis or have taken all expenses (how high was I?) paid holidays to prescribe this drug for everything for a sore leg, anxiety, depression and some even for it's on-label uses!
 
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^ Sorry to make myself sound ignorant, but I didn't think this kind of practice was occurring so dramatically in Australia?

Do I just have too much faith in my local GP?
 
^ your local GP may well be completely above-board and well intentioned.
It's the whole culture of the pharmaceutical industry that treats patients like a cash cow/large scale experiment...and the patient expectation of walking out of the doc's surgery with a script doesn't help either; especially with the increasing caution with which benzos are Rx'd.
Things are not all above board in the world of Big Pharma - they arguably never have been.
 
Things are not all above board in the world of Big Pharma - they arguably never have been.
Click to expand...

I think it was very diplomatic to put the word "arguably" in there. Big Pharma is so creepy it makes me wonder about the extent to which basic humanity has been diluted in this age.
 
geezus! 1000mg would have anyone acting like the 3 toed sloth from Ice Age - its a disgusting drug that should be shelved anyway, even 25mg make you feel crap besides sleepy and all that crap
 
triplies said:
Why all the hate for seroquel?
Click to expand...

afterlyfestyle said:
Seroquel, sold by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, initially excited the medical community as it seemed a promising alternative to more addictive sedatives like Valium.

Medicare statistics show that in Australia, the prescribing of Seroquel grew from about 1,500 scripts a year in 2000 to almost a million by the end of last year.


I hope people realize just how powerful this anti-psychotic is before it is too late for many

In the decade to 2011, ambulance attendances for emergencies associated with the drug rose from 32 a year to 589 a year - something not seen with other similar anti-psychotics.

Victorian Coroners Court statistics for the past three years show it contributed to 10 per cent of drug deaths.
Click to expand...


It is having a great effect on Victoria, I don't know the figures in other states but surely they can't be far behind with script rates going up this dramatically.
 
^ many anti-psychotics carry the risk of long-term (and serious side effects such as diabetes:
Seroquel use is linked to several rare but dangerous side effects including diabetes, Tardive Dyskinesia, and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.
Click to expand...
Not the best source I've quoted there, it is just from a quick online search.
Harmless as some prescription drugs may seem, I don't think that is the case here. Anti-psychotics are kinda scary IMO
 
to prescribe quetiapine as a sleep aid IMHO is irresponsible. It's an antipsychotic for gods sake that just so has a side effect of drowsiness. I was prescribed for what they were intended for and found them disgusting and couldn't wait to get off them. I'd think twice before using them off-shelf. Just my 1bob's worth
 
I took Seroquel from 2003-2005. At first it was great, along with Lexapro. My Pdoc moved & I had to find a new one, who weaned me off Lexapro, then added Lamictal. I started getting fevers, low-grade at first, but within a month they were going above 105 F. After being in ICU twice (once with a fever of 109 F, lead-pipe limbs, coma, heart rate 283, my husband said I was babbling in "tongues"), an ER dr dxd me with NMS. It took a couple of months before the fevers were entirely gone, and now either drug alone will spike an instant high fever. Once they had to stop my heart 3X, to try to lower the rate (that is a very creepy sensation). Add to that lumbar punctures, ambulance rides, Seroquel can be very dangerous to some people; not because of over-dose, but the very real threat of NMS. I've been left with permanent brain damage from the fevers, in the form of high blood pressure & the inability for my brain to control my body temperature. I can't go outside when the temps are too high or low, & must go to hospital if I get a fever over 101 F. I also now get occasional seizures and uncontrollable episodes of twitching, mainly in my hands, sometimes my entire body. Seroquel is a fine med, as is Lamictal, but mixing different psych meds can have unforeseen, & sometimes deadly, consequences.
To anyone who might wonder what an NMS fever feels like, it starts with a creepy crawly shiver in the lower back, rapidly progressing to your entire body shivering uncontrollably. (My temp went up .1deg F every 5 minutes). You just can't get warm enough. It was 110 F outside, I had the thermostat as high as it would go, wore a terry cloth robe under a duvet & still felt cold, til coma set in. My husband came home & dragged me to a cold bath, said I screamed when he moved me. When I woke in the ER my entire family was there, they thought I was dying. I don't remember anything between falling asleep & waking in hospital. Drs are too cavalier about changing or mixing drugs to which they have no idea how your body will respond. Always ask, & if you try a new med, have someone there who can see you're in danger. Ok, I'll stop now!
 
If you read the fine print, a huge number of drugs that we consider 'relatively harmless' list 'sudden death' as a potential side effect. There are antipsychotics that have a stronger link with cardiac arrest than Seroquel - we're just hearing so much about Seroquel because so many people take it.

A friend of a friend died taking it - they attributed the death to 'sudden cardiac arrest' but couldn't say for sure whether it was the Seroquel that caused it. I bet that's the case for a lot of these deaths.

Also, for those discussing the sedative aspect - 1000mg would no doubt knock you around, but Seroquel is actually more sedating at lower doses. Once you get into the bipolar/schiophrenia spectrum/psychosis crisis doses, it makes you sleep a lot, but it's not really sedating during the day. That said, I've never encountered anyone on more than 600mg, which is a pretty normal "I am an inpatient in a psychiatric hospital who is floridly psychotic and needs urgent help" dose.

I'm certainly not claiming it's side effect free. It messed with my blood glucose and I was glad to move on to something less sedating. But it was a life saver of a drug when I took it and I'm glad it was available.
 
I got given some of these by someone as a recreational drug (they gave me a free sample).

25mg (broken off a 250mg pill) wiped me out for 12 hours. It's like taking too much phenergan.

I also know someone who's psychiatrist prescribes them seroquel to get to sleep every night. Seems like a massive overkill to me (they are also prescribed dexedrine for adhd)
 
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