The following information is NOT intended to endorse drugs or recommend therapy. While these reviews might be helpful, they are not a substitute for the expertise, skill, knowledge and judgement of healthcare practitioners in patient care.
Sort by:
Reviews for Seroquel to treat Bipolar Disorder
bizzy (unregistered) said:
User Rating:
6.0
Seroquel worked for me during my rapid cycling last year and really chilled me out very quickly. Only bad thing to say about it is I found the level of sedation far too much, and it left me incredibly "plastic" the next day. Was a bit like a walking zombie, although it got me through the dangerous bit. Also meant as I have great trouble sleeping it helped that side out too, so all in all was very good for me. Came off all medicines 9 months ago. Now only on zopiclone for sleeping. So hopefully no matter how good it is, wont be back on it!
0 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
A wonderful drug! I can sleep at night now. It also stopped my mood swings which were rapid cycling. I feel really good on it! Would highly recommend it!
0 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
It help me a lot and I can feel happy in myself for once in my life, being Bipolar and 24yrs. I take 600mg twice a day and it helps me when I sleep and throughout the day. I'm not moody any more.
1 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I am 53 years old and was put on this drug just over a year ago. I was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder 13 years ago, I new something was wrong with me when I was 17 but bipolar was not really to known back then. This drug is by far the best thing I have taken ever. Don't worry about the weight gain after a year it will go away, it is a small price to pay for sanity. Everyone will get the munchies from this I eat grapes at night they do the trick have some in a bowl by your bedside this will help keep the weight gain down. Stay away from ice cream and eat yogurt with preserves in it or just fruit when you get the munchies 1 hour after taking it. I also take temazepam at night 100mg.
5 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I have been depressed most of my life. I have tried several medicines over the years, even tried not taking medicines. Racing thoughts of suicide, worthlessness, irritability, crying spells led me back to taking medicines. I started taking Seroquel about a month ago and take 25mg at night. It has helped me sleep and I have not experienced any side effects, yet. I have noticed feeling better during the day, not as many inappropriate thoughts as before, hardly any crying spells. I'm looking forward to enjoying life again, right now I take one day at a time and can make it through the workday - mostly happily.
5 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I have been on Seroquel 300mg for over 5 years. I suffer from bipolar disorder, with this you don't sleep. Also am a recovering drug addict, due to pain from back surgery. If I didn't have this medicine I don't think I could live.
This drug is taken with other medicines.
3 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I have been taking 150mg XR Seroquel for a year now. It is fantastic for knocking me out and taking all those racing thoughts and wild thinking away at night. I have very odd and random dreams but I don't mind it. The only troubles I have is that I lack all motivation to do anything. I have been doing worse in school, and my relationship has been falling apart. I just let everything slide. It seems like I just am in my own world and that I could care less for the people around me.
5 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I love this antipsychotic. We tried them all and this is the only one that did not give me akathisia - I know another person like me and same thing with him as well. I have taken 600mg since January and it is fabulous. Definitely chills me out and calms me down. Does not put me to sleep though. That stopped a long time ago - I think you get used to it and the lower doses are more sedating. I have done some reading though and it has to hit a certain dose (I think 400mg) to actually hit the dopamine receptors, anything lower and it only works on histamine and would not work as a antipsychotic. I now take the XR version as I was taking the regular version twice a day for psychotic symptoms, I don't take this for sleep. Very nice overall.
1 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
Seroquel really snapped me out of a terrible manic episode. The self-injury, obsessive thoughts and sleeplessness stopped within two days of my first doses. Currently it is a regular part of my drug cocktail, at a maintenance dose of 50 mgs. It is the only drug that has truly been able to hold the mania at bay. I have had weight gain, but I will select weight gain over a living hell every single time. Seroquel makes me happy to be alive again.
6 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I was prescribed Seroquel after I got out of one of those psychiatric hospitals and after a terrible bout with Abilify (extremely jittery and restless). Unfortunately, Seroquel affected me in just the opposite way. I consistently went up in dose, peaking at 600 mg for 2 days, then dropping back down to 300 mg. I was on it for almost a month but I was living in my own little world. I was very muted. It may have stopped the manic episodes, but the depression became worse, almost landing me back in a hospital after I went "cold turkey." The good thing though was that I slept so peacefully every night. No racing thoughts.
4 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
Seroquel has helped me a lot in the crisis days. However I have gained a lot of weight and get drowsy easily. I would recommend it if you are really agitated and full of anxiety and have racing thoughts.
10 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I've been taking 150mg at night for years. I sleep for 8 hours when I take it. If I don't, I don't sleep 8 minutes. I am a forty year old male. I didn't take it last night and I've been up for 36 hours and I can't even think about going to sleep.
3 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I was diagnosed with Bipolar One about a year ago and originally took Abilify, until I realized it gave me severe anxiety. My doctor changed me to Seroquel which I take before bed. It did take a while to adjust to how sedating it was but it relieved me of my insomnia. However, I have been gaining weight steadily since beginning Seroquel with an insatiable urge to eat about an hour after I take my medication. No matter what I do to lose weight - 15 pounds gained since Seroquel - I can not lose the weight. I love the fact that it seems to work well with my body and cures my insomnia, but there's got to be something better for me that doesn't cause me to gain so much weight.
12 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I've been on Seroquel for 5 years. I hated it at first because I was only in 7th grade, weighed only 130lbs and was on 900mg. When I first took it I slept for three and a half days. Now it gives me this horrible urge to eat and I can't stop. A few years back it was lowered to 600mg (still a little to high for my liking) but it has helped with my bipolar and my impulses. It does actually help but avoid being on such a high dose.
9 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I gained close to 40 pounds in 4 - 5 months and felt like a zombie. Went from 100 mg to 400 mg and felt worse with each increase. I have been off the medicine for at least 4 months now and I am still trying to lose weight. Have only lost 8 pounds.
12 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
A word to the wise: A psychiatrist prescribed a small dosage of Seroquel (at bedtime) for me (25 MG) to promote sleep. After a short period of time, I noticed an overwhelming craving for sugar--pastry, candy, milkshakes, etc. During proceeding visits to my family physician, I learned that my sugar levels were rising steadily, something uncommon in my previous medical history. Eventually this rise in blood levels developed into diabetes. Once this cause and effect was established, I ceased taking Seroquel. I no longer have an insatiable appetite for sweets.
15 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I have been taking seroquel for three years and it has changed my life for the good. When I first started taking it I was tired but after about a week I balanced out.
8 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
She is a new and exciting person. After 60 days on Seroquel it's like having our daughter returned to us. New and improved...Happy and Engaged in Life. Thank You So Much.
17 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
This medication brought me out of a long manic episode very quickly (which was a huge relief) but I couldn't bare the tiredness and lack of tolerance I had because I was so tired. I felt quite grumpy most days. The sugar cravings were wild and I lost all restraint with cakes and sweets. I guess I'm just one of the very few people it doesn't agree with.
18 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I use it along with other medicines to treat my severe Bipolar Disorder. It helps me sleep and keeps the "thoughts" associated with this disorder in check. I'm not constantly thinking bad, self destructive thoughts when I'm taking it. The only bad thing about it is the grogginess and the always hungry feeling.
17 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I am Bipolar II and cycle on hypo-manic to manic. I am on 250mg x 2 night and 1 x morning. I was placed on 200mg x 2 Lamictal and reduced my seroquel to 75mg at the night. It seems I have been able to focus more and be motivated and lost 45lbs in the process that I had built up over 3 years. I place this down to sugar cravings from my morning dose. No major side effects in me.
15 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I was recently perscribed Seroquel, and I can tell the difference already with my bipolar. However it made me so drowsy and lethargic that I can only take it at night. It has helped me think more clearly and has lessened my manic and depressive episodes to where I feel almost "normal" again.
20 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
In the hospital, I received treatment for a significant manic episode with psychosis. I was on Geodon but it had stopped working so I switched to Seroquel. At low doses it was ineffective, however now I'm taking 600mg at night it has worked well. At this dose, after a couple of days I felt like myself again. I've noticed some drowsiness but in my experience with antipsychotics it will fade as I become acclimated to it. However, I am extremely hungry all of the time. Hopefully this will go away.
27 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
It worked very well, but it caused excessive drowsiness and also made me gain a lot of weight in a short period of time. I took it for almost a year before I switched to something else.
34 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
i recently started taking seroquel. for years I had racing thoughts, inability to sleep (sometimes as little as 3-4 hours for days), my mood was that of a ticking time bomb. My family did not know when I would have a mood swing. Worse than that, neither did I! I find that with seroquel I am able to think rationally and act appropriately. Without it, I have had a LOT of trouble with impulsive behavior that has caused an immense amount of grief and struggle for my family.
63 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
I have been on Seroquel for 4 months now. I have terrible insomnia and racing thoughts because of my bipolar disorder. This drug worked wonders for me and now I can finally sleep at night without my mind racing for hours.
44 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
For many years I have been impulsive and that impulsiveness has led to a lot of serious problems in my life. (Some of which were legal) Seroquel has installed a "buffer" between the impulsive thought and the words/actions that come as a result. I am now able to fully analyze a thought process and decide whether or not to act on it. I have noticed a profound change in all areas of my life including my musical abilities. My family and I are now benefiting from a more calm, and appropriate person.
58 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
My son has recently been taking just Seroguel - they took him off all his others and is doing much better. He's only 14 so he doesn't say much the family has noticed quite an improvement.
36 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
It took me down from a manic episode relatively quickly, but after the mania stopped, I just felt sedated all the time. I don't love seroquel, but it has its benefits.
41 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
Seroquel has been very effective in clearing up my thinking. It has also helped me sleep better. I am bipolar and had a lot of irrational thinking, but Seroquel has cleared a lot of that up. I was in a terribly blue depression but Seroquel helped bring me out of that.
68 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
After suffering all of my life with depression and then later in life (20-33) with severe anxiety, insomnia, and a general feeling of restlessness to the point I thought I was going to "crawl the walls", I was prescribed Seroquel. I quickly found out I had to take my dose at bedtime due to being so sleepy when I took it during the day. Seroquel has been the ONLY medicine that has worked for me to ease the symptoms of my Bipolar Disorder 1. A Big Thanks to Seroquel for making life easier for me!
98 user(s) found this comment helpful. Did you?YesNo
own2kidz said: 
jerzyr said: 
