My brother takes 450mg a day and gained weight. He takes it for bipolor. I have high anxity and PTSD. I take Prazosin 4mg. at night and it works wonders. While he has bipolor. Been on many things that made me worse and kinda scared to try this. My Dr told me its such a low does it wont effect my weight but I hear it will. That will made me even more sad when I have reacuring nigthmares that make me sad and hipervigalent at the same time already. Hope to hear from someone. Thanks
Has anyone taken 25mg. to 50mg of Seroquel and gained or lost weight?
Question posted by Deliarose on 17 Aug 2012
Last updated on 1 August 2020 by CoLynFields
My Dr. has put me on 25mg of seoquel today one a day. Then might might raise it to 50mg. she says a hight dose would make my stuation worse.
27 Answers
It can cause weight gain, however, I would also be concerned about it causing short time memory loss.
I have been taking 50 mg at bedtime, for 1 year. Actually eating less, but have gained 27 lbs
I have been taking 25 mg to 50 mg at night for nine years I have not gained any weight and I am a diabetic so if I was gaining weight they would probably take the medication away from me as it would affect my control but I haven’t had any problems at all the first weeks I was on it I can remember being very worried about Gaining weight too. But it doesn’t bother me at all now at the beginning it kind of made me hungry and I think that’s how it happens but on this low dose it’s unlikely you would gain any weight either
I am on 150 mg and have been for a little over a month. I have absolutely no appetite until I take it and then I want to eat everything in sight. I take it at night and then go straight to bed. I have actually lost weight (about 5 pounds) on this medication. My stomach is a little bloated, but nothing too noticeable. I was terrified I was going to gain weight on this medication, but so far I haven't. The worst side effect I've had is that I have low energy. But it helps in so many ways so I don't plan to come off of it. My doctor told me that if I do notice weight gain I can start taking Topamax. I've used it before and with exercise and a healthy diet, it really does help. Don't worry about weight gain. If it makes you feel better, take it. You can't have a healthy body without a healthy mind.
I have been on 75 mg. now for about 9 years. I tried to stop taking it but could not sleep at all. I was warned by the pharmacist that being a diabetic this wasn't the best choice but what I found was long term nothing else worked and to be honest I weighed around 130 at the start of taking it and still weigh the same, so it did not effect me the way I worried that it would. I stay the same.
I hope that is a help to know that it seems to be dose dependent. When you get up to the higher doses like your brother has to take it seems to affect your appetite somehow but low doses I would not worry just take it and see for yourself. It does make you tired and you will get some sleep! Best of luck :)
I started at 50mg, didn't gain any weight. Bumped up to 100mg, gained maybe 5 pounds or so. Bumped up to 150mg and gained about 15 pounds. Now I've been on 200mg for about 5 months and have gained 40 FREAKING POUNDS. Before I started taking it I was 120 pounds and 23 years old. I was always very skinny and no matter how I ate I didn't gain weight, I didn't even exercise. Seroquel completely reversed my metabolism and now I eat very strict and still can't keep weight off haha. Oh well though, the benefits of seroquel outweigh the cons for me.
I’v been on seroquel 25mg for only a few months now and I can honestly say that this medication causes weight gain. I take it at night to help me sleep and as soon as it kicks in I’m constantly at the kitchen getting food, when I should be sleeping and it’s the sweet and salty food that I crave on this med.
I think its a combination of mental and physical... I have been on 600mg and I gained 100 lbs in 2 yrs. The cravings were terrible... but not just cravings. I ate even when I was full... continually. Got off of Seroquel and lost 95 lbs but had problems sleeping so I had the doc put me on 300mg... work or so I thought( I didnt eat like a horse) but I stopped losing weight. I work out and eat extremely healthy. Now the cravings are back. I am going to drop down to 150 mg to see if that helps if not I'm back to Trazodone but at a higher dose to see if I can sleep through the night.
Yes I have been on Seroquel for 2 years and have increased weight significantly with blood sugars and liver enzymes not right. I have only recently really read the side affects as presumed my GP would have said something as the weight gain has been causing my severe depression and anxiety worse. I also see that it can cause Reflux which my GP have sent me to specialist, given all sorts of tests - but NO-ONE has ever mentioned it maybe a side affect. Has anyone else suffered with Reflux, increased sweating, decreased strength and energy plus vision changes ?
I created this account just to comment on Seroquel and weight gain and loss. When I first started taking it, I gained 25 pounds in about 1 month. No joke. I was taking 100mg a day for anxiety.
I went down to 50mg just for sleep and the weight was still there. So I started cardio, 1 hour SIX times a week, weights at the gym 3 times a week, and basically starving myself. 800 calories a day. I lost 20 pounds in 3 months, but that was with excessive exercise, food restriction.
I recently tapered down to a 1/4 of a 25mg pill. Used a pill splitter, so 6. 25mg a night for sleep or I sometimes take 12.5mg.
I literally peed out 10 pounds of bloat in 2 weeks on this lower dose. No joke. I can see my cheekbones again and everyone I know has commented on how I look less puffy. A good portion of the seroquel weight gain was water retention for me.
I was also pre-diabetic on higher doses of seroquel, I no longer am.
No matter what people tell you, Seroquel DOES do something to your metabolism. I want to get off it completely, but I need sleep and haven't found something that works for me.
If you can lower your dose, I highly recommend it. I don't feel like I'm wearing a fat suit anymore! When weight comes on that quickly, it's an awful feeling :( Does a number on ones self esteem for sure.
I wish you all good luck in your journey.
Thank you for this! I just started on 25mg (originally scheduled going to 50mg in few days). 25mg is working perfectly for sleep and mood stabilizer. Planning to stay at 25mg and doing 50mg only as needed. I will provide an update! (I am active and eat light)
I was overweight in my early teens, but never had a weight problem since then. I am 44 now. That is until I started taking Seroquel two years ago. I have been on it for two years and have gained 50 pounds. I was taking 200 my at night. Lots of times I eat absolutely nothing during the day. I drink only zero calorie drinks such as unsweetened tea and water. My issue is night time eating. I wake up in the middle of the night starving and craving sweets. It doesn't matter if I eat before bed or not.
I have weaned myself down to 100 MG. I will go down to 50 tonight. The last time I tried to wean off I was fine at 50. It was going to nothing where I experienced major anxiety and insomnia problems. This time I am going to cut more slowly, from 50 to 25 to 12.5. I hope it works. I honestly believe that withdrawals are what keeps lots of people on the stuff.
I've been taking 1000mg. a day for almost a year to help treat manic bipolar, anxiety and depression and I have gained over 50lbs. I have never been overweight in the past and now I can hardly recognize myself. I feel ravenous all the time. I don't over eat but still keep gaining weight. I'm depressed more than ever. I'm really worried about trying an alternative medicine because it was a struggle finding a medicine that has helped my disorders as well as Seroquel. I guess being fat out weighs being crazy. Pun intended!
I took seroquel (anywhere between 50mg to 400+) for insomnia, for about 4 years... I gained about 50 pounds on it. I'd take it and start eating everything. I somehow managed to get to 207. About 2 months ago, I got off it and started taking over the counter medicine for sleep. I then started dieting and exercising. I'm at 174 now.
In clinical trials only 6% of patients taking Seroquel (quetiapine) reported weight gain as opposed to 3% of placebo users who also reported weight gain.
I took high doses of quetiapine for Bipolar disorder for over 4 years with no weight gain at all.
When most of these trials are funded by big pharma you have to look very closely at these findings/claims. Over how long were participants followed? You'll get quite a different figure if it's over 12 weeks compared to 12 months. I found the drug produces no change in weight for the 1st month or 2, and then the weight gradually starts to creep up (I put on 10kg over about 16 months), and I lost it when I came off Seroquel.
How about when the post market clinical trials are performed by independent agencies?
The last RCT abstract I remember reading reported 2-3kg for weight gain on average over about 16 weeks (from memory). To produce this average if only 6% gained weight, that 6% must have gained 100kg or so each! Nonetheless if you have any independent studies I'd be interested to see. From the responses above there clearly is a lot of variability as to how Seroquel impacts people's appetite and weight.
Why scare people to death with only horror stories? 6 pounds? OMG, I'm a neurotic, psychotic basket case but my jeans still fit???
Well you'd be foolish if you got scared to death by that. Of course this medication can have great benefit. It does for me. But if I can find an alternative that does the same job with less weight gain and sedation I would. It's not about being negative it's about taking a comprehensive look at a medication, both the potential benefits and side effects
I have been on Seroquel since maybe age 8. I was only on 50 then 100 mg. Just recently they put me on Quetiapine 200mg (substituted for Seroquel) because the medicine wasn't working as well to help me sleep. I noticed after this and being put on 2 other known weight gainers I gained weight pretty quick. I had the same issue with another medication, I was 118lbs and within 2 months I ballooned up to 165 lbs then topped out at 178lbs within that 2 1/2 month period. I quit Lyrica immediately. I guess with someone struggling with an eating disorder it doesn't help being on a medicine that makes you balloon up like I did and am now doing again. The pants (size 7/8) i bought because of the weight gain a few months back now are too tight on me and I struggle to find a pair to fit me without squishing out the muffin top too much. I had to change what and how I wore once again.
Related topics
seroquel, post traumatic stress disorder, insomnia, prazosin, weight, anxiety and stress
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