Seroquel User Reviews & Ratings

• rab...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 22, 2025

For Bipolar Disorder "Far and away, the worst medication I have ever taken. It made me feel like a walking zombie, constantly agitated and hungry. It did induce significant drowsiness, but in the worst way."

• Law...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 26, 2023

"I have been on it for two months, and it has done absolutely nothing to help me with my anger."

• Blu...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• February 17, 2023

For Bipolar Disorder "This happened a really long time ago, in September 2008, when I was 14. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar and was always angry and crying, so I got prescribed this, but I only took it a few days because I fell down the stairs! Anyway, I had this intense, restless, cold feeling in both my legs, couldn’t stop moving, I couldn’t keep my eyes open, I gained 45 lbs, and I had no personality. My psychiatrist took me off when she found out what happened to me."

• Ale...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• January 30, 2023

For Schizophrenia "I have been using Seroquel since 2016. It has improved my sleep, but my other symptoms have gotten worse after I started using it. I hated the experience and would never recommend it to anyone. I’m hoping to heal naturally soon and no longer use it."

• Mad...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 5, 2022

"I never commented on a drug even though I’ve been on most of the SSRIs (Paxil, Zoloft, Effexor, Citalopram, Fluvoxamine), Mirtazapine, Ativan, and Buspirone. I have never had such bad side effects. I could have died!!! I don’t want to scare anybody because every person reacts differently, but even if you have the slightest heart problem (like palpitations, angina), do not take this drug. My doctor prescribed 25 mg 3 times a day as needed for anxiety and agoraphobia. I took it for the first time 2 nights ago and cut the pill in half so it was only about 12.5 mg. I woke up with horrible tachycardia 4 hours after I went to bed. It was around 200-250 bpm, and I had to call 911. I was taken to the hospital by an ambulance. I took two Ativans on the way (that slowed down my heart rate). I was almost having a heart attack. Please don’t start this medication if you don’t have a major problem like schizophrenia. Be careful, God bless everyone, and hope everybody gets rid of their mental issues."

• Bip...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• March 14, 2022

For Bipolar Disorder "I had depressive episodes all my life (I'm 55) and was diagnosed with bipolar II about 9 months ago. I have had insomnia all my life, but it became severe and unremitting about a year ago when I became severely depressed/anxious. Started on Lithium and then 25 mg Seroquel and went up to 100 mg Seroquel. It never helped my insomnia or my mood and caused constipation. I was on it for about 7 months. Big issue - now trying to get off and having major withdrawal problems. Mild insomnia, excessive sweating, severe abdominal pain. Something new every time I lower the dose by 12 mg. I recommend staying on this drug only if you see significant progress. I wish I had been taken off sooner."

• SRR...
• February 23, 2022

For Bipolar Disorder "Throw this medication away!!! Honestly, the worst thing to start. I’ve been on it for years and now find out it’s caused my pancreatitis. In the past year, I’ve been hospitalized 3 times due to it. I’m otherwise healthy and now may have ruined my pancreas due to Seroquel."

• lal...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 7, 2022

For Bipolar Disorder "I once rated this medication highly for my initial positive experience with it. I now believe that is only because it helps me sleep. Once I got up to 200 mg, I felt like a zombie and experienced some other concerning symptoms. When I expressed my concerns, I was told that this was a 'baby dose,' and they intended to still increase from there. I disagreed. I have weaned down to a sleeping aid dose and intend to decrease from there and get off this stuff. It's terribly addicting. When I was at 200 mg, I used to experience withdrawal-like symptoms if I was accidentally late to take my nightly dose: splitting headaches, shaking. I've seen some say it can be dangerous to not have an exact time each day it is taken, but this was never expressed to me by the psychiatrists who prescribed me. This is not an opiate, but there's a reason some people sell this and call it 'baby heroin.' If you get prescribed it for sleeping, it did help with that."

• Muf...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 18, 2021

For Bipolar Disorder "This is horrible, with extremely serious side effects. I got anxiety, shaking, face twitching, and stuttering like never before. I won’t ever take it again — you cannot pay me enough to get back on it!"

• Sur...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 3, 2021

For Schizoaffective Disorder "One of the worst meds I've ever taken was only on 25-50 milligrams a day, made me extremely tired and my eyes black. I'd wake up feeling like I was being choked. If I was trying to work out, doing push-ups for instance, I'd get a sharp pain in my head and either my arm or leg, or both, would give out, and I'd fall to the floor, almost hurting myself. I thought it was bad for me, or I must be allergic to it, so I had to refuse to take it anymore after a couple of months. I can't believe they are still giving this to people without knowing how destructive it can be to people's lives. It's an older antipsychotic medicine, they claim, so how could they not know the brutal side effects it causes."

• Ano...
• May 8, 2021

For Bipolar Disorder "I was prescribed Seroquel 100 mg as a mood stabilizer (for Dysthymia and Generalized Anxiety Disorder) by a psychiatrist to be taken alongside 200 mg Wellbutrin daily. It knocked me out the first time I took it, and I noticed my blood pressure dropped sharply, but I felt good in the morning. After 3 weeks, I started to feel like a zombie and developed severe constipation. Then, suddenly, a feeling of internal tremor, so I contacted my doctor to stop. I slept 2 hours a night for about a week, had horrid nightmares, sleep paralysis, and severe mood swings and panic attacks. I was put on Xanax for the panic, but also developed muscle twitching all over my body that continued at night, waking me up. It's now been 40 days since I stopped taking the Seroquel. My mood is okay, but I still have (slightly less) muscle twitches in the day and night. I wonder if I'll ever be normal again. I'm so angry this was prescribed without explanation for a minor condition when its effect on me has been far more deleterious to my life than my original condition."

• Eve...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 27, 2021

For Bipolar Disorder "This drug is awful. I became a zombie. My muscles began twitching, and I felt like I was hit by a truck after taking it for 10 days. I stopped it and immediately felt better and actually felt my emotions again. I do not recommend."

• Cho...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 30, 2021

For Schizophrenia "I was put on this drug in January 2013 when I was 16 and in October 2008 when I was 12. I have schizophrenia, and when I first took this back in middle school, I don't remember any negative effects but weight gain. I ended up being 150 lbs at 5'1 in March of 2009 at age 12, so we stopped it, and I lost 17 lbs. In 2013, I was prescribed this, and good God, I felt awful! I couldn't keep my eyes open at school, I had severe akathisia and was ravenously hungry! I knew it was the medicine because I wasn't dumb, so they took me off. I ended up going from 145 to 190 in a damn month, all because of this crappy medicine. This, Haldol, Risperidone, and Latuda are the worst antipsychotics ever given to me. I'm on Depakote, Zoloft, and Zyprexa now, and no negative side effects except for nausea. Never taking Seroquel again."

• Kat...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• December 24, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "This medication is NOT GOOD if you have a neurological/movement disorder, and it's neither for anxiety. I have cerebral palsy, and I experienced awful spasms, stuttering, muscle twitching, etc. - I wondered if that was tardive dyskinesia - but it went away after quitting this medication. My mind was running 100 mph, I had random bouts of panic and a much poorer sense of coordination. When I had to unfortunately quit it - cold turkey - I had flailing limbs, shakiness, and dizziness. However, I have had none of the symptoms with Abilify. It seems that Seroquel is GENERALLY OK if you do not have any neurological issues, but if you do... STAY CLEAR!"

• ITr...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 24, 2020

For Schizophrenia "The first couple of days I took Seroquel, I was more or less a zombie. I was given the drug for multiple suicide attempts because of a severe depression. At day 8, I had the worst manic episode I have ever had in my life, I had no control over what happened, and I had trouble breathing. My mild schizophrenia has since worsened, and I experience more hallucinations than I ever have before. This drug is NOT recommended, in my opinion."

• Jen...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 9, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel is terrible. I felt completely disassociated. I knew words were coming out of my mouth but sometimes had no clue what I was saying. I was only on it for a few months, but I called my Dr. in a panic when I’d realized the weight I’d gained. I lost 100 lbs in my 20s and have been able to keep it off give or take 10 lbs. I’m now 40 years old, and I instantly put on belly/waist weight, a place where I have NEVER gained before. I know my body well, and this was pretty extreme. I went up a pant size in 2 months. I told my Dr., and he said it makes you crave carbs, but I KNOW it’s more than that. What type of meds makes you gain weight in a specific area? After losing the 10-15 lbs, I am stuck with saggy skin after 3 months! It’s not worth it. It created a whole new set of permanent problems like saggy skin and my confidence with undressing around my husband. Horrible!"

• Dus...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 9, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "My doctor put me on this medication to help not just my bipolar disorder but also for my extreme anxiety and agitation I was having. However, since I am a senior who has had sleep apnea since 1991 and use a CPAP machine every night, I suffer from very bad daytime sleepiness and memory problems. I will NEVER take this again! I was only on 25 mg for two days, but I felt like a zombie and very spaced out. My wife almost could not wake me up at 11:00 am, and it was all I could do to get out of bed. I had to get up since I have type 2 diabetes and need to eat something in order to take my medication. I advise anyone with sleep apnea to think twice before you let your doctor prescribe this for you."

• Jen...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 5, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "I got very sick and was put into the ICU for a very long time, which caused ICU Delirium and Depression. I had been on Cymbalta, but they changed it to Seroquel. My friends who are nurses make jokes about how awesome Seroquel is for shutting patients up and making them comply. I felt awful on this drug. Leg spasms, drooling, worsened diabetes, etc. They didn't tell me that they'd put me on it. When someone finally told me, I demanded they take me off of it, and the drooling and spasms stopped almost immediately. And I was able to stay awake and think more clearly. And able to participate in physical therapy. I didn't notice any mood improvements and in fact, I was incredibly depressed, but being in the ICU is traumatic, and I had a machine breathing for me, and I was trying to process having almost died. I would recommend trying just about everything else first. I've told my doctors they're never putting me on it again."

• Ott...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 17, 2020

For Schizophrenia "I've had a lot of side effects caused by this drug. I never knew it was caused by this drug. I had high blood pressure, terrible gas that lasted for days, muscle cramps, seizures. I gained 60 lbs or more. Imbalance drug for 5 years or more. I would not recommend it for anybody."

• Ela...
• February 20, 2020

For Bipolar Disorder "I suffer from Bipolar II, take 200 mg Lamictal daily, and was prescribed 25 mg Seroquel to take at night to help me sleep during hypomanic episodes. My psychiatrist claimed it would calm the racing thoughts, help me fall asleep, and hopefully make me think more clearly during the day. After taking it, I would still be awake for a couple of hours trying to sleep and still having racing thoughts. In the morning, I had the worst experiences trying to wake up. I wasn’t trying to wake up early or anything, like 11 on my free days, so I could sleep in, and even then I could barely open my eyes enough to turn off my alarm and would immediately fall back asleep. After finally waking up, I felt groggy and disoriented throughout the day. I couldn’t think straight and was unable to focus during my classes. Not a good experience. I only took it a few times and decided it was only having negative effects, so I stopped taking it."

• Dru...
• February 15, 2020

For Schizoaffective Disorder "Seroquel knocked me out so badly that I slept 18 hours. The heavy sedation effect does go away, though. It did not help at all with my schizophrenia, but it did make me put on a lot of weight. Altogether, antipsychotics have made me put on a ton of weight. I've tried many of them, and I used to weigh 160 pounds and now I am 220. So far, that's all these drugs have done to me, they should be called fat pills."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 1, 2019

"Stay away from this Seroquel if you have any sort of epileptiform activity in your brain! Epileptiform discharges mimic psychosis, and rather than giving someone an antipsychotic, they treat it with an anticonvulsant. Seroquel makes the epileptiform discharges worse, so you may have hallucinations. It happened to me. It’s a bad drug for epileptiform! Horrible! I took it for insomnia because I was so sleep deprived."

• Sal...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• October 23, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "After three days, I had started having suicidal thoughts, so I had to go into the hospital for seven days. I now take Effexor 150 and Lamictal 100."

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 16, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "Seroquel was the worst drug ever for me, I had sleep paralysis on it. I even hallucinated after taking it."

• Rhi...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• September 22, 2019

For Bipolar Disorder "This was my experience... I have been fighting mental disorders since age 14. During the 40+ years, I have been prescribed tricyclics, typical antipsychotics, SSRIs, SNRIs, and Benzos (diazepam when 16 years old). I chemically blew out my brain, specifically the serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways, by doing LSD from 1978 through 1981. It was the '70s. So now at the edge of 60, I have horrible reactions to psychotropics. Seroquel paralyzed my arms and legs after my nightly 1 to 3 hours of sleep, such that I had to lay there until I could use my left arm to pick up my right arm. Then with both free, I used them to get my legs going. I took it for about 4 years, with the above side effects plus the helicopters whizzing through my brain and body. To me, it is a nasty drug. I finally got sick of it, tossed the remaining pills, went loopy. My partner thought I was going to die. I lived."