Hi everyone, im new to this forum but i am desperate for some answers, or any help advice you can give please.
I am diagnosed with BPD and major depression & have been on quetiapine for about 10 years (also on 375mg venlafaxine) Over the past year i have been slowly reducing my dose from 100mg at night to just recently (3 days ago) 50mg. When i started reducing to 75 i started getting the most vivid,realistic, complex and exhausting dreams EVERY single night without fail. Alot were either recurring or continuing from the previous night. Does anyone else have this problem and has anyone successfully come off it and found their dream pattern even out?? I have always been a nightly dreamer as i am an artist, but these lifelike long draining dreams are doing me in- they can really affect my mood for the whole of the next day. Please if anyone can help i would really appreciate it! :)
Is quetiapine causing my over-vivid exhausting dreams???
Question posted by Idoodiclaire on 24 Jan 2017
Last updated on 5 October 2022 by 55334
12 Answers
I’ve been in tried two different SSRI’s in the past three mos with no results. I was put on Quetiapine last wk and I have to agree with you RE dreams. Not nightmares, just extremely realistic, vivid dreams. I haven’t found it a problem and don’t carry it with me throughout the day but the dreams are vivid, much more than I’ve experienced in the past.
I have been taking quetiapine for a little over a year now, but had experience with it 10 years ago, when they prescribed it to my 13yo daughter. I didn't want to take it at first, and still don't, because I associate it with my daughters death. I think it made her depression worse. She hated it, but her doctor kept telling us she would plateau and things would get better. She said it made her feel like she was drugged all day. Now having been on it, I know how she felt. My doctor and I have been adjusting the dose but I am just now realizing that it's making my already vivid, lucid dreams even more so. Last night I had a dream so lucid, so vivid, that I woke up and for a split second I thought, I hoped, I prayed that the dream was my real life and this was my nightmare because at least I would wake up from this life. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should continue to take given my past experiences.
It doesn't make me more depressed or anything, just wildly, vivid, lucid dreams. Like a dream within a dream around real life, very hard to put into words. BUT I only experience this when taking the "baby bear" dose, less then 100mg when I take the whole 100 or more mg I don't have that "problem" that's not a problem per se just weird that a specific dose does it but not other doses. Gl hope this helps.
"PSYCHIATRIC:
Common (1% to 10% of users): Abnormal dreams"
100% I have really vivid disturbing dreams that are frightening. Im so glad to wake but i fall black to sleep and it's the same containing. Like watching a serial show. Just another episode. AND I'm only in 25mg morn and night
I took that drug for over a year. Every night I had really vivid, bizarre dreams, if I got up to use the bathroom I would continue the dream when I went back to sleep. It also caused me to not want to get up in the morning, I was always tired. I don't recommend any one doing this without talking to your doctor first, but I just stopped taking it as I was so fed up with it and so exhausted. It took me about eight days for it to clear out of my system. I never experienced any adverse effects. The only effect was the clearing of my mind and the, my doctor prescribed dreams stopping and increased energy. My doctor prescribed prozac, valproic acid and trazodone instead.
This medication continues to affect my cognitive habilities, I wake up because I have to but still feel very sleepy, like half my brain is still sleeping. Have serious difficulties learning, that affects my new job. I think I'd be better if I decrease the dosage little by little, now I'm on 200 mg.
I take 50mg of Seroquel for insomnia and anxiety along with one .5mg Xanax before bed, and my dreams have been WILD. But like one other user on this thread said, I also sit back and enjoy the show. The haven’t caused me to feel like I’m sleeping less nor have they been “nightmares” per se... I actually look forward for what’s to come each night I close my eyes! But never in my life have I dreamt so vividly than I have on quetiapine.
I also take quetiapine at night, and yes I have vivid dreams. But rather than be disturbed by them, I just sit back and enjoy the show.
Hi! I started taking Seroquel (25 mg at bedtime) around a month ago for anxiety & insomnia. I have found that my dreams have become even more vivid and I have been talking in my sleep a lot more. I’ve always been one to chatter a bit but lately, I’ve been having full-blown conversations and even yelling. My husband wakes me up frequently because my sleep-talking has gotten so bad. Sometimes my dreams aren’t bad dreams, per se, but some of them are making me relive painful moments and I have woken up bawling my eyes out...
I started having vivid dreams while on 20 mg of Lexapro. I have been on that dose for about seven years, then the dreams and more fatigue began. For two years now I have had vivid dreams at every single sleep cycle. My fatigue is horrible. I have been tapering very slowly, .25 every five months, and it is like throwing my brain off a cliff every time. The side effects are not linear, but come in waves. The dreams and exhaustion stay the same. My research indicates this is part of discontinuation of an ssri medication. I am down to 5mg now. I started writing down my dreams; so vivid and not the same. I don't know where they come from. I have no need to travel because my dreams take me to places every time I sleep. I awaken in a sweat and have to change my gown. I only hope that the fatigue ends. I will tell you to do a lot of research because your doctor is ignorant about taking you off of any drug. They onlu know how to put you on them and try to keep you on them.
Go SLOWLY WITH THE TAPER, no matter WHAT YOUR DOCTOR SAYS. If you will do proper research, you will know more than your doctor will ever care to know. They only care to know what a 5 minute visit from a Pharm. Rep tells them. Then their secretaries take the drug pamplets and place them in the waiting rooms. You DOCTOR doesn't even take the time to read those! Be wise, go slow and listen to your body. There must be hope. I was put on Lexapro for being a victim of abuse. The abuse from Lexapro is worse than that!!!
From quetiapine I have painful nightmares. In the morning I can't wake up. These psychotic dreams last forever.
Taking latuda now.
Much better.
idoodiclaire; Yes and as long as you have been on this medication quetiapine it could take even longer but try and stay at one dose long enough for the dreams to stop even if you have to go back to 75mg for a while and wait for the dream to stop. Before you lower it anymore. This medication is well known for doing this to people. And this really like vivid dreams it's almost like not sleeping at all.Also if it gets to bad check with your doctor again and sees if they can change to something else to help with the withdrawals. or side effects of this one. Good luck to you it well works out.
Thanks for this response- i wasnt aware that quetiapine was well known for causing manic dreaming, and yes it really does feel like i havent slept as they are so active and draining! I have been on the lower dose of 50mg for a few days now and i must say that the past 2 nights havent been quite so bad, lets hope it contines! Thankyou :)
They feel like I haven't slept all night for me as well like I am fighting while sleeping, when I wake up it feels to me like I am exhausted.
Hi Idoodiclaire-
It is not unusual to have dreams going on or comming off meds. I had some nightmares when I was coming off of Venlafaxine. They did get better with time. It may be that your mind and body are trying to adjust to the lower dose. You have been on the meds for many years. I know that the dreams are disturbing. If they continue over time you should talk to your doctor about what options you have.
Hope it gets better for you.
Thank you for your response, much appreciated! I am only going to try coming off quetiapine for now, and venlafaxine maybe further down the line :) Thankyou :)
Hi iam also taking seroquel 100 mg and I brake them in half I have been having horrible vivid dreams it feels like iam fight to wake up sometimes I feel like iam having a dream in a dream they feel so real my pysh gave me ambien but I don't like the way they make me feel to be honest I wish I never started on this drug now I need them to sleep sometimes I go weeks with out the dreams then I go weeks with them best of luck I know exactly how you feel your not alone
They feel the same way in my case, it is like a dream inside a dream, sometimes I wake up and then realize I am still dreaming.
Related topics
seroquel, depression, sleep disorders, quetiapine, borderline personality disorder, major depression disorder, dreams
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