Quetiapine for Schizophrenia User Reviews (Page 2)

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 21, 2012

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Seroquel worked in getting rid of my psychotic symptoms (voices, etc). It was a hard medication to go on, I would need to sleep 12 hours during the first week and I would wake up in that 12 hours in an almost intoxicated state. There was nothing that would wake me up in the morning but I think during medication changes it is important to listen to your body so I rested and in a week, that went away. I came off Risperidone in that first week as well so that may have contributed. The medication did make me sweat a LOT and it would take me a long time to cool down on it. My dyskensic side effects from risperidone went away. But I had to come off Seroquel in a month because I had an allergic 3 weeks in...watch out for tight throat/trouble swallowing."

• Zelda...
• June 22, 2015

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I've been on seroquel twice now. I was hearing voices all day that affected my PTSD, then it was a falling block thing with my anxiety and depression. I love this medication because I also have sleeping problems - falling asleep and staying asleep. There's XR and non XR (time release). I'm on 450; the higher you are on, the longer it takes to fall asleep. The only bad thing about this medication is weight gain. Be careful with that. I did research on all schizophrenic medications and they all cause weight gain. Just a note; the reason I pay $60 is because I need to take 300 + 150 to make 450. The XR is $15 more. I go under blue cross blue shield, if this helps anyone."

• Anonymous
• February 19, 2009

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Pretty good medication for the condition. My thoughts are more straight and I seem to have less visual and auditory distortions. It is sedating though and takes a little time for your body to adjust to it. I take 100mg in the morning and 400mg at night, seems to work pretty good in combination with Effexor for depression, and it's decent for mild anxiety (however if you have major anxiety, it may not be enough on its own)."

• Phoenix...
• Taken for 10 years or more
• July 19, 2021

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "Seroquel XR saved my life. But, at a heavy price. Numb, zombie like existence, no emotions, flat affect, morbid obesity. It takes hours and multiple cups of coffee to wake up...etc. But it has kept me safe by keeping me out of the psych ward."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 3, 2017

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Wow this medication.. it may have knocked me out many times (put me to sleep).. Hell it may have had made me sleepy 24/7, I would sleep sometimes 18 hours a day I spent a lot of time recovering with this medication.. sleeping. But I can't complain because well.. I have my life back. And I thank all those people who put their time and effort in producing this medication because without them, who knows where I'd be.. right now I'm back in college off of this medication but still on abilify. This drug may not be the cure to schizophrenia.. but it does wonders."

• voskhod
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• April 12, 2017

Seroquel (quetiapine) "Definitely calmed me down during the first-time onset of schizophrenia. However it makes me very sleepy, sometimes I sleep 14 hours a day - and when I wake up I feel like I want to sleep even more. Also resulted in a lot of weight gain. Eventually had to stop taking it because of how tired I always was."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• May 18, 2012

Seroquel (quetiapine) "No anti-psychotic medicine is perfect. But Seroquel is quite okay. Gives you a good night of sleep. You can feel dizzy. But the best is no extra pyramidal symptoms. I tried 4 or 5 other antipsychotics but this as good as it gets considering side effects."

• ac674
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 7, 2017

Seroquel (quetiapine) "helps with delusions and hallucinations with schizophrenia, it doesn't help anxiety but does aid sleep at start but now I can take 400-800 at night and it still won't make me tired just calms my schizophrenia down a lot. It is a very good antipsychotic not sure how people use it for sleep and it did help with sleep for the first week and now it doesn't make me sedated or tired but sedates my mind."

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

Seroquel (quetiapine) "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 have since worsened and I experience more hallucinations than I ever have before. This drug is NOT recommended in my opinion."

• English...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 2, 2016

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I've been taking this drug for a few months I'm on a very high dose (800mg). I was finding on lower doses my paranoia was overwhelming and my depression was getting to the suicidal point. Now I'm on a higher dose I'm like a zombie, lack of motivation in everything I do. For me personally, I do not think its the right drug for me but everyone takes to medications differently"

• Rest...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 15, 2015

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I lost touch with reality for quite a while. I mainly use this as a sleep aid, but I am a paranoid schizophrenic. As far as symptoms of my schizophrenia, it helps. However, whenever it's about time to take my dose I notice my condition worsening a lot. If I take it late, I am loopy and a bit delusion, but I hold a steady job that requires us to work late some days. Also, if I am just having an overall bad day, it seems to not help my symptoms at all. I am pretty sure I would be a lot worse without this medication. My insurance doesn't cover it, but I got a card from the doctor making my prescription only cost around 17 bucks. If I didn't have that card, it would be about 80 bucks with my work insurance. 400 or something with none."

• Whate...
• May 15, 2019

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I started taking this when I was 12 years old and the entire time I was on it, I gained probably like 40-60 pounds. But I was some what over weight at the time so probably thought not much about it. I would miss school because my mom had a death wish if she woke me up. It made me tired and foggy for days. Last October my mom woke me up just a few hours after taking it. And I couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. So along with the schizophrenia I also have sleep apnea I stop breathing in my sleep, thank god I can figure it out pretty fast and wake up. On seroquel it's impossible and also makes it worse. Even after more then ten years I really hate this medication. I haven't taken it for a for maybe a year or more. But they still prescribe it. They started me on Abilify which. I recommend for anyone with schizophrenia or B.L.P. or B.P. because Abilify does work, and it works fast and also it doesn't cause any sleeping problems or drowsiness. And even comes in a once a month dose."

• Alexa
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 1, 2021

Seroquel (quetiapine) "This saved my life. I take 400mg at night and am still working on finding the right dose, but this drug is the most helpful I have ever been on. Because of my psychotic symptoms (I had an undiagnosed, psychotic disorder) I was unable to live my life, but this drug saved me. The only downfall is it makes me sleep a very long time and it has caused some weight gain, but the benefits far out weigh the side effects."

• Green...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• May 25, 2019

"I have used quetiapine for about a year and a half in total. This is the medication that gave me the least side effect. It reduced my anxiety a bit as well. My symptoms of schizophrenia aren't too visible so it didn't change much but at least I can move on in life."

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

Seroquel (quetiapine) "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."

• Skr
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• December 27, 2014

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "When I was 14 I was put on 450mg/day before bed time and within 6 months I gained 25-30 pounds. It worked super well to get rid of my hallucinations (including the tactile ones) but it made me extremely zombie-like. My grades slipped at school, and I slept as soon as I got home till the next morning. The first day I slept 22 hours. This medicine made me so hungry all the time and no matter how much I ate I was never full."

• Pango...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• January 30, 2022

Seroquel (quetiapine) "It’s been two weeks now so it’s little bit early but wow. I don’t have a diagnosis, I just know I was feeling bad from the moment I opened my eyes in the morning to the bedtime. I mean, I had the feeling I was in danger, stuck on the hyper vigilance mode all day long, and I was so tired. Since one week I’m on seroquel 300mg, I just feel lighter. My body isn’t this huge bunch of flesh and dark thoughts anymore. I can breath again !? Light side effects for now, I hope it will last ! Suicidal thoughts are fading away slowly and that’s pleasing."

• spenc
• July 31, 2019

"So on paper this drug worked miracles. I could live a normal life and function again, for the short 6.5 months I took this the effects became less and less, so my practitioner prescribed (alongside this medication) Olanzapine. I began having unusual twitches in the face, odd numb feelings too, so I spoke to them and they said not to worry it's a normal side effect - ok then, I'll take that. 2 weeks later I am struggling to speak, my sentences stop in their tracks and my throat tightens up, my heart was fluttering and pounding all day so we visit the ER. I am sent home given the "It's just anxiety". 2 hours later I have a seizure and this induced an SVT (or vice versa, the cardiologist can't say for sure) which brought my pulse up to 248bpm, I struggle to get oxygen and in resuscitation I begin having a cardiac arrest and am given cardioversion. This medication may work wonders, but if you are one of the unluckly few who suffer cardiac problems, take caution of any symptoms."

• Hotpi...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 21, 2021

Seroquel (quetiapine) "I was prescribed this first in 2008 then again in late 2012 early 2013 when I was 15. I took the smallest dosage both times for schizophrenia and depression and I felt like sooo bad on this!! I was insanely sleepy, dozing off in class, at lunch, in public, I gained SOOOO much weight and my stomach was literally a bottomless pit! Otherwise it got rid of my symptoms such as mania, anxiety, paranoia and anger but still. I’m on something way better now"

• Jord
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 20, 2018

"I started on 50mg and I'm now on 600mg within 4 months. This medication was my saving grace. It stopped all my suicidal thoughts it stopped the voices in my head, if I don't take this medication at night the next day the voices start coming through and they are not all nice. I'm on a lot of medication including tramadol and diazepam I never feel sedated the next day but 600mg combined with a zopiclone helps me get some sleep. I'm 24 and was bullied for 4 months straight everyday whilst serving on the forces. Now I'm ruined for life because of one man abusing his power."

• You...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 18, 2019

"Was on haloperidol for many years and was somewhat helpful with main schizophenia symptoms, but my psychiatrist was worried about tardive dyskinesia as Haldol use has a high incidence of TD. I switched to quetiapine (Seroquel) and many of the remaining psychotic symptoms went away and my confidence came back and I had energy and fell asleep easily and slept well. I was more social and less socially anxious. Months down the road, I realized I had mania. It started to cause problems with my relationships because I talked TOO much, and became much too task oriented, less sensitive to my family's feelings, and was agitated. Mania makes you feel great, but it really isn't a good thing. AH started presenting again, so I upped my quetiapine to double the dose (under supervision). Now TD seems to presenting significantly. I love quetiapine, but it has a lot of upsides and downsides."

• Karolt
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 25, 2023

"I suffer from schizophrenia. My dose of quetiapine is 150mg three times a day, every 8 hours. I take one at 6 am, another at 2 pm, and the last dose at 10 pm every day. It has taken a while to adjust to the doses; it was gradually increased. It works very well for pain, sedates me, and helps me rest. I had trouble sleeping because of body pain and anxiety symptoms such as chest pain, and it has completely eliminated those. The dose of 450mg a day is very effective for my symptoms of schizophrenia, and life without this medication is extremely difficult. I can recommend this medication to anybody who suffers from the illness; it saved me, and I'm very thankful for it. Apparently, it could be a bit hard on the liver, so I take 40mg of omeprazole on an empty stomach each morning. I haven't experienced any side effects on the liver myself, but it has been reported, and I take omeprazole for indigestion and reflux. Both of the medications are very effective. I recommend it."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 21, 2012

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "Got rid of psychotic symptoms but I had an allergic reaction and had to go off it. Made me feel drunk after I took it so I had to go right to bed. I would stumble around if I got out of bed. Made me sweat and salivate more. I found olanzapine a better fit."

• Average...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• January 9, 2021

"I had some strong psychotic episodes and I’m diagnosed with Schizophrenia. I’m using quetiapine 10 years. I still hear voices everyday, but it is not anymore so devastating experience and this medicine helped me to live with this disease and voices, which it is most of the time an annoying detail of my life and I see more criticism of their advices. There is still more voices in stressful situations. In such situations I sometimes use 100mg more and it helps quite fast. It really improved my life. From side effects I don’t see much, but I use it before sleep, so during a day for sure it would make me sleepy. My blood results and weight are fine but often at the night at the moment when quetiapine starts making me sleepy I have suddenly crazy craving to eat something sweet. Without quetiapine after 9 years I think that there would be problem to get into sleep. It was big step forward to start managing with disease. Heads up people and I wish you the best."

• Ilike...
• January 4, 2023

Seroquel XR (quetiapine) "I am on an injection. If Seroquel came in injection form, I would take it instead. I stayed out of hospital for 8-9 years while I was on Seroquel. The doctor said it has a therapeutic aspect, ie not just for maintenance, and that was my experience. I was working part time, volunteering, making art, going to the gym. I was on very high doses, but gradually needed less and less."