Seroquel 50mg XL :(

[HollyW]

Hi all,

I was hoping to get some feedback from posting in the "Prescriptions" area, but to no avail so far. I've been on the above for 9 days and so far, my anxiety has not been reduced. The first few days had me feeling groggy and pretty out of it, which I expected and to be honest was a welcome relief from the non stop anxiety. I felt like despite feeling like a bit of a zombie, I was able to access emotions that my acute anxiety had prevented me from doing. And it's weird but when shattered, I can actually function more normally as I have no energy left to worry or obsess.

Anyway, those effects wore off and I'm feeling no relief. I'm pretty worried that things aren't going to improve. Yesterday, I had the anxiety day from hell and was absolutely exhausted as a result. I had to drink nearly a bottle of wine before I felt any relief from it.

Can anyone tell me if the effects of this med are cumulative and so I may have to wait a while before getting any relief?? I've scoured the internet, but can find no answers and am feeling pretty desparate.

Any feedback would be really appreciated.

[apollo100]

Here is a page with patient feedback.

http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=20639

I did only a short search, but it seems that its effect is not cumulative. I have never taken it.

[apollo100]

Oops, did not add XL to the search string. The feedback above is for seroquel 50. Searching for XL now.

[partlycloudy]

i don't know much about seroquel, but i do know that nine days isn't a very long time.

i think it is normal for us to have a lot of swings and fears when beginning on a new medication - part is from the medication and part is from us.

when i started taking zoloft a couple months ago, i attributed every undesirable feeling and bout of anxiety to it. i worried that it was no passing side effect but rather the drug's true effect and that i would only get worse and worse.

at some point, i had the thought that though the anxiety and fear and nausea, etc., were bad, they were not things i had never experienced before. perhaps they were partly due to the zoloft, but my body had been able to produce the very same feelings, sans zoloft, and would be sure to produce those feelings again at some point even if i stopped the zoloft. so why not just stick with it and see what happens?

it was pretty rough working my way up dosage-wise, but i am up to 100mg a day now, and i am feeling pretty great. and i think that's partly the medication and partly me.

remember - just because you're taking seroquel, doesn't mean you *are* seroquel. you're still hollyw, with all the good and bad. the seroquel is just meant to eventually help you bring out more of the good, but it's just a help and you still have to do the work.

my psychiatrist had me do something i thought was a bit silly, but which i now think is a great idea. she said that each morning when i take my pill, i should look at it and say 'thank you.' thank it for working hard to help me out with something that is difficult for me. doing that helped me switch my attitude from fear and frustration to hope.

i think if you focus on building a positive attitude right now, the difficulties of adjusting to your medication will be a bit easier to handle. it may turn out that this isn't the medication for you, but it's far too soon to know that. and if it comes to that, you will simply move on and try something new. you will be just fine.

[HollyW]

Thanks appollo - I've actually already looked at that site in detail - it's brilliant! But it's still pretty vague about whether the affects are cumulative at all. I know wsome people say that they feel great after 2 days, while others simply say they felt better once the side effects wore off. There doesn't seem to be any consensus. Ie. with Prozac, it's known that it can take anything up to 6 weeks to fully get into your system and to feel the benefits. You can feel better before this, but in case you don't, you know there's room for improvement.AS I've never taken this med before, I have no idea if this is the same.

Partly Cloudy, thank you for taking the time to reply. Im really glad you feel the Zoloft is helping. That's all I want with the Seroquel - I know I have to continue to work hard - having a pretty demanding job means I have no choice but face my fears on a daily basis!!! But I'm desparate for something that will take the edge off.

I know what you mean about thinking that every feeling is a side effect of the med. But the thing is, I'm not actually doing this at the moment. Maybe, because I'm so used to meds making me feel awful initially, I've sort of embraced the fact that these will likely do the same at first. Now the feelings of drowsiness have faded, it's just that the anxiety remains at the same level - and this is what it's supposed to address. So needless to say, I'm pretty scared. I NEED to find something to take the edge of and help me function...I simply don't have the energy to continue living my life in this way, using every ounce of energy in me just to get through the day.

Anyway, I'm still trying to be positive about Seroquel, but I know I'd be a lot more hopeful if I knew that things may improve on this. Thanks again for the replies and Partlycloudy, I hope you continue to feel good on Zoloft - you deserve it!!

[Zorro]

Hi Holly. I'm sorry to hear you are strugging. I'm sorry to write something that is not in favour of medication - actually I'm not sorry, because I believe in what I am writing and I want to see you get your life back. I hate seeing people struggle and I just feel strongly about medications being a major road block to recovery. I don't mean to upset people by writng it, but I'd rather people be peed off at me rather than not write what I think is the best advice.

I could produce a whole lot of techinal writing about ssri's, but you probably aren't feeling up to reading it right now. Basically, there is debate whether people with anxiety are experiencing a deficiency in serotonin or an excessive amount of it. There is no concrete evidence to prove the whole serotonin-imblance theory. There is a often a placebo effect with ssri's.
In tests where patients have been given either ssri's or sugar pills, those given medication have either shown only a little better response or sometimes even a worse response than those given sugar pills.

Medicines take only about 6 hours for maximum concentration levels of the blood to be achieved. The fact that ssri's take about 4 weeks before any sort of an effect can be noticed makes this delay rather suspicious. One possibility is that after weeks of administration, the brain attempts to return itself to normal by counteracting the excessive serotonin by taking drastic measures, which possibly is damaging other areas of the brain.

As for taking the edge off things, recovery doesn't mean stopping experiences of distressing emotions. Instead, it means not being afraid of having these discomforting emotions. You have to learn to experience them and being able to tolerate them. As you get better and better at coping with them, you prove to yourself that they aren't such a big deal. When you don't fear them, they don't pop up so much. It's all about tolerating discomforting emotions. Everybody in the world experiences discomforting emotions whether they have ocd or not. It's part of life. Don't try to stop discomforting emotions. You will take the edge off by learning to tolerate such discomforting emotions. Each time you tolerate, you take the edge off.

Instead of seeking relief from lifes problems through things such as medication, you need to start changing your assumption of powerlessnes.
When you develop new and improved solutions to dealing with problems, you experience what is called a "gestalt shift". This is when your views and assumptions are overturned. This is accompanied by great insight and relief as you view the world through new and refreshing eyes.

I know my posts goes against many other peoples posts, but I just want to see people get better (as of course others do too). Reading the post
by "partlycloudy" about her psychiatrist's suggestion just highlights how different the thoughts of specialists are.

I hope you get better. JL

(my info came from the book "Don't panic you can overcome anxiety without drugs" )

[HollyW]

Thanks for the reply J.L.

I appreciate your view on meds; but I really feel it's the only option available to me. When I had a depressive episode back in 1995, I started taking Prozac. I still had relapses, but it enabled me to emerge from the suffocating feelings of hopelessness, fear and desperation enough for me to move on with my life. I wasn't totally "cured" but I was able to manage things to a level where I could live again. This is what I'm hoping for with my anxiety / OCD.

SSRIs alone obviously aren't cutting it this time round, which is why the psych suggested I try Seroquel. I don't expect to be totally free of anxiety or uncomfortable thoughts - however, I know that if I'm unable to effectively manage them, I won't be open to life. I know this as it's been the case for 11 years. And the fact is, I'm unable to tolerate it. I can be paralysed by anxiety for 8 hours straight (at work) - but experiencing this and facing my fears virtually every day doesn't make it any easier. And I can't tell myself that it's ok, and that I accept the feelings, because I don't!! How can I accept a feeling that causes my muscles to knot and ache, makes me nauseous, makes my body feel like a lead weight, gives me headaches, stops me focusing, makes my heart feel as thought it's about to explode out of my chest!!!? This with the knowledge that I've got to deal with crises at work and try to work to the best of my ability.

I hope I'm not coming across as snappy - I do appreciate your input. It's just that I've tried CBT and practising different strategies to deal with this thing - all to no avail. Really, my only hope has to be to try something I've not already tried - and this is a new medication mix.

I'm really glad you've managed to get better without the meds; you're proof that it is possible for some..I just don't believe it's possible for me.

[HollyW]

Actually, I'm skeptical that anything will help.

[apollo100]

Something will help. Don't give up. Have you considered changing your doctor ? Have you tried hypnotherapy ? Thought about going alternative ? There are a lot of options, and one of them will work for you.

[apollo100]

I had to leave suddenly yesterday so could not find out what XL means. Apparently it means Prolonged Release. Below is some more info on it -

http://xpil.medicines.org.uk/ViewPil.aspx?DocID=21186