Insomnia Forum Posting

Posted by leological on February 20, 2002 at 12:16:10:

In Reply to: Seroquel posted by scared in Mobile on February 18, 2002 at 14:09:46:

Hi. I wanted to put in a response concerning the seroquel. It is an anti-psychotic medication, and it is usually used for mood disorders such as schizophrenia as well as bipolar depression.
Not suprisingly (at least not to me...), in my own research of these mood disorders (I studied them a lot since I was *(mis)diagnosed with "mixed" bipolar II disorder), I've come across various articles, etc... that state lack of sleep has a definite negative impact many mood disorder patients leading to exacerbated symptoms associated with the various disorders. But I have heard of some people expriencing "regular" major depression being helped with sleep restriction...
Now, with classic bipolar disorder, patients tend to be "manic" at points--not being able to hardly sleep but also generally feel no need for sleep and usually have a lot of energy and sometimes a lot more creativity; yet the patient can get to the point of being dellusional--doing things or acting in a sort of out-of-control way that they would never do or act like when not being in that manic state. Antipsychotics are intended to help at least in the acute-manic state of the bipolar patient until the swing ends then it eventually tends to swing more toward the depressed state where many bipolar victims find themselves at the total opposite end of the spectrum with less energy and enthusiasm as well as possibly indulging in over-sleeping to escape the depression; thus, at that point, they are usually put on some type of antidepressant that hopefully will not pull them back into the manic state. Usually it turns out to be a struggle to balance a number of drugs to keep the various bipolar extremes at bay and to keep in the middle of the extremes as best one can.
Yes, seroquel can help people to sleep, but, being an antipsychotic, it has a tremendous side effect profile that can make the side effects of ambien and over-the-counter drugs look like a paltry joke (though overdosing on many types of drugs can be harmful and even fatal), and these symptoms can be permanent, so I would highly recommend researching this drug's profile, and I would also highly recommend not taking antipsychotics unless you are one of the unfortunate people that truly has some intense form of mood disorder; yet, I say this within the added context of always checking with a physician you trust before making any medication changes including going over the use of the otc meds and the high dosages of ambien and what might possibly be an underlying problem causing the insomnia symptoms you're trying to treat. This itself can be very hard to get to the root of while taking sleeping/psychiatric meds, though, so I always wish for the best and hope for people's ability to withdraw from any UNNECESSARY drugs so that they can get the REAL problem fixed. Those who DO NEED a prescription though, I could not and would not try to convince them to abstain since I've seen personally what kind of damage can occur with a classic bipolar victim when they abstain from the associated medication, and this would be my opinion of someone who does have need of the medication; yet my opinion is not a professional opinion, so I would still highly recommend getting one since you've been taking various meds at well over recommended dosages. I would be very careful because it's possible to think you're immune to overdose when you're not.
God be with you,
Leonard

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