Posted by Ritch on February 23, 2003, at 21:20:07
In reply to Seroquel for Depression -- Help Please..., posted by Mr Cushing on February 23, 2003, at 20:25:57
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> Hi, I'm Bi-Polar and have been having a VERY difficult time tolerating any SSRIs, my Doctor has decided to start me on Seroquel to complement my Depakote. I'm one of those lucky Bi-Polars that experiences both extremes sometimes at the same time. So my Doctors have been insistent on keeping me on Depakote but my depression has become absolutely horrible.
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> Anyways, here's the problem now... Last Tuesday I started on Seroquel after going 6 weeks without any anti-depressants in my system and starting to go into a deep depression. My Doctor has suggested that I try taking 25mg of Seroquel every morning and night to start off with. When I take my Seroquel during the day, not only am I completely sedated (feels like I'm living underwater and I can fall asleep in any position if I just closed my eyes) but my depression gets absolutely horrible. By about the middle of the afternoon about the only thing I want to do is curl up and die. Then around evening, about 10-11 hours after my last dose of Seroquel, my depression completely fades away and I feel normal again.
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> This has been going on now for several days and my "bottoming out" has become VERY bad during the last 2. Has anybody else dealt with this before or have known somebody who has? And if so, is what I'm experiencing normal for a start-up side effect and can anybody recommend anything to help me get through this?
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> Thanks for any advice...
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Seroquel was very sedating for me too. The "underwater" feeling I can identify with perfectly. For me it was more like transmission fluid! I was prescribed 25mg at bedtime to help sleep and sure enough about 10-14 hours after my bedtime Seroquel dose I would start to "wake up" and feel fairly decent. I couldn't take it during the day at all. I never really felt depressed on it just zombified to a major degree. I was on a low-dose of Trileptal with my Depakote during my seasonal bipolar depressive episode and it worked fairly well for the depression but it made me so nauseous I couldn't stand the stuff. You might ask your pdoc about a possible add-on. Sounds like the Seroquel is making your depression worse, IMO.
poster:Ritch
thread:203170
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030219/msgs/203186.html