February 23, 2007

Seroquel And Bad Dreams

I love Google alerts. Yesterday, it pointed me to the blog of someone who is having some interesting dreams kicked off by Seroquel:

"It is very interesting and kind of spooky because I have very weird & unusual dreams. Sometimes they are very dark, haunting dreams/nightmares that I find disturbing to think about when I'm awake. Last night, for example, I dreamed that two of the little punks that live in my neighborhood were terrorizing my cats: they would tempt them with food to catch them and one would hold them while the other hit them with a baseball bat. I woke up crying and shaking."

I had some horrid dreams on Seroquel, even though I almost never have true nightmares. Once, I woke up screaming my head off at 6 a.m. from a bad dream and couldn't remember what was in my mind. I'd never woken from a dream that way before in my life. A month or so later, I stopped taking Seroquel for good after other bad reactions cropped up. I haven't had a bad dream of which I am conscious since then.

So much for Seroquel being great for sleep. Actually, the drug made me do all sorts of weird things in my sleep. There were days I would go into work with a big scratch across my forehead--this happened several times--apparently from clawing at myself in my sleep. Kind of odd to have to say "Oh, my cat musta done that" at work. The drug also made my muscles, especially in my back and shoulder super-tight and I would wake up and feel the way I imagine old folks feel. Not good.

The final straw was one day when, after an editorial meeting, my then editor took me aside to say that I had been talking to myself during the meeting. "I was what?" I had never done anything of the sort before in my life.

"Your lips were moving. It looked like you were muttering to yourself."

I saw my doctor soon after and we both knew what that meant--the early signs of tardive dyskinesia. I'd been on the the drug for a little over a year at that point, and at a low dose, and that was that. It had showed me signs of being bad voodoo before, but between the dreams and the lip movements, a line had been crossed.

"I think you need to stop taking that," said my doctor.

"I already stopped three days ago."

And this is the stuff they want to give to four-year-olds?

Posted by Philip Dawdy at February 23, 2007 12:01 AM
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Comments

Man, that was the greatest side effect from Seroquel. I had these gorgeous dreams, like something out of a Peter Max painting.

What I did was keep a journal on my nighttable, and was amazed at the insight I could get from these strange dreams. But enough is enough. I like my plain dreams now that I am off Seroquel.

Posted by: susan at February 23, 2007 12:46 AM

I had incredibly disturbing dreams on seroquel as well. I looked it up on the net and found out that was what was going on. I told my doctor I didn't want to take it anymore and he dismissed my concern. He insisted I needed it for sleep. He didn't believe that that was what was causing my dreaming problem (even though it was indeed disturbing my sleep...I felt like I was in a semi-state of consciousness, not a truly deep sleep--but I would be in bed for 12 hours!) I cut down the dose for about a year after that before coming off of it completely with my doctor cautioning me against it. I've been much better since off of it and am almost completely free of all neuroleptics now. Will be off as soon as the withdrawal process is complete.
God, these neuroleptics are really poison. Personally, I question there use in anything other than acute psychosis for extremely short term use. Simple mania can be managed in other ways.

I know it's not common practice on this site, but I'm finding I haven't even had a blip of mania since I changed my diet and added supplements. I believe that this is what is allowing me to withdraw so successfully in general. I know this idea is controversial, but it seems clear to me.

Posted by: Gianna at February 23, 2007 03:12 AM

I have to opposite effect on Seroquel. I don't dream at all. Every night I get at least 4 to 6 hours of deep, dreamless sleep. Which is great for a person who frequently suffered from insomnia and night terrors.

Posted by: Jeff at February 23, 2007 04:40 AM

I got the night terrors from Seroquel too. I remember waking up crying my eyes out. I had no recollection of the nightmare i'd just been having, but i got the feeling that i'd lived through being tortured and murdered. I am definetely not prone to such nightmares in my seroquel-free life. after a night filled with such terror, i would feel waves of fear and dislocation all day long.

i also remember waking up and not being able to feel my face or my legs, and flipping out and screaming. i hate anti-psychotics.

Posted by: lily at February 23, 2007 10:24 AM

It is 10:55 am. Last night I took 50mg. of Seroquel which was prescribed for sleep Oct.06, and have 1 month ago tapered down from 75mg.

Key point: I just woke up. Slept right through the dog barking to go out, the alarm clock, bright sunlight pouring into my room. (as in dead out asleep, scary dead out asleep).

I woke up screaming one night in my sleep so bad, that I woke myself up. I have had torture-type of dreams. The one where I was screaming was because I was being strangled, and couldn't scream...yet apparently I could in real life.

I have mystery scratches on my forehead, and one cat who I blamed it on also; I had mystery bruises on an arm.

I took the 50mg. at 9pm last night...do the math. During this nightmared-filled night, I dreamed I crashed my car into a school bus, got yelled at by the driver; then as I try and drive away, there were boxes in all directions surrounding my car.

Imagine a psychiatrist telling parents, to give Seroquel for "night terrors" as commonly talked about in Early Onset Bipolar Disorder in kids.

I am literally dreading sleep these days, and cannot wait until my Seroquel taper/removal is over.

Posted by: Stephany at February 23, 2007 11:03 AM

Risperdal can cause nightmares, also. In fact if I'm remembering correctly "vivid dreams" were listed under frequent side effects. Kinda makes you wonder what it's doing to a person's brain.

Posted by: lisa at February 23, 2007 07:53 PM

I was on seroquel and had irreversable side effects where are lawyers in Illinois who are handling these cases?

Posted by: denise at February 24, 2007 09:49 PM

Tardive dyskinesia.

Involuntary tongue movements; not able to be stopped is what happened to a family member, on 800mg. of Seroquel. (Besides a 10 day run of insomnia; a manic reaction).

Thankfully the Seroquel was removed and the tongue movement did not become permanent.

Posted by: Stephany at February 24, 2007 11:10 PM

My right cheek was twitching the other day. My cheek has never twitched.

I've also noticed that I occasionally get eyelid twitches since coming off of Paxil. yay

Posted by: Marissa Miller at February 26, 2007 12:14 PM

I took Seroquel for about 6 years and then it abruptly stopped working. I used to do the talking to myself thing and had the "unusual" scratches as well. I also used to have a very glazed view of everything and my reactions were slow. I was on a VERY high dose at the end and I could sleep forever and never feel rested. Now I'm on my 3rd drug after the end of the ZOMBIE phase. The more I learn about Seroquel now that I'm off of it, the more I fear for my health. I also take Zoloft(for a number of things) and Strattera(for ADD). As you can imagine I feel pretty scared that alot of things unexplained were because of seroquel.

Posted by: Susie at March 26, 2007 08:08 AM

I didn't have dreams on seroquel. In fact I was so sedated one probably could have set a bomb off on my head and I wouldn't wake up. It knocked me out big time. AT one time I was taking it AND Ambien! Can you believe that? I have had sleep problems my whole life, but geez.

Posted by: Susie at March 26, 2007 08:27 AM

I take 1000MG a day of seroquel and other ADD meds.
I know "Big Dose" but i function great awake that is. Every night i have dreams where im being chased
or i have to watch my family being brtually murdered
its one of those or sometimes both per night. The
dreams are the most unberable pain any human could ever go through. I can remember the most vivid details of the dreams, better then i can remember what my living room looks like. any suggestions/feedback
thanks, joey

Posted by: Joey at April 25, 2007 09:03 PM

Joey,
I had the torture horrific in detail dreams as well. They stopped when I stopped taking Seroquel. I'm not saying to stop taking it--just sharing that the night terrors DO stop when the drug is removed.
Good luck.

Posted by: Stephany at April 26, 2007 08:38 AM

I am a bit nervous about starting my 3rd night with Seraquel. I had bad and weird dreams and my husband says I was thrashing around in bed all night the last 2 nights. Other than that, I feel pretty tired during the day and some increase in appetite, though I'm able to not eat more and just feel hungry. I've tried just about every mood stabalizer out there, and I am hoping this will get better, because I am running our of options. One good thing I can say for it is I don't feel any depression nor do I feel very irratible. No rash so far, and during the day, while a bit of cognative trouble, it's not impairing. I hope I will be able to live with this drug, because overall, beside the bad dreams, it seems to be balancing my mood. Wish me luck, and good luck to you.

Posted by: KLaFever at May 3, 2007 01:21 AM

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