DOSE:	300 mg	oral	Pharms - Venlafaxine	(daily)
	100 mg	oral	Pharms - Trazodone	(daily)
	100 mg	oral	Pharms - Quetiapine	(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

A Serious Drug

I first encountered Seroquel sometime after I'd been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). I'd always thought of depression as 'the blues' or 'feeling down', not as the panoply of symptoms that, unbeknownst to me, I'd apparently been exhibiting.

It was this pre-medication lack of insight that concerned the doctors so much, and so when I began complaining about heat rays being shot into my apartment, the decision was made to add Seroquel to the Effexor (300 mg/day) and I was already taking Trazodone (100mg/day).

Now Seroquel, as I soon found out, was a serious drug. I was told to take it at night, right before I went to bed, and to be careful the next morning moving around. Good advice, as I was so groggy the following day I could hardly get out of bed. I was also told to get my cholesterol checked regularly and to eat a low-fat diet.

This too was good advice. My cholesterol skyrocketed, with my weight soon following. I was quickly put on one of the anticholesterols (simvastatin) and remained on it for 3 years. Fearing some of the more serious side effects (neuroleptic malignant syndrome / NMS, tardive dyskinesia) I tried to keep the Seroquel dose as low as possible. I started at 50 mg/day and now, after 5 years, have stabilized at 100 mg/day. After gaining nearly 75 pounds, I've since lost 60, and am working on the last 15.

Seroquel has been a great help in helping me deal with some of the more extreme symptoms of my depression, including (and especially) my loss of insight. It is NOT, however, a drug I would ever recommend to be used in a casual or recreational manner.
I made sure to do some research on its effects and side effects before beginning a course.

Exp Year: 2006-2011	ExpID: 89683
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: 48
Published: Aug 24, 2018	Views: 1,079
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Pharms - Quetiapine (273) : Combinations (3), Retrospective / Summary (11), Depression (15), Medical Use (47), Not Applicable (38)