quetiapine question

vanlinks99

Anyone know the side affects of this drug’? I been try to figure how long it takes to effective?

harshedbuzz

I like drugs.com for a quick read on medications.

Quetiapine: Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, Warnings - Drugs.com

Seroquel/quetiapine is used off-label for agitation in dementia but typically at much lower doses than those prescribed for people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. This helps minimize the side effects to a degree.

My dad took quetiapine for anxiety and agitation that continued even with Prozac on board. He started with 25mg in the evening for agitation and sleep disturbances. The side effect of sleepiness was obvious the first several days as he got used to it and we started to see real improvement in mood at about 2-3 weeks. We were told it could take a couple months to see the full effects. We added a second 25mg dose about 6 months later as his disease progressed-- there's a lot of room to take a higher dose if needed.

HB

M1

Seconding what HB said. We started it in my partner for sleep fragmentation and gradually increased from 12.5 mg to now 50 mg once a day at bedtime, really has helped a lot. Generally pretty well tolerated at the low doses used in dementia--but like most antipsychotics carries a black box warning for risk of stroke in the elderly with dementia. there are a lot of folks here who have used it quite successfully, a few with side effects, which are always possible. Doses of up to 800 mg daily are used in schizophrenia so you can see there's a very wide dosing range.

vanlinks99

So is this common drug to for ALZ patients?

M1

Definitely. If you trying searching, you'll find a lot of threads/previous discussions on it.

Kmart79

My mother in law is taking this medication. I am not the one who administers her medications but in the beginning we noticed that it would hit her quick and she be thrown on the couch. she noticed that there was a medication she was taking that made her feel sleepy and did not like it. the prescribed dosage was lowered. When she notices the effect of the medication and if she is in an agitated or suspicious mood she will get up and start walking around so not to fall asleep. She is not always willing to take her medications and will get angry to the point of demanding who ever is with her at the time to leave her home.

Quetiapine, I learned is also usually prescribed to mental health patients with Schizophrenia . It seems that both Alzheimer's and schizophrenia experience very similar symptoms. I can confirm this by personal experience that I've witnessed with one of my adult children who developed severe mental health conditions of the course of 10 years and was prescribed quetiapine and was too strong for him even though he is much bigger in size as my mother in law he was unable to perform his daily tasks or even get out of bed.

BassetHoundAnn

My mother has responded very well to Seroquel. Her dosage has been very low. She takes it several times a day. She's been on it for over a year. It has definitely, definitely improved her mood. She suffered severe depression with frequent suicide threats, and that is gone. It's good to see her cheerful gain. It took about a month-and-a-half to see changes. And then the dosage was slowly adjusted over time. She hasn't suffered any side effects. She's not taking any other drugs. It's definitely been a good medication for her.

Everyone responds to these drugs in such different ways. It's quite astonishing how different the reactions are among different dementia sufferers.

vanlinks99

My mom is week 3 or 4, minor improvement. The only i cannot handle is emotional crying at time during the day. I can bear some degree of non stop talking. Well i guess only time will tell.

M1

Van if it's been that long and no major side effects, you could ask about a dose increase-either by doubling the amount given or by going to twice or three times daily.

vanlinks99

thank you all for those responded. Seem this is new thing/behavioral change everyday is a new challenge daily.

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