I am hesitant to reply to this because I don't want to give you more anxiety, but I feel the need to warn you that it may increase your anxiety, depending on how your body responds to it. I was given this medication in the hospital after not sleeping for 3 days. The fourth night they gave me Seroquel, and I laid awake all night with my heart racing. If this happens, just stay in bed til it passes, and do not take it again. However, I have met a couple people on DS that it works for, so you never know. Do you know that it is an anti-psychotic? The nurse that gave it to me at the time said "I know it can be very hard dealing with psychosis." I said "what?" I was mortified. Nobody ever told me they thought I was psychotic. Well, guess what, it didn't work, so guess they ruled out psychosis! I do not think you fit this diagnosis, but also labels are stupid anyway and if it helps you, great. Make sure to get out of bed very carefully after taking it, it may cause dizziness. I don't want any of this to freak you out, it may work for you, everyone's body is different. I hope that you will share your experience and that it goes well for you. But as your friend, I just want to be blatantly honest about my own experience.

just looked up seroquel; quetiapine. Wonderful stuff. I was diagnosed with GAD and major depressive disorder in 2012 or something, and after a number of false starts was given buproprion (wellbutrin) which causes insomnia but is otherwise wonderful, and quetiapine to sleep at night.

I took the two of them for a couple of years, and they were wonderful at sorting out the depression and the GAD. Just tremendous. I tapered off them both at the same time over this last year, and am now drug free.

the quetiapine did give me heart thumping or 'palpitations' - but palpitations are only when you are aware of your heart, not when it's doing anything odd. I thought it was the buproprion at the time to be honest - but I was getting so much benefit I didn't want anything to change.

Quetiapine is only used as an antipsychotic in huge doses; in tiny 25 or 50mg doses it's used as a sedative and I'd expect any nurse to know that.

I forgot to say: to counteract the buproprion I had to take the quetiapine at least 1 hr before bed. Towards the end I was taking it 2 hrs before bed, because otherwise I was dopey in the morning.

Thanks for your input. I filled the prescription yesterday, but I did not take it last night, I was afraid to given that it is an anti-psychotic drug. I also looked it up on Wikipedia and it said "not recommended as a sedative". I probably will wait until next week when I'm off of the Lexapro and only on the Paxil to try it.

Thanks Bridgie, that nurse was an idiot. What a thing to say to someone without knowing anything about them!
Sorry salvatop, I didn't want to worry you. I was hoping I had posted that late enough that you had already taken it and gone to bed. When you do try it, just remember that if you have any bad side effects it will pass by the morning.
So you are going off Lexapro again? Is it not working?

LittleSadie....yes the Lexapro hasn't worked for a while, the doctor has me tapering off of the Lexapro. This is the last week I'll be on Lexapro, next week I'll be on 50mg of Paxil daily and 300mg of Neurontin 3 times a day.

Don't take your psychiatric advice from Wikipedia! Take it from your trained psychiatrist. take the quetiapine. It is wonderful stuff. I was taking 50mg for over a year along with 300mg bupropion. When I 5apered off I went down to 150mg burro prion and 25mg quetiapine. Then I got a pill cutter and started cutting them in half.

Sleep is vital to survival. You have to sleep. Quetiapine is mild and gentle and always works. Other sleeping pills are addictive and stop working incredibly fast. You are being offered a good solution. What about trying it for a month?

I started out on a low dose too for sleeping, that was a few years ago, about 4 years, now I'm on 600mg again for sleeping and other things, I believe I was on 400mg for the sleeping, because I'm guessing you build a tolerance.
I absolutely love this medication, people complain it makes you like a zombie which it does but I like that feeling, it's better than having explosive moods all the time. It keeps me calm, I can sleep, couldn't ask for more, for myself.

first I read your comment LittleSadie, and that nurse is an ignorant fool, yes Seroquel can be used at higher does to treat psychosis but a lower doses helps u sleep. After trying a bunch of medications I tried Seroquel before bed and it worked! hooray:) but the side effects started like 2 weeks later of me blacking out, very dizzy etc, it does something like lower your blood pressure or blood sugar (which previously I had no issue with) Unisom is over the counter and helps, as does chamomile tea, Ive tried Ambien and was not myself, I could respond to msgs and think it was a dream and so on, felt hungover the next day but I hear many ppl have no problems with it.

Ambien was very hard on my body at first, just felt super tired and out of it the next day, but slowly my body got used to it. Now that I have stopped my antidepressant, Ambien is the only thing that gets me to sleep at night and it is a godsend. I know some people get weird side effects from it but I have never had a problem. The only problem is that you can't take it without breaks whenever you can or it will stop working.

A friend of mine has been taking Ambien for the last 20 years to help him sleep. He takes it religiously every night at bedtime.

I had a really great sleep doctor not too long ago, before he moved away. He had no problem with me taking Ambien or Lunesta. He said if it helped me sleep better, then great. He also prescribed me Klonopin for anxiety and also Doxepin, which is a great antidepressant for sleep, that might work well for you, now that I think about it.