Seroquel (Quetiapine)

Use this section to discuss your experiences with prescription drugs, iron injections, and other medical interventions that involve the introduction of a drug or medicine into the body. Discuss side effects, successes, failures, published research, information about drug trials, and information about new medications being developed.

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Sole
Posts: 212
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2004 9:25 pm
Location: Oregon

Seroquel (Quetiapine)

Post by Sole »

A couple of years ago, I was suffering from terrible RLS episodes. Strange...kinda like now. :-) A friend of mine gave me half of a Seroquel tablet. It knocked me out for twelve hours. Does anybody know if this drug is used for other purposes than as a psych drug? I don't think I've slept so good since. I know, I know, we're not supposed to take other people's medications but come on...this is real life. Anyway, anyone know anything they'd like to share? Everything I can find only talks about it as a psych drug with sedating qualities.
Sole

"If you ever drop your keys into a river of molten lava, let'em go, because, man, they're gone."

jumpyowl
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Joined: Sat Mar 27, 2004 2:59 pm
Location: Yantis, TX
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Careful!

Post by jumpyowl »

I am all for experimentation as long as the person who does it, realizes what he/she is doing.

SEROQUEL is a psychotropic medication shown to be effective in the treatment of many symptoms of schizophrenia, as well as mania associated with bipolar disorder.


Sole wrote:
A friend of mine gave me half of a Seroquel tablet. It knocked me out for twelve hours. Does anybody know if this drug is used for other purposes than as a psych drug? I don't think I've slept so good since. I know, I know, we're not supposed to take other people's medications but come on...this is real life.


Yes, this is real life and people die young in real life. A F/25 patient was prescribed this med by mistake. She took it for three days then she ended up in the emergency ward. She eventually died soon afterwards.

Seroquel is an antipsychotic drog supposed to help people who suffer from severe psychosis. Definitely, not for casual experimentation. :shock: No! antipsychotic drugs are NOT used for other purposes!!!
Jumpy Owl

Guest

Ouch!

Post by Guest »

Ok, I consider myself severely spanked! :-)

jumpyowl
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Alright, Sole!

Post by jumpyowl »

We just want you and others to stay alive so you can post some more! :)
Jumpy Owl

becat
Posts: 2842
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:41 pm

Question

Post by becat »

On the topic of medication.
Jumpyowl,
I was told the other day that you should never cut a pill unless it has a precut mark from the maker. If I understood this woman right, she said that the medicine in a pill is not distributed eqaully throughout the pill. She told me that the binder and the meds. are not mixed to a great degree,just pressed. Therefore, I chance cutting a pill and gettting more than half the med. or getting more thatn half of binder. This may account for why something works one time and doesn't the next, if cut.
ex: I don't want to take a full dose of hydrocodone (sp?) and I cut it half. at a 7.5 mg rate this pill does not have a precut mark from the maker. Is she right that all the medicine is not equal throughout the pill?
Scary thought for me. I've been a pill cutter for years thinking I would be taking less.
Just would like some clarification please.

jumpyowl
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What a dilemma!

Post by jumpyowl »

Becat wrote:
I was told the other day that you should never cut a pill unless it has a precut mark from the maker. If I understood this woman right, she said that the medicine in a pill is not distributed eqaully throughout the pill. She told me that the binder and the meds. are not mixed to a great degree, just pressed.* Therefore, I chance cutting a pill and gettting more than half the med. or getting more than half of binder. This may account for why something works one time and doesn't the next, if cut.


Hello, Becat! What a strange statement from that lady! Can you reveal who she is or at least what her profession is?

The little I know about drug manufacture suggests that what she is stating does not stand up under scrutiny. "Just pressed???" What is pressed? The components for each tablets? Then the active ingredients must be added individually for each pill?? In order for that to be true, the components of the pill should be mixed (or not mixed) one by one for each pill. That would be so time and effort consuming as to make the process a physical impossibility.

There is one case however, where one should NOT cut a pill. In the case of the extended release tablets. By cutting the pill you are interrupting the barrier and accelerate the release rate considerably.

People do that e.g. with morphine extended release tablets to get a high or a kick. This can be dangerous depending on the total dose size in the pill.
Jumpy Owl

becat
Posts: 2842
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:41 pm

hi

Post by becat »

Hi Jumpyowl,
This woman was telling me that an article she read, no I don't know where or in what, sorry, was saying:
when a pill is pressed the powdered put into its pill form, as in being made in a pill........that a binder is used in most cases with the medicine to form the bulk amount of a single pill.
As it is mixed, the binder and medicine are not always stirred or mixed effectively or equally........thus , the binder might be shifted to one side or visa versa with the medication. Pills that do not come with a precut mark on them from the maker should not be cut...because if the mixing process on a single pill was not equally mixed at the time it was pressed or formed into a pill......cutting the pill puts you at risk of getting more binder than medication, or visa versa.
I thought it was an intersting thought, But didn't not know if it were possible. It made sense to me that it could happen.

jumpyowl
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Pill Homogeneity

Post by jumpyowl »

Hi, Becat: why so formal? :) I hope we are still friends! :oops:

I think I was unable to get my thought across. I will try again, but please let me know if I am clear or not (my mind is not as clear as I like it to be nowadays). :?

You wrote:
pill is pressed the powdered put into its pill form, as in being made in a pill........that a binder is used in most cases with the medicine to form the bulk amount of a single pill.


Yes, a large portion of a pill usually consists of a binder.

The you wrote:
As it is mixed, the binder and medicine are not always stirred or mixed effectively or equally........thus , the binder might be shifted to one side or visa versa with the medication. If the mixing process on a single pill was not equally mixed at the time it was pressed or formed into a pill.


Just think Becat! This definitely implies that the pills are made one by one!!! In other words, when you make a pill containing 0.125 mg {1/(22,600) oz. } Mirapex, you would have to weigh this tiny amount of a poppy seed size by a highly sensitive electronic balance to put in each pill??? And then not mixing well! It has to be already mixed! (The amount needed for one pill is too small to be mixed by itself.) Clearly this is ridiculous. Each pill would cost thousands of dollars.

So what is left? Clearly a large quantity has to be made, mixed, and then made into 100,000 pills. Here if the mixing is not correct than some pills would contain none of the medication, some would be pure medication representing an overdose of 50-fold, etc. That is to say, the heterogenitiy would exists in the pill population (among the pills) and not within the pill!Am I expressing myself better?

It made sense to me that it could happen.


Does it still make sense? Then I failed in explaining the matter. :(

But please believe me that they do not make the pills one by one! :shock: And this is the only way the total amount in a pill could be correct but not mixed well within the pill.

Please e-mail me. I had a major crash concerning my OUTLOK e-mail system.
Jumpy Owl

becat
Posts: 2842
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:41 pm

no mad just witchy

Post by becat »

I'm not Mad you silly OWL, I was just in thought and was trying to be a brain. You know, figuring things out, questioning others. I'm sure your right about how pills are made. I was right to bring it to you, your education beats mine any day.
many hugs
becat

PeteB
Posts: 27
Joined: Thu Oct 07, 2004 3:16 pm

About Seroquel

Post by PeteB »

Getting back to Seroquel, as I take this medication, perhaps I can offer some first hand knowledge.

Seroquel, as rightly stated above, is an antipsychotic. That being to treat psychotic conditions such as schizophrenia, but also, it is used to treat bipolar disorders - ie. swings between highs and lows.

The drug does need to be prescribed carefully. There is a dangerous side effect with this drug, which if not identified early can lead to ireversible damage, such as tardive dyskinesia (uncontrollable movements). There is also the possibility of developing a condidtion of NMS - neuroleptic malignant syndrome. NMS is characterized by muscle rigidity and fevers.

For that reason alone, it should not be self administered. These side effects generally appear in the first few days of treatment - suddenly - and people starting treatment with Seroquel are told to look out for this and seek medical advice immediately if they detect any of the above symptons. Early treatment is the key to avoiding permanent damage.

In addition, people with cardiovasular condidtions need careful monitoring of orthostatic hypotension especially during the initial doseage period.

The drug can be prescribed in varying doses. Typically, the dose starts off very low, 25mg in the morning, 25mg in the evening. Depending on the illness being treated, the dose can be increased to 800mg/day.

Seroquel is available in 25 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, and 300 mg tablets.

When somebody starts taking Seroquel, it can make them feel very drowsy (as it did with the person above). And that's maybe on 25mg. Supposing they took half a 300mg tablet...... that's six times the normal starting dose. The ramifications of this are self explanatory.

The effect of drowsiness diminishes over the period of one or two weeks and the dosage is increased during this period dependent on plasma clearance (which is mostly affected by age).

Anybody taking this medication 'blind' risks driving a motor car and falling asleep and/or developing NMS and/or tardive dyskinesia.

Apart from the above, yes, the drug is really good and has fewer side effects than it's neighbouring drugs.

Works a treat for me.

Pete :)

nephriticus
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 5:02 am
Location: Sequim, WA

RE: Becat's split-pill question

Post by nephriticus »

Hi, Becat,

I had not read this thread until PeteB posted a reply.

I typed "cutting pills in half" in a search engine and found numerous results on the subject. Below is one of the better explanations:

From http://www.consumer-health.com/services/cons_take18.htm

#
Timed-release medicines
Timed-release medicines may also be called long-acting, controlled-release, or extended-release medicines. These pills have special coatings or are made of materials that can control how fast the medicine is released from the pill. When these pills are split, the medicine gets out too fast, and you could get too much medicine at once.
#
Enteric-coated medicines
These pills are designed to release medicine after it passes through the stomach. They are covered with a special coating that won't let the drug out while the pill is still in the stomach. These pills protect your stomach from the medicine and protect the medicine from the acid in your stomach. Cutting these pills lets the medicine out too soon. It may then cause irritation or be destroyed by the acid in your stomach.



I'm guessing the general rule of thumb is if the pill has no score line it should not be split.
Neph
Currently RLS free. Symptoms stopped almost abruptly after my long term, full time care giving duties ended with passing of wife. No stress, no RLS.
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