Marsha,

Laura tried Seroquel and didn't notice any side affects and it was really helpful for sleep. The worry is that it is an anti psyscotic so she stopped taking it. She has had trouble with sleep for years and Seroquel was one of the only things that helped. Do you think Seroquel is beneficial for hd because of dopamine? And do you think it is a safe option?


Thanks Pete and Laura



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2014 11:32PM by lauraandpete.

I do think that atypical antipsychotics such as Seroquel are beneficial and I think it is reasonably safe to take. It is really, really important to get a good night's sleep with HD. If Laura wasn't experiencing side effects and was getting a good night's sleep, I think she should talk to her doctor about possibly resuming the seroquel.

We are going to give it another go. Thanks for the reply.

Has anyone had any side effects with generic seroquel vs. the name brand? Laura was given the genaric instead of the name brand. She is finding that it isn't as effective as the last time she took it which was the name brand.

Thanks.

Yes, there is a huge difference Pete. I had been taking brand name Seroquel for about 3 years, at bedtime, for sleep issues, but also as an anti depressant. Suddenly something was wrong with me. I was having trouble sleeping, and having depression and panic attacks in the daytime. This went on for several weeks before we discovered the culprit. The pharmacy had switched me to a generic form, hadn't told me, and the pills looked so similar I hadn't noticed the difference. It was because my coverage was no longer covering brand name Seroquel any more. I went in to my hd psychiatrist because I was going nuts. What he told me was this. Generic only by law has to contain 20% of the same ingredients. So I said ok, so 80% of the filler can be different, and he said no, he said 80% of both the filler and the actual medicine ingredient itself can be different. I was blown away, I always thought it was just the fillers that are different. So I went to my pharmacist, and he tried me on a couple of different generic brands with no success. Soooo, my pharmacist went above and beyond. He said the people that make the brand name, they also usually make a generic also, because profit wise it's good for them to do that, but he said, their generic will be the same as their brand name. So he made phone calls, and found out what plant in our area was making the brand name Seroquel, and then found out the name of their generic Seroquel, and ordered that in for me, and guess what, it was exactly the same as the brand name, and I had no problems after that. So there is a huge difference, and if you go and have a talk with your pharmacist, I'm sure he can do the same.

Barb,

Thanks for all that awesome info. We did a little research and found that Laura was prescribed Seroquel IR (immediate release) which is available in generic which is what she got. The name brand is not covered by insurance and cost $150/30 day supply. There is also Seroqul XR. It is extended time release and is not available off label. We are not sure which Seroquel Laura took in the past. I’m going to have the pharmacist check Laura’s old rx to find out what she was previously prescribed. It looks like I will need to have Laura’s doctor change the script to Seroquel XR which will be covered. Which are you taking? Thanks again for your help.

Happy New Year.

Pete & Laura



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/2014 08:08PM by lauraandpete.

Mine is immediate release. My hd psychiatrist, when this happened, actually had me try the extended release, because it would be covered, but I had a bad reaction to it, I can't remember if it was an emotional reaction, or asthma, so the simplest solution was to just find out where the name brand Seroquel plant was in my area, and order their generic brand. I think your pharmacist should be happy to do that for you, mine did. Good luck