Seroquel vs. ?? For mixed and hypo/manic

I’ve been taking Seroquel as a PRN med during mixed and hypomanic episodes. It does a decent job of quieting my head, but makes me so drowsy. More frustrating than the drowsiness is the fact that I can’t sit still. I’ll be exhausted, but continually rolling over in bed. I get uncomfortable to the point it’s almost painful and I eventually wander around in a stupor.

Anyway, it has side effects and I’d bet there are other AP’s that will suit me better. I’ve done some research online, but I would rather hear experiences from real people.

Can anyone share experience or offer some advice?

Sounds like you are getting some akathesia, which isn't at all surprising with Seroquel. Are you taking it at night, I hope?

Some people have done better with Abilify, which does have a much better overall side effect profile for most people. What else are you taking, if you do not mind my asking?

I’ve been taking the Seroquel as needed. Sometimes during the day, and sometimes at night. As for other meds:
Lithium 1200mg
Zoloft 200mg
Lamictal 200mg
Xanax 2mg

I’m going to check out Abilify. I plan on working through this with my Pdoc on the 27th, but don’t want to go into it blind.

I hate seroquel.

I've only tried Latuda, Seroquel, Seroquel XR, Abilify, and Rexulti. Abilify helped with mania and initially even helped with depression, but it quickly pooped out on me. Rexulti has been working like a charm, though, and I think I'm going on my 3rd year of being on it. The only downside is that it isn't FDA approved for treating mania, so YMMV there. Works for mania in some people, but not others. Otherwise, I have no nasty side effects from it.

BTW, a lot of people like Haldol. It seems to kick psychosis' @ss in a lot of people without having many (if any) negative side effects. Also helps with mania a lot, too. The only downside is that it is a first generation AP, so some drs (like mine) won't prescribe it per office policy. (Their argument is that first generation APs carry a higher risk for causing TD. Plus, a lot of new meds out there are being pushed by pharmaceutical companies, so drs get $$$ from pushing second gens. However, I don't recall anyone on this site getting TD from Haldol. I could be wrong, but in my 4 years here, I have not seen anything, so I'm guessing it's rare even with Haldol.)

I used to be on 600mg of seroquel but it wasn't helping my manic episodes so I was changed over to Abilify 15mg and Thorazine 400mg. I'm also on a moodstabilizer. This has been the best combo I've been on, very stable, my Psychotic symptoms are 100% gone. When my doctor first mentioned Thorazine I was scared but a lot of the side effects people get from it are from back in the day when it was prescribed at ridiculously high doses. It's been super effective for me, much more so than seroquel and I don't have any side effects. It helps with sleep too.

I like Saphris. It’s a 2nd generation atypical AP like Seroquel. It works really well, very few side effects and because it’s sublingual is relatively renal and liver friendly.

I’ve been on many anti psychotics both first and second gen over the years. I’ve had the best luck for managing psychotic symptoms on seroquel. I don’t think I’ve had any psychotic symptoms in a couple years actually (crazily enough...that is until today when I was hearing mumbling voices like in a transistor radio through my headphones...a symptom that has historically happened identically to this) on it. I take 600MG. If the med works and the akathesia is the only issue, there is a med you can take (can’t remember the name as I’ve never needed it) to counteract it. I also take 60MG of Latuda but that was added more for depression. I second Haldol and Saphris as those were both meds that I found very helpful as well. Thiothixine (aka—brand name “Navane”) kept me stable for a long time as well. It was eventually replaced by Seroquel. Maybe look into those meds as well?