Seroquel

[Mconnie]

My father has PSP and a year ago had some behavioral issue and was in mental health unit for a week and was put on seroquel to help him calm and help with sleep. Has anyone with psp been on seroquel? I think it as a lot of side effects that makes PSP worse. Does anyone have any thoughts. Thanks

[Hidden]

Have to say seroquel has saved my sanity. Chris takes it to sleep at nights and, at his neurologist's suggestion, I take low dose when I am at the end of my tether and need a good long sleep. So I know that I haven't experienced any side effects and C now only takes a mild anti-depressant in the morning and seroquel at night and it doesn't seem to effect him either. I know it is a sedative developed for use with bipolar and other mental health disorders but it works for us. He's been taking it for almost two years now and his dosage has increased. When I need to I still take 1 25mg pill which works great.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

In reference to Pattz reply - My comments were referring to a fuller dose not 25mg which is very small indeed...

Still I would suggest discussing antihistamine as an alternative.

[Hidden]

Hi Mconnie

My husband was a therapist in NHS Mental Health for many years. These are his comments.

These comments are not from a doctor and they are merely given in good conscience.

Seroquel is more often referred to by its generic name Quetiapine.

Here is a link:

drugs.com/sfx/quetiapine-si... He added that dry mouth is also fairly common.

You will see that the common side effects are an ill match for the symptoms of PSP. That is they are likely to add/compound common PSP symptoms.

Quetiapine is a strong neuroleptic (alters neurotransmitters in the brain) medication mostly used for Bipolar Disorder.

It is/was used for behavioural disorders because of its sedative side effect. E.G. the person becomes drowsy and is less of a management problem. He says that it has often been used for elderly patients who have dementia and are distressed / disturbed... The sedative action helps keep them settled (sedated).

You might try talking to the psychiatrist about the possible use of antihistamine medication. This also has a sedative effect. Unlike Quetiapine it is not a powerful neuroleptic and it is now commonly used in Quetiapine's place because it has less side effects and it does not interfere so much with key neurotransmitter brain functioning. (Quetiapine is a general dopamine receptor blocker.) That is it has a fairly global effect on the brain and it often leaves the patient feeling emotionally deadened or numb.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atypi...

I do hope this helps a little.

Good luck!

Liz

[Mconnie in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for responding. I agree with what you said and have decided to lower his dose from 25 mg bid to just once at night. I want to see if it makes him more alert, I hate seeing him numb its like he is trapped in the body that is not working for him. Again thank you

[dibber]

Hi. My mum has been on Quetiapine for about 3 and a bit years now originally to quieten her down with her shouting episodes after being diagnosed with PSP. It has gradually been reduced as it was leaving her in a comotosed state during the day, making it difficult to communicate and feed. This led to her significant weight loss. It is still given but to what effect we are unsure. X