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I was prescribed a very small nightly dose of Seroquel (Quetiapene) several years ago, during what was then-diagnosed as a hypo-manic episode. It did calm me down considerably, and, for the first time in years, I could fall asleep quickly & easily, and stay asleep. And, if I got up during what are appropriately known as the “wee” hours, I could fall asleep again very quickly, instead of lying there for over an hour, trying to fall asleep. Plus, I can easily reach the deep REM phase of sleep, the phase that leaves you feeling truly rested when you wake up after it—a phase I hadn’t been able to reach for many years before starting on Seroquel.
I’m still taking the Seroquel, and it’s still helping me tremendously with my sleep habits. The dose is very low. Only 25 mg (or 50 mg, if I’m under a lot of stress), taken a couple of hours before bedtime. Then, I dim the lights and do activities that will help me to relax. Only when I’m feeling so sleepy that I can hardly keep my eyes open, do I go to bed. And I only use my bedroom for sleeping, not reading or watching TV. I have blackout curtains on the windows, and I shut the door, so I’m in near-total darkness. Then, I listen to radio comedy shows, very quietly, on my docked iPod, with the docking station in 30-minute Sleep mode. Within 10 minutes or less, I’m in dreamland, and I stay in dreamland.
In the morning, I awake, almost exactly 8 hours after going to bed (10 hours after taking the Seroquel). There’s no residual drowsiness, unless I didn’t get 8 hours of sleep. When it’s time to wake up, I turn on the lights, and go sit in front of my Daylight therapy lamp for half an hour. If I don’t get up right away, I’ll drift off to sleep for another couple of hours, and really screw up my sleep-wake cycle.
The only weird thing is that I have a very strong internal alarm clock. If I have to do something important at a certain time in the morning, my internal alarm clock will begin waking me at half-hour intervals, starting around 5:30 a.m. And there’s nothing I can do about it, Seroquel or not!
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