how bad/dangerous is it to regularly skip a quetiapine dose?

I take 400mg of quetiapine daily (before bed). I find it extremely difficult to get up the next day, no matter how many hours I sleep for. I discovered that if I miss a dose, I don't sleep but feel so alive by the time morning comes. This allows me to do things I rarely do because of constant sedation like take my step daughter to school, shop in the high st, little pleasures. By the time the evening comes I feel like I'm coming down with the flu ( hot and cold flushes, slight hangover achy feeling). To me this is a small price to pay for a day feeling normal and alive. But... am I overlooking more serious affects of skipping a dose?

Not familiar with that particular drug.
Does it have to be all or nothing? Either take the full 400 mg, or skip the medication that day?

You should talk to your therapist or doctor about how you are feeling, with and without the medication, and see if a change in the prescription is in order. It could be just taking less of the same drug. Your doctor will have some ideas.

Take care,

Quetiapine = Seroquel -- look up the recent Seroquel thread perhaps?

I agree with skilsaw -- you are not supposed to feel like that. Meds are supposed to make you functional, not super-sedated. If the only way you can feel semi-normal is to not use quetiapine, I suggest you discuss it with your doctor -- maybe either a change of medication or just dosage is in order.

I am also prescribed seroquel and while I don't feel super sedated on it (it brings me to "normal") I do notice that if I skip a dose my moods skyrocket. I do not get that sick feeling however. As others suggested, it's probably a good idea to talk to your doctor about this as if your medication is making you so sedated that you can't function in the morning, I personally would consider that an issue.

how long have you been on quetiapine ? If you just started then the sedated feeling will go away as your brain gets used to the drug. They are purposly giving you this medication at night so you can sleep. You will feel less and less sedated as the drug is accepted by your brain.

I wouldnt recommend skipping a dose , but if you do dont do it for too long. Your body usually has a 3-4 day window before you start going into withdrawl so its better if you do miss a dose to take the next one as scheduled.

I can totally empathise with the extreme sedation issue on Quetiapine/Seroquel. Until about three and a half months ago, I'd been on it for around 18 months. I was first put on it to treat a mixed episode and it was extremely effective and fast acting, with little sedative effect.

However, it didn't touch my subsequent depression and left me constantly exhausted once my mood became stable. It was necessary to prevent mania from my antidepressant, though. I was on 500mg for most of that time until we started to taper it out, and the sedation definitely affected my quality of life and stopped me from accepting work opportunities.

Like others have said, the best way to deal with this problem is to discuss it with your psychiatrist, as this is not the desired outcome of treatment. They might suggest a change in dosage or medication type, depending on the symptoms you're trying to treat. Good luck.