# taking an SSRI and seroquel together



## swim (Apr 4, 2011)

Does it make sense? Quetiapine is a serotonin antagonist so it should somehow cross the SSRI's action, but I used to see one person that took 'em both. Oh btw I just threw out Atarax, as my physician suggested, because it's antiserotonergic.


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## upndownboi (Oct 7, 2010)

My understanding is a global increase in serotonin isn't completely good for depression- its good for some serotonin receptors but bad for others. The theory is that _low-dose_ seroquel blocks useful serotonin receptors like 5ht2c that an SSRI can't help but activate.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

They seem to work together synergistically on the serotonergic system eg; an SSRI + an atypical antipsychotic combo is often used for treatment-resistant OCD which is thought to largely be a disorder centered around a serotonergic system dysfunction/abnormality. 

How they work together exactly is just down to theory at this point. But as upndownboi mentioned it's not about a global 'increase' in serotonin per se, but rather about altering the serotonergic system in a certain way.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

Um well back in 2006 before switching to an SNRI I took the SSRI paxil with seroquel and it increased my sedation and appetite but it did aide my social skills, I was very sociable. LOL I remember at this church youth group I went to on both meds, I ended up telling this guy he was going to buy me coffee afterwards and he did and we had a good laugh and I chatted with tons of people but the weight gain was hard, I mean being fat and jolly is okay but the whole being fat thing does not sit well with me  I do miss paxil though, they are the best SA med in the SSRI family, much better than Effexor but alas effexor works better for other things


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## mkultra (Jun 22, 2012)

Personally speaking, no problem at all. I'm on sertraline and i use max 100 mg for insomnia issues. I think the ideal is to keep at lowest therapeutic dose for every med that you take.
Stay safe


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