# seroquel acne



## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

Im on seroquel 200mg and Lamictal 100mg thus far, heading for 200mg split dose for newly diagnosed (and long term suffering) BPII, GAD, SAD, TRD.

Its been just two months and i have developed acne on the back of my neck and shoulders after barely having a pimple in all my 36 years. I know its not the lamictal bcause i started that a few weeks after and i already had the acne. So my GP put me on doxycycline and epiduo gel for the acne and my psychiatrist (is that what you old hats call a pdoc??) yesterday replaced the seroquel with zyprexa. I hardly slept a wink last night and am unstable again after decreasing and stopping the seroquel. My mental health is at the top of my list of priorities at the moment so im going back on the seroquel. Taking it was what made me realise how sick i was - fingers crossed the acne treatments continue to work and clear it up completely. I wanted to ask if any of you have had acne from seroquel and did it get better after being on it for a time? Or did you have to stop it to get rid of it? Or will i ever get rid of it even after i eventually stop the seroquel??


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## PurrPanther (Nov 16, 2012)

Hmm this post made me wonder maybe the Seroquel I'm taking is the reason I'm getting a bit of acne on my back. Did your doctor tell you it was a common side effect???


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## StNaive (Feb 21, 2013)

I am on 300mg seroquel and I don't get that much acne at all, and none on my back or neck. I get what you mean about not sleeping after stopping though; the withdrawal from it is pretty bad so if it turns out it is causing your acne and you decide to stop, definitely go slow.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

Noticed this too. It was even worse on remeron, maybe it has something to do with the histamine antagonism?


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

PurrPanther said:


> Hmm this post made me wonder maybe the Seroquel I'm taking is the reason I'm getting a bit of acne on my back. Did your doctor tell you it was a common side effect???


Not a common side effect, my psychiatrist tells me im very talented and the first he's seen in all his years (he still looks side effects up in books ) my gp is very technologically savvy in comparison and found that it is a side effect tho not a common one :yes

Thanks for your reply purrpanther  its a little strange because tho i have had a little on my forehead, face and neck its mostly on my shoulders, back of my neck and painful ones on my scalp. its mostly just lots of little pimples and the odd nasty one. For me it is definitely the seroquel, it was the only thing i was on at the time and ive never had an issue with acne prior to this (36 is a little old to start, if i was 15 id probably think otherwise). The medication and gel are working tho im not real excited about staying on that long term either. Fingers crossed it disappears with time but at the moment im wearing my hair down and putting up with it because the benefits far outweigh. He does want to get me off it eventually but im scared im not going to be able to sleep without it :afr


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

gilmourr said:


> Noticed this too. It was even worse on remeron, maybe it has something to do with the histamine antagonism?


Are you still on it gilmourr?


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

StNaive said:


> I am on 300mg seroquel and I don't get that much acne at all, and none on my back or neck. I get what you mean about not sleeping after stopping though; the withdrawal from it is pretty bad so if it turns out it is causing your acne and you decide to stop, definitely go slow.


I got up to 250mg but slowly reduced to 100mg in the hope that the acne would go away. It still makes me legless at that dose but I have awful vivid dreams and wake up freaking out often worried someone is in our room or that my children have stopped breathing but still not being able to move, hoping that will stop. Thinking it might work better if i reduce further, after the initial withdrawals of course :afr but ive seen on here people say it works better for sleep at lower doses BUT, does it work as well at keeping me motivated and social and not so low?

He wants to take me completely off seroquel once he's built up the lamictal to a theraputic dose but the seroquel was what made me realise how sick i was and i honestly cant say ive had any noticeable improvement with the lamictal :um he intends on putting me on some other combo of which im yet to find out :roll


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## Lacking Serotonin (Nov 18, 2012)

What is TRD? And my dermatologist prescribed me Solodyn for acne and works like a dream.


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## StNaive (Feb 21, 2013)

sharklet said:


> I got up to 250mg but slowly reduced to 100mg in the hope that the acne would go away. It still makes me legless at that dose but *I have awful vivid dreams and wake up freaking out often worried someone is in our room or that my children have stopped breathing but still not being able to move, hoping that will stop*. Thinking it might work better if i reduce further, after the initial withdrawals of course :afr but ive seen on here people say it works better for sleep at lower doses BUT, does it work as well at keeping me motivated and social and not so low?
> 
> He wants to take me completely off seroquel once he's built up the lamictal to a theraputic dose but the seroquel was what made me realise how sick i was and i honestly cant say ive had any noticeable improvement with the lamictal :um he intends on putting me on some other combo of which im yet to find out :roll


I was wondering if I was the only one who got that kind of stuff. Not so much the thinking people have died, but I find that a lot of the time I won't even know what was a dream and what actually happened, and it's not a good feeling at all. I am so looking forward to getting off that stuff.

I wouldn't give up on lamictal too quickly though; I've found it to be a pretty good mood stabilizer, and you definitely don't want to taper off both at the same time.


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

Lacking Serotonin said:


> What is TRD? And my dermatologist prescribed me Solodyn for acne and works like a dream.


Treatment resistant depression 

Is your acne from seroquel? It freaks me out being on all these medications, so the doc put me on zyprexa to replace the seroquel and i spent the night looking at the ceiling. I'll take the seroquel and put up with the acne which is getting better with the medication the gp gave me.


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

StNaive said:


> I was wondering if I was the only one who got that kind of stuff. Not so much the thinking people have died, but I find that a lot of the time I won't even know what was a dream and what actually happened, and it's not a good feeling at all. I am so looking forward to getting off that stuff.
> 
> I wouldn't give up on lamictal too quickly though; I've found it to be a pretty good mood stabilizer, and you definitely don't want to taper off both at the same time.


No im sticking with lamictal because ive heard such great things about it and thus far (touch wood) have had no significant side effects from it which is very rare for me.

It is scary to me that you feel that way on 300mg of seroquel. The higher the dose i seem to get a more restful sleep but i think it tapers out and i have to go higher. it feels like my brain is fighting the drugs to stay awake and think stupid pointless ***t but my body is a bag of cement so eventually my brain gives up and i fall back to sleep again. then i have the vivd dreams and so the cycle continues...


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

sharklet said:


> Are you still on it gilmourr?


On seroquel it's very mild. On remeron it's major which is why I stopped it. It also made me sleep like 14-16 hrs a day so I didn't just stop it for that.


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## bazinga (Jun 9, 2010)

I've heard that lamictal (lamotrigine) can cause breakouts. I am not sure about seroquel.

I am not sure if the breakouts from lamotrigine go away as you get used to the medication. Someone else would have to help you with that. I fortunately haven't had any breakouts.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

Usually I'd assume lamictal, even though it takes time to show up due to taking a long time to accumulate in the body, but since it showed up prior to introducing the lamictal I guess that does make seroquel seem like a likely culprit. I have experience taking both meds but not at the same time, I didn't get acne from seroquel but I did get the vivid dreams you speak of, switching to Seroquel XR lessened the dreams. I think Seroquel XR (150-200mg) was a more effective mood stabilizer than Lamictal overall for me but came with a lot more side effects like daytime grogginess. If you don't like Zyprexa there's also Saphris to consider, those are the 3 most commonly 'sedating' atypicals, but to varying degrees as you found with zyprexa.


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

gilmourr said:


> Noticed this too. It was even worse on remeron, maybe it has something to do with the histamine antagonism?


Yeah it's common with antihistamines, they fragment sleep stages so your leaning more towards light sleep & REM and further from deep sleep.


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

jim_morrison said:


> Yeah it's common with antihistamines, they fragment sleep stages so your leaning more towards light sleep & REM and further from deep sleep.


that sux... maybe thats why some people have said it works better in lower doses, its enough to get you to sleep but not so strong it stops you from getting the deep sleep... not basing that on anything, just a thought 

the lamictal also seems to give me a bit of a buzz, i thought maybe because im increasing my split doses every week it could take me a while to adjust and get a better nights sleep. fingers crossed it settles down, i do like sleep :yes


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

gilmourr said:


> On seroquel it's very mild. On remeron it's major which is why I stopped it. It also made me sleep like 14-16 hrs a day so I didn't just stop it for that.


wow, i was just reading that remeron is also prescribed for anorexic cats  hope uv found the right one for you gilmourr.


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

bazinga said:


> I've heard that lamictal (lamotrigine) can cause breakouts. I am not sure about seroquel.
> 
> I am not sure if the breakouts from lamotrigine go away as you get used to the medication. Someone else would have to help you with that. I fortunately haven't had any breakouts.


defo the seroquel, i had it well before i started on the lamictal. hope i dont get it from the lamictal also or i'll be in a world of trouble :afr


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## PurrPanther (Nov 16, 2012)

sharklet said:


> Not a common side effect, my psychiatrist tells me im very talented and the first he's seen in all his years (he still looks side effects up in books ) my gp is very technologically savvy in comparison and found that it is a side effect tho not a common one :yes
> 
> Thanks for your reply purrpanther  its a little strange because tho i have had a little on my forehead, face and neck its mostly on my shoulders, back of my neck and painful ones on my scalp. its mostly just lots of little pimples and the odd nasty one. For me it is definitely the seroquel, it was the only thing i was on at the time and ive never had an issue with acne prior to this (36 is a little old to start, if i was 15 id probably think otherwise). The medication and gel are working tho im not real excited about staying on that long term either. Fingers crossed it disappears with time but at the moment im wearing my hair down and putting up with it because the benefits far outweigh. He does want to get me off it eventually but im scared im not going to be able to sleep without it :afr


Weird The main places I'm getting a bit of acne are just like you on my forhead, back and a bit on my scalp. There aren't many but the ones that are there are painful too. and I,ve never been affected by acne until I started taking it which is 1 or 2 years ago. Now I knowww why!!!!!!!


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## jim_morrison (Aug 17, 2008)

sharklet said:


> that sux... maybe thats why some people have said it works better in lower doses, its enough to get you to sleep but not so strong it stops you from getting the deep sleep... not basing that on anything, just a thought
> 
> the lamictal also seems to give me a bit of a buzz, i thought maybe because im increasing my split doses every week it could take me a while to adjust and get a better nights sleep. fingers crossed it settles down, i do like sleep :yes


I forgot to mention that Lamictal can also induce vivid dreams (it increases REM sleep).

Effects of lamotrigine on nocturnal sleep, daytime somnolence and cognitive functions in focal epilepsy.


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## sharklet (Apr 11, 2013)

jim_morrison said:


> I forgot to mention that Lamictal can also induce vivid dreams (it increases REM sleep).
> 
> Effects of lamotrigine on nocturnal sleep, daytime somnolence and cognitive functions in focal epilepsy.


bonus :sus coming at me from all directions :afr


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## In6inchHeels (Apr 6, 2014)

*Yes I've expirenced, badly and THERE IS A SOLUTION!*

SOLUTION TO STOPING THE ACNE AND SOLUTION TO THE INSOMNIA FROM GOING OFF SEROQUEL: I WENT THRU IT I had to realize the solution by living through it, please read, I know it's long but it's worth it.

Right after highschool I started getting acne, and I couldn't explain or understand until today, I started seroquel right around that same time. Ever since then I've. Had acne. It's been 9 years!!! Of me covering up my back even during the hot summers, but recently I started lowering my dose and I've started taking lamictol I used to take 300mg and now I only take 125 mg and continuing to lower it every few months, my acne was starting going away and my breakouts have gotten better and better. But last night I ran out of my night med (seroquel 125mg) so I had to take one of my old pils (I never throw out pills in case I need a backup later for this very reason) I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep if I didn't take one, so I took my old 200mg and when I woke up I had huge breakouts on my back, just when it was finally clearing up, and the only thing I had done differently was take that higher dosage, so I immediately came online to search for others who have had the same problem, and I found this blog, I couldn't believe it, I've spent 9years suffering, thinking it was just my adult skin type. So there is a solution to the acne, lower the dosage or go off completly, try lamictol that's what I've been switching too (if I don't take medication I am completly unstable, bad anxiety and bad mood swings, I'm bi-polar) Also, I completely understand having insomnia when coming off seroquel, but THERE IS A SOLUTION, but you may not like it, you have to continue staying on it and go down like 10mg every month, so it's a very slow and very long progress, but this way your body starts getting use to the new dosage and you can start falling asleep especially if the pill is smaller than your old one, The smaller the pill, the faster it DISOLVES into your body. The first few days of every time u go down to a lower dosage you will feel like crap, almost like you have the flu, but it's only for the first few days, it eventually goes away and your body gets use to it. But the good thing is you will still be able to sleep every night, your first few night after lowering the dosage you may sleep lightly and toss and turn and feel like a million hours have gone by with you laying in bed hoping to fall asleep, but you will eventually, so you can go off seroquel and still be able to sleep every night. I have a very good physiatrist, but he didn't tell me any of this, the reason is because they are just Dr.'s they have not experienced what we go through there for never have a reason to learn about, all they learn is the more significant health problems. I still can't believe I spent 9 years goin thru this when there was a somewhat simple solution.

(I know I spelled a bunch of stuff wrong, I do that when I'm rushing, I just wanted to post this ASAP to help you)


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