jaijaihanuman
Re:Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleep...
on Saturday November 07, 2020 @11:57AM (#25016251)
As said elsewhere in the thread, there are nuances even in pharmacology. Your situation sounds terrible, and I am very sorry you had to live through that. However, some anti-psychotics lack anti-psychotic properties in very low doses and are safe. But yes, as a general rule neither anti-psychotics nor z-drugs/bzo-drugs should be used for long-lasting sleep disorders.
Re:Severe brain injury and paralysis temporarily reversed with a sleep...
on Saturday November 07, 2020 @06:12AM (#25014434)
Quetiapine is labaled an anti-psychotic yes, but its pharmacological characteristics are not that straight forward. It has a much higher affinity for H1 (histamine) receptors than for D2 (dopamine) receptors. Meaning that in low doses it acts like an anti-histaminergic drug, having a very limited effect on dopaminergic systems. Around 60% of D2-receptors need to be blocked for a typical anti-psychotic effect, and that is nowhere near what is happening with say 50mg of quetiapine, which is a normal dose for sleeping aid. In those low doses it mainly acts on H1, alpha-1, M3, M1, and some 5HT type receptors. At a minimum of 300mg per day, it pharmacologically starts to act as an anti psychotic.
There is a nice brief summary of this in Stahl's Essential Psychopharmacology.
To be clear, I am very much against prescribing anti-psychotics as sleeping aids. But I don't think there is a strong case for calling quetiapine anti-psychotic in low doses.