Agnieszka: 10% monthly of 25 mg Seroquel. How many years is that?

[Agnieszka]

Hello

• I'm new here. I'm on my third seroquel taper. I probably did it too fast both times. I've been tapering for 11 months now and since my dosage went to about 1/4 pill I've had erratic sleep for 4 months now. I guess I accidentally reduced 25% rather than 10% each month. I'm on such a small dosage and I can't see the end. How long does it take if I had to start all over again to reduce from 25 mg e10% every month?
• Thank you!
• Health to all!

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Agnieszka.

 

You might not have to start all over again! Since the tapering is disturbing your sleep, you might stop tapering for now and let your nervous system settle down. When you're sleeping regularly again, you might reduce very carefully by the 10% per month method we recommend, see Why taper by 10% of my dosage? 

 

Let us know how you're doing. You should see very gradual improvement. If not, you might consider increasing your dosage by a very small amount. What is the dosage of your Seroquel tablets? How are you measuring 1/4 pill?

[Agnieszka]

Thanks for your encouraging reply.

My initial dosage was 25 mg. I was diagnosed with cancer in July 2015 and then had half my thyroid removed. I developed acute insomnia that wouldn't go away so I ended up on Seroquel. This was not my first episode of insomnia as I had 3 such episodes before and was given different antidepressant. I took them usually for 6 month to 1 year and tapered quite well. This time it's been a nightmare  I have been reducing it for 11 months using digital scale. (this is my 3rd attempt now). The pill weights 0.078 gr and I reduced it to 0.020 around April when my trouble with sleeping started. It was slowly getting worse and became quite bad over the summer. I had  already been at this juncture last year when I was reducing by cutting the pill without weighing it. I even contacted a renowned sleep clinic who told me to go back to the pill in Aug 2016. That was my first failed attempt at the taper. My second was in October 2016 when I developed heart palpitations and couldn't breathe. I then returned to the full pill of 25 gr and after a month started the taper all over again. Occasionally I had trouble sleeping but it would get better. As for the last few months, it's been erratic and now I think it could be because again I reached the point of 0.020 gr which is difficult to overcome for some reason.  I keep sane thanks to homeopathy (with mixed results) and regular acupuncture and Chinese herbs. I've been taking Tryptophan and Theanine too together with magnesium and Omega 3.

What has helped me also was writing down my hours of sleep to see that it is not always as bad as it feels: 4, 7, 5, 5, 4, 6, 4, 0, 4, 7, 7, 0, 5, 7, 6, 5, 5, 0, 0, 5, 4, 4, 6, 8, 4, 7, 5,, 7, 7, 7, 7, 5, 5, 4, 5, 4, 5, 6, 5, 8, 4, 0, 7, 4, 8, 4, 4, 5, 0, 6, 8, 7, 6, 7, 6, 0, 6, 4, 6, - there seems to be no pattern and I never know what the next night will bring.

I think Seroquel is the hardest taper I've ever done. I therefore have been on it for 2 years now and keep having trouble with tapering - mostly insomnia.

Thank you for reading this.

I really appreciate it.

Best of health to all

Agnieszka

[Agnieszka]

Hello World

Is it normal to completely stop sleeping after having some alcohol? I had 5 glasses of wine on Saturday while being on 0,022 gr of Seroquel. I've not slept since. My heart is pounding. My pulse is high. My breathing shallow. I feel like I'm slowly dying. Can I take one valium whilst on Seroquel just to get one night relief? I did acupunture on Friday and Monday but nothing has helped. I feel so bad, so angry with myself for failing to sleep yet again. I worry I'm going got lose my job and my family.  I'm going crazy here. HELP! 

[Agnieszka]

BTW I have increased my dosage now to 0.025 of Seroquel in powder as of two days ago as I was worried my insomnia was due to too fast a taper.

[Agnieszka]

Hello All

I have a question on tapering. Is it possible to reach a point where withdrawal even at 5% reduction is impossible? I'm on 8 mg of Seroquel. It took me 6 moths of 5% reductions per month to get here. And I now seem to have reached a point where I've been on this dosage for 6 weeks and not sleeping much. What would you suggest? Should I go up a bit? Will it ever stop if I wait it out? I'm really struggling. 

Thank you

Agnieszka

[ChessieCat]

Q:  What dose were you taking before you reduced to 8mg?

 

Please post a list of dates and doses of your reductions.

[Agnieszka]

Hello

Thank you.

These are rough dates and amounts in mililiters after I started liquid taper. The pill is 25 mg which equates to 76 mililiters more or less:

Below is a table in weeks with average sleep hours. BTW, I also have Hashimoto's and had thryroid cancer and I'm taking thyroid medication, which may screw things up additionally:

week 1. 26 ml liquid 6,5 hours

week 2. 26m   6,5 hours

week 3. attempt to reduce to 25 ml at the end of the week  sleep 6,6 hours

week 4.25 ml 6,5 sleep

week 5 25 6,7 sleep

week 6 reduction to 24  5,7 hours of sleep

week 7 24 ml 6,5 hours of sleep

week 8 24 ml 6,8 hours sleep

week 9 24 ml 6 hours of sleep

week 10 23 ml for3 nights then go back up to 24 ml 5,8 hours sleep

week 11 24 then 23 after 3 nights 6 hours of sleep

week 12 23 ml 6,8 hours

week 13 23 ml 6,3 hours

week 14 23 then reducing to 22 after 3 nights 6 hours sleep

week 15 22 ml for two nights then go back up to 23 5 hours sleep

week 16 23 ml 5,5 hours sleep

week 17 23 ml 5,5 hours sleep

week 18 23 ml 5 hours sleep

week 19 23 6,5 hours sleep

week 20 attempt at reducing to 22 for 3 nights then go back up to 23 5,5 hours sleep

week 21 so far on 23 ml I've slept 5 hours, then 0 hours, the last night 4 hours

I'm confused and would appreciate any comments.

I normally need 7,5 hours sleep to feel good. On 6 I can function and have done so for the last 2,5 years but on less than 6 I struggle. Some nights I sleep 4 hours, some 0, some 6. I can nver tell.

Thank you for your kind help.

Take care

Aga

 

[Gridley]

My sleep is also not consistent.  Some nights 6 hours, some nights 4, 1 night this week just one.  It helps me not to worry about whether or not I'm getting enough sleep.  I just trust that my body will get me what I need (not necessarily what I want) and let it happen the way it's going to happen--acceptance.  In the long hours when I can't sleep, I meditate and so I'm getting some benefit from that time awake.

 

Best,

Gridley

[Agnieszka]

Thank you Gridley! That's the spirit! I will try and adopt a similar attitude. My only worry is that I didn't sleep well for a few years and then I had cancer and I'm worried that not sleeping well again may make cancer return.

Best of health!

A

[Gridley]

When that worry about the cancer returning comes, think to yourself, "Change the channel" and think about something else.  Worrying like that is not going to help.  Just change the channel.