Deee: Tapering Seroquel XR by changing to immediate release

[Deee]

Hi everyone, so I was initially misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years ago and was given lithium and seroquel. I went off lithium a year later. But I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder also so continued on 300 mg of Seroquel XR and have been taking it for 4 years now. I did manage to lose weight the first year I was on seroquel (lost up to 16 kilos) but put them back up the years after and struggled to get them back down. I now take 50 mg xr dose. I went from 300 xr to 200 xr when my body couldnt take the medicine and then to 150 xr a few months after and then last year went from 150 xr and then 50 xr.

 

The first time I reduced the medicine was because I had high liver enzymes suddenly and had difficulty swallowing so doctors recommend I reduce the dose (mind you my initial doctor suggested I go cold turkey then!). I went from 300 xr to 200 xr until my body finally was able to take it and my enzymes were fine. So I couldn’t go slowly then because we were trying to solve the immediate problem for swallowing and enzymes. I then reduced from 200 xr to 150 xr later and stayed on this for 2 years. I then kept reducing the dose up to 50 mg xr (the last jump was from 150 to 50) when I was going to get operated and was worried of the effects of the medicine on the anastesia. I thought it wasn’t the big changes with the medicine that were causing me difficulties after the operation but now I realise it was probably the combination of withdrawal and the operation.

 

I now want to get off the remaining 50 xr, my current doctor says I don’t need seroquel and that we’re only using it as a sleep aid. But he recommends I stop it. The nutritionist also says that it would be better for my body to get the toxins of seroquel out.  I don’t have a lot of issues with seroquel currently to be honest  (maybe it’s the reason I’m not losing a lot of weight but I dont know if it is at such a low dosage). I am a bit unable tired all the time and my body is stiff but I’m not sure this is the seroquel. So overall I’m happy with it and I’m terrified of the crazy mood swings and suicidal thoughts coming back. Also I love how i control my sleep with seroquel and the one night I skip the medicine were/are a nightmare, I get a max of 4 hours sleep and of course with all the symptoms next day of nausea, diahrea and vomit. But I want to at least try and see if I can get it down, I’m worried of my dependency on it and the long term effects. 

 

I’m not finding a lot of info on tapering seroquel xr. After the 50 mg xr that is the lowest dosage I understand I have to shift to the immediate release so I can taper off slowly. I’d love to know if anyone has had  experience with the change from xr to immediate release and how that felt and then how tapering on immediate release went afterwards. 

 

Crossing my fingers hard that this goes relatively okay.  

[SkyBlue]

6 hours ago, Deee said:

Hi everyone, so I was initially misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years ago and was given lithium and seroquel. I went off lithium a year later. But I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder also so continued on 300 mg of Seroquel XR and have been taking it for 4 years now. I did manage to lose weight the first year I was on seroquel (lost up to 16 kilos) but put them back up the years after and struggled to get them back down. I now take 50 mg xr dose. I went from 300 xr to 200 xr when my body couldnt take the medicine and then to 150 xr a few months after and then last year went from 150 xr and then 50 xr.

 

I now want to get off the remaining 50 xr, my current doctor says I don’t need seroquel and that we’re only using it as a sleep aid. But he recommends I stop it. The nutritionist also says that it would be better for my body to get the toxins of seroquel out.  I don’t have a lot of issues with seroquel currently to be honest  (maybe it’s the reason I’m not losing a lot of weight but I dont know if it is at such a low dosage). I am a bit unable tired all the time and my body is stiff but I’m not sure this is the seroquel. So overall I’m happy with it and I’m terrified of the crazy mood swings and suicidal thoughts coming back. Also I love how i control my sleep with seroquel and the one night I skip the medicine were/are a nightmare, I get a max of 4 hours sleep and of course with all the symptoms next day of nausea, diahrea and vomit. But I want to at least try and see if I can get it down, I’m worried of my dependency on it and the long term effects. 

 

I’m not finding a lot of info on tapering seroquel xr. After the 50 mg xr that is the lowest dosage I understand I have to shift to the immediate release so I can taper off slowly. I’d love to know if anyone has had  experience with the change from xr to immediate release and how that felt and then how tapering on immediate release went afterwards. 

 

 

Hi Deee and welcome to SA.

 

There is a lot of information and support here as you taper off the 50 mg Seroquel.

 

To help us out, would you summarize your history in a signature - ALL drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly? http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/12364-please-put-your-withdrawal-history-in-your-signature/

 

 

Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years. Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago), and spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct.".

 

To begin with, this thread explains why we recommend tapering by 10% per month: http://survivingantidepressants.org/topic/1024-why-taper-by-10-of-my-dosage/

 

 

This is your own Introduction topic where you can ask questions and journal your progress.

[SkyBlue]

Here is a thread on tapering Seroquel: