Cauliflower: got schizophrenia from possible antidepressant withdrawal

[Cauliflower]

Hi!

 

I felt better when I did not took antidepressants. I think I took the medication before and it all resulted to a slew of events that destroyed my life. I tried to take them and felt terrible, so I quit cold turkey. I got severe psychosis from it, and now Im taking antipsychotics since its not improving. Years of asking my old psychiatrist saying if there's a way to help my situation, she says it's part of my own condition there's nothing you can do. I had some sort of PMDD that I have to figure out, since my doctors could not. I feel better after my period.

 

I am schizophrenic, but I don't know how to not rely on Seroquel I don't know what to do. I can't heal with and without it. I would love to taper off this, but it's been like 9 years in this drug.

 

Here is my story, and I hope I can heal with you guys together. If I ever turn my life around, I will return the favor I promise.

[manymoretodays]

Hi Cauliflower and welcome,

We don't treat schizophrenia here.  We are not a mental illness type site.

Was your first experience of psychosis directly related to your drug or drug(s) prescribed?

And what exactly were your symptoms?  Or are your ongoing symptoms?

If you don't mind disclosing.

 

 

We are a site for tapering off drugs, or to the lowest possible dosage.

 

In any case we don't wish to compete or conflict with your doctors.

However, if you do want to taper, we can help provide education, information, and support for that.

Before you begin tapering-what you need to know

 

To get you started:

Would you do the following:

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature(just click on the underlined passage and follow the instructions to get that done, do scroll up to the first post in topic)

 

That's good that you do feel better after your period.  Your signature should show us if you are on any other drugs along with Seroquel, and then what your drug history is as well.  This is different from what you provided on registration in your profile, and once the signature is done it appears below all your posts.

 

Please don't feel like your life is destroyed.  I appreciate your sharing here and I do hear your hope for healing.  And it sure sounds like the drugs or the CT(cold turkey off) may have caused you much of your difficulties.

 

This link/topic might help further your understanding or change your view on "mental illness" and how some view it:

Again, chemical imbalance is a myth. Stop the lies please.

 

And another topic of interest:

PMS, PMDD, and menstrual cycle difficulties during WD(withdrawal) and after

 

Welcome again.  It's okay to take it slowly.  I'd like to get more information from you before getting into tapering too much, and so will stop here tonight.  And I'll just add in how we do a harm reduction taper, and also the tapering topic for Seroquel as well. 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Tips for tapering off Seroquel(quetiapine)

and again, start at the top, which will then direct you to another post, that talks more about careful tapering with quetiapine as psychosis can be a WD symptom of it too, hopefully avoidable with careful, cautious tapering.

 

This is your introduction/journal page where you have now introduced yourself to the community, you can ask questions here regarding your case and tapering, give updates, further communicate with us, and just keep a record of your journey.

 

 

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays

 

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by manymoretodays
links, checking links

[Cauliflower]

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

Hi Cauliflower and welcome,

We don't treat schizophrenia here.  We are not a mental illness type site.

Was your first experience of psychosis directly related to your drug or drug(s) prescribed?

And what exactly were your symptoms?  Or are your ongoing symptoms?

If you don't mind disclosing.

 

 

I agree, I meant that I hope we can all heal together from how antidepressants affected us.

 

I think yes, I was not good so I took antidepressants. I started to get psychotic symptoms then I stopped taking it. Then the story unfolds 8 years ago. I recently took Lexapro and my hallucinations worsened. It's like history repeating itself. My symptoms were restlessness and paranoia that became schizophrenia.

 

But for some reason, my restlessness really got turned down a notch when I took fish oil. I heard unknown diseases are usually linked to auto immune response so I figured schizophrenia can be the same. Found results that link schizophrenia to inflammation, so I started taking them. For 8 years or more, I finally can relax. This is the only thing I changed. This is the reason why I was prescribed Lexapro recently as well. I have been feeling restless for years.

 

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

We are a site for tapering off drugs, or to the lowest possible dosage.

 

In any case we don't wish to compete or conflict with your doctors.

However, if you do want to taper, we can help provide education, information, and support for that.

Before you begin tapering-what you need to know

 

To get you started:

Would you do the following:

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature(just click on the underlined passage and follow the instructions to get that done, do scroll up to the first post in topic)

 

I appreciate this thank you!

 

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

 

That's good that you do feel better after your period.  Your signature should show us if you are on any other drugs along with Seroquel, and then what your drug history is as well.  This is different from what you provided on registration in your profile, and once the signature is done it appears below all your posts.

 

I think Im sure that's what I told on my registration. Seroquel, Latuda, etc. What I wrote here is the same as what I wrote back then. I don't know what medications I took back at mental hospital since I was in psychosis so I'll specify that on my signature.

 

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

 

Please don't feel like your life is destroyed.  I appreciate your sharing here and I do hear your hope for healing.  And it sure sounds like the drugs or the CT(cold turkey off) may have caused you much of your difficulties.

 

I appreciate it, thank you. Yeah cold turkey was really bad. My symptoms were bad with antidepressants but I should not have went CT. I never knew it before.

 

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

 

This link/topic might help further your understanding or change your view on "mental illness" and how some view it:

Again, chemical imbalance is a myth. Stop the lies please.

 

And another topic of interest:

PMS, PMDD, and menstrual cycle difficulties during WD(withdrawal) and after

 

Welcome again.  It's okay to take it slowly.  I'd like to get more information from you before getting into tapering too much, and so will stop here tonight.  And I'll just add in how we do a harm reduction taper, and also the tapering topic for Seroquel as well. 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

Tips for tapering off Seroquel(quetiapine)

and again, start at the top, which will then direct you to another post, that talks more about careful tapering with quetiapine as psychosis can be a WD symptom of it too, hopefully avoidable with careful, cautious tapering.

 

Thank you! I won't taper for now unless I make sure my illness is in check.

 

17 hours ago, manymoretodays said:

This is your introduction/journal page where you have now introduced yourself to the community, you can ask questions here regarding your case and tapering, give updates, further communicate with us, and just keep a record of your journey.

 

 

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

manymoretodays

 

 

 

I'll update my signature soon. Thank you!

 

[manymoretodays]

Oh excellent Cauliflower, you got your signature done,

Good job.

It would also be good for us to see when you reduced the Seroquel to 600 mg.  Just add in a month and day there, in your signature.  Yes, I can understand not being able to remember a lot around the time of your hospitalization and psychosis.

That's excellent on the improvement you noticed after using Fish Oil.

AND, it's one of the the only 2 supplements that we do endorse here for use during tapering, withdrawal, and beyond.

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system.  

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

More about WD(withdrawal), what happens, and why we don't recommend to just quit taking medications/drugs:

 

Brain Remodelling

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

 

Dr.Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Withdrawal Stabilization

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made.  The CNS likes stability. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur. And sleep is really important during withdrawal. 

 

Dependency to the AD's(antidepressants) often occurs with about 4 weeks of usage, we think.  And so, very likely that as you are recovering from the adverse reaction to Lexapro, you also might be experiencing some WD as well.  I don't know how long you took it for.

 

Are you by any chance under mandatory treatment with medication right now?  It's just good for us to know, no judgement, only compassion.

 

Do let us know further just how we can help, when you feel ready.  And ask any questions you need to.  Likely we have a topic!

Cauliflower, at the very least I think you may be able to maintain on less Seroquel someday, if not taper off completely with a good sound harm reduction plan.  Less is always better with these types of drugs, as they do have some negative effects that just are not healthy.  Those can be minimized sometimes with lower dosages.

 

So now is your time to learn, and study, and plan for when you are ready.  Also to find hope.  I'm sure it has been scary and not an easy road for you to date.

 

I'm glad you are here and part of our community now.

 

L, P, H, and G,

mmt

Edited October 25, 2022 by manymoretodays

[Cauliflower]

On 10/24/2022 at 7:27 PM, manymoretodays said:

Oh excellent Cauliflower, you got your signature done,

Good job.

It would also be good for us to see when you reduced the Seroquel to 600 mg.  Just add in a month and day there, in your signature.  Yes, I can understand not being able to remember a lot around the time of your hospitalization and psychosis.

 

I tapered it off on the same month in three days. I know I'm oversensitive to medication now because of my WD history. If I go to mental hospital, I will be in a cocktail again, and I don't know what will happen to me.

 

I'll include it on my signature.

 

On 10/24/2022 at 7:27 PM, manymoretodays said:

That's excellent on the improvement you noticed after using Fish Oil.

AND, it's one of the the only 2 supplements that we do endorse here for use during tapering, withdrawal, and beyond.

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system.  

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

I didn't know much about magnesium apart from it being good for PMDD. I'll include it in my regimen!

 

On 10/24/2022 at 7:27 PM, manymoretodays said:

 

More about WD(withdrawal), what happens, and why we don't recommend to just quit taking medications/drugs:

 

Brain Remodelling

What is withdrawal syndrome.

 

 

Dr.Glenmullen’s withdrawal symptom list.

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Withdrawal Stabilization

 

When we take medications, the CNS (central nervous system) responds by making changes over the months and years we take the drug(s). When the medication is discontinued, the CNS has to undo all the changes it made.  The CNS likes stability. Rebuilding the neurotransmitter production and reactivating the receptor and transporter cells takes time -- during that rebuilding process symptoms occur. And sleep is really important during withdrawal. 

 

Dependency to the AD's(antidepressants) often occurs with about 4 weeks of usage, we think.  And so, very likely that as you are recovering from the adverse reaction to Lexapro, you also might be experiencing some WD as well.  I don't know how long you took it for.

 

Are you by any chance under mandatory treatment with medication right now?  It's just good for us to know, no judgement, only compassion.

 

Do let us know further just how we can help, when you feel ready.  And ask any questions you need to.  Likely we have a topic!

Cauliflower, at the very least I think you may be able to maintain on less Seroquel someday, if not taper off completely with a good sound harm reduction plan.  Less is always better with these types of drugs, as they do have some negative effects that just are not healthy.  Those can be minimized sometimes with lower dosages.

 

So now is your time to learn, and study, and plan for when you are ready.  Also to find hope.  I'm sure it has been scary and not an easy road for you to date.

 

I'm glad you are here and part of our community now.

 

L, P, H, and G,

mmt

 

Can't break the quote for some reason. 

 

I only took Lexapro like 2 to 3 times actually. Then I got worsening hallucinations. Never again. Way back, I surely got severe withdrawals when I was in the mental hospital, and when I begged my psychiatrist to change my medications. She only said to discontinue two weeks. I gave her papers about taper strips, where it's strips of medication that gradually lowers down. She ignored it.

 

Because of my WD history, my WDs seem to be getting more severe.

 

I'll visit the taper guide again

 

I am in mandatory treatment in antipsychotics. I can't reduce it right now since I don't know if my hallucinations will come back. Is there a guide about something relevant to my diagnosis that I can read to help me decide if I can lower down my medication? Lower dosages is my life goal, and I'll do whatever I can to lower it, or possibly remove it (if by miracle I can)

 

I am experiencing and seeing the bad side effects of the medication, and I do hope I can lower my medications. I want to feel normal again, and function better.

 

The road has been very harsh, and I'm just glad I'm better. I find it a miracle.

 

Learning and studying what I can do is a great suggestion. I appreciate your help a lot, and when I get better I will pay it forward X)

[ChessieCat]

10 minutes ago, Cauliflower said:

Is there a guide about something relevant to my diagnosis that I can read to help me decide if I can lower down my medication?

 

You might find this helpful:

 

https://willhall.net/comingoffmeds/

[Cauliflower]

Thank you I'll check it out!

[Cauliflower]

I'm very disconnected to myself and what helped me a lot, is to pretend I know what to feel to heal. It helps me figure out what to feel and it actually works for some reason. Is this the same as, fake it till you make it mantra? Have you guys done this before?

[ChessieCat]

I've done a search for Alto's mention of "fake it" and found the following list. Alto is SA's owner.  The first one is in the Apathy, Anhedonia, Emotional Numbness topic:

 

This is truly a situation where you have to "fake it until you make it."

 

Get out of the house as a therapeutic effort. Look around you and enjoy what you can. Take photos of anything that you even slightly like or find interesting. Do some walking.

 

All of these things help your brain to re-pattern itself. Put effort into helping it and it will help you.

____________________________________

 

Do what you can to " fake it while you make it," enjoy what you can, stay active, get some exercise each day.

 

This is a " fake it until you make it" situation. Keep doing things you used to like, enjoy doing them and going out with your friends as much as you can right now.

 

Recovery is very slow and gradual. In the meantime, you need to "fake it until you make it": Don't expect feelings of elation, just enjoy to the extent that you can enjoy, and keep busy.

 

This is a "fake it until you make it" situation -- putting yourself in a good frame of mind will help your nervous system heal, while worry will hold it back.

 

That may mean doing your best to ‘act as if’; to ‘fake it ‘til you make it’, force a smile, and keep on truckin’ day after day until you feel better. Keep your mind open to change, and do your best to see the positive side of things. Practice gratitude whenever you remember to. Exercise is always helpful, I think because it forces us to replace thoughts of despair and impotence with the experience of pushing forward despite those feelings.

 

Exercise your compassion muscle and it gets stronger and stimulates all the emotions around it.  In other words, fake it until you make it. Go hang out with some animals.

[itiscomplicated]

On 10/16/2022 at 4:20 PM, Cauliflower said:

I am schizophrenic, but I don't know how to not rely on Seroquel I don't know what to do. I can't heal with and without it. I would love to taper off this, but it's been like 9 years in this drug.

 

I know that in the Netherlands, they have worked on offering medication-free treatment. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03499080

 

In Vermont, there's an inpatient long-term program called Inner Fire where they assist people in coming off or reducing medications as much as possible.

[Cauliflower]

I tapered and bad news, I relapsed and hallucinated... I wish I didn't do it. I'm returning back to Seroquel after being on Haldol.