Kindledboy123: hello everyone

[Kindledboy123]

Hello everyone, hope you are having a good day. My name is David i am 33years old and i have 17 year history of intermittent alcohol and drug abuse (cocaine, marihuana). I have also been using sertraline for 7 years (for my alcohol problem) which i stopped cold turkey in 2017 (without major issues). My current problem is that i was abusing Xanax for alcohol withdrawals last 2,5 years in high doses and from January 2022 daily in doses between 2-8mg. I stopped Xanax CT on 3rd May alongside with alcohol and cocaine for 6 weeks and reinstated on 30mg Valium under doctors (addiction specialist) supervision. She tappered me way too fast from 30mg to 0,5mg in 2.5months and i was in a terrible terrible shape left with 90+ symptoms. I also developed a paradoxical reaction to Valium and could not updosed so i decided to jump. After 3 days i was having visual halucinations and was totally disoriented on top of my 90 + symptoms, so my mother drove me to psych ward, because i was living alone and she was scared because i could't take careof myself any longer and lost almost 90 pounds in 5 months. I was in psych ward for 7 weeks where they have put me on 375mg of Seroquel and 750mg of depakote. They stabilised me and lot of my symptoms improved. I am nowhere near healed, i still still have about 20-30 ongoing symptoms. I was severely kindled by intermitent Xanax and alcohol usage and mostly with my reinstatement, where every dosage drop was harder than my CT experience. I am alcohol and drug free for 6+ months and benzofree 8+  weeks. I know now, that my only chance to get out of this mess and have a normal life is to abstain from all drugs and meds for the entire life. I am here for support, and tapering advices for meds that they have put me on psych ward. I am also offering support to anyone suffering from withdrawals or any other crisis.

I hope we are all going to make it and have a normal life without such an undesrcibeable suffering. Stay strong.💪

(Sorry for my english it's not my first language)

[Kindledboy123]

Seroquel ingerdose withdrawal

 

Hello i would like to ask if there is a possibility that i am having an interdose withdrawal from quetiapine, because  I was perscribed 375mg of Q on psychward to calm down benzo withdrawal alongside with depakote. My dosage schedule is 08:00-25mgQ+250mgD 12:00-25 mgQ 19:00-25mQ+500mgD and 21:30 300mgER . I started to notice, that everyday arround 17:00 i am experience chills heightened anxiety and jitteryness. After my 19:00 dose it calms down significantly. I would like to began taper as soon as i will be more stable but right now i am not. I think i am a fast metaboliser because i also had to take valium 3 times per day because of interdose withdrawals. So my current dosage is 375mg per day. I woul like to spread the doses evenly during the day every 8 hours 125mg to stabilise. Do you think this will help me to stabilise? I know i have underlaying benzo withdrawal still going on but i want to reduce the antipsychotics as soon as possiblebecause of possible toxicity. Also could i switch to imediate release 3 times per day for better taper? Thank you very much. David

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by ChessieCat
added Intro topic title before merging with intro topic

[Kindledboy123]

I also want to add i think i have a bit of paradoxical reaction after my 21:30 dose of Seroquel, because almost everynight i wake up in a panic attack between 23:00-23:30 like a clockwork. Also my sleep on seroquel is full of nightmares and sleep paralysis. So i would like to find a suitable dosage and schedule before i start to tapper. Thabk you very much

[Shep]

Hi, Kindledboy.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants. 

 

It looks like you're making great progress in getting off these drugs and away from alcohol. And I'm glad you're wanting to stabilize and find a good dosing schedule before tapering. All of these things will work to your favor.

 

On 11/14/2022 at 3:27 PM, Kindledboy123 said:

Hello i would like to ask if there is a possibility that i am having an interdose withdrawal from quetiapine, because  I was perscribed 375mg of Q on psychward to calm down benzo withdrawal alongside with depakote. My dosage schedule is 08:00-25mgQ+250mgD 12:00-25 mgQ 19:00-25mQ+500mgD and 21:30 300mgER .

 

What type of quetiapine are you taking? You have 300mgER listed - is the ER for "extended release"? If you're taking extended release, you shouldn't have interdose withdrawal from the 300 mg pill. However, the 300 mg pill is acting differently than the 25 mg pills, even though it's the same drug.

 

Let me explain - at doses over about 150 mg, quetiapine acts on dopamine. On the lower doses, quetiapine, acts on histamine. The lower doses can be more sedating for a lot of people. Because you're taking 25 mg and 300 mg pills, it's like you're taking two different drugs because of how these different doses work. The 300 mg pill is an antipsychotic and the 25 mg pill is an anti-histamine type drug. 

 

You mention not wanting to taper yet, which is smart. But I'm going to leave you some links to read over for when you are ready to taper:

 

Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

Tips for tapering off sodium valproate and valproic acid (divalproex sodium, Depakote, Depakene)

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

On 11/15/2022 at 6:12 AM, Kindledboy123 said:

I also want to add i think i have a bit of paradoxical reaction after my 21:30 dose of Seroquel, because almost everynight i wake up in a panic attack between 23:00-23:30 like a clockwork. Also my sleep on seroquel is full of nightmares and sleep paralysis. So i would like to find a suitable dosage and schedule before i start to tapper. Thabk you very much

 

It could be a paradoxical reaction or you may be getting an adverse reaction. Please see this report about drug interactions between your two drugs:

 

Drug interaction report - quetiapine and depakote

 

I would separate when you take them by at least 2 hours. This will help with any potential interactions. 

 

What we need:

• Please let us know if you're on extended or regular release tablets for your two drugs. 
• Please let us know if you're taking any other drugs or supplements.
• Please set up a signature. Here is how: 

          How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. 

[Kindledboy123]

8 hours ago, Shep said:

Hi, Kindledboy.

 

Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants. 

 

It looks like you're making great progress in getting off these drugs and away from alcohol. And I'm glad you're wanting to stabilize and find a good dosing schedule before tapering. All of these things will work to your favor.

 

 

What type of quetiapine are you taking? You have 300mgER listed - is the ER for "extended release"? If you're taking extended release, you shouldn't have interdose withdrawal from the 300 mg pill. However, the 300 mg pill is acting differently than the 25 mg pills, even though it's the same drug.

 

Let me explain - at doses over about 150 mg, quetiapine acts on dopamine. On the lower doses, quetiapine, acts on histamine. The lower doses can be more sedating for a lot of people. Because you're taking 25 mg and 300 mg pills, it's like you're taking two different drugs because of how these different doses work. The 300 mg pill is an antipsychotic and the 25 mg pill is an anti-histamine type drug. 

 

You mention not wanting to taper yet, which is smart. But I'm going to leave you some links to read over for when you are ready to taper:

 

Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

Tips for tapering off sodium valproate and valproic acid (divalproex sodium, Depakote, Depakene)

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

 

It could be a paradoxical reaction or you may be getting an adverse reaction. Please see this report about drug interactions between your two drugs:

 

Drug interaction report - quetiapine and depakote

 

I would separate when you take them by at least 2 hours. This will help with any potential interactions. 

 

What we need:

• Please let us know if you're on extended or regular release tablets for your two drugs. 
• Please let us know if you're taking any other drugs or supplements.
• Please set up a signature. Here is how: 

          How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

Please continue to use this thread to document your taper and to ask questions. 

Hi, thank you very much for your response and for your clarification about seroquel doses, and how they affect different receptors. Yes as you wrote i am taking two different tablets of quetiapine. The 300mg ER is the extended release version and i am taking it before bed at 9:30 pm. And 25mg is instant release and i am taking 3x 25mg troughout the day.I am feeling like that 300mg dose is too much for me, because of that adverse reaction which manifests with nocturnal panic attacks, nightmares, hypnagogic halucinations and sleep paralysis. You said it could be due to interaction with depakote, but i am taking depakote at 7:00 pm which is 2 and half hours apart from my quetiapine dose.Even when i took my nigh dose at 11:00 pm these adverse effects still occur. I have discussed it with my psychiatrist and she suggested to lower the 9:30pm 300mg ER dose to 200mg ER dose and raise my daytime doses (8:00 am 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm ) from 3x25mg to 3x 50mg. That would be total of 350mg Seroguel daily (200mg ER +150mg IR) instead of 375mg daily (300mg ER + 75 mg IR) which i am taking right now. So that could be also a first drop in my taper journey which is less than 10 % decrease in daily dose. But i am not sure if this is how it works because of different mechanism of action of different quetiapine doses. Thank you very much for your time.

David

 

 

 

 

[Shep]

1 hour ago, Kindledboy123 said:

I have discussed it with my psychiatrist and she suggested to lower the 9:30pm 300mg ER dose to 200mg ER dose and raise my daytime doses (8:00 am 1:00 pm and 7:00 pm ) from 3x25mg to 3x 50mg. That would be total of 350mg Seroguel daily (200mg ER +150mg IR) instead of 375mg daily (300mg ER + 75 mg IR) which i am taking right now. So that could be also a first drop in my taper journey which is less than 10 % decrease in daily dose. But i am not sure if this is how it works because of different mechanism of action of different quetiapine doses.

 

You're exactly correct about the different mechanisms of action having an effect. I would look at it as having two different drugs.

 

Do the 25 mg pills make you feel uncomfortably sedated during the day? If not, you may want to concentrate on getting to a lower dose with the 300mg ER pill. But I wouldn't take a 33% reduction in dose from that and make up for it by increasing the 25 mg dose to 50 mg. It's possible the increase in the histamine-level of Seroquel may not cover the withdrawal from the dopamine-level Seroquel. 

 

1 hour ago, Kindledboy123 said:

You said it could be due to interaction with depakote, but i am taking depakote at 7:00 pm which is 2 and half hours apart from my quetiapine dose.

 

Which drug do you think is more helpful for sleep? The reason I ask is because we try to preserve sleep, meaning we recommend coming off the most sedating drugs last. Please see:

 

Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first?

 

If you feel that reducing the 300mg ER dose of Seroquel is best, please read this post in the "tips for tapering off seroquel" thread, as it explains what is involved in the ER formulation:

 

tips-for-tapering-off-seroquel-quetiapine

 

Please set up a signature. Here is how: 

 

How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature

 

I don't want to give too much information about your next steps without knowing your history, as your history may bring up other factors to consider. So when you have time and energy, please go ahead and set up your signature. 

[Kindledboy123]

19 minutes ago, Shep said:

Do the 25 mg pills make you feel uncomfortably sedated during the day? If not, you may want to concentrate on getting to a lower dose with the 300mg ER pill

I am sedated a bit during the day but it is not so horrible. You are right that i want to focus on tapering my 300 mg ER dose first, but this is a little bit complicated because my psychiatrist would perscribe me only 200 mg ER tablets and additional 25 mg tablets which are instant release. What i have red from your link about tapering Seroquel is that due to matrix formulation of the ER tablet it is not possible to cut the tablets because they became instant release once you break them. So what are my options righ now? I have 300mg ER tablets 200mg ER tablets and 25mg IR tablets and i really would like to lower that 300 mg ER night tablet because of adverse effects. 

 

31 minutes ago, Shep said:

Which drug do you think is more helpful for sleep? The reason I ask is because we try to preserve sleep, meaning we recommend coming off the most sedating drugs last

I think the Seroquel is sedating me much more than depakote but it has nasty side effects like nocturnal panic attacks nightmares sleep paralysis and hypnagogia. I really would like to taper the Seroquel first, before touching the depakote also because of possible extrapyramidal side effects and dopamine receptor upregulation. I am now sleeping more than 10 hours a night (even if the sleep is broken)and it is difficult for me to wake up because of oversedation from my nightime dose.

 

38 minutes ago, Shep said:

I don't want to give too much information about your next steps without knowing your history, as your history may bring up other factors to consider. So when you have time and energy, please go ahead and set up your signature

I set up the signature already,hope it is going to be understandable. 

 

Thank you.

[Shep]

On 11/22/2022 at 6:15 AM, Kindledboy123 said:

I am sedated a bit during the day but it is not so horrible. You are right that i want to focus on tapering my 300 mg ER dose first, but this is a little bit complicated because my psychiatrist would perscribe me only 200 mg ER tablets and additional 25 mg tablets which are instant release. What i have red from your link about tapering Seroquel is that due to matrix formulation of the ER tablet it is not possible to cut the tablets because they became instant release once you break them. So what are my options righ now? I have 300mg ER tablets 200mg ER tablets and 25mg IR tablets and i really would like to lower that 300 mg ER night tablet because of adverse effects. 

 

 

You could take 200 mg ER and three of the 25 mg IR pills at night, for a total of 275 mg. 

 

This is from the tips for tapering off Seroquel thread:

 

On 9/27/2012 at 9:19 PM, Altostrata said:

For more precise tapering, you may wish to take part of your dose in the immediate-release form, which comes in a 25mg dosage that you can cut up, and from which you can make a liquid (see below). (Generally, when you mix two types of tablets, for insurance coverage the prescription will need to be written for divided doses.)

 

You can cut up the 25mg immediate-release tablet in quarters or halves, enabling you to taper by 6.25mg or 12.5mg at a time. When you reach a daily dosage of 60mg, you may wish to use a liquid form to maintain a 10% rate of taper based on the last dosage.

Note that if you cut up quetiapine XR or switch your entire dose from the extended-release form to the immediate-release form, you may need to take a half-dose twice a day or make other dosage adjustments up or down according to your reactions.

 

Please post your thoughts. Do you want to try taking 200 mg ER and three of the 25 mg IR pills at night, while keeping your daytime dosages the same? 

 

You would only have 200 mg ER in your system long-term, so it may be a bit bumpy until your system acclimates. But since you're sleeping 10 hours a night, you may feel better with less of this drug, especially if the paradoxical reaction decreases. 

[Kindledboy123]

4 minutes ago, Shep said:

Please post your thoughts. Do you want to try taking 200 mg ER and three of the 25 mg IR pills at night, while keeping your daytime dosages the same? 

Hello Shep, yesterday i took 200mg er at night plus 25mg ir in one dose just to see what will happen. I dindt slept perfect, there were some nightmares but had a solid 7 hours and at morning i took my regular dose 25 mg and at lunchtime i took also my regular dose 25mg. I feel pretty well, i would say better than yesterday. My dp/dr and fatigue is definitely better and also my mood is elevated. My morning anxiety was little higher but after 25 mgs it subsided. So right now i see more benefits in general with lowering my dose from 300 to 225 without taking any extra dose during the day. If things are going to be rough later, I would take an extra 25mg at the evening. Maybe i will handle bigger cut since i am on seroquel only 9 weeks,but we will see. In case if i would not, i will take more at night as you said maybe 250 or 275mgs, but so far so good. Thank you very much for your advices and very usefull information about tapering. I will definitely write an update tommorow how things went.

Sincerely David

[Kindledboy123]

Hello, I am second day on my lowered dose from 375mg Quetiapine to 300mg dosed 25mg IR morning 25mg IR lunch 25mg IR evening and 200mg ER +25mg IR at night and so far i am very positively surrprised. I slept without nightmares or other complications 8 hours. I woke up without my typical morning anxiety and my mood during the day was best in 2 weeks, but not in a manic way,but calm and optimistic for the future. I havent noticed any major symptoms from my cut just a little bit of nausea but very mild. I hope it is going to be like this and it will not get worse, but since seroguel's short half life i hope that it is not going to be so bad. Anyway i wil stay on this dose at least for 2 weeks to be sure. My next cut will be those 25mgs IR that iam taking alongside my night 200mgER dose. I know my drop was a bit higher than recomended 10 percent but so far i can see only benefits. I would definitely not rush the rest of the taper i just needed som action because of that adverse reaction that i was having from night time 300mg dose which i think was a little bit too much for me. Anyway thank you for support i am going to track my symptoms and post updates. 

Sincerely David

[Shep]

17 minutes ago, Kindledboy123 said:

Anyway i wil stay on this dose at least for 2 weeks to be sure. My next cut will be those 25mgs IR that iam taking alongside my night 200mgER dose.

 

I would throw away the calendar, Kindledboy. It's important not to rush this. You're already feeling better, which is good, but it's too soon to tell if there are any withdrawal symptoms. 

 

At some point, the withdrawal symptoms may be worse than the adverse reaction, so letting go of the mindset that you must reduce in 2 weeks is best. This will allow you to move in a much more mindful manner, allowing your symptoms to dictate your taper. Remember, withdrawing from psychiatric drugs is a marathon, not a sprint. 

 

As you point out with your username, you may already be dealing with kindling. Kindling comes from large and / or abrupt changes made to a hyper-sensitive nervous system.

 

By allowing yourself the time to recover due to the improvements of this first reduction,  you can set yourself up for a more solid baseline for the reminder of your taper. Please keep posting updates and let us know how you're doing. Hopefully you'll get even more improvements from this reduction.

 

 

[Kindledboy123]

7 minutes ago, Shep said:

 

I would throw away the calendar, Kindledboy. It's important not to rush this. You're already feeling better, which is good, but it's too soon to tell if there are any withdrawal symptoms

Sure this is only a minimal timeframe that i will not touch my dosage whatsoever. It is not definitely set that after 2 weeks i am going to reduce the dose. I might seem a bit unpatient and i think it is due to positive outcome from my dose reduction, but i know i definitely dont want to shock my nervous system and i will very carefully consider when to make another cut. But anyway thank you for your input it is very rational and i will keep it in my mind to not make any rushed decision. 

David

[Shep]

1 minute ago, Kindledboy123 said:

I might seem a bit unpatient and i think it is due to positive outcome from my dose reduction, but i know i definitely dont want to shock my nervous system and i will very carefully consider when to make another cut.

 

Thanks for writing this, Kindledboy. I was getting concerned about you, but it sounds like you are being mindful and careful. 

[j1290]

Hi, Kindledboy!  

Reading your intro, sounds like you've been through it.  Congratulations on being off the alcohol and benzos!  

I can relate to being very affected by the side effects.   Best thing I did was find the AD Withdrawal Checklist on this website and print it out and keep track of my side effects daily.  It really helped me make sense of everything, and be able to plan out when I want to taper next, what to expect, keep track of taking my 3 x day doses, all that stuff.  

 

I also hear you about wanting to reduce after 2 weeks.  One of the hardest things I had to do was sit on my hands and ride out a whole month after reducing 10% the first time.   I thought it was unnecessary and way too long, but I did it so I would at least have one month worth of AD Withdrawal Checklist journaling to have some data to work with.   I thought I could reduce again after 5 days or something like that, I didn't know the whole system of how you heal behind the scenes over that whole month, or at least that's how it worked out for me.   

 

Not gonna lie, I'm still impatient, but I know if I go too fast and have a crash again, then it'll really set me back.  Slower is faster, at least in my case.  

 

Hang in there, l enjoy reading your story, please post often!

[Kindledboy123]

48 minutes ago, j1290 said:

Congratulations on being off the alcohol and benzos!  

Hi J, thank you very much. It's been the most difficult thing i had to endure in my whole life. I could never ever imagine such a traumatizing process. I guess you know what i am talking about. But the most frustrating thing is when doctors don't believe you and trying to label you with different missdiagnoses. Also the window and wave pattern of healing is very frustrating and it may also affect your point of view and could lead to rushed decisions. So as you said it is very helpful when you track your symptoms daily. I am doing it right now and sometimes i am surprised when i am reading notes from past weeks. Your statement about collecting as much data as you can is really smart. 

 

48 minutes ago, j1290 said:

I also hear you about wanting to reduce after 2 weeks

I would like to make a symptom based taper and i just set the minimal timeframe to decide what to do next. Maybe you are right that it is not enough because i am having ongoing benzo withdrawal on top of my Seroquel taper. So your idea to wait a month makes sense. 

 

48 minutes ago, j1290 said:

Not gonna lie, I'm still impatient, but I know if I go too fast and have a crash again, then it'll really set me back.  Slower is faster, at least in my case.  

Yea i am impatientient sometimes, i have always been. But when i was tapering benzos i thought when i would jump i would be medfree. Instead of that i ended up with 2 new meds because of  severe withdrawals. So that is why i feel stuck sometimes. I need to learn patience a bit more and post like yours an Sheps surely helps so thank you for your advice. 

 

48 minutes ago, j1290 said:

Hang in there, l enjoy reading your story, please post often

Thank you very much hang in there too, if you will need anything you can PM me anytime. I will try to post as often as i can, but i would like to not to focus on my withdrawals as much because distratcion helps me to get trough this process.

[j1290]

1 hour ago, Kindledboy123 said:

But the most frustrating thing is when doctors don't believe you and trying to label you with different missdiagnoses. Also the window and wave pattern of healing is very frustrating and it may also affect your point of view and could lead to rushed decisions.

I can't even imagine what it was like to try and process all of that.   I don't know how you did it!  Really glad to hear you're keeping a journal.  I never thought to do it before and it's been such a giant help.   

 

1 hour ago, Kindledboy123 said:

I would like to make a symptom based taper and i just set the minimal timeframe to decide what to do next. Maybe you are right that it is not enough because i am having ongoing benzo withdrawal on top of my Seroquel taper. So your idea to wait a month makes sense. 

I hear you.   I'm far from an expert.  Personally, I thought that once I started feeling better physically after a few days to a week or so, then I could start another taper.  This led to me crashing last year LOL  What I've read from someone much smarter than me on here, is that even though I may physically feel OK, there's repairs being made in my brain/central nervous system behind the scenes.  My experience has matched this.  After around 8-10 days of a reduction I don't feel physically weird so much, but for the next 2 or 3 weeks I get a bunch of emotional highs and lows while everything is getting fixed in my body.   I heard its a good idea to pause for an extra month every 6 months, just to be really solid and steady and avoid a crash.   I figure I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  

 

That said, it took me around a year to figure out what works for me, and it was scary as hell because I was so bent out of shape with side effects and foggy thinking.  

 

1 hour ago, Kindledboy123 said:

Yea i am impatientient sometimes, i have always been. But when i was tapering benzos i thought when i would jump i would be medfree. Instead of that i ended up with 2 new meds because of  severe withdrawals. So that is why i feel stuck sometimes. I need to learn patience a bit more and post like yours an Sheps surely helps so thank you for your advice. 

Oh my gosh, I can only imagine the WD from Benzos!   Everything I've read is that they're absolutely savage to get off of.   

I find going slow to be very frustrating, but honestly I'm glad I had voices here to tell me to do it or else I'd have to learn the hard way as usual.

 

2 hours ago, Kindledboy123 said:

I will try to post as often as i can, but i would like to not to focus on my withdrawals as much because distratcion helps me to get trough this process.

I think you're really smart about this.  The less I worry about withdrawal symptoms the better off I am.  Cheers!

[Kindledboy123]

Hello, i would like to add an update about how am i doing. So the last two days were a bit bumpy. I entered a window wave stage and my symptoms are fluctuating trough the course of the day. I had some very pleasant windows lasted for few hours and also some unpleasant waves of nausea and DP/DR but in general i think it is pretty manageable. I thought it would be way worse. It is a bit difficult to distingusih between symptoms from my recent cut and ongoing benzo withdrawal but i think the only symptom that is new is the nausea. So i am holding my dose and waiting for nausea to settle down and will wait to stabilise as much as possible before considering to take a next step. It is the day 5 from my cut and eventhough i am experiencing some withdrawal symptoms i am optimistic and can see also lots of benefits from lowered dose.One thing that i noticed is that i had to follow my very strict healthy diet,because food can still trigger waves and i can feel it more than before my recent seroquel cut. 

David

[Shep]

You may find some help for the nausea here:

 

Digestive problems: nausea, diarrhoea, bloating, GERD

 

What to do for dizziness, queasiness, nausea

[Kindledboy123]

Thank you very much

[Kindledboy123]

Hello, I am here to add an update about last 3 days. So I am very glad that my nausea subsided. I feel more like myslef than before cut. I think the dose that they put me on at hospital was little bit too much and therefore i can see almost positive effects only, from lowering my dose. I have more energy,my mood is better and cognitive functions improved also.I am going for a walk at least 2 hours per day. I spent some time with my family yesterday and also they told me that i looked more alive and i enjoyed it a lot. I sleep 8-9 hours a day. I have some wild dreams and I am waking 2 or 3 time a night but that is due my ongoing benzo withdrawal i think. I am only 2 and a half months post jump so it is normal i guess. I think i am doing relatively fine compared to other benzo surrvivors and i am very gracefull for that. Anyway i am going to take it slow and steady and going to hold on my current dose of Quetiapine for 3 weeks minimum. Recently i applied for part time job as a food courier so i want to be as stable as possible and i would like to  take care of myslef in a finacial way, because i was without job for 8 months already and i am running out with my spendings. I am going to taper the Seroquel safely and would like to remain functional. So thank you very much for support and i will add an update maybe in a week or so. 

Wish you all the best.

Sincerely David

[Shep]

Wonderful update, @Kindledboy123 Very glad to read you are doing so well. 

[Kindledboy123]

Hello everyone, I am here to add an update about how am i doing. So last 2 weeks were busy and I almost forgot about benzo withdrawal and seroquel tapering.  I started new job as a food courier and that was the best thing I could done because I was no longer obssesed with every little withdrawal symptom and my days went super fast wich was great. I also spent some time with my family and I had a great time visiting my grand parents. I havent seen them since my benzo withdrawal started. Everything went very well until yesterday. I woke up with severe anxiety so I tried meditation and breathing techiques. It helped a little but the anxiety is now coming in waves troughout the day alongside rapid mood swings, muscle pain, tinitus, vision disturbances and lot of my good old benzo withdrawal symptoms. So i am in a wave right now and there is nothing i can really do about it just accept it, take rest and use my coping skills to ride it out. I am not discouraged, because i know it is nonlinear process and it's going to end. There is still much healing need to be done and that's just the way it is. At least i can work whenever I want because i am working trough a mobile application as a self employer so i don't have strict working schedule. So I am taking a break from delivering food until my symptoms settle down. I plan to work during my windows and to rest during the waves. I am holding my current doses of Seroquel 300mg and depakote 750mg and not considering to make another cut anytime soon.

Stay strong.

David

[j1290]

Hi David!  Congrats on the job.  I know myself how nice it can be to lose myself in work while this process works.  

 

Things are bumpy at the moment, I just wanted to let you know your post really helped me today.  Stay strong, and looking forward to your next update!

[Kindledboy123]

13 minutes ago, j1290 said:

Hi David!  Congrats on the job.  I know myself how nice it can be to lose myself in work while this process works.  

 

Things are bumpy at the moment, I just wanted to let you know your post really helped me today.  Stay strong, and looking forward to your next update!

Thank jou J. I am glad that it helped a little bit. You got this and I hope it will settle down soon. Hang in there.

[Shep]

Excellent update, @Kindledboy123

[Kindledboy123]

Hello everyone, sorry for not posting in a long time but i had a very very rough time recently. Things started to get really difficult and i developed a sever physical akathisia from my seroquel dose almost over night. Tried to slowly decrease my dose which first helped, but after about week after reduction the akathisia creeped back in. So i had to reduce further but every time i reduced the dose akathisia came back with a vengance after some time. So when i reached 50mg of Seroquel i stayed on this dose for month but the akathisia was unbearable and getting worse so i decided to jump off Seroquel completely. First week was really dificult but then things started to improve. Akathisia improved dramatically. Right now i am 12 days Seroquel free. I am experiencing some withdrawals symptoms on and off, like extreme itching, sneezing, cold sweats, nausea, some anxiety, shivering,depression,depersonalization, mood swings, vision disturbances and some other symptoms but it is much better than that awful akathisia that i experienced when i was still on Seroquel. I  really hope that the akathisia will not come back. Anyways i am glad that i survived a relatively rapid seroquel taper. I am still not healed from benzo withdrawal completely and i am still on 500mg of depakote 250morning and 250evening. But i am very greatefull that i have been able to jump off that evil drug Seroquel that gave me terrible terrible akathisia. My plan is to stabilise as much as i can even if that will take 6 months or more and then slowly wean off depakote as well. But right now i dont feel any negative side effects from my depakote pills so i really dont want to rush it. I want to add this wasn't my plan at all. I wanted to slowly taper Seroquel to avoid complications but my body an nervous system just cannot stand that Seroquel anymore. Stay strong.

PS: My psychiatrist was clueless and she told me it is very rare to develop akathisia from second generiation antipsychotics and doses below 200mg and she tried to convince me that it is just a anxiety despite i was experiencig wierd bodily sensations that urged my limbs to move. But she also told me that Seroquel doesnt have withdrawal symptoms so after theese experiences with several psychiatrists and adictions specialists which rapid tapred me off Valium then put me on Seroquel and depakote and tried to add lots off other psych meds I am officialy done with all kind of mental health doctors. I was in a bad shape when i seeked hepl first but after their advices and medications my shape was much worse. I hope that one day theese doctor will be qualified enough to help people safely wean off psych drugs instead off make more harm to them.

[Shep]

20 hours ago, Kindledboy123 said:

My plan is to stabilise as much as i can even if that will take 6 months or more and then slowly wean off depakote as well. But right now i dont feel any negative side effects from my depakote pills so i really dont want to rush it. I want to add this wasn't my plan at all. I wanted to slowly taper Seroquel to avoid complications but my body an nervous system just cannot stand that Seroquel anymore.

 

I'm glad you're feeling better, Kindledboy. It's possible the depakote may help with the rapid taper off Seroquel. Holding for a number of months is a good idea. Sometimes withdrawal symptoms can be delayed with these drugs, so hold onto the Seroquel just in case you need a tiny dose to reinstate. Hopefully that won't be necessary.

 

Please keep us updated over the coming weeks and check in before making any other reductions if you want feedback.