JohnBrodie: Tapering from 25mg Quetiapine/Seraquel

[JohnBrodie]

Hey all! I've been on Seraquel for almost 2 years, most of it at 100mg. I began slowly tapering December 2022 1/4 of 25mg pill ( 6.25mg) every 2-3 weeks. 

In the early stages, I had a lot of the common issues of itchy skin and some sleep disturbances but all went ok until I dipped under 25mg.

 

I went 25mg --> 18.75mg and still was mostly ok but the drop from 18.75mg to 12.5mg has been the hardest and last night, I had zero sleep.

 

I realise that as my medication gets lower, the % drop gets bigger as its always been a 6.25mg drop.

 

The plan is, from tonight , to go back to 25mg and stabilise for 2-3 weeks and then start a slow water taper!

I shall be looking through the group threads for ideas how to do the water taper and any other pieces of wisdom, successes and warnings.

 

Happy to be here :)

[Altostrata]

Welcome, @JohnBrodie

 

We advise a much more gradual taper schedule, see Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

As your symptoms got worse when you decreased from 18.75mg to 12.5mg, if I were you, I'd go back to 18.75mg. It may take some time to stabilize. Please let us know how you're doing. 

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

[JohnBrodie]

24 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Welcome, @JohnBrodie

 

We advise a much more gradual taper schedule, see Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

As your symptoms got worse when you decreased from 18.75mg to 12.5mg, if I were you, I'd go back to 18.75mg. It may take some time to stabilize. Please let us know how you're doing. 

 

To help us out, follow these instructions Please summarize your drug and withdrawal history in your signature You may need to use a computer to do this.

 Thanks for the advice. I have gone back to 25mg and yes, will return to 18.75mg in a few days. At this stage, still deciding whether to do a water taper or just weighing and taking off small pieces- I have the mg budget weighting machine many refer to in posts here. Clearly, I will need to graduate between 18.75mg and 12.5mg.

 Is my signature clear enough? Thanks again.

[Altostrata]

Yes, thanks for your signature.

[JohnBrodie]

Hey all. I have some questions and haven't found definitive answers by searching here.

 

1) Does Seroquel dissolve sufficiently in water? I have read that it's mildly soluble so would I let it dissolve an hour or so before my nightly dosage and then shake/agitate it before taking off my taper?

The problem of crushing the tablet is there seems to be a certain amount that will be lost in transference, unless it was crushed in a pestle and mortar and the water was actually added to the mortar?

2) I am piecing together how to do a water taper. Some say use 25ml for 25mg so that 1ml is equal to 1g. I have read outside this forum that people dissolving it in 100ml. That, I suppose, might get more precision in tapering ( knowing its x 4)

 

I read that some suggest there is a period of transferring from tablet to liquid ( 3/4 1/4, 1/2 1/2  1/4 3/4), each stage 3-5 days. This seems sensible in case there is any issues of withdrawal symptoms from the transfer.

 

This is a great forum and I hope to seem some knowledge and experience from those tapering from 25mg of seroquel

 

[Altostrata]

This topic will answer many of your questions Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

[JohnBrodie]

3 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

This topic will answer many of your questions Tips for tapering off quetiapine (Seroquel)

 

 

Thanks again! I've followed that link a few times and some of the links within haven't given me the information - I shall try again and I note that a lot of it is from you! Thanks