rphill: Need help/advice about stopping my medication.

[rphill]

Hello my name is Robert and i am new here.

 

I have been on Seroquel/Mirtazapine for close to 3 months now and i have been having a horrible time with them.

My situation at the moment is kinda odd...I just moved to the coast 2 months ago and have no doctors here, and i cannot

seem to be able to find myself a doctor. The walk in clinic doctors refuse to even tough my medication.

 

The side effects that i am having are mostly heart related.

-arhythmias

-Irregular pulse

-weird dull/sometimes sharp pains on my left arm. mostly the tip of my pointer finger and arm muscles

-Horrible repeating vivid nightmares(which i am stuck in and cannot seem to wake myself out of)

-I am confused most of the day

-My memory seems shot - My room mates bring up conversations that i have had with them only

hours earlier that i have 0 memory of and its rather unsettling.

-I am starting to see double in my eyes (EVEN when one is closed)

 

At nights when i try to get to sleep after taking my 2 pills seems to be when it gets to be horrible.

I have the pains in my arm and chest and really odd acting heart. It beats heavy and irregular missing

beats then adding some. my pulse seems to be vary high considering i am just laying in bed.

 

I really don't know what to do other then try and seek out some help on cutting off these pills. I don't

know if i should just cold turkey these or slowly drop them or what will happen if i cut them off. I cannot

wait to find a doctor and walk in clinics refuse to help me. Please any advice will help a lot.

 

thank you in advance.

[Jemima]

First of all Robert, I moved your post here to the Introductions and updates discussion because it's your first post telling us about yourself. When you want to comment further on your situation, please locate this topic and scroll to the bottom of the page where you'll find an "Add Reply" button. This way your Intro becomes a journal of your progress through withdrawal.

 

I'm not sure what your symptoms mean, so I hesitate to tell you what to do. Please keep trying to find a doctor even if it means going to the ER to be seen. We generally advise people to taper off of one drug at a time at a rate of no more than 10% a month, but given your symptoms it may be necessary for you to get off faster, especially since you've only been on the drugs three months.

 

Why were you given these drugs in the first place? Are you supposed to take them at the same time? I was once prescribed Remeron for sleep, so I took that at night, but the antidepressant, Lexapro, in the morning. Maybe taking both drugs together is just too much of a drug load at one time, but I'm not a doctor and I don't know that for certain. (I also had horrid, vivid dreams from Remeron).

 

I'm going to notify our administrator, Altostrata, of your problem. If anyone can help, it's her, so hang on.

[Altostrata]

Hello, Robert, welcome.

 

Did you have any of these symptoms prior to taking Seroquel or mirtazapine?

 

Did you start taking Seroquel and mirtazapine at the same time? If not, at what point did you develop these symptoms?

 

Are you taking these two drugs for sleep problems?

 

What are the dosages you are taking?

 

These two drugs can interact in a dangerous way, see

http://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1640-0,1979-1274

 

Here is FDA prescribing information about mirtazapine: http://www.drugs.com/pro/mirtazapine-tablets.html

 

About Seroquel: http://www.drugs.com/pro/seroquel.html

[rphill]

Thank you Jemima for the reply.

 

I'm 25 years old and have been suffering major depression/anxiety for around 10years now. I never tried to get help until last year when

i fell apart and was forced to receive some help. I have tried over 5 or so different Depression/Anxiety medications with little to know benefit

from the pills so far. At the moment my issues are not getting any better but getting increasingly worse. Since i have starting anti-depressants

my memory and ability to understand situations have been slowly failing. I am no longer able to work or live a normal functioning life.

 

I have found even though i have been on all these medications my moods have been swinging from perfectly normal half the day to crying myself

to sleep the other half to 2-4 days laying in my bedroom depressed. I have no idea what is happening to me or how to really explain what i am feeling

but i can feel my body slowly getting worse.I already have high blood pressure before starting these pills, but now my heart seems almost randomly beating

with no real pattern. I can be sitting at my computer and my heart will start heavily beating and skipping beats and odd pains randomly in my left arm. These

symptoms started when i started mirtazapine/quetiapine.

 

Before i moved from Golden B.c. to the coast i asked my doctors about this and even asked if i could stop these pills due to how they made me feel.

They told me to give the pills more time and that the pain in my arms and chest were from panic attacks. The last month or so i have had these pains

ALL day long and they worsen when i try to lay down to go to sleep(so does the heart rate/arhythmias).

[Altostrata]

Robert, did you start Seroquel and mirtazapine at the same time? What dosages are you taking?

[rphill]

Hello, Robert, welcome.

 

Did you have any of these symptoms prior to taking Seroquel or mirtazapine?

 

Did you start taking Seroquel and mirtazapine at the same time? If not, at what point did you develop these symptoms?

 

Are you taking these two drugs for sleep problems?

 

What are the dosages you are taking?

 

These two drugs can interact in a dangerous way, see

http://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1640-0,1979-1274

 

Here is FDA prescribing information about mirtazapine: http://www.drugs.com/pro/mirtazapine-tablets.html

 

About Seroquel: http://www.drugs.com/pro/seroquel.html

 

I have had high blood pressure before starting these pills but not the irregular heart rate/arhythmias that i do now.

 

I started both the medications at the same time.

 

I am taking these two drugs from depression/anxiety and sleep problems also for panic attacks.

 

Mirtazapine 30mg

quetiapine 25mg

[Altostrata]

Robert, we usually recommend a 10% per month taper.

 

However, if I were you, I'd reduce the mirtazapine by a quarter of a tablet (25%) as soon as possible, see how you do, and prepare to taper by 10% at a time after that.

 

I am thinking your adverse effects will be reduced as the dosage is reduced. It seem you might be very sensitive to the effects of either or both drugs.

 

According to the FDA information I posted above, both of these drugs are not good for people with high blood pressure, etc.