aries19835: Tapering off seroquel

[Shep]

Thanks so much Shep, you are helping me also.  I have horrible visuals, as I wake up, and sometimes if I wake up in the night.   Clear, clear images, that are not there.  Or images of simple things, in my mind, as I wake up, and they cause me instant panic.    I have terrible trouble motivating,  like I just cant do simple things,  as it is just a panic, to even think of damn making the bed.  How absurd!

 

At the present time, I will stick to the 10% reduction,  I can get 25mg pills.   I also get compounded pills, but they come in sets of 100. Expensive,  but I have found I need it to be very accurate dosages.       I will get 6mg ones next,  So I have presently remaining 18mgs,  15mgs,  and with a batch of 6mgs,  and the 25mg pills hopefully will see me through.

 

Interesting you said not to jump at 6mg,  Thankyou for that advice.  I think I will need 2mg compounded pills later down the track. Thanks again Shep.

 

 

Your welcome, Ang. Glad to help.

 

And I'm happy to see you sticking to the 10% reductions, especially if you're having visuals. 

[aries19835]

Down to 100mg today.

[scallywag]

Fantastic!  Great work on reaching that milestone.

 

Your dose on May 27 was 175 mg.  Now 3 ½ weeks later, you've cut to 100 mg. That may be too fast and putting you at risk of severe withdrawal symptoms before long. How do you feel about holding at 100 mg for 4-6 weeks to allow your body to catch up with the dose?

[aries19835]

If i feel any symptoms I will hold still. But I have yet to experience any withdrawal symptoms so far.

[Altostrata]

Hello, aries. You have to give it time for withdrawal symptoms to appear. If they're on the way and you continue to reduce, you'll make them worse.

 

scallywag is suggesting an observation period after that big cut. With luck, you'll get away with it. But after that, you should really make smaller decreases. Once Humpty Dumpty falls into withdrawal symptoms, it's very hard to put them back into the shell.

[mammaP]

I couldn't have put that better than Alto! When withdrawal shows up it means your brain is now struggling to keep up, and could take a while to stabilise again which then slows you down and a fast taper turns into one twice as long as it would if you went slow with lots of suffering along the way. 

[JanCarol]

Hey aries - usually by the time the withdrawal symptoms hit - then you are in crisis.  I have 2 friends in hospital right now due to too-fast seroquel tapers (and life situations).

 

The end result is, they have been put on more neuroleptics, that they will have to taper later.

 

The slower you go, the better chance you have at success.  Believe me, we want you to succeed, as it is heartbreaking to see someone go into full blown withdrawal.  Once the symptoms come out, it is much harder to fix.

 

If you are not having symptoms now, that is the best time to slow down to ensure your success.

[aries19835]

no sign of withdrawal symptoms yet, good sign

[Shep]

It is a good sign, Aries.

 

I'm most concerned about this piece of your history here:

 

 

My current symptoms are delusions. My sleep has never been a problem except for when I was on generic abilify which kept me up at times. Maybe slightly down about life at times. I get delusional after sleep, because I don't think logically when sleeping, so that might carry over to when awaken. Therefore I get delusional. But then these drugs make me even more delusional when I try to get off of them. 

 

 

 

Your own history is giving you clues. Please listen. Don't listen to any delusions or thoughts that are telling you to rush this. That's simply not in your best interest because it's very common for insomnia to hit as you're coming off antipsychotics. And Seroquel is notorious for this. After all, it's a drug that's massively over-prescribed as a sleep aid. 

[aries19835]

Tapering to 87.5mg 7/8/16

[aries19835]

no withdrawal symptoms so far.

[Shep]

Good to hear, aries. Please keep us updated. 

[aries19835]

recently got a job, so will only taper to 75mg so that I won't have any withdrawal effects during work.

[Shep]

Congratulations on the new job, aries. Best of luck to you. I hope this really helps with your withdrawal.

[Shep]

Hi, aries. How are you doing? How is your new job going?

 

Sending healing vibes your way. I hope the new job and the taper are going well.

[JanCarol]

Hey Aries, as someone who just watched 2 seroquel crash-and-burn withdrawals in my personal life, please please slow down.

 

Please hold at a convenient dose.  Please be prepared to take 100 mg (that's 1/2 a 200) for awhile?  Like 6 months?

 

I say convenient, because it's easy to split a pill in half, right?  Just hold there, please?  I'm worried about you.

 

 

Please, don't push it.  

 

The desire to rush your taper is a symptom of Neuro-emotion.

 

I know, I know, you say you have no symptoms.  But you are dealing with a particularly nasty, tricky drug.  It has a way of sneaking up on you, and then, all those fast tapers can come crashing down at once.  Please consider updosing to a "convenient size" (like 100 mg) and HOLD there for at least 6 months.

 

THEN if you tell me you are symptom free, I'll be happy to support further reductions.  What you are doing now is scary for me, and I know this stuff.  How scary, then, is it for your family, which doesn't know this stuff?

 

Please hold at your current dose, or consider updosing to an easy-to-make dose (like 100 mg) for at least 6 months.

[JanCarol]

Here's an excellent article from Alex, whose own journey included antipsychotics:

 

Six Mistakes I've Made In Withdrawal

[JanCarol]

Hey Aries - you might enjoy the TED talk and manifesto on this page - https://www.schizofreniebestaatniet.nl/english/

 

a new way to think about your "diagnosis" - as a cluster of symptoms, and focus on managing the symptoms, instead of slamming a big, heavy diagnosis on it.

 

He says in the TED talk that there is a phone app, and that if you can train your brain when you are young (like you) you have the best chance of developing the skills you need to thrive later in life.

[aries19835]

I am turning into gemini one moment battling trying to stay sane, next moment doing nothing dreaming.

[Altostrata]

aries, how much Seroquel are you taking now? Please stop tapering, your postings have become incoherent.

[aries19835]

getting insomnia not sure what to do I landed in the hospital and is currently on 325 mg seroquel trying to taper again.

[scallywag]

What do you think about holding steady at 325 mg for 2 or 3 months, aries?

[aries19835]

I want to get down to 200mg if possible before anything. 325 mg is too high a dosage for me. I was able to taper down to 87.5mg before I started getting insomnia last time.

[JanCarol]

Aries, keeping a taper slow and steady is for the purpose of keeping you out of hospital.

 

Hospital is damaging to your self esteem, and your healing journey, and it's dangerous because they usually want to give you new drugs.

 

Please, your videos have been hidden for graphic and violent content.  Our members are all suffering, and there are other forums where you can rant and rave and post these painful feelings in music and prose.  Start a blog.  

 

This is a place of healing, please be gentle on other members.  When you are upset, do you want loud music and horror images?

 

All the moderators are volunteers.  I do this because I am so angry at the way people are drugged into mindlessness, that is it a small way to work out my anger, and maybe help people.  Yes, we collect cases here - but if you are worried about that, why continue to post here?  We collect these cases in the hopes that doctors will take interest in learning about withdrawal, and have 1000's of case studies to back up our views.  Unfortunately, not many doctors have visited to learn about what really happens with the drugs they prescribe.

 

So - you are in hospital now?  You will need to stabilise on whatever they give you - and start thinking about support and toolkits and Non Drug Techniques for Coping with Emotional Symptoms.  You are an excellent candidate for CBT or ACT therapy.  You will need something, some skills, some techniques, some distractions, if you ever want to succeed at tapering.

 

Please let us know how you are going, and update your signature if they change your drugs or dosages.

[Shep]

I want to get down to 200mg if possible before anything. 325 mg is too high a dosage for me. I was able to taper down to 87.5mg before I started getting insomnia last time.

 

 

Keep in mind that insomnia may not manifest right away, so a drop from 325 mg down to 200 mg may cause massive problems unless done slowly and over time. Also, remember the "kindling effect" that these drugs have, making each withdrawal more difficult than the last:

 

Limbic Kindling -- Hardwiring the brain for hypersensitivity

 

 

Aries, please be smart about this. You come across as bright and articulate when you're not showing signs of delusions. I'm on your side here. We all are. We all want to see you succeed. 

 

But your impulsive need to escalate your taper is causing your set backs. As Jan so wisely said, the hospital is damaging to your self esteem and it's dangerous because it involves higher doses. You were lucky because you didn't end up on an injectable form of an antipsychotic, so you have the option of a taper that's under your control. So this is fixable, but it's up to you to play it slow and smart so you'll succeed this time. Please don't make this any worse but rushing it. 

 

How many hours are you sleeping now? Please keep us updated with symptoms, as that's the only way we can help you out of this. 

[aries19835]

what the european warned america about? why they colonized america and tried to spread its religion. The child. rihgt. Without a child you have no future.