Annette: Tapering off quetiapine / Seroquel

[Annette]

I am diagnosed with Bi-Polar II. In January 2017 I was prescribed 50 mg/day of QUEtiapine. May dosage was increased to 100mg/day; and September increased to 200 mg/day. I’ve been suffering severe side effects to include skin rashes, chronic fatigue, insomnia, shin splints, significant weight gain, and change in food tastes and smells. I told my Physiatrist I wanted to change my medication so he prescribed me Aripiprazole 5mg/day. After researching this drug, I quickly realized its in the same family of anti-psychotic drugs with the same if not worse side effects. I took it at bed the first night I purchased the prescription and experienced a frenzy night of insomnia; tossing and turning all night in a bed of soggy sweat. I’ve decided to not take the Ariprazole and instead, taper myself off the QUEtiapine and off anti-psychotic drugs in their entirety. I’m going to attempt to taper in a shorter period of time than what is recommend on this site. I will start with 175 mg/day for 5 days and if all goes well will continue tapering down every 5 days.

Edited May 24, 2018 by Petunia
reduced font size for easier reading

[Petunia]

Welcome Annette,

I'm glad you found us and decided to share your situation, you will find a lot of friendly help and support here.

 

Sorry to hear that Quetiapine has caused a lot of unpleasant side effects, unfortunately this is quite common with these kinds of drugs and tapering off or lowering the dose is often a good decision.

 

When did you start taking Zoloft? Was this before your bi-polar diagnosis?

 

I can understand your desire to speed up your taper, but you may be risking even worse withdrawal symptoms. We suggest reducing by no more than 10% of the current dose every 4 weeks, this reduces the risk of withdrawal symptoms arising. Please read through this which will explain why:

  

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?  (The general philosophy of gradual tapering) 

 

At what dose did the severe side effects start? You might be ok with a faster taper until you get down to a lower dose, but please consider slowing down if withdrawal symptoms begin to arise. One of the problems with fast tapering anti-psychotic medications is even if you didn't experience psychosis before, fast tapering can cause these events to occur. This puts you at risk for hospitalization and being given more drugs.

 

Here is our Quetiapine tapering topic for easy reference:  Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)

 

Are you also planning to taper off Zoloft?

 

Please could I ask you to reduce the size of the font in your signature, its very difficult to read the way it is.  I have reduced the size in your main post, but only you have access to your signature. It would be helpful if you would do this. Thank you.

 

You can use this thread as your ongoing journal to track progress, write about symptoms, ask questions and communicate with the community, add to it whenever you want. Its a good idea to bookmark it or follow it, so its easy to find again. 

 

Please stay in touch and let us know how you are doing.

 

Petunia.

[Annette]

Hello Petunia, 

 

Thank you so much for reaching out to me. I spent hours reading the forums including the Why taper by 10% of my dosage? and Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine). After much reading and research, I discussed all the pros/cons with my husband and we agreed we would try for the rapid tapering. You mentioned above that when I get to a lower dosage, I might consider staying on it longer than what I've been doing during my tapering. In January of 2017 my Doctor first prescribed the Seroquel for 50mg/day; then in May of 2017 he prescribed 100mg/day, followed by 200mg/day in August of 2017. All-in-all, I feel like I haven't been on the drug for as long as other individuals in this forum, and am hoping this will contribute to a successful rapid tapering. 

 

I've actually been tapering off Seroquel for the last couple weeks. I'm staying with the rapid tapering. Right now, I am taking 100mg/day versus my original prescription of 200mg. I haven't had any bi-polar episodes and no depression. My side effects are not apparent EXCEPT FOR ONE;  once I started tapering, I've had insomnia every night when going to bed. It's not bad on the weekends as I can typically catch up with my sleep by sleeping in, but during my work week it is absolutely killing me.  I've been using TEMAZEPAM 30 MG (CAP), as a sleep aid, and it worked great when I was taking my 200mg of Seroquel, but now that I'm down to 100mg, it's not working at all. The result is I am a walking zombie and have missed the last 2 days of work due to my chronic fatigue as a result of my insomnia. I'm going to call my GP today and see if there is a different sleep med he can prescribe to see if that will work. I don't plan on going off my Zoloft. I've been on it for years and tolerate it quite well. My last BiPolar episode was 2016 - 2017 when I was the sole caretaker of my Mother who had Parkinsons and of whom passed away unexpectedly in Feb of 2017. I basically had a 1 1/2 year of not being in this reality and my grieving was the worst I've experienced. I finally got out of the fog in January of this year and have had no bi-polar symptoms. Once I taper completely off Seroquel,  I will never allow my doctor to prescribe me a anti-psychotic again !!

 

Regarding my Signature, I can't seem to find the edit button to lower the font size. I can see where I can edit my profile, but not my signature. Can you advise? Thank you again for all your great advice and interest.

Annette

 

Edited June 7, 2018 by ChessieCat
deleted unnecessary quoted post

[ChessieCat]

Hi Annette, and welcome to SA from me too,

 

Here is the direct link to your signature:  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature