NB2019: trying to get off quetiapine / Seroquel

[NB2019]

Hi everyone. Glad I found this site. I have been on 200 mg daily of lamotrigine and 150 mg daily of quetiapine for the past 3 years. It worked great the first couple years to treat depression and BP3. About 3-4 weeks ago I talked to my physiatrist and we decided to taper me off the quetiapine by 50 mg a month until being off of it. About 2.5 weeks ago I was overcome with anxiety and depression that is still effecting me as I write this. It has kept me from exercising and working. I did not even consider that my depression and anxiety were from the taper until I found this website today. I have been quite dumbfounded because my diet has been healthier and cleaner than it's ever been and everything in my life is going really well (no major stressors). Did me tapering too quickly from 150mg per day to 100mg cause me to feel anxious and depressed?? Thoughts? 

[ChessieCat]

Hi NB2019 and welcome to SA,

 

I'm glad you have found the site too.  Unfortunately the majority of medical professionals know little to nothing about tapering and withdrawal issues from psychiatric drugs.  That is why this site exists.

 

Yes, if the issues arose after reducing the drug, then it is withdrawal symptoms.  You have made a 33% reduction.  Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

 

SA recommends tapering by no more than 10% of the previous dose followed by a hold of about 4 weeks to allow the brain to adapt to not getting as much of the drug.  Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

If the withdrawal symptoms are unbearable then you can updose a small amount.  Please do not go back on the last dose you were taking.  It will probably be too much because your brain will have already made some adaptations during the time you have been on the lower dose.  You might find that taking an extra 5mg (no more than 10mg at this time) might help to take the edge off the symptoms.  It is better to start with a small updose than to risk taking too much.  It takes about 4 days for a dose change to get to a steady level in the blood and a bit longer for it to register in the brain.  You might feel some improvement in the first couple of days.  If after 1 week you find that the symptoms are still unbearable you could increase your dose by another small amount.  Please read Post #1 of this topic which is relevant to updosing as well:   About reinstating and stabilizing to reduce withdrawal symptoms  

 

During this time you will need to remain patient, calm and as stress free as possible.  When we panic we can make bad decisions.  Some members have panicked in similar situations and taken too much drug and it has made them unstable and has taken them a long time to stabilise, which is why I am urging you to be patient.

 

The idea of updosing isn't to get rid of the withdrawal symptoms completely but to bring them to a bearable level.  After stabilising, which might take 2 to 3 months you can then taper following SA's protocol.

 

You will need to keep daily symptoms notes so that you can see how the updosing is affecting your symptoms.  When you feel awful, you can sometimes miss the small improvements that are happening.

 

This topic explains how to get the dose you need:   Tips for tapering off Seroquel (quetiapine)  

 

Video:  Healing From Antidepressants - Patterns of Recovery

 

Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

 

This is your own Introduction topic where you can ask questions about your own situation and journal your progress.  Please let us know what you decide to do and how things go.

[ChessieCat]

Understanding what is happening can help us to recognise the signs in our body and we can use techniques to calm ourselves before it gets too far.  We have to be careful that we don't get caught up with the second fear, or fear of the fear.  The more we understand it the less scared we are of the feelings and sensations in our body.

 

We strongly recommend learning and using Non-drug techniques to cope 

 

Audio:  First Aid for Panic (4 minutes)

 

The diagram in this link shows what happens in the body when we are anxious:  https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/anxiety.htm

 

Anxiety Stuff - all kinds of stuff about anxiety attacks and things that help ...

 

On 4/28/2017 at 4:03 AM, brassmonkey said:

 

AAF: Acknowledge, Accept, Float.  It's what you have to do when nothing else works, and can be a very powerful tool in coping with anxiety.  The neuroemotional anxiety many of us feel during WD is directly caused by the drugs and their chemical reactions in the brain.  Making it so there is nothing we can do about them.  They won't respond to other drugs, relaxation techniques and the like.  They do, however, react very well to being ignored.  That's the concept behind AAF.  Acknowledge, get to know the feeling involved, explore them.  Accept, These feelings are a part of you and they aren't going anywhere fast. Float, let the feeling float off as you get on with your life as best as you can.  It's a well documented fact that the more you feed in to anxiety the worse it gets.  What starts as generalized neuroemotinal anxiety can be easily blown into a full fledged panic attack just by thinking about it.

 

I often liken it to an unwanted house guest.  At first you talk to them, have conversations, communicate with them.  After a while you figure out that they aren't leaving and there is nothing you can do to get rid of them.  So you go on about your day, working around them until they get bored and leave.

 

It can take some practice, but AAF really does work.  I hope you give it a try.

 

 

[ChessieCat]

When you get a chance please create a drug signature using the following format.  Keep it simple (NO diagnoses or symptoms please - thank you):

• details for last 2 years - dates, ALL drugs, doses
• summary for older than 2 years - just years and drug/s

Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature

[NB2019]

ChessieCat

 Thank you for the quick response. 

If I knew I was experiencing these WD systems as soon as I tapered down I would consider a slight up dose. However going through 2.5-3 weeks of WD already do you think I should just tough it out til I stabilize? Then start the 10% taper method from there? 

[ChessieCat]

The only known way to reduce the withdrawal symptoms is to updose.  If you don't updose you may feel the way you do at the moment for several months or withdrawal symptoms might get worse.  I CTed citalopram and felt really great for a few months and then was hit with withdrawal flu.  I didn't know that was what it was until I joined SA.  The withdrawal symptoms were delayed.

 

After my CT I ended up on Pristiq.  A few years later I reduced my dose from 100mg to 50mg and experienced extreme cog fog for 2 weeks where even walking took all of my concentration.  At the end of the 2 weeks I was unable to type.  I've been a typist for 40+ years so knew something was really wrong.  Thankfully I had joined SA a few days before this happened and they had suggested taking extra Pristiq.  I did that and about 4 hours later I could type again and the brain fog was lifting.  After stabilising I have been tapering following SA's suggested protocol and I'm now down to 5mg.  During my tapering I only experience mild withdrawal symptoms.  They sometimes increase during times of stress.

 

You are still in the good time period to updose and it working.  The longer you leave it the more uncertain it gets.

 

On 8/31/2011 at 5:28 AM, Rhiannon said:

When we stop taking the drug, we have a brain that has designed itself so that it works in the presence of the drug; now it can't work properly without the drug because it's designed itself so that the drug is part of its chemistry and structure. It's like a plant that has grown on a trellis; you can't just yank out the trellis and expect the plant to be okay. When the drug is removed, the remodeling process has to take place in reverse. SO--it's not a matter of just getting the drug out of your system and moving on. If it were that simple, none of us would be here. It's a matter of, as I describe it, having to grow a new brain. I believe this growing-a-new-brain happens throughout the taper process if the taper is slow enough. (If it's too fast, then there's not a lot of time for actually rebalancing things, and basically the brain is just pedaling fast trying to keep us alive.) It also continues to happen, probably for longer than the symptoms actually last, throughout the time of recovery after we are completely off the drug, which is why recovery takes so long.

 

AND

 

are-we-there-yet-how-long-is-withdrawal-going-to-take

 

[NB2019]

😳 😳 I did get a fever and flu like systems about a 1-1.5 weeks after tapering. 

[ChessieCat]

I got an upset stomach that I thought was a tummy bug, but now think it was withdrawal.

 

Dr Joseph Glenmullen's WD Symptoms Checklist

[Carmie]

Hi NB, 

 

How are you doing? Did you end up updosing?

 

Please let us know how you’re doing, sending hugs🤗