noearthlyfamily: micro taper schedule off of Seroquel for dummies chart or table?

February 19, 2019

Yes, the emotions do become un-numbed and yes, it means that all memories, good and bad can return. If I have a bad one return that I've already dealt with I just think, no, I've been over that before and I don't need to go back there again. And I remind myself that I can't change the past. And when it comes back again, rinse and repeat. I've found that eventually it doesn't affect me as much emotionally. I suppose it's a bit like exposure therapy.

February 19, 2019

exposure therapy...i can get down with that!

what a great analogy.

rinse and repeat. lol my new mantra 😉

February 19, 2019

2 hours ago, noearthlyfamily said:

rinse and repeat

I've pinched it from other mods 😊

February 20, 2019

On 2/17/2019 at 5:09 AM, jozeff said:

So I created a spreadsheet for tapering your Seroquel.

Maybe the mods can check it and approve it so that you have some sort of guideline to start tapering.

any questions? Let me know.

Open in Excel or OpenOffice.

cheers

jozeff

Seroquel taper.xls

hey Jozeff,

i hope work is going good so far this week "it's humpday!!" 😁

so i get my 50ml flask today, got my syringes and taped up the barrels yesterday...

but i was wondering if i could alter the dates on my spreadsheet to have me begin my microtaper a little later since i'm still having a few symptoms from switching over to the partial liquid titration, part dry pill of my dosing regimine? i was not stable last weekend either, and feel i may still be trying to stabilize from that. i do feel much improved, just not back to my "normal" yet...

would that throw a wrench into things if you adjusted my start date for say a week or two from now? instead of right now it says 2/20/2019... come to think of it, it seems like everytime i open it and look at it the start date is updating itself to the current day...am i doing it wrong?

thanks again

February 20, 2019

i tried to find the right forum to post this searching sexual side effects or SSRI and it gave me 87 pages in one search! how daunting that there's so many suffering in just this one area!

well this isn't really sexual, but it is a side effect in the area of the body where the sex organs are so...

anyways, i want to know if anyone else has had this happen during SSRI (quetiapine in my case) tapering or withdrawals.

it is a "itchy" or almost like a mild pins and needles sensation on the external skin of the genitals, not the labia proper, and it's NOT from an infection or "dry skin", and it occurs only where the hair follicles come out of the skin. also there are little tiny spots for lack of a better term "blood blisters" that are so tiny they aren't raised like blisters or sores but rather beneath the skin, it looks almost like there are teeny spots of trapped blood like if you accidentally pinch your skin between something and it doesn't quite break the skin? little blood spots. and they disaappear on their own, lasting at most a couple or 3 days, usually 1 day or 2. i asked the gyno dr and she had no clue! she first said try this clotrimazole cream (thinking yeast infection) but i knew it was not and have no typical female itching of that kind that goes with a yeast infection, plus it's not in the mucosal area, it's external where the hair follicles are. and it is not an allergy to the sheets or laundry soap or softener or any of those, i ruled them out one by one at the beginning. it is not "mites" or anything parasitical...it is a nerve sensation and for some reason the weird blood spots collecting at the base of the follicles.

what in the world???

it went away for a little while during my hold before i resumed my taper this year. i'd been holding for 5 months to be as calm as possible over the holidays. but shortly after resuming the taper this january, the sensation and little blood spots resumed. it's not painful, but maddeningly distracting sometimes.

it's also not bedbugs, lol i thought omg no but thank god we are free of those.

one other thing i noticed, it is much more noticeable of i shave the area, and not as bad if i let the hair alone.

is it possible for the sensation of hair growing through the follicles to cause this in a hypersensitized nervous state? and what would cause the blood spots to come and go?

sorry if this is TMI, but i have no one else to ask, my dr is baffled and you guys are my best chance of solving this.

February 20, 2019

Hi noearthlyfamily,,

Thanks for your messages. It has been a busy week so far. A lot of things to do at work and busy at home. I work full-time and I have an 7 year old boy and my wife is 30 weeks pregnant.

I think you decided write to order the flask and syringes. This might come on handy in the future. You are right about spreadsheet. The date changes to the current date Everyday. So if you actually start tapering you will have to fixate the date to that day.

Good to hear you have seen some improvements. It's all about stability. I had been fluctuating quite a lot in 2017 and this caught up on me. I was prey desensitized or at least not very happy with my medication. I have been on exactly the same dose now for half a year.

I'm planning on doing exactly the same taper as you. Only I am taking citalopram. It is indeed 2.5% microtaper method. It is almost the same as the 10% method but uses smaller steps by weekly lowering the dose by a little amount.

It takes a couple of years to finish your taper this way but it is far better to feel ok and still taking your meds and decreasing them than to rapidly stop taking medication and feel great for a few weeks and then boom.... couple of years of misery.

Take it slow, that's the main thing I have learned in the last year.

Good luck and happy tapering!!

Jozeff

February 20, 2019

3 minutes ago, jozeff said:

Hi noearthlyfamily,,

Thanks for your messages. It has been a busy week so far. A lot of things to do at work and busy at home. I work full-time and I have an 7 year old boy and my wife is 30 weeks pregnant.

I think you decided write to order the flask and syringes. This might come on handy in the future. You are right about spreadsheet. The date changes to the current date Everyday. So if you actually start tapering you will have to fixate the date to that day.

Good to hear you have seen some improvements. It's all about stability. I had been fluctuating quite a lot in 2017 and this caught up on me. I was prey desensitized or at least not very happy with my medication. I have been on exactly the same dose now for half a year.

I'm planning on doing exactly the same taper as you. Only I am taking citalopram. It is indeed 2.5% microtaper method. It is almost the same as the 10% method but uses smaller steps by weekly lowering the dose by a little amount.

It takes a couple of years to finish your taper this way but it is far better to feel ok and still taking your meds and decreasing them than to rapidly stop taking medication and feel great for a few weeks and then boom.... couple of years of misery.

Take it slow, that's the main thing I have learned in the last year.

Good luck and happy tapering!!

Jozeff

omgoodness that is a FULL PLATE!! https://www.thebump.com/pregnancy-week-by-week/30-weeks-pregnant as big as a zuchinni!

bless you n your blooming family Jozeff, they are precious as you are to them .

do you know yet if you're gonna have 2 sons or one of each? that's exciting but must be stressfull too

i am glad you agree about the stability #1 thing. sounds like you learned that the hard way. i respect ya even more then.

i don't mind going slow, i prefer it, especiallyif it means i can finish this thing (tapering) instead of reinstating and never tapering at all. you're my "Beaker of Hope" you know like Beaker from the muppets? hehe

okay so when i get ready to do the microtaper how do i fixate the date to that day when i get there?

February 20, 2019

wow, i think i just figured it out... :rolleyes:

feeling kinda dumb right now since i just posted this question and an hour later i think i have the answer DERP!!

well, a hypothesis/theory anyways...

so i was shaving my legs in the shower and thought "well how come my legs don't itch where the hairs grow out of the follicles there then? and how come no "blood spots" or pins and needles sensation either?"

and i guess it was an epiphany or moment of clarity or something cause the next thing i thought was "circulation. not sensation."

so i feel the itchy/pins and needles sensation most after i've been asleep for awhile or upon waking, and when i've been sitting in my chair at the computer desk for awhile. first clue. 🔍
and the blood spots, coming and going, only at that point where most of my blood vessels (also nerves but for this argument we're going with blood vessels) are concentrated on my body. second clue.🔎
and i don't feel the sensation when i go for my walks/speedwalks or exercise. third clue.🔍

what if my problem isn't so much the "hairs growing thru" but rather the lack of circulation of blood from being inactive while lying down after several hours and especially before waking ...and when sitting with all my weight compressing those tiny bajillion blood vessels so the blood kinda ruptures the weakened cellular walls, especially since i'm post menopausal and my tissues are much thinner now, like micro-varicose spots? basically, what if it's just like when your foot goes to sleep...only it's my hoohah going to sleep? 💡...maybe i just need to get off my butt and exercise/get the blood pumping?

i feel so dumb.

but why couldn't my gyno tell me that? grrr!

okay so if it is this simple and not some SSRI related genito/sexual side effect, then i have my solution, get off my behind and move it move it

but if it doesn't improve, i'm sure i'll be back here looking for answers again. guess we'll know in a week or 2 lol.

this has been an announcement from the Weird Paranoid Symptoms Broadcasting System. we now return you to your regular programming.

February 21, 2019

...only it's my hoohah going to sleep?

Well if nothing else your post has given me a little giggle and they are few and far in-between at the moment. So thank you for that!

But I do hope you solve the mystery.

Could it be another example of the many ways these drugs have played havoc on our poor minds and bodies 😥

February 21, 2019

Nevertoolate i'm so glad i gave you a giggle!

well, if anything it is motivation to quit being sedentary. i hope it is circulation lol

congrats on being off Lexapro since 7/2018!!!

February 21, 2019

😘

February 25, 2019

omg i just found out that my quetiapine has a half life of 6 hours...

so i take my 68.75 mg dose at 8pm and by about 4 am i wake up in withdrawals... no wonder i can't sleep and have bad stomach cramps/growling when i get up!!

i'm already in withdrawal waiting for the next dose which doesn't come for another 18 hours (8pm dose , 6 hours to half life at 2am, then withdrawals until 8pm the next day!!)

https://youtu.be/QH0V59P73sA How Antidepressants Really Work: A Scientific Explanation

so what i'm gonna do...unless yall think this is a bad idea...is divide my total daily dose that i usually take at 8pm, and take half of it, and save the other half in the frige for the next morning and take it at 8am.

do yall think this is prudent? if not please guide me!

has anyone else had experience with short half life drugs and making more frequent doeses in the day to offset the crash that occurs after the half life is reached?

i suppose i need a totally new spreadsheet now...since my daily dose is going to be cut in half.

and eventually, i may want to divide my total daily dose of quetiapine into 3 doses, since that is easier to manage than 4 even doses 6 hours apart.

with 3 doses i could do 8AM, 2PM, and 8 PM as my dose times and sleep through the night without getting up to take a dose and upset my sleep cycle.

plese comment if you think this makes sense or if you tink it's a terrible idea!

thx again everybody

February 25, 2019

We will need to see a few days of daily symptom notes.

Example:

6 a.m. Woke with anxiety
8 a.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
10 a.m. Stomach is upset
10:30 a.m. Ate breakfast
11:35 a.m. Got a headache, lasted one hour
12:35 p.m. Ate lunch
4 p.m. Feel a bit better
5 p.m. Took 2.5mg Lexapro
6 p.m. Ate dinner
9:20 p.m. Headache
10:00 p.m. Took 50mg Seroquel
10:20 p.m. Feeling dizzy
10:30 p.m. Fell asleep
2:30 a.m. Woke, took 3mg Ambien (NOT "took 1/2 tablet Ambien")
2:45 a.m. Fell asleep
4:30 a.m. Woke but got back to sleep

February 25, 2019

okay ChessieCat you got it. will start tonight!

also..i just earched half life of gabapentin and it is 5-7 hours!! so i need to take divided doses of it as well as the quetiapine...i am so mad that my dr's never told me this! no wonder my symoptoms are all over the place every day!

2/24/2019 SUNDAY

8 AM woke up well-rested, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement w/Greens One Daily, Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

8:30 am fed my dogs, felt groggy

12 pm took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

3 pm. ate pasta with tomato sauce

3:30 pm walked 1 and 3/4 miles

5 pm showered, felt hungry still and craving chocolate

7:30 pm took 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, took 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg , 300mg oral progesterone

7:45 pm bought chocolate bar, very nervous, moody

8-9:30 pm went to NA meeeting and ate 1/2 chocolate bar, hungry, still craving, vision problems/blurry, sleepy

10 pm got on computer for research and discovered half lives of quetiapine and gabapentin, became furious that my dr's didn't warn me, furious that i've been in withdrawals every day for years w/out knowing it

12 AM drank water, ate 1/2 chocolate bar, headache, insomnia/manic kind of feeling where i can't sleep wide awake but tired, stayed on computer

2 AM stomach churning, craving carbs, yawning, bachache, weird throat muscle spasm, still on computer

2:30 am vision issues/blurry, made 4 pieces of toast with jam

4 AM went to bed

Edited February 26, 2019 by ChessieCat
removed quote

February 25, 2019

Don't change anything until after we have got 3 days of symptom notes.

February 25, 2019

Well, here you go.

Sending with hugs from the Netherlands;)

Cheers

Jozeff

schema noearth.xlsx

February 25, 2019

1 hour ago, jozeff said:

Well, here you go.

Sending with hugs from the Netherlands;)

Cheers

Jozeff

schema noearth.xlsx

hugs back from Texas!

thanks Jozeff you're the best ; )

i noticed the new sheet has my taper off of quetiapine ending in sept. 2025 instead of may 2022...why the 3 extra years if i'm just cutting the same dosage amount into 2 equal daily doses?

did this spreadsheet use a different formula? the math looks weird...

February 25, 2019

Wow, let me check the stuff.

The rate hasn't changed so I have to check things first!

You're welcome btw...if I didn't have time or if I didn't like messing around with numbers I really wouldn't do this so don't worry;) I calculate all sorts of stuff for my wife as well...

Cheers

Jozeff

February 25, 2019

Just now, jozeff said:

Wow, let me check the stuff.

The rate hasn't changed so I have to check things first!

You're welcome btw...if I didn't have time or if I didn't like messing around with numbers I really wouldn't do this so don't worry;) I calculate all sorts of stuff for my wife as well...

Cheers

Jozeff

yeah but she's your "Honey with a honeybun in the oven!" lol

so i feel very privileged for even a little of your time. lol now i'm picturing a honeybun as your lil baby on the way! haha

well in case you don't have the first brass monkey schedule you made me anymore, the one for once a day, here it is

2100911161_Seroqueltaper.xls

February 25, 2019

You are right noearth!

Use the new schedule instead. The old one jumped from 1.23 to 0.29 mg for some odd reason (check it out yourself). You wouldn't have noticed until 2022 but still..

The new one is correct. My brother in law made some macros and formulas for me in Excel.

It is a careful taper as developed by brass monkey. Perhaps you can go faster but I would try this method first.

Better safe than sorry.

February 25, 2019

2 minutes ago, jozeff said:

You are right noearth!

Use the new schedule instead. The old one jumped from 1.23 to 0.29 mg for some odd reason (check it out yourself). You wouldn't have noticed until 2022 but still..

The new one is correct. My brother in law made some macros and formulas for me in Excel.

It is a careful taper as developed by brass monkey. Perhaps you can go faster but I would try this method first.

Better safe than sorry.

wait so..i'm sorry but which one is the actual correct brassmonkey slow microtaper...the one ending in 2022 or the one you made me last that ends in 2025? wich one should i follow? the new one you made for 2 doses a day (the one that has me dissolve both the 50mg and 25mg pill in water then taking out my ml doses)ends in 2025... or the first one you made that was once a day, dissolving the one pill but taking the other one whole dryends in 2022?

February 25, 2019

Don't worry, I like trying some Excel stuff.

Did you try www.taperoff.co

Someone's husband created that and it's an amazing tool. Even more amazing than my sheet😉😉

The spreading of doses 1 hour apart, then 2 hours, 3 hours ...until 12 hours apart is absolutely not my idea. I picked it up from altostrata I believe.

Your body can get used to taking one daily dose to taking two. Don't know if it is necessary but again.....better safe than sorry.

February 25, 2019

The one that ends in 2025 is the correct one!!!!

The one I attached last week has an error in it when approaching 1.23 mg.....

Your taper will indeed take 5 or 6 years. This is correct according to brass monkey slide method.

I know that is a looooong time but after all those years on meds we should be very very careful.

February 25, 2019

1 minute ago, noearthlyfamily said:

wait so..i'm sorry but which one is the actual correct brassmonkey slow microtaper...the one ending in 2022 or the one you made me last that ends in 2025? wich one should i follow? the new one you made for 2 doses a day (the one that has me dissolve both the 50mg and 25mg pill in water then taking out my ml doses)ends in 2025... or the first one you made that was once a day, dissolving the one pill but taking the other one whole dryends in 2022?

ohhh...there i see the error on that first spreadsheet now...whooo i woould've felt that cut lol!

February 25, 2019

58 minutes ago, jozeff said:

The one that ends in 2025 is the correct one!!!!

The one I attached last week has an error in it when approaching 1.23 mg.....

Your taper will indeed take 5 or 6 years. This is correct according to brass monkey slide method.

I know that is a looooong time but after all those years on meds we should be very very careful.

sigh, yeah rather go it slow than mess it up. i'll go delete the original error one from my sig aor about me pages so nobody mistakenly uses it lol

i wonder how many 25mg and 50 mg pills i would need to have enough for a 6 year long taper?

February 25, 2019

406 pills of 50 mg

2135 pills of 25 mg

February 25, 2019

Well, it's bedtime in the Netherlands so I wish you all the best. I hope I don't dream about tapering anything 😙😙

February 25, 2019

3 minutes ago, jozeff said:

406 pills of 50 mg

2135 pills of 25 mg

well i guess i'll be making those dr copays for awhile then, lol!

February 25, 2019

2 minutes ago, jozeff said:

Well, it's bedtime in the Netherlands so I wish you all the best. I hope I don't dream about tapering anything 😙😙

night dear friend Jozeff!

thank you for all your trouble, you saved me from making mistakes!

thank your wife for me, i appreciate the loan of your time ; D

February 26, 2019

7 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

Don't change anything until after we have got 3 days of symptom notes.

okay got it...well here's day 2 (today)

also important UPDATE: i have been forgetting to put "clenched jaw" in my symptoms because it is such a common thing for me now i forget i'm doing it until i get a bad headache. it's daily, most noticeable in the hours preceding my 8pm even dose of 0.5mg clonazepam, 900mg gabapentin, and 68.75mg quetiapine. it's also a symptom that i had prior to being put on clonazepam for the anxiety caused stomach ulcer. i was having headaches for clenching my jaw and tummy hurt/growling from overproduction of stomach acid. so now those symptoms are coming back.

2/25/2019 MONDAY

8:00 AM woke up tired, growling tummy, dull headache, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement w/Greens One Daily, Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

8:05 AM fed my dogs, growling tummmy, dull headache, felt groggy went back to bed

12:26 AM drank water, filled out my symptom log

1:10 PM tried to do math in my head/with calculator but brain not working

1:20 PM hungry feeling but nausea

1:30 PM filled bird feeder outside

3:10 PM ate large sweet potato, realized i forgot my noon dose, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

3:20 PM got sunlight on my face

3:45 PM called a couple people from NA meeting to check on a ride

4:45 PM yawning, feeling sleepy

5:20 PM got ready for NA meeting

6 PM NA meeting, felt more relaxed, laughed a bit

8 PM mixed quetiapine solution, headache, jaw clenching a bit

9:15 PM took 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, took 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg , 300mg oral progesterone

9:40 PM pain behind eyes, headache

10:05 PM took shower, unmotivated to do chores

10:37 PM blurry vision, eyes tired

11 PM yawning,sleepy

11:35 PM back pain in L4-L5 vertrebal space (prior injury)

11:52 PM feeling stoned/drunk /dizzy when standing, munchies/cravings

12:02 PM ate vegan mandarin chick'n with white rice

12:06 PM hunger gooing away, headache receding

12/10 PM went to bed

February 27, 2019

any success stories tapering off of quetiapine for 20 years?

i tried to find the quetiapine longterm use success stories coming off of seroquel/qutiapine but got lost

can someone point me the right direction?

THANK YOU in advance!

February 27, 2019

Please go to the Introductions forum and use search for "quetiapine" or Seroquel. You will be able to see the experiences of others. You may want to follow their Intro topics or post in them to connect with them.

February 27, 2019

On 2/25/2019 at 4:43 AM, ChessieCat said:

Don't change anything until after we have got 3 days of symptom notes.

okay got it...

also important UPDATE: i have been forgetting to put "clenched jaw" in my symptoms because it is such a common thing for me now i forget i'm doing it until i get a bad headache. it's daily, most noticeable in the hours preceding my 8pm evening dose of 0.5mg clonazepam, 900mg gabapentin, and 68.75mg quetiapine. it's also a symptom that i had prior to being put on clonazepam for the anxiety caused stomach ulcer. i was having headaches for clenching my jaw and tummy hurt/growling from overproduction of stomach acid. and now that i'm tapering of of quetiapine, those symptoms are coming back.

2/24/2019 SUNDAY

8 AM woke up well-rested, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement w/Greens One Daily, Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

8:30 am fed my dogs, felt groggy

12 pm took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

3 pm. ate pasta with tomato sauce

3:30 pm walked 1 and 3/4 miles

5 pm showered, felt hungry still and craving chocolate

7:30 pm took 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, took 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg , 300mg oral progesterone

7:45 pm bought chocolate bar, very nervous, moody

8-9:30 pm went to NA meeeting and ate 1/2 chocolate bar, hungry, still craving, vision problems/blurry, sleepy

10 pm got on computer for research and discovered half lives of quetiapine and gabapentin, became furious that my dr's didn't warn me, furious that i've been in withdrawals every day for years w/out knowing it

12 AM drank water, ate 1/2 chocolate bar, headache, insomnia/manic kind of feeling where i can't sleep wide awake but tired, stayed on computer

2 AM stomach churning, craving carbs, yawning, bachache, weird throat muscle spasm, still on computer

2:30 am vision issues/blurry, made 4 pieces of toast with jam

4 AM went to bed

2/25/2019 MONDAY

8:00 AM woke up tired, growling tummy, dull headache, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement w/Greens One Daily, Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

8:05 AM fed my dogs, growling tummmy, dull headache, felt groggy went back to bed

12:26 AM drank water, filled out my symptom log

1:10 PM tried to do math in my head/with calculator but brain not working

1:20 PM hungry feeling but nausea

1:30 PM filled bird feeder outside

3:10 PM ate large sweet potato, realized i forgot my noon dose, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

3:20 PM got sunlight on my face

3:45 PM called a couple people from NA meeting to check on a ride

4:45 PM yawning, feeling sleepy

5:20 PM got ready for NA meeting

6 PM NA meeting, felt more relaxed, laughed a bit

8 PM mixed quetiapine solution, headache, jaw clenching a bit

9:15 PM took 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, took 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg , 300mg oral progesterone

9:40 PM pain behind eyes, headache

10:05 PM took shower, unmotivated to do chores

10:37 PM blurry vision, eyes tired

11 PM yawning,sleepy

11:35 PM back pain in L4-L5 vertrebal space (prior injury)

11:52 PM feeling stoned/drunk /dizzy when standing, munchies/cravings

12:02 PM ate vegan mandarin chick'n with white rice

12:06 PM hunger gooing away, headache receding

12/10 PM went to bed

2/26/2019 TUESDAY:

9:05 AM woke up , mild tummyache, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Deva Vegan Multivitamin & Mineral Supplement w/Greens One Daily, Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

9:10 AM fed my dogs, hungry, mild dull headache, vision fuzzy

9:30 AM got dressed for dr.appt

10:30 AM drank mango, pear,banana smoothie

11:00 AM dr.appt, blood pressure 110/90 (slightly high for me up from 120/80 4 weeks ago), pulse 77 (high for me, up from 68 4 weeks ago)

11:30 AM got blood drawn for hormones, cholesterols, a1c... vision fuzzy

1:30 PM ate bisquit with gravy, drank one ice tea, took 0.25mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg

3:00 PM drank water, vision still lil fuzzy, mild jaw clenching

4:00 PM went running errands, grocery shopping

7:15 PM grumpy, headache, pain behind eyes, blurry vision, impatient, hungry, jaw clenching

8:00 PM ate pistachio muffin, drank water, mixed quetiapine solution

11:00 PM took 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, took 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, Supplements: Magnesium Lysinate Glycinate Chelate 200mg, flaxseed oil 1200mg , 300mg oral progesterone

11:30 jaw clenching, headache in back top of the head

12:10 AM jaw still clenching a lil, mild headache moved to front of head

12:27 AM getting sleepy

1:00 AM went to bed

February 27, 2019

14 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Please go to the Introductions forum and use search for "quetiapine" or Seroquel. You will be able to see the experiences of others. You may want to follow their Intro topics or post in them to connect with them.

i am specifically asking about people who've sucessfully tapered of of quetiapine after about 2 decades of being on it. i find those to be much more relatable to my own journey than those who've been on for a shorter time.

February 27, 2019

Hi, NEF.

It's unlikely you'll find someone just like you in the Success Stories section. Tapering after 20 years of quetiapine is unusual.

I am agog at your list of drugs and the bizarre cocktail you're taking now. What symptoms have your doctors been chasing?

What's with the sledgehammer at night?

On 2/24/2019 at 9:09 PM, noearthlyfamily said:

omg i just found out that my quetiapine has a half life of 6 hours...

so i take my 68.75 mg dose at 8pm and by about 4 am i wake up in withdrawals... no wonder i can't sleep and have bad stomach cramps/growling when i get up!!

i'm already in withdrawal waiting for the next dose which doesn't come for another 18 hours (8pm dose , 6 hours to half life at 2am, then withdrawals until 8pm the next day!!)

https://youtu.be/QH0V59P73sA How Antidepressants Really Work: A Scientific Explanation

so what i'm gonna do...unless yall think this is a bad idea...is divide my total daily dose that i usually take at 8pm, and take half of it, and save the other half in the frige for the next morning and take it at 8am.

do yall think this is prudent? if not please guide me!

has anyone else had experience with short half life drugs and making more frequent doeses in the day to offset the crash that occurs after the half life is reached?

i suppose i need a totally new spreadsheet now...since my daily dose is going to be cut in half.

and eventually, i may want to divide my total daily dose of quetiapine into 3 doses, since that is easier to manage than 4 even doses 6 hours apart.

with 3 doses i could do 8AM, 2PM, and 8 PM as my dose times and sleep through the night without getting up to take a dose and upset my sleep cycle.

plese comment if you think this makes sense or if you tink it's a terrible idea!

thx again everybody

Is this your usual drug schedule?

9:00 AM 0.25mg clonazepam

1:30 PM 0.25mg clonazepam

11:00 PM 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice

900 mg gabapentin,

0.5mg clonazepam

300mg oral progesterone

12:27 AM getting sleepy

1:00 AM went to bed

Your daily notes indicate that clenching occurs after you take clonazepam.

Look at your bottle of quetiapine tablets. Is the 50mg tablet quetiapine XR or immediate-release?

You're taking about 18.75mg quetiapine in liquid form, is that correct? That would be immediate-release.

Why are you taking progesterone? How long have you been taking it? What has its effect been?

February 27, 2019

2 minutes ago, Altostrata said:

Hi, NEF.

It's unlikely you'll find someone just like you in the Success Stories section. Tapering after 20 years of quetiapine is unusual.

I am agog at your list of drugs and the bizarre cocktail you're taking now. What symptoms have your doctors been chasing?

What's with the sledgehammer at night?

Is this your usual drug schedule?

9:00 AM 0.25mg clonazepam

1:30 PM 0.25mg clonazepam

11:00 PM 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice

900 mg gabapentin,

0.5mg clonazepam

300mg oral progesterone

12:27 AM getting sleepy

1:00 AM went to bed

Your daily notes indicate that clenching occurs after you take clonazepam.

Look at your bottle of quetiapine tablets. Is the 50mg tablet quetiapine XR or immediate-release?

You're taking about 18.75mg quetiapine in liquid form, is that correct? That would be immediate-release.

Why are you taking progesterone? How long have you been taking it? What has its effect been?

hey Alto

well, thx for answering, i figure dif anyone here would know it would be you! i just wish there was someone else who'd been prescribed it as long as i have and had made it thru to the other side successfully...to kinda give me hope. my microtaper from just the quetiapine is gonna take at least 6 years, then the cloazepam taper, then finally the gabapentin one. i just wanted to see if someone else had done it, so i could say well maybe i can too

yeah i was a guinea pig for the psych dr's and especially once i was admitted inpatient and they saw we had good insurance, they kept me drugged on this that and everything else to pad their pockets. at my physical mental and finacial expense. they would frequently take me off one med either cold turkey or fast taper in a few days and switch me to something totally diffferent with no time for adjustments between meds. i was constantly in withdrawal from various things but i just thought maybe the psych dr's were right and i was crazy, because i felt so crazy! nobody told me, hey, you're in withdrawals! they would sometimes say oh you are the worst kind of bipolar (etc etc ) and you need to be on medication for the rest of your life

they didn't tell me hey we're going to give you this for a few weeks til you're thru this crisis, but then we're going to wean you off because it's adictive or not approved for whatever disorder or it has bad side effects if taken long term. no. they kept giving me more, and higher doses and then more meds to treat the side effects of those drugs and on and on. at one point i was on about 6 or 7 meds and couldn't even speak full sentences, couldn't hold a thought long enough to form it into a plan to do an action. it was pathetic.

so they claim i am bipolar II rapid cycling. they also claimed i had multiple personalities/DID/MPD and Intermittent Explosive Disorder (rage/anger outbursts). They also misdiagnosed me with Multiple Sclerosis.

I have many sets of MRI's showing the brain damage as bright white "lesions" (scar tissue)...

but i think i'm just a very intensely emotional artist who was prescribed drugs initially to make me less dramatic/easier to be around.

i think the dx's of MPD/DID/multiple personalities was an excuse to put me on antipsychotics and make me docile and it did, took away my personality and feelings and creativity

(i was formerly a portrait artist, a ballerina and many other things before the drugs).

i think the MS mis dx was because of seroquel side effects over a long period at high doses, because as soon as i weaned myself down to under 85mg from 400mg, all of the MS symptoms went away including incontinence, ataxia, use of a cane and walker to ambulate, vertigo, heat intolerance, numbness in feet legs and hands and face, sexual and urinary and bowel failures, everything! and all of those symptoims are possible side effects of seroquel.

it all disappeared except for the scar tissue in my brain nand spine shown on all of the mris. the radiologist told me at my first mri privately that he could get fired for telling me, so i promised not to talk, he said the drugs i was on (seroquel at the time) could cause the same mri findings , or it could be MS. years later i found out it was not MS and he was right about the seroquel damage.

my usual daily drug schedule is:

8AM: 0.25 mg clonazepam

12 noon: 0.25mg clonazepam

8PM: 68.75 mg quetiapine with applejuice, 900 mg gabapentin, 0.5mg clonazepam, 300mg oral progesterone

but i am taking too much gabapentin at night! the gabapentin was supposed to be for my MS pain (which turns out is actually just pain from an injury to my L4-L5 spine vertebrae being compressed, and i am mostly pain free at night lying down on my side with a support body pillow between my knees and arms. this position allows the space between those injured vertebrae to decompress, so i only need the gabapentin during the day, and could be best served by 3 smaller doses of 300mg 3x during the waking hours, say 8AM, 2PM, and 8PM instead of one huge dose of 900 mg at bedtime! plus since gabapentin has a half life of 6-7 hours, it leaves my body by the time I wake up and am in withdrawals during the day!(

the clonazepam is the med that i am most dependent on i think, i notice the jaw clenching in the hours approching the evening 8PM dose. it was originally prescribed to stop the anxiety from making me overproduce stomach acid that created a stomach ulcer confirmed by a tiny camera inserted into my stomach for proof. i think i would be best served by some cognitive behavioral therapy to learn to lower my stress levels on my own instead of relying on a benzo to do it. but for now, until i complete the quetiapine taper, i think it would be unwise to attempt to taper off of it at this time.

the quetiapine is NOT XR extended release. they tried that on me years ago and it was not effective. my 50m g and alsomy 25 mg quetiapine pills are both immediate release. yes, correct i am dissolving the 18.75mg of quetiapine in distilled water and taking it with apple juice. the remaining 50mg i take as a dry pill at the same time.

the reason they prescribed the quetiapine all at nightime, was because it helped me sleep, with the insomnia i suffered from the anxiety driven overproduction of stomach acid. i didn't want to be too sleepy during the day by taking the quetiapine along with the clonazepam during the day. but honestly, i didn't develop the anxiety/stomach ulcer thing until i'd been on quetiapine for many years! i think the anxiety was CAUSED by seroquel, as was all those other symptoms.

i think since the half life of quetiapine is 6 hours, i would be best served by taking it in a divided dose, one at 8pm and the other at 8 am....after gradually spacing it out over the span of 12-14 days. then i think it would be safe to resume the taper if i am stable with no symptom flareups.

progesterone is for my post-hysterectomy (2005 i think) hormone replacement therapy, along with the estradiol patch. i take the progesterone because it helps with sleep, better than any of the meds i've ever been on in fact,

it has no harmful side effects other than boob tenderness at first which is gone now, and it keeps hot flashes away (mostly) and helps with libido.

it is safer than estrogen for women my age post-surgical-menopausal as far as heart disease, cancer, and dementia. years ago they thought estrogen/estradiol had a protective effect on those things,but in recent years they discoverewd it is the exact opposite. and progesterone has the protective effects that were once ascribed to estradiol.

so i take both but a higher dose of progesterone and a lower dose of the estradiol patch. when i reach the age of 51, the median age for women to reach natural menopause, i will consider weaning off of the estradiol again, but the last time i tried, my skin became so itchy that even very rich skin cream would not stop it. since i'm in withdrawal during tapering, i don't want to aggravate my overstimulated nervous system with constant itching. so i am staying on the patch for the next several years if possile.

the progesterone is completely safe to take even until i die, with no adverse effects to my body if i decide to quit taking it. (i would still taper off if i decide to quit it tho!)

my goal is to take the quetiapine in 2 even doses, spaced out 12 hours apart. and to take my gabapentin in 3 even doses during only my waking hours 8am, 2pm,and 8pm.

i think that would improve my quality of life dramatically during the time i spend tapering from all 3 meds, starting with quetiapine for the next 6 years. followed by clonazepam taper, and finally gabapentin taper.

noearthlyfamily: micro taper schedule off of Seroquel for dummies chart or table?

Recommended Posts

ChessieCat

Link to comment

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic