Jt003: Zyprexa, Seroquel and Klonopin

[Jt003]

Finally got off of klonopin.  Only dealing with a weird sense of dizziness and sleep issues.  Tapered that one in 3 months through a microtaper.  Definitely feels great to not be on that anymore.  

[Denas1969]

Good for you ... Are you still on the seroquel?  I am finally off the olanzapine and that feels good so I can understand how you are feeling. I have been doing pretty good too now for a month and just hope it continues.  Next is the Prozac, I will wait a bit though until completely sure no withdrawals from olanzapine. Happy for you ... It's rough !!

[Jt003]

Thats great Denas1969!  Yeah, Im only on Seroquel.  Definitely good to wait till your withdrawals from one drug are over before tapering the next one.

[Jt003]

Does anyone know if I wanted to take a break from taking a supplement like magnesium glycinate, I can just stop taking it and not have to taper it since its just a supplement?  Ive been taking vitamin d and magnesium glycinate once a day everyday.  

[Jt003]

Does anyone know if it is ok to abruptly stop taking a supplement?  

[Jt003]

Does anyone have an answer to this?  I dont understand what is hard about this question to ask.

[Denas1969]

Which supplement are you planning on stopping?

 

[manymoretodays]

Hi Jt003,

On 11/29/2020 at 8:35 PM, Jt003 said:

Does anyone know if I wanted to take a break from taking a supplement like magnesium glycinate, I can just stop taking it and not have to taper it since its just a supplement?  Ive been taking vitamin d and magnesium glycinate once a day everyday. 

And I am sorry your question got overlooked.  This was the initial question, and then the question seems to have gotten abbreviated a bit.  I think it matters depending on the supplement that you might be taking a break from.  You could check the Magnesium topic too.  I would encourage that.

I don't think you will have any real WD from stopping Magnesium glycinate.  I don't know how often you take it, or how much in a day.......but I think if it has addressed a symptom well, it's possible that you might notice the symptom that it helped with increasing without the Mag glycinate.  

 

I've used Magnesium off and on when needed.  Some stick with it for daily use, in split doses, as well. 

 

And as with anything, I would recommend that you don't suddenly just stop it altogether, but that perhaps you cut it back a little at a time.  Go perhaps down 1/4 each day, and see how that goes.

 

I hope that helps Jt.

 

Best, L, P, H, and G,

mmt

[Jt003]

Thanks manymoretoday.  Yeah, this is for magnesium glycinate supplement.  I take the kal brand softgels once a day everyday.  Ive been taking them everyday for nearly a year so far.  

[manymoretodays]

Ahhh, that might be more difficult to reduce by quarters.

If it helps, don't quit it.

 

Could you update a bit here, in a reply, as to how you are doing. 

Recent tapers.  Present medications and doses.  WD symptoms.

 

I hope you are faring okay.  Yours is a quiet thread, overall.  You can always post in topics too, like the magnesium topic, with questions.

And judiciously use the @ symbol, after which you'll get a pull down menu once you start to type in a name, then select the member(or mod) with whom you feel familiar with, or are comfortable with, and then when we come on, we see the notification from you and the post.

 

Busy as usual here, on site.   And again, would love to here a bit more(other than just your signature) as to how you are doing now.

 

Happy Holidays too.

 

Love, peace, healing, and growth,

mmt

Edited December 15, 2020 by manymoretodays

[Jt003]

So far, I am only on 75 mg of Seroquel.  I am taking vitamin d and magnesium glycinate supplements at low doses.  
 

Overall, I feel like the best I can be and feel my sense of self the way I was before taking any psychiatric drugs.  Ive been able to do things like work, talk to people, go to places without fear or anxiety, and be “ normal”as I can.  My anxiety is almost non-existent and I feel way better than I was a year ago.  I dont have any issues being in different places and having anxiety being around things and people.  I do light exercise like 30 minutes a day of walking.  I want to be able to increase my exercising again but I dont want to while being on Seroquel.

 

My main issue is sleep.  I still get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night mostly.  I believe that is because of the seroquel.  I plan to start tapering Seroquel sometime next year but I am afraid of being able to fully sleep the 6 to 8 hrs a night without the drug.  There are days during the week where I fall asleep naturally for a nap for 30 minutes.  I just hope the way I feel sleepy for a nap I can somehow apply when I sleep at night.  
 

I never had any issues sleeps in the past.  I have always been a sleepy person all my life until I took Ampytriptiline for two months and my neurologist cold turkeyed me off it.  Then three months later, thats when I had insomnia and my natural sleeping ability just disappeared.  

 

I feel as if tapering Seroquel wont be a problem for me since I got off klonopin and zyprexa.  The main problem is being able to sleep for like 7 to 8 hrs without any psych drugs.  I am also looking into cognitive behavioral therapy - insomnia for the sleep part.  If I can try cbt insomnia before or during the Seroquel taper to improve my sleeping ability.  

[ChessieCat]

You might consider doing a gentler taper.  You can choose what % rate you taper at, but with the smaller weekly reductions for 4 weeks and then an additional 2 weeks (3 weeks after the 4th reduction) you would have more control the taper and be able to hold for longer at any time.

 

Brass Monkey Slide

[Jt003]

11 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

You might consider doing a gentler taper.  You can choose what % rate you taper at, but with the smaller weekly reductions for 4 weeks and then an additional 2 weeks (3 weeks after the 4th reduction) you would have more control the taper and be able to hold for longer at any time.

 

Brass Monkey Slide

Hi ChessieCat.  I am not sure what you mean by a gentler taper.  I did the 10% a month taper for zyprexa and a microtaper for klonopin.  Did you mean a microtaper?  I have seen the microtaper method where you cut 0.001 per day using the dry cut and weigh applied only for benzos.  When I microtapered klonopin, it was a smooth process.  Were you saying I could microtaper Seroquel even though it is not a benzo?  

[ChessieCat]

Instead of tapering 10% every 4 weeks you taper 10% every 6 weeks.  But you don't reduce by 10% in one go, ie from 25mg to 22.5mg, you do it in weekly steps.  You calculate the 10% reduction on the current dose:

 

Total reduction amount:  25mg x 0.10 = 2.5mg

 

10% reduction:   25mg x 0.9  = 22.5mg   This is the dose you will be taking after the 4th reduction shown in red.

 

To calculate each weekly reduction amount:  2.5mg / 4 = 0.625mg

 

1st reduction and hold for 1 week:  25mg - 0.625mg = 24.375mg

 

2nd reduction and hold for 1 week:  24.375mg - 0.625mg = 23.75mg

 

3rd reduction and hold for 1 week:  23.75mg - 0.625mg = 23.125mg

 

4th reduction and hold for 3 weeks:  23.125mg - 0.625mg = 22.5mg

 

The next set of reductions will be calculated on 22.5mg x 0.10 / 4 = ?

 

PLEASE NOTE:  Please double check these calculations.  I'm human!

[ChessieCat]

There are links to calculators in the BrassMonkey Slide topic link.

[Jt003]

 I feel like I have two concerns:

 

1).  When I am tapering seroquel, wouldn’t the medicine not work anymore at some point as it gets smaller?  So how will I be able to sleep without the medicine?

 

2).  If I am trying to stop the magnesium supplement, how would I taper a supplement if its a liquid and what would the taper look like?

 

 

[Jt003]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:38 PM, Jt003 said:

 I feel like I have two concerns:

 

1).  When I am tapering seroquel, wouldn’t the medicine not work anymore at some point as it gets smaller?  So how will I be able to sleep without the medicine?

 

2).  If I am trying to stop the magnesium supplement, how would I taper a supplement if its a liquid and what would the taper look like?

 

 

Any input on this?

[Jt003]

On 1/7/2021 at 10:38 PM, Jt003 said:

 I feel like I have two concerns:

 

1).  When I am tapering seroquel, wouldn’t the medicine not work anymore at some point as it gets smaller?  So how will I be able to sleep without the medicine?

 

2).  If I am trying to stop the magnesium supplement, how would I taper a supplement if its a liquid and what would the taper look like?

 

 

Does anyone have any feedback?  Also, I would like to add I notice I dont sweat much or little when I do things like physical activity.  

[Jt003]

Ok, so I have a question that neither my doctor nor my psychiatrist can answer and all I get is “I dont know” as usual.  I noticed this since August of last year and it has been a concern.  

I have not been sweating normally.  When I mean sweating, whenever I do something like physical activity or being in a hot shower, I should be sweating a bit or feel droplets of sweat coming off my head/shoulders.  Before I was on any meds, I would be sweat a bit or perspire when I do something that would tire me out.  When I am in bed and covered by a blanket, I feel as if I cannot warm myself like I use to.  When being on these drugs and stopping some of them, I rarely feel any sweat coming off me or a sense that I produce sweat.  Right now, I just walk on the treadmill for exercise and have not sweated at all.  I am afraid of doing intense exercise like weightlifting and jogging like I use to before I was on these drugs.  All my psychiatrist has told me about the sweating issue is that it may have been due to being on multiple drugs and does not have any recommendation on what to do.  My doctor says to try to exercise intensely and I may sweat.

 

Can anyone chime in on this?  I just started tapering seroquel and ok so far.  Im thinking about going intense a bit on the exercise to test the sweat problem but just scared of doing it while being on a drug like seroquel.

[senseless]

On 1/8/2021 at 11:38 AM, Jt003 said:

 I feel like I have two concerns:

 

1).  When I am tapering seroquel, wouldn’t the medicine not work anymore at some point as it gets smaller?  So how will I be able to sleep without the medicine?

 

2).  If I am trying to stop the magnesium supplement, how would I taper a supplement if its a liquid and what would the taper look like?

 

 

1. I had this concern too before undergoing my Seroquel taper. You are right, the sedating effects definitely do lessen as the dosage decreases(It no longer knocks me out and I don't wake up feeling drowsy anymore).
But honestly besides some rough patches my sleep has stayed relatively in tack the entire taper. Along as you taper slowly, your body will adjust to sleeping with lower dosages. 

[tsranga]

On 3/6/2021 at 8:02 AM, Jt003 said:

Ok, so I have a question that neither my doctor nor my psychiatrist can answer and all I get is “I dont know” as usual.  I noticed this since August of last year and it has been a concern.  

I have not been sweating normally.  When I mean sweating, whenever I do something like physical activity or being in a hot shower, I should be sweating a bit or feel droplets of sweat coming off my head/shoulders.  Before I was on any meds, I would be sweat a bit or perspire when I do something that would tire me out.  When I am in bed and covered by a blanket, I feel as if I cannot warm myself like I use to.  When being on these drugs and stopping some of them, I rarely feel any sweat coming off me or a sense that I produce sweat.  Right now, I just walk on the treadmill for exercise and have not sweated at all.  I am afraid of doing intense exercise like weightlifting and jogging like I use to before I was on these drugs.  All my psychiatrist has told me about the sweating issue is that it may have been due to being on multiple drugs and does not have any recommendation on what to do.  My doctor says to try to exercise intensely and I may sweat.

 

Can anyone chime in on this?  I just started tapering seroquel and ok so far.  Im thinking about going intense a bit on the exercise to test the sweat problem but just scared of doing it while being on a drug like seroquel.

 

Interesting..  I have been mainly hiking with good intensity, but I now sweat mostly from my armpits and scalp.  I recall being able to sweat all over my body, but now it's very uneven -  my lower extremities, neck and the front of my torso have been mostly dry. I have only recently started sweating from my back again.

 

I have been off mirtazapine for two years now. As the weather has gotten warmer, I have started getting calf muscle twitches which I had last summer. 

 

My skin sensitivity is also very high and very often, a new fabric or a full length pant feels very uncomfortable in my calves. 

 

I went to an autonomic specialist and his sensory evaluation indicated some anomaly and scheduled a sweat test. However, I have ptsd from a panic attack triggered by heat and dehydration, so am reluctant to undergo testing.

 

I have asked about alternative options to test and potential treatment since I have read that it's not curable.

 

I am very interested in hearing from others who have had this effect in withdrawal.

 

[Jt003]

On 4/1/2021 at 9:22 PM, tsranga said:

 

Interesting..  I have been mainly hiking with good intensity, but I now sweat mostly from my armpits and scalp.  I recall being able to sweat all over my body, but now it's very uneven -  my lower extremities, neck and the front of my torso have been mostly dry. I have only recently started sweating from my back again.

 

I have been off mirtazapine for two years now. As the weather has gotten warmer, I have started getting calf muscle twitches which I had last summer. 

 

My skin sensitivity is also very high and very often, a new fabric or a full length pant feels very uncomfortable in my calves. 

 

I went to an autonomic specialist and his sensory evaluation indicated some anomaly and scheduled a sweat test. However, I have ptsd from a panic attack triggered by heat and dehydration, so am reluctant to undergo testing.

 

I have asked about alternative options to test and potential treatment since I have read that it's not curable.

 

I am very interested in hearing from others who have had this effect in withdrawal.

 

Good to know!  An autonomic specialist might be able to provide me more details on any issues with how the body functions. I heard going to a homeopathic practictioner can help.  I am noticing that I am sweating a bit more in the arm pits now as I walk for 30 minutes.  I hope that is a good sign.

 

To update, I have been tapering for two months now.  I am close to 60 mg and have been doing a 10 percent a month taper from 75 mg.  I am noticing some odd things now since I began my taper a few months ago.  
 

For example, I had one day last month where I experienced a sharp pain in my stomach after eating dinner.   I rarely feel a sharp pain and felt like I was stabbed.  It went away after a few hours but I lost a few pounds from it since it happened.  I dunno if it is related to withdrawals from lowering the seroquel or something else.  I notice some teeth sensitivity like my front left tooth hurting a bit.  It doesnt hurt when I bite into something or drink hot or cold water.  The tooth doesnt look discolored or anything.
 

Also, these past two weeks I am noticing a disruption in my sleep.  There would be days where it would take me longer to fall asleep like in two hours or I would wake up earlier than I usually would wake up.  Instead of the seven hours I usually get, it would be that I would sleep for 3, 4, 5 or 6 hours.  My sleep in the past two weeks has been all over the place.  Besides disruption in sleep, I am getting headaches, feeling off balance at times, and feeling restless and not wanting to do much.

 

Although I am having these strange things happen, something that I am seeing is that I am not really worried or anxious at all about my sleep.  Surprisingly, its like even if I sleep for three hours for a day or two, I dont feel as if I need to makeup for it the next day.  Over a year ago, when I was on the other meds while on seroquel like zyprexa and klonopin, I would be really anxious about it and I would hardly function during the day.  But now that my current situation is different with the meds and how I had consistent sleep all of last year, I feel as if my deep sleep had improved over time last yr and I am better at coping with not being consistent about sleep.  I think the cbt insomnia is helping somewhat since I try to restrict how much I stay in bed during the day.  
 

Can anyone tell if the headaches, lose of balance when walking around, and beginning to wake up early at times now is withdrawals from going down or separate from the seroquel?  I am suppose to drop next week to 58 mg but Ill see if I should delay it a bit more.  Right now, I must say my worry about sleep is not as bad as it was over a year ago.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tsranga]

2 hours ago, Jt003 said:

Can anyone tell if the headaches, lose of balance when walking around, and beginning to wake up early at times now is withdrawals from going down or separate from the seroquel?  

This is typical of withdrawal..  we are hypersensitive to any changes - weather, dosage, supplements, foods etc.. 

 

[Jt003]

Ok.  So I am in my third week and still dealing with broken sleep.  I now either takes me longer to sleep or I wake up a few hours early than ever before or both.  I am feeling low in motivation to do things, brain fog, somewhat disconnected and cant think clearly.  I feel as if the medication stopped working since I got lower and its all insomnia related.  Im not that anxious about it but the whole feeling disconnected is uncomfortable.  Should I go back to 75 mg or continue to stay where I am?  I cant believe I am waking up early because that has not happened in a longtime.  

[Jt003]

Finally reached 50 mg.  Sleep is back at 6 to 7 hours a night.  Feels good to be at just one tablet.

[Jt003]

Reached 38.5 mg.  

[Jt003]

Hi all!  Its been a long time since I last posted here.  I tried updating my signature to say that I am currently sitting at 2 mg of seroquel left but do not see where to update that part in my profile.
 

Since my last post back in August of 2021, Ive been having a smooth taper for Seroquel.  I am still tapering what is left and plan on stopping at the end of this month.  I still have been able to do my regular activities like work and taking care of myself.  I got back into the routine of working out early this year like running and I can sweat again which is a relief because I havent been able to sweat a lot in over three years.  I definitely feel like my original self before ever taking any psych meds like ampitripline.  However, I feel as if my emotions are still numb because I do not feel that strong sense of happiness when something good or feeling bad when something bad happens.  I recalled those type of feelings years before and I know it still isnt there yet.

 

As far as my anxiety goes, I feel like there has been little to no anxiety.  I havent had any panic attacks or anything serious related to my anxiety.  When I have stressful situations, there are moments where I would be anxious and my heart would race.  However, it is at a level where it is manageable.

 

My main concern out of all when it came to being off of psych meds has been sleep.  I have been sleeping well like 6/7 hours each day until now.  I have been able to take naps for about 10 minutes in a day.  Since last week, I have been noticing my sleep go down to 3/5 hours each day.  I am not sure if it is because the seroquel wore off in helping me sleep.  I am still taking magnesium glycinate and vitamin d.  Even though my sleep has been less recently, I am not that anxious about it as I was four years ago.  My heart doesnt race during the day when I had bad sleep.  Four years ago, my sleep cycle was totally out of wack and I needed 6 to 8 hours to feel good.  Now, it feels as if 5 hours of sleep is ok to feel good.  Recently, Ive been having moments where I would wake up earlier than expected and feel energized.  I still have problems when it comes to falling asleep because it would take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours to fall asleep.  I havent been seeing a therapist but relied on sleep restriction, exercise, and supplements for sleep.  I was thinking of trying valerian root as a last resort if my sleep gets worse.

 

Overall, I think that I am almost there with being my original self.  I feel that my ability to deep sleep improved over the years but I am still trying to get better at falling asleep faster.  I am happy that my anxiety is at bay and it isnt how it was four years ago when I got into this mess of taking one drug after another.