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hemispheres Tapering off Seroquel after 17 years......


hemispheres

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Hey all. I have been on Seroquel since it came onto the scene in 97. I was put on it for a diagnosis of Schizoaffective but I believe I am misdiagnosed. My first shrink originally told me that I may have it, I may not have it. But now I'm seeing a therapist who is very knowledgeable on the subject and also believes I don't have SZA. I've never heard voices or seen things that unless you count figures that pop up and then disappear immediately. 

 

Anyways, I am currently on 800mg of Seroquel XR. I am noticing some  people say taper 10% of the dosage at a time. Example:

 

Start out on 800mg, cut down to 720 mg, after a month cut down to 640 mg etc. 

 

I am also seeing people say do it in 25% increments. 

Which one is the best method? The main issue is I only have the meds in 400mg tables which will make the 10% taper method a bit more complicated than I want it to. 

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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  • Mentor

You can get seroquol in 25 mg tablets, 50mg and 100 mg.  800 mg is very high.  I ended up on 400?  Somehow.  While trying to give up effexor, I had a big downer, and I saw a different doc.  This do said "oh you are only on 25mg, you can take much higher doses than that"  and in my weakened emotional state I did.  Thanks to this forum I now know that 25mg is for sleeping, 400 mg is for psychosis, of schizophrenia, which I didn't have.  Shame doctors dont bother to find out, before prescribing.  And makes them seem like they are just handing out candy..

Are you on any other meds?

1992 Dothiepin 375mg 8 weeks, exhaustion/depression.  Serotonin syndrome, oh yes!  seizures . Fell pregnant, 3rd baby, Nitrous Oxide, 3 weeks mental hospital pp psychosis. zoloft tegretol.

Feb 1996 ct tegretol, tapered Zoloft 8 weeks. as (unexpectedly)  pregnant. Steven died after 3 days.(Zolft HLHS baby).  98 had run in with Paxil, 2 tablets, 3 weeks taper, survived.
2005..menopause? exhausted again. Zyprexa, mad in three days, fallout....  Seroquel, Effexor, tegretol,   and 8 years of self destruction. Failed taper.
Damn 1/4 valium... nuts again! .fallout, zoloft 100mg  seroquol 400mg mirtazapine 45 mg  tegretol 400mg.  Mid 14 3 month taper. Nov 14 CRASH.
Mid 15 ....   75mg  seroquel,  3 x 1800mg SJW  2 week window end of December followed by 6 week wave
5/2 68mg seroquel, 2.5 x 1800mg SJW::::20/2 61mg seroquel, 2.5 x  SJW::: 26/2 54mg seroquel, 2 x SJW::::21/3 43mg seroquel, 1 x 2700SJW :::: 23/4 36mg seroquel 1 x 1800 SJW
15/5 33mg seroquel, 1 x SJW::::   28/5 30mg seroquel, 1 x SJW::::;  18/6 25mg seroquel 1/2 SJW::::, 11/7 21mg seroquel 1/2 SJW::, 26/7 18mg seroquel 1/2 SJW:::, 9/8 12mg seroquel :::, 16/8 6mg seroquel ;;;;, 12/9 0 jump.

23/9  3mg.....,  27/9 0mg.  Reinstated, 6mg, then 12mg.............  LIGHTBULB MOMENT,  I have  MTHFR 2x mutations.  CFS and issues with MOULD in my home. So I left home, and working 150km away during week, loving it.

Oh was hard, panic attacks first week, gone now, along with the mould issues.

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  • Moderator

Hi Hemispheres-- welcome to the group.  These drugs work by making physical changes to the brain.  The whole idea behind the 10% taper is to remove a bit of the drug and let the brain adjust to it with out getting "upset" and causing symptoms.  It is impossible to do it without some symptoms, but it has been found that reducing by 10% of your current dose produces a fairly quick reduction while causing a minimum of symptoms.  Also the effects of a dosage decrease can be delayed for many weeks, so If you make a big drop you might not feel anything until after you make the next drop and get blindsided.  I've been doing 10% drops every six weeks and although I have had most of the symptoms people talk about they have been manageable enough for me to have maintained my engineering job the entire time.  I strongly recommend not dropping more than 10% at a time and waiting an absolute minimum of 4 weeks, better yet 6 weeks between drops.  Best of luck with which ever method you decide on.

20 years on Paxil starting at 20mg and working up to 40mg. Sept 2011 started 10% every 6 weeks taper (2.5% every week for 4 weeks then hold for 2 additional weeks), currently at 7.9mg. Oct 2011 CTed 15oz vodka a night, to only drinking 2 beers most nights, totally sober Feb 2013.

Since I wrote this I have continued to decrease my dose by 10% every 6 weeks (2.5% every week for 4 weeks and then hold for an additional 2 weeks). I added in an extra 6 week hold when I hit 10mg to let things settle out even more. When I hit 3mgpw it became hard to split the drop into 4 parts so I switched to dropping 1mgpw (pill weight) every week for 3 weeks and then holding for another 3 weeks.  The 3 + 3 schedule turned out to be too harsh so I cut back to dropping 1mgpw every 4 weeks which is working better.

Final Dose 0.016mg.     Current dose 0.000mg 04-15-2017

 

"It's also important not to become angry, no matter how difficult life is, because you can loose all hope if you can't laugh at yourself and at life in general."  Stephen Hawking

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Well I did an experiment. I cut one 400mg and half and this is my second night on 600mg. Only symptoms I am having are withdrawal related. Nausea and cold chills/hot flashes so far. If it gets to be unbearable I'll go back up to 800mg. However I am sleeping fine... I passed out right after taking the meds last night and just started getting sleepy a few minutes ago. 

 

I'll update later guys. 

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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  • Moderator Emeritus

Welcome hemispheres,

Thank you for posting an introduction.

 

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)

 

Also see:  

Tips for tapering off Seroquel

 

Please put your drug and withdrawal history in your signature.  Putting a short version of your drug and tapering history in your signature helps people understand your context, it appears below each of your posts.  Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

You can use this thread as your ongoing journal to track progress and communicate with the community, add to it whenever you want.  You will find a lot of friendly help here.

 

Petu.

I'm not a doctor.  My comments are not medical advise. These are my opinions based on my own experience and what I've learned. Please discuss your situation with a medical practitioner who has knowledge of tapering and withdrawal...if you are lucky enough to find one.

My Introduction Thread

Full Drug and Withdrawal History

Brief Summary

Several SSRIs for 13 years starting 1997 (for mild to moderate partly situational anxiety) Xanax PRN ~ Various other drugs over the years for side effects

2 month 'taper' off Lexapro 2010

Short acute withdrawal, followed by 2 -3 months of improvement then delayed protracted withdrawal

DX ADHD followed by several years of stimulants and other drugs trying to manage increasing symptoms

Failed reinstatement of Lexapro and trial of Prozac (became suicidal)

May 2013 Found SA, learned about withdrawal, stopped taking drugs...healing begins.

Protracted withdrawal, with a very sensitized nervous system, slowly recovering as time passes

Supplements which have helped: Vitamin C, Magnesium, Taurine

Bad reactions: Many supplements but mostly fish oil and Vitamin D

June 2016 - Started daily juicing, mostly vegetables and lots of greens.

Aug 2016 - Oct 2016 Best window ever, felt almost completely recovered

Oct 2016 -Symptoms returned - bad days and less bad days.

April 2018 - No windows, but significant improvement, it feels like permanent full recovery is close.

VIDEO: Where did the chemical imbalance theory come from?



VIDEO: How are psychiatric diagnoses made?



VIDEO: Why do psychiatric drugs have withdrawal syndromes?



VIDEO: Can psychiatric drugs cause long-lasting negative effects?

VIDEO: Dr. Claire Weekes

 

 

 

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I'm going to stay at 600 for the time being. I woke up a few times last night, was tired this morning but once it got busy I snapped out of it. Anxiety and stress levels seem to be a bit higher, but other than that I'm coping fine. My boss isn't too happy that I asked for my hours to be cut back so I can stay on disability while tapering down and working on my new diagnosis. He's finding passive aggressive ways of talking **** so I can't claim disability discrimination... I just tell him to stuff it or go cool down for a bit. 

 

Once I start my new psychiatrist I'll request to be tapered down off my meds under supervison and if he refuses I'm firing him and I'll do it myself. I have no other way of getting meds except illegitimate pharmacies that don't ask for prescriptions, and I don't trust their "generic" med's to help me out here. 

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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  • Administrator

Welcome, hemispheres.

 

Any doctor can prescribe Seroquel. Please read the links Petu posted.

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has surpassed our humanity." -- Albert Einstein

All postings © copyrighted.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well the 200mg drop didn't work. 3rd night I started going through withdrawals. I managed to get my hands on some 300mg samples so this will be my 3rd night at 700mg, which is a 12.5% drop as opposed to the 25% drop I was at. The next few days will tell how things go.

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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Well. Everything is going well. I just have one question. Has anyone else been experiencing excessive sleep or altered sleep patterns?

 

I'm falling asleep later (between 11pm-1am) and I'm sleeping for close to 12 hours. Luckily my job doesn't require me to be up at the butt crack of dawn.

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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  • Moderator Emeritus

hemispheres,

If possible, please put your drug history, and recent changes in your signature, it makes it easier for us to see your situation without having to go back and read your entire thread each time anyone wants to reply.  Here are instructions for how to do it:

 

http://survivinganti...your-signature/

 

 

Altered sleep patterns are a very common withdrawal symptom.

I'm not a doctor.  My comments are not medical advise. These are my opinions based on my own experience and what I've learned. Please discuss your situation with a medical practitioner who has knowledge of tapering and withdrawal...if you are lucky enough to find one.

My Introduction Thread

Full Drug and Withdrawal History

Brief Summary

Several SSRIs for 13 years starting 1997 (for mild to moderate partly situational anxiety) Xanax PRN ~ Various other drugs over the years for side effects

2 month 'taper' off Lexapro 2010

Short acute withdrawal, followed by 2 -3 months of improvement then delayed protracted withdrawal

DX ADHD followed by several years of stimulants and other drugs trying to manage increasing symptoms

Failed reinstatement of Lexapro and trial of Prozac (became suicidal)

May 2013 Found SA, learned about withdrawal, stopped taking drugs...healing begins.

Protracted withdrawal, with a very sensitized nervous system, slowly recovering as time passes

Supplements which have helped: Vitamin C, Magnesium, Taurine

Bad reactions: Many supplements but mostly fish oil and Vitamin D

June 2016 - Started daily juicing, mostly vegetables and lots of greens.

Aug 2016 - Oct 2016 Best window ever, felt almost completely recovered

Oct 2016 -Symptoms returned - bad days and less bad days.

April 2018 - No windows, but significant improvement, it feels like permanent full recovery is close.

VIDEO: Where did the chemical imbalance theory come from?



VIDEO: How are psychiatric diagnoses made?



VIDEO: Why do psychiatric drugs have withdrawal syndromes?



VIDEO: Can psychiatric drugs cause long-lasting negative effects?

VIDEO: Dr. Claire Weekes

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Done. I'd like to think I'm tapering down a bit too quickly but other than occasional depression and not getting to sleep until 2-3 am seems to be my only side effects.

800mg Seroquel - December 2014

700mg Seroquel - Late December 2014

600mg Seroquel - 1/13/2015

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