Experiences - Quetiapine (Seroquel) withdrawal experiences

[bcubed]

Oops..."drug addicts" who "abuse drugs" have "withdrawls"; "patients" who are "prescribed medication" have "rebound effects." How silly of me!

In any event...SWIM is a 35y.o. male, prescribed Seroquel for a sleep disorder. On up to 800mg/day, SWIM went AMA, outside the USA for surgery that ultimately allowed him to discontinue use of the drug. The following is a timeline of withdrawl symptoms from 400 mg/day. (Note that days 1-7 were while incarcerated.)

Day 1: Agitation, no sleep.
Day 2: Mediocre sleep (thru day 14), histamine response (thru day 14) (sneezing, allergies, etc), diahrohhea.
Days 3-6: Improvement in mood, loss of lethargy, restoration of libido.
Days 7-10: Amplification of libido (read: almost comically horny), amplification of emotions.
Days 10-12: Restoration of emotions to near-baseline.
Days 13-14: Restoration of libido to near-baseline.

Swimmers, stay away from this drug! The big problem is that chronic use stifles one's ambitions as well as preventing one from experiencing the emotional range necessary to allow for higher human emotions such as love, empathy, etc. A loose, non-scientific description would be that it "deadens the soul."

What SWIM can't figure out is the histamine issue. He's always had allergies, which lessened roughly congruent with his use of this drug. He's not sure if present histamine response is W/D or a return to his personal baseline.

[JTC3889]

swim was prescribed 600mg+ daily for 4 years for his bipolar disorder. at first it aleviated some symptoms and helped him sleep but soon turned into a nightmare so he cold turkeyed it. he didnt sleep for a week and vomited daily couldnt eat and his brain felt like it was making a buzzing sound for a week on top of hallucinations. after about 2 and a half months sleep became somewhat normal, no nausia, no buzzing, and no more hallucinations, and he is very stable and off all prescribed meds. he wonders now if he ever was really bipolar and will never touch seroquel or any more psych meds for that matter.

[tictac]

SWIM was prescribed Seroquel for bipolar disorder which she probably didnt have at all in the first place. SWIM had been going through a lot of issues at the time though and after taking an ssri for a month with no result her doctor apparently thought it would be perfectly ok to prescribe a powerful anti psychotic for what, looking back, was basically a temporary depression. The starting dose was 100mg a day increased to 200mg after a week. Although the fact that it made staying awake more than five or six hours a day impossible would've and should be a warning sign that something wasnt right, in her state of mind at the time she welcomed escaping life into sleep. It didnt help at the time SWIM had began to fall quite hard into alcoholism. And so this led to seven months during which SWIM did nothing but sleep,eat(gained 35 pounds which came off within two months of getting off it), and get incredibly drunk every single day only venturing outdoors maybe twice a week and only leaving her bedroom to use the bathroom and to get food. SWIM felt completely out of touch with the whole world and didnt care at all and became increasingly suicidal. Then one month when her prescription was up and needed to be re-written she had to go for four days without Seroquel because her doctor was on vacation. These four days were spent wide awake nonstop and with a feeling of complete physical sickness simular to the flu. On the fifth day when she was finally able to get her prescription and the withdrawals were subsiding she noticed how different and how much more positive she felt mentally. She then decided to try getting off it completely and quit over the course of two weeks taking only 50mgs and then 25mgs to get to sleep as at first she still was unable to sleep for more than one or two fitfull hours without it. She returned to a normal life over the course of about three months and for the first time in quite awhile actually did feel sane. She has taken Seroquel only a handfull of times since only to get to sleep after a night of rolling or coke and has not been on a prescription drugs since and has been far happier than she thought possible during her Seroquel days.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Thankyou for sharing. Informative and insightful

[Lobsang]

Yes bipolar disorder is often a misdiagnosis for another problem. There is a tendency for psychiatrists to give permanant drug treatments for temporary life set backs. It is criminal in a way when it happaens.

[Panthers007]

Bi-polar disorder is currently the most popular label that psychiatrists apply to anyone with any sort of complaint of depression. Are you depressed? Yes. Have you ever felt happy? Yes. Oh! You're bi-polar! Ta da!

Idiocy. Then out comes the seroquel - which is 'supposed' to be for treatment of schizophrenia. And once the seroquel takes hold, you might as well be schizophrenic. It will down you out and cloud your thinking like all get-out.

Rule 1. - Avoid psychiatrists. Though some are really good, intelligent people, too many times they are rushed to diagnose and trigger-happy to prescribe. Talk to a psychologist instead. They can't prescribe, but they can make a phone call if medication is needed.

Rule 2. - Avoid taking drugs that are being prescribed for off-label purposes. Seroquel is not supposed to be used as a sleeping-pill every night. And all too often it is prescribed for this on a daily basis. It will fuck you up. Need a sleeping pill? Get one designed for sleep - NOT for treatment of schizophrenia! Lordy!

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by Panthers007

Bi-polar disorder is currently the most popular label that psychiatrists apply to anyone with any sort of complaint of depression. Are you depressed? Yes. Have you ever felt happy? Yes. Oh! You're bi-polar! Ta da!

Idiocy. Then out comes the seroquel - which is 'supposed' to be for treatment of schizophrenia. And once the seroquel takes hold, you might as well be schizophrenic. It will down you out and cloud your thinking like all get-out.

Rule 1. - Avoid psychiatrists. Though some are really good, intelligent people, too many times they are rushed to diagnose and trigger-happy to prescribe. Talk to a psychologist instead. They can't prescribe, but they can make a phone call if medication is needed.

Rule 2. - Avoid taking drugs that are being prescribed for off-label purposes. Seroquel is not supposed to be used as a sleeping-pill every night. And all too often it is prescribed for this on a daily basis. It will fuck you up. Need a sleeping pill? Get one designed for sleep - NOT for treatment of schizophrenia! Lordy!

Additionally a lot of people do not consider the COST of these meds. Now many have insurance but do not care. But the abuse costs society economically in the long run. Drugs like Seroquel are damn expensive. Once SWIM was misdiagnosed bipolar and given 1000mg of seroquel per night! That was like 800 or more dollars per month. He was also given Zyprexia and that was 20 dollars per pill. This was for a reaction to DXM as discussed before that was misdiagnosed as bipolar. The point is that psychiatry costs the world big money and most of it is quackery. Money that could be used to feed starving kids or for research into other things. They are the ultimate abusers. True sociopaths. And yes I am sure there are a few exceptions to the rule. But in general the profession is a sham as practiced for the most part.

[Panthers007]

For further elucidation on this problem, we have been magically endowed with this thread:

http://www.drugs-forum.com/forum/sho...408#post415408

Scroll up to the top.

[chillinwill]

SWIM has been on 100mg of seroquel for 7 months for sleep and in the past 2 months has cut it down to 50mg....SWIM never did like the idea of being on an anti-psychotic for sleep but at the time when he was prescribed, he was coming off heroin and no other sleep med worked(tried lunesta, ambien, and temazepam) but his doctor wanted him to come off the seroquel now so SWIM stopped 2 days ago and hasn't been able to sleep a lick since

SWIM was wondering what other symptoms he can expect and how long will they last?

[Lobsang]

Originally Posted by chillinwill

SWIM has been on 100mg of seroquel for 7 months for sleep and in the past 2 months has cut it down to 50mg....SWIM never did like the idea of being on an anti-psychotic for sleep but at the time when he was prescribed, he was coming off heroin and no other sleep med worked(tried lunesta, ambien, and temazepam) but his doctor wanted him to come off the seroquel now so SWIM stopped 2 days ago and hasn't been able to sleep a lick since

SWIM was wondering what other symptoms he can expect and how long will they last?

Well SWIM can say that the only problem he had was the same. Lack of ability to sleep. So there were no other problems. But SWIM does not remember how long it took to get sleep again. And SWIM was taking 1000mg at night.

[Female]

Originally Posted by bcubed

Oops..."drug addicts" who "abuse drugs" have "withdrawls"; "patients" who are "prescribed medication" have "rebound effects." How silly of me!

In any event...SWIM is a 35y.o. male, prescribed Seroquel for a sleep disorder. On up to 800mg/day, SWIM went AMA, outside the USA for surgery that ultimately allowed him to discontinue use of the drug. The following is a timeline of withdrawl symptoms from 400 mg/day. (Note that days 1-7 were while incarcerated.)

Day 1: Agitation, no sleep.
Day 2: Mediocre sleep (thru day 14), histamine response (thru day 14) (sneezing, allergies, etc), diahrohhea.
Days 3-6: Improvement in mood, loss of lethargy, restoration of libido.
Days 7-10: Amplification of libido (read: almost comically horny), amplification of emotions.
Days 10-12: Restoration of emotions to near-baseline.
Days 13-14: Restoration of libido to near-baseline.

Swimmers, stay away from this drug! The big problem is that chronic use stifles one's ambitions as well as preventing one from experiencing the emotional range necessary to allow for higher human emotions such as love, empathy, etc. A loose, non-scientific description would be that it "deadens the soul."

What SWIM can't figure out is the histamine issue. He's always had allergies, which lessened roughly congruent with his use of this drug. He's not sure if present histamine response is W/D or a return to his personal baseline.

Hmm...swim does know that seroquel acts on the histamine receptor, which is why it makes you tired. SWIM constantly has a stuffy nose, and she's on 300mg xr of seroquel. Dunno if that is related or not?

[cybergenesis]

800mg for for sleeping problems in the long term in my opinion is blatantly inappropriate. I found the sedative effects of seroquel totally weared off within a few days to a week or so, thus its usefulness to get me to sleep was gone at around 400mg.

It causes sedation by blocking the histamine receptors and by reducing dopamine.

[wonky]

Seroquel is like a chemical lobotomy. It does indeed deaden the soul. SWIM was on 200mg per day, and she noticed a change in her personality. No real interest in anything, no creativity at all, pretty much didn't laugh anymore. Very lethargic, slept 10-12 hrs a night. Sat around the house unless she was working. Cold-turkeyed the drug and had anxiety attacks, headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness. SWIM is very glad to be off this drug.

[cybergenesis]

Originally Posted by wonky

Seroquel is like a chemical lobotomy. It does indeed deaden the soul. SWIM was on 200mg per day, and she noticed a change in her personality. No real interest in anything, no creativity at all, pretty much didn't laugh anymore. Very lethargic, slept 10-12 hrs a night. Sat around the house unless she was working. Cold-turkeyed the drug and had anxiety attacks, headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness. SWIM is very glad to be off this drug.

Wow very dramatic descriptions (ie "chemical lobotomy" , "deaden the soul") for a fairly mild dose. If it really knocked you around so much that you lost all interest in anything, and didn't laugh anymore then you must be pretty sensitive to the stuff.

If you found seroquel bad, you wouldn't want to try a "real" antipsychotic like haliparidol 7.5mg. Trust me

[wonky]

The 100mg Zoloft SWIM was on undoubtedly added to the entire zombeish psychiatric drug feeling. SWIM is off of both now. SWIM also has to take seizure meds which probably added to the mix. Those she is not able to come off of.

[doublezero]

hi have bipolar, was on quetiapine,,, tagged this, tomorrowwill tell u my experiences