successful_workthru Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 Hi I am on 150mgs quetiapine a day and have been for three years. I want to come off it as it is making me feel worse. I hear that it is best to taper this drug by 10% a month according to survivingantidepressants.org. Although the drug is not soluble in water, I plan to use water to taper it anyway, as there is no way I can divide those little 25mg pills. I was wanting to hear about experiences from anyone who has ever come off quetiapine, or, who have tapered this drug gradually after being on them more than a few months, and what wilthdrawal symptoms you faced etc. Many thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Data Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 I have been on quetiapine for some time, but I only take a low dose nowadays. Some days I have 50mg, others 25mg. I don't think quetiapine is as addictive as the benzos, so I think if you were to take 150mg one week, 125mg the next week, 100mg the week after that, you would be ok. I don't think dissolving the pills in water will be necessary. Having said that, the best person to ask for advice on these things is your doctor... or pharmacist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poiple Posted October 3, 2012 Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 I was on 600mg of Q for a long time and then 25mg PRN. I stopped it last August under the guidance of my psychiatrist. Reducing by 10% for the dosage you're on seems extreme. I was advised to drop by 50-100 every 3 days, which I did until the last 300mg which circumstances meant I had to stop dead. I didn't have any withdrawal from doing that. I would seek the advice of your psychiatrist or doctor rather than trust the judgment of a website. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
successful_workthru Posted October 3, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2012 I was on 600mg of Q for a long time and then 25mg PRN. I stopped it last August under the guidance of my psychiatrist. Reducing by 10% for the dosage you're on seems extreme. I was advised to drop by 50-100 every 3 days, which I did until the last 300mg which circumstances meant I had to stop dead. I didn't have any withdrawal from doing that. I would seek the advice of your psychiatrist or doctor rather than trust the judgment of a website. Good luck! Doctors have no clue, believe me. I am tapering benzos and if I had listened to them I would be really ill now. Please may I ask, how long were you on 600mg seroquel for? I cam on the website because I wanted to hear from people who had taken the drug for a long time and what their personal experience was when reducing it. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poiple Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 I was on it for 2 years. When I stopped it I stopped all my meds (I was on 17 tablets a day) at the same time over 2 months. I was only sharing my personal experience, if you feel it'd be better for you to do it slower then do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddy harper Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 i had a nightmare coming off quitiapine to go on to olanzapene but i'm more stable on the olanzapene than i was on the quitiapine. it wasn't an easy switch over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddy harper Posted October 4, 2012 Report Share Posted October 4, 2012 sorry i don't have more helpfull words Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
successful_workthru Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 I was on it for 2 years. When I stopped it I stopped all my meds (I was on 17 tablets a day) at the same time over 2 months. I was only sharing my personal experience, if you feel it'd be better for you to do it slower then do so. I am really glad you shared your experience. It is really encouragaing to hear you got off 600mg seroquel down to 25mg without any problems. Were you on any benzodiazepines or z-drugs (zopiclone/zolpidem) etc? If so, how long were you on these for? and were you taking them daily? I ask because I have been tapering valium for a long time and have withdrawal symptoms, and I wonder if the benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms may make it harder for me to get off seroquel? Thank you for your input, I value this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
successful_workthru Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 sorry i don't have more helpfull words Sorry to hear you had a nightmare coming off quetiapine before switching to your current med. I hope you don't mind me asking some more questions. Could you give me some more details of your experience coming off quetiapine? Like, how much were you on to start with? How long had you been on quetiapine? How fast did you reduce? How long did it take you to get down to 0mg quetiapine? Sorry for the questions, the more I know about others experiences, the more I will know what to expect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poiple Posted October 5, 2012 Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Yeah I was also on zolpidem (20mg nightly for over 2 years), and Valium. I was also on lamotrigine and fluoxetine when I stopped everything. I know it sounds weird but I really didn't have many withdrawal symptoms at all, in fact so little my GP labelled me a medical marvel. Although it depends on your definition of withdrawal...to this day my anxiety is higher than it has ever been and this has been attributed to being on so many tablets for so long. Previously I would have what I call normal panic attacks, now they're so severe I lose my hearing, seize, faint and wake up in my own vomit and that's only since coming off the medications. I think if I were you, particularly since you're getting withdrawals, I'd do one drug at a time. Try and get off the Valium first and then try coming off the Q? I was never addicted or dependent on Valium which is possibly the reason I didn't have many withdrawals from stopping it but if you were/are the withdrawals are really dangerous. Can I ask of you have a doctor overseeing your stopping the meds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
successful_workthru Posted October 5, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2012 Yeah I was also on zolpidem (20mg nightly for over 2 years), and Valium. I was also on lamotrigine and fluoxetine when I stopped everything. I know it sounds weird but I really didn't have many withdrawal symptoms at all, in fact so little my GP labelled me a medical marvel. Although it depends on your definition of withdrawal...to this day my anxiety is higher than it has ever been and this has been attributed to being on so many tablets for so long. Previously I would have what I call normal panic attacks, now they're so severe I lose my hearing, seize, faint and wake up in my own vomit and that's only since coming off the medications. I think if I were you, particularly since you're getting withdrawals, I'd do one drug at a time. Try and get off the Valium first and then try coming off the Q? I was never addicted or dependent on Valium which is possibly the reason I didn't have many withdrawals from stopping it but if you were/are the withdrawals are really dangerous. Can I ask of you have a doctor overseeing your stopping the meds? Hi I do have a doctor who is overseeing things and I am going to see her on Tuesday. I tapered down from 15mg valium to 3mg but now the quetiapine is stopping me from going any further down than 3mg, so I am going to ask my doctor if I can hold the valium, and taper the seroquel/quetiapine a bit so that I can resume my valium taper without problems. (well, I need to reduce the trazodone too, but that can wait, it's the seroquel that is causing me more problems right now. It sounds like you had a horrendous withdrawal experience which is still affecting you now. I did not realise that seizures can be caused by anxiety. My mum gets seizures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angel tears Posted November 6, 2012 Report Share Posted November 6, 2012 Hi I have very recently stopped taking the quetiapine and it has been a nightmare for me. I have been on 300mg for just over 3 months. I took it at night. I found that my periods completely stopped and all i did was sleep. I came down from 300mg-150mg over around 10 days and then i dropped to 100mg and off that after a few days. Ever since then i have got my insomnia back, terrible indigestion, really bad stomach, migraines and being sick. I feel like i have got the flu!!!. It's been 3 days so far with nothing and i physically feel really ill. I hope that it lifts soon xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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