Seroquel

[ButterflyBrooke]

I was put on seroquel to help with the major depression I have as a result of ptsd. I was on it for around 10 years. Of all the medicines I've been on its the only one that had consistently worked. I thought it wasn't working anymore because I felt the ptsd was out of control. My psychiatrist wouldn't do anything, so I found a new one. They took me off of seroquel and put me on Saphris. I became this person I didn't know. I'm not bipolar, but I had mood swings (no mania), extreme depression, and felt everything was hopeless.

My psychiatrist just put me back on seroquel, and the mood swings are gone, and I'm mostly stable. Since now I know that was due to withdrawal effects, I want to get off of the seroquel. It wasn't working well, and that's why I got off of it the first time, eventually that will probably happen again.

Has anybody else had a seroquel withdrawal? I was wondering if it would eventually go away?

 

[ashdawn8287]

I have been on it for just a few months. I feel it mostly works but I could use a little of something else. I can't see my psychiatrist until next month though.

I am still not sure I like it. It helps me sleep. I suppose I am more stable but yeah its not a cure all by any means. It just masks the effects of ptsd.

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

Hi Butterfly Brooke,

Have you talked with your psychiatrist about these withdrawal effects? If they are trained well, they should know that seroquel can be addictive. In the beginning they warned me about it, not to take too much, because of the addiction risk. If I were you I'd start talking to him/her about the possibility of using a little bit less, or a smaller dose.

Personally I like seroquel a lot the way I use it. I don't use it regularly, only in situations where I find I'm starting to have moodswings I can't control, or things in my head (emotions, intrusive thoughts) start to be overwhelming and I can't deal with them. At those moments it really helps, makes my head more at ease. When my head is at ease I can handle myself much better afterwards, so the effects of taking it in extreme situations seem to be self-sustaining.

Being dependent on it doesn't sound good, but don't just quit all at once. My advice is to talk to your psychiatrist about reducing the quantity and the dose of it.

 

[Britt.f7]

I weaned off of it and had no effects. I think it would have been different if I went straight off of it, especially after taking it for so long. I do take small doses to keep me calm during high anxiety times, but that is very rare. I always seem to forget that I have them for that.

 

[ashdawn8287]

I am being weened off it right now. I gain 10lbs and that's not really like me to gain weight. I am working out and taking care of my body so I don't want all that unneeded weight gain (especially since I'm getting married next year lol). He put me on Viibryd and I absolutely love it.

 

[Jenfa]

Weight gain, yessss. I'm 4'10" tall (Shirefolk) and I put on 50 lbs with that in conjunction with Depakote. Wow. Talk about depressing :\ But once off, so was the weight. Now I'm back to the healthy weight of a wet cat.

 

[presentjoy]

Seroquel, like risperdal and zyprexa among others, are atypical antipsychotics (APs).

Depending on how long you've been on an AP your experience will vary. When I came off one AP, I became paranoid. I was never paranoid or had any notable "psychosis" type experiences before that.

I am always very careful with doctors and how to get off drugs because the withdrawal symptoms can be overlooked, seen as symptoms, and then either the drug dose goes back up or the doctor tries another drug to address the "symptom". As in, withdrawal effects can be seen as reasons to be on meds after all.

After years of overlapping meds while switching them, etc. I try to take the approach of getting off something completely and then assessing, for a while, how that's working and what I can do to manage myself, before making a decision about a new medication.

While APs work on dopamine, check out Serotonin Syndrome. There's the idea that these drugs are changing the structures of the brain. So unless you can give your brain time to restructure after the drug is gone (which can take months), it's impossible to tell, when switching meds, what is a side effect of a med, or a withdrawal effect, or a post-withdrawal effect, or the new med titration effects, or new med side effects.

For 10 years I felt like a guinea pig. I love guinea pigs. I don't want them to be experimented on either.
(jmho)