Getting off of Seroquel

Hello everyone I am new around here!
I am a 20 y/o male and when I was 7 years old I was put on Quetiapine. I believe it was for anxiety or something but I do not remember much of my childhood. Anyways fast forward to now and I have been taking Quetiapine for 13 years and I don't even know why I am taking it. I am currently taking Quetiapine 50mg ER once a day at 5:30-7pm each day. My doctor tried to ween me off last year around this time by cutting my down to 25mg daily for 2 weeks followed by 25mg every other day for 4 days, after that I went cold turkey. The withdrawal was okay at first but eventually I think I had a panic attack or something and was put back on it. Anyways, my question is how can I got off this drug I've been on for 13 years? Im worried about the effects on my liver and other cognitive effects such as it being incredibly difficult to wake up

When I go to the dr. it amazes me how many children have appointments. This drug was so over bearing completely zombied me up. I have been able to get a perspective as I am a substitute teacher in elementary school. I have witnessed children, age 7-8 who are loud, disruptive and hard to focus. This year when I went back to sub I had those same children......... (at differnt school districts) they were so subdued............ I thought woah! The kids during their talks with me menton they have XYZ and ABC diseases and they are taking medication. I never asked them they just brought it up because it was part of their daily lives. I thought to myself.......I am not a doctor but these kids did not seem to be ADD, Depressed......... Anxious........ they were disruptive as muh as I saw them........ I would of seen some of the symptoms.......... I keep thinking these kids were given this powerful drugs................ the same one I am struggling to get off of................ Like I said I am not a dr........ but from my experience the drs I am dealing with was so anxious to put a label on me of Biopolar yet I did not show any of the symptoms......... After I got off this drug. I started thinking clearly and did some research and I believe I have Post Traumatic Disorder Syndrome.

@lla2019
Your reducing your dose by 50%. Personally I wouldn’t reduce it by so much, however some people can do so and have still have an unremarkable taper. It is unusual with such a powerful drug and one with such a short half-life (6 hours.) To some people I know personally and others I’ve read about with schizophrenia this drug has been a Godsend but in some that help came with a high price.
I’m hoping you have an uneventful taper. I have little doubt you’ll feel much better once off this powerful drug.
Good luck to you,
Jake

@anniegk
Hi there,
Is the Mirtazapine controlling your depression? Studies have shown Seroquil does not help depression or anxiety nor does it help sleep disorders although I’ve heard that it has helped numerous people with sleep issues, probably because of it’s side effect of drowsiness. Do you believe you can stop the Seroquel without going into a regressive depressive state?
Going off medication can be tricky. Some can decrease it faster than others. When I discontinued the Anticonvulsant Neurontin I stopped relatively quickly but with the Benzodiazepine Anticonvulsant
Klonopin I didn’t think I’d ever get off it.
If you continue to your titration make sure you do it slooooooooooooowly, at least slower than you have been since you had symptoms. My own unprofessional opinion is Antipsychotic medication shouldn’t be used for Anxiety or depression. Unfortunately doctors can write prescriptions for off label uses thereby abusing this class of medication. Also the manufacturer of this medication was promoting it for numerous ailments not approved by the FDA which led the government to sue the manufacturer for over a half billion dollars. No wonder our medicine is so expensive we have to pay for their greed. Seroquil can increase a pamphlet tients chance of getting Seroquil induced Diabetes. It can also increase the heart rate which can lead to other problems usually more so if you are on higher dose. I hope you can come off this medication safely by doing it slowly. Remember going slow comes with great benefits. Too quickly can come with bad side effects.
Both of these drugs can cause nausea and headache. Which one is most likely to I don’t know.
I agree with you regarding the taper. It indeed seems very fast to me. The two week time frame is more reasonable if you were switching to another medication.
I wish you hope and great success coming off Seroquel.
Jake

When I go to the dr. it amazes me how many children have appointments. This drug was so over bearing completely zombied me up. I have been able to get a perspective as I am a substitute teacher in elementary school. I have witnessed children, age 7-8 who are loud, disruptive and hard to focus. This year when I went back to sub I had those same children......... (at differnt school districts) they were so subdued............ I thought woah! The kids during their talks with me menton they have XYZ and ABC diseases and they are taking medication. I never asked them they just brought it up because it was part of their daily lives. I thought to myself.......I am not a doctor but these kids did not seem to be ADD, Depressed......... Anxious........ they were disruptive as muh as I saw them........ I would of seen some of the symptoms.......... I keep thinking these kids were given this powerful drugs................ the same one I am struggling to get off of................ Like I said I am not a dr........ but from my experience the drs I am dealing with was so anxious to put a label on me of Biopolar yet I did not show any of the symptoms......... After I got off this drug. I started thinking clearly and did some research and I believe I have Post Traumatic Disorder Syndrome.

There are only two numbers on blood pressure. Systolic and diastolic. What is the third number?

Hi, @lla2019 - as you mentioned you are researching and wondering whether you have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I thought you might be interested in:

- reading this Mayo Clinic information on that disorder https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967

- looking through this Connect discussion on PTSD and posting about any questions you may have https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anyone-else-with-ptsd

Sir, you are providing more disinformation. Seroquel does help depression and anxiety, especially when given with an antidepressant. It is given in low doses to augment antidressants and it has an indication for that. It is commonly given in hospitals to reduce anxiety, usually in low doses. Also, there are clinical trials showing its efficacy for depression and anxiety, but the drug is used off-label for those conditions.

Your unprofessional opinions are just that, unprofessional, but also misinformed. The efficacy of the drug has nothing to do with the illegal activities of its manufacturer. Your mention of side effects is noted in the drug label, so it's well known and it's dependent on dose.

So rather than scaring people with overly negative reports of Seroquel, some of which are not based in fact, please stick to the facts or don't post.

And to the moderator, please screen messages so disinformation does not get through. This the a Mayo Clinic forum, not a Mad in America forum.

You should not call Seroquel a dangerous drug. It is only dangerous in overdose or for patients who have severe adverse effects. For millions, Seroquel has meant the differece between life or death and sanity vs psychosis. So I only ask you to check your facts before you make grave statements against any drug. No drug is perfectly safe. It's always a balance between therapeutic effect and side effects.