Getting off of Seroquel

Posted by anniegk @anniegk, Jun 8, 2018

I have been on 300 mgs. Seroquel ER for over a year for augmenting my antidepressant which is 45 mgs. Of Mirtazapine. I decided to try and get off of the Seroquel. I was on 300mgs ER (extended release). I titrated down to 250 mg ER for 2 months without too many problems.than i titrated down to 200mgs ER just 5 days ago. My plan is to try to titrate off using ER tablets. My thinking is that perhaps the drug will remove its self from my system more gradually. I have had some nausea and a couple of episodes of diarrhea. I also have a very irregular heart beat and was started on 60 mgs of Propranolol ER (extended release) 4 weeks ago. It seems to be helping my heartbeat. I have wondered if the nausea and light headness is from the Propranolol, a Beta Blocker, or the dose reduction of the Seroquel. I also wonder if the way iam titrating the Seroquel is safe. My doctor says it will only take a couple of weeks...I think that is too fast of a taper after being on a drug for over a year. What do you think?

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@lickitysplit

Day 4. No pills. I really feel like I've gotten over the hump. I think the hard work is done! I did my usual evening stuff. Put the kids to bed and relaxed on the couch. I find myself over analyzing how I'm feeling still. I find I'm self assessing too early in the evening on if I feel tired or not and worrying that I'm not feeling tired at 9:00pm... I have to remind myself I never go to bed at 9:00pm so yeah, your not tired dummy.

It didn't take long to start feeling sleepy after winding down. I am still trying to stay up to at least 11:30 - 12:00am to make sure I'm tired and stay tired. I was struggling to stay awake so I packed it in at 11:30pm and went to bed. I really don't remember laying awake for long. I woke up at 1:30am and had to desperately go to the bathroom. I was wondering if this was withdrawal related until I remembered I I had salty popcorn before bed and it was probably the salt. Funny how you start second guessing everything.

I woke up before my alarm at 5:20am this morning and was very awake so it was time to get up. Slowly I've noticed I'm sleeping in a little at a time. I'm very alert and clear headed when I'm waking up so its not that bad.I feel that things are going in the right direction and my body is getting back to doing what it does.

On a side note. Today is the coldest day of the year hear. Its a balmy -34c and -43c with the windchill. Thats -29f and -45f for the U.S folks. brrrrrr!

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This is good, I am also on day 4 and I slept off and on last night some also. I feel so good this morning like I have not felt in years. My mind is getting clear, my blood pressure has now gone from 148/80 to average 119/68/59 in the middle of the day yesterday. I am still up and down as everyday I avoid healthcare corruption in America. I am getting so much better and its free. My weight is also going down as I so maybe things could get better soon as it cant get much worse. I am taking melatonin from Walmart at 10 pm each night for now to help sleep. Thank you lord for helping me get out of a country of deadly prescription drugs destroying the health of so many in the name of big money over your health. 20 years of nothing but B S and prescription drugs, try this one, try this one now, use this also and more . It all starts with showing you have insurance to a healthcare provider. I Canceled my insurance including Medicare to make sure death before drugs ever happens again.

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Day 5: I feel like this is a mile stone day/night. I really struggled staying awake last night, which is good! I found myself unable to stay awake at 10:30pm. I've really tried to hold a strict curfew of 11:30pm just to make sure I wasn't sleeping to much. I packed it in at 10:45pm last night after finding myself falling asleep sitting up.

I still find myself not totally confident when I get into bed if or how I'm even going to fall asleep. Its weird but I'm sure its a common feeling for people who have/had insomnia wondering if todays the day we are going to fall asleep.

Anyway I slept through the whole night and woke up to my alarm at 6:00am. I felt rested but could have easily rolled back over and went back to sleep. Its a good feeling... It feels normal.

I still have some faint ringing in my ears. Its slowly dissipating I think. Its only really noticeable in quiet surroundings. It keeps me wondering if I still have some traces of Seroquel in my system. I've read some comments from others on Seroquel that it gave them Tinnitus. Hope this eventually goes away.

Off topic but still related I've been meaning to comment for others on strategies I've read about on almost every insomnia website. All of them state that you should never stay in bed for more than 15 minutes before getting up and doing something to help with sleep. I've tried this and had extremely low success. doing this has mainly kept me awake longer as it takes me at least 15 minutes normally to even get comfortable. Maybe its just me but I'd either ignore this recommendation or up the time limit to more like 60 minutes. I found that providing your comfortable and relaxed just wait it out and hope for a couple hours of sleep here and there.

@rew4946 Glad to hear your feeling much better and healthier after stopping Seroquel. It may not have happened as you wanted it to but it sounds like it was worth it! Hows your day 5 going? I think your experience will give others like you the willpower and comfort knowing that long term users can get off this drug with a couple of days of discomfort!

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It seems we are doing better on day 5 also, I must have slept some last night and was awake around 5am or so. My anxiety after 2 pm yesterday was getting someone out of control running 100 mph. Been through this before and I need to stay home and away from others for a bit until I calm down. We are in for record colds and freezing weather for the next week so a great time to spend laying around with my little hound Pete. I am so glad I have Pete to be with as my wife passed away from Corona Virus back in May. I want to be well again so bad and I will try my best to keep going. One thing for sure, I have blocked all tv networks from my home to be safe from the B S and being upset over the world coming apart like a cheap suit. Netflix only watching comedy keeps my mind at rest and makes me smile some. Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver etc. Sounds sick but it works so good. Take care and we can beat this drug infested medical system country we live in. We will have a normal life again soon. NO DAMN DRUGS or medical help again period of any kind.

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@rew4946

It seems we are doing better on day 5 also, I must have slept some last night and was awake around 5am or so. My anxiety after 2 pm yesterday was getting someone out of control running 100 mph. Been through this before and I need to stay home and away from others for a bit until I calm down. We are in for record colds and freezing weather for the next week so a great time to spend laying around with my little hound Pete. I am so glad I have Pete to be with as my wife passed away from Corona Virus back in May. I want to be well again so bad and I will try my best to keep going. One thing for sure, I have blocked all tv networks from my home to be safe from the B S and being upset over the world coming apart like a cheap suit. Netflix only watching comedy keeps my mind at rest and makes me smile some. Andy Griffith, Leave it to Beaver etc. Sounds sick but it works so good. Take care and we can beat this drug infested medical system country we live in. We will have a normal life again soon. NO DAMN DRUGS or medical help again period of any kind.

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You bring up such a good point. When I had my episode in September/October I found myself being to plugged in to media, COVID updates, the world imploding and all I listened to was podcasts about world problems. I think this affected me very much. Negativity, negativity, negativity. On my way to recovery I did a couple of things. 1 was exactly as you did. No more news, media, etc. If the world is going to blow up I'd rather not know before hand. No more pod casts, music only. I only watched neutral type shows like on Discovery channel. I like Gold Rush, Street Outlaws, and shows about the universe. I also finished all 6 seasons of Schitts Creek. Thats a good light show to get into. To be honest I barley remember any of it but I did watch all the episodes.

The other thing I did for about 8 weeks is work out. I'm not big into working out but I felt this tension in me. Like I was wound too tight. I have what you would call a punching bag but its not. Its called a bas rutten body action system. Its just a target type spring loaded thing I bought years ago for my son who does taekwondo. Anyway I would just wail on it for as long as I could still swing. Take a 2 min break and do it again for about 30 min. It relieved so much tension. After that I bought some resistance bands for like $40 off amazon and screwed it to my ceiling and did resistance band exercises and sit-ups. I really didn't care about how much weight I could do or anything I just did what felt comfortable. No real thought about what I was doing but just getting the tension out of my body. It helped alot to get the anxiety down.

Looks like we are in for another cold day record tonight. Its going down to -36c and -48c with the wind chill. -33f and -55f with wind chill.

I'm terribly sorry to hear about your wife.

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I love Schitts Creek.I can watch the first 6 or 7 episode's over and over, Watching the idiot box I still have a problem with the poor taste advertising of drugs, medical, insurance and lawyers just make me boil as its ever 8.5 minutes of networks etc. I try 98% of the time to not turn channels on that contain advertising, I only have high speed internet Samsung smart things or roku boxes. If i can laugh it pulls me up and rest my mind. I hope that my mind starts to get rest soon. Scatter brain still but getting better. I do my best when I can work outside in my yard, on my car, on the roof anything that is in the hot sun during the summer. Winter does not have to much to do. Clean house, wash clothes anything to try and keep mind on something real? Last few years I started keeping my home spotless keeping busy.

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Day 6. Nothing really new to talk about here. Went to bed last night at about 11:20pm. Fell asleep fairly quickly I think. Slept completely through the night. I woke up this morning at about 8:50am. No alarm, Its a nice feeling waking up not feeling cloudy and sluggish. I made everyone eggs for breakfast this morning. I haven't done that in ages since I was waking up either late or feeling like I'm dragging an anchor around with me.

Still slight ringing in my ears. I don't feel like its slowly going away either. Feels the same today as yesterday. Damn pills.

Looks like I have to brave the cold today. Its -49f with the windchill and we have to do 2 things. 1. I have to get some propane for the BBQ for tonight (yeah I know but it is steak night.) and 2. Its my father-in-laws 80th today and we still have COVID lockdown here so we are going to have some champagne in the garage...Outside...with the door open... Oh well. Only turn 80 once I hear.

@rew4946 I trust you are doing well today? Its laundry day over here. Much like you I try to stay busy as well. I've been working on my basement theatre. Let me re-phrase that. I've been re-organizing my existing basement that needs a reno that hasn't happened yet due to COVID. Thats a better description. Anyway The basment is as done as its going to be without supplies and drywall so I need to start looking for other projects. I do have to redo the silicone in the kids bathroom. Maybe a tomorrow project.

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I slept pretty good last night but still averaging maybe 4 hours of real sleep, This is better than I was doing before, Waiting for winter storm to knock out the power for a few days, Ready with my generator. I Got out early this morning hitting Lowes and I think everyone in the state was there buying generators , foam cold weather stuff. I needed a new electrical hookup just in case I need to use the generator. I hope not... Stomach feels like i want o get sick but goes away after 10 or 15 minutes at times during the day. Way to much energy that I cant do anything with right now. Hope this goes away or I get use to it. Take care

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@hopeful123

I have gotten off 600mg Seroquel but not the XR. It was being used to help me sleep probably anti anxiety as well. It was tough and took about 6 months but I have been off it about 6 months now. Tons of nausea when I went off it but my doctor explained it absolutely is normal because it does work on some sort of anti nausea brain receptors. I got down to 25mg then stopped. I’m still completing a benzodiazepine taper but I am glad I got off the Seroquel as it fogged my thinking.

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I've been on seroquel for many years to help with sleeping. I've been up to 400mgs and down to 50 mgs while trying to get off it. I am working with an acupuncturist now and have been successful in coming down to 75mgs with good sleep. When I went to 50mgs everything reversed itself and I could not sleep at all. I am now back up to 100mgs and sleeping ok. There is this thing called a rebound effect which is what I think happened. Is there any hope of getting off completely? My insomnia started with peri menopause. I am way past menopause now and my drug doctor believes i should be able to sleep ok without the medication. The thought of not getting off this drug is depressing

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@ireneb

I've been on seroquel for many years to help with sleeping. I've been up to 400mgs and down to 50 mgs while trying to get off it. I am working with an acupuncturist now and have been successful in coming down to 75mgs with good sleep. When I went to 50mgs everything reversed itself and I could not sleep at all. I am now back up to 100mgs and sleeping ok. There is this thing called a rebound effect which is what I think happened. Is there any hope of getting off completely? My insomnia started with peri menopause. I am way past menopause now and my drug doctor believes i should be able to sleep ok without the medication. The thought of not getting off this drug is depressing

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I can only share my experience with this drug. I was on it for 4 months for insomnia as I stopped sleeping due to stress which I feel like turned into mild depression. I compared it to a mid life crisis. I can tell you while on it I tried various doses and techniques and nothing helped. If I took it I slept if I didn't I didn't sleep. My Dr. also said the same thing that I should be able to just go off it and sleep. For me, this was not the case. Every time I tried just not taking it I just didn't sleep. This was also adding to my stress thinking I was still broken, or I had an underlying condition causing it. It wasn't until I found this forum a week ago that I understood that it was withdrawl that was causing me to not sleep. It seems common throughout this thread that you should prepare for some insomnia when coming off it. Its equally frustrating if your taking this for insomnia like some of us.

Anyway after I read every page for this thread I felt I had a better understanding of what was going on here. You can read my daily updates but the first 3 days was hard but got better after that. I had no sleep on day 1, had to take 12.5 mg on day 2 or I felt I want going to sleep and by day 3 I was sleeping a couple hours a night on my own.

Much like you, I wasn't happy about going on medication for sleeping to begin with and it only added to my frustration not being able to get off it.

I added as much insight as I could on my previous posts on what I thought helped or didn't help for me. I know everyone is different but even @rew4946 who was a long term user is having success coming off Seroquel by just stopping.

I hope this helps. Unless your hormones are still out of sync causing insomnia you can do this!

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Day 7. So last night was a weird one. I didn't sleep much but I think it was self inflicted. We had a really big supper last night. Giant prime rib steaks, sautéed shrimp, caesar salad. We love garlic so everything was loaded up with it. Anyway we had a bottle of wine with dinner and cheese cake after. We also ate pretty late. Last night I also watched a UFC PPV that didn't end till 12:00am. I felt pretty wound up after. Just not tired. I had food sweats as well. I tried going to bed at 1:00am but my body wasn't having it. Got up at 2:00am and stayed up till 3:00am. I thrashed around in bed but eventually fell asleep and was up around 9am, then fell asleep again till 10:30am.

So pretty sure this isn't Seroquel related so I'll chalk this one up to poor sleep hygiene.

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