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Getting off of Seroquel

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Nov 16 4:15pm | Replies (724)

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@heidirahk

Hi I'm new to this form. I'm stopping seroquel xr cold turkey. I have only been on it for 6 weeks for depression and Anxiety. Do to a long story, we decided to try seroquel xr. We started slow because my brain is very sensitive. Started at 50mg, side affects, big headaches, buzzing and tingling in the brain. Also nauseous heartburn and no appetite. Thinking is scrambled. 2 weeks went to 100mg. Same side affects I'm
hoping these side affects should go away. I tell my doctor about them, he just looks at me. So we go up to 150mg a week ago Wednesday, by Friday huge headache, buzzing and tingling brain. Some times it feels like my brain is burning in spots that move around. Brain scrambled. Saturday morning my legs and arms are weak, start to feel sick. Same on Sunday, Monday legs and arms really weak. Call Doctor we agree to drop to 50mg. Before I can even drop to 50mg I start throwing up. Took 50mg Monday night. Threw up Tuesday morning. Stopped seroquel. I'm having withdrawal symptoms, throwing up , depression anxiety nauseous , little sleep since Monday night. Lucky I have some left over Trazadone and xanax on hand. I'm wondering if my withdrawal symptoms will lesson quicker since I haven't been on it that long. I've been waiting for my doctor to call me back. I left a note with his nurse on Wednesday to call me.
Thanks Heidirahk

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Replies to "Hi I'm new to this form. I'm stopping seroquel xr cold turkey. I have only been..."

@heidirahk
Stopping your medication cold turkey was a very foolish move, not to mention a potentially dangerous one.
You yourself said you have a very sensitive brain which I interpret as being sensitive to medications which is why I can’t understand why you would stop something cold turkey especially an antipsychotic. I doubt very much you had your doctors approval to do that. As time goes by your side effects should either go away or at least become less severe. These types of medications need to be stopped slowly and most of the time more slowly than what your doctor will recommend. It’s really necessary for anyone to suffer the withdrawal symptoms like most everybody here seems to go through. Your brain needs time to adjust to the different dosages. The less your your brain has to get used to at any one time the more successful your taper will probably be.
However slow tapering doesn’t seem to be your only problem since you were having side effects from the beginning. It appears to me you need to better advocate for yourself and if you’re non confrontational perhaps take someone with you who can advocate more forcefully. Your questions should always be answered to YOUR satisfaction. Don’t forget who is working for whom.
I don't know for sure but when or if your doctor calls maybe you could ask if another medication would help not only the withdrawal symptoms but the depression and anxiety as well. I personally would tell the doctor if you started a new medication that you wanted to begin it at a very low dose and go up slowly which should reduce any side effects. Your starting dose seems high to me. Does your doctor know you're sensitive to medications?
Hope you find a good outcome to this mess,
Jake

I agree with the replys you have been given. Some of us were prescribed Seroquel for different reasons. Personally, I was prescribed it specifically for insomnia. The insomnia was brought on by different reasons, I believe I went through a phase of depression which brought on insomnia which brought on anxiety. I think its important to look at the root of the problem.

I also agree that your dose seems high for someone who is sensitive to meds. 25mg is the lowest dose. I was sometimes cutting mine in half.

I do remember the beginning weeks of Seroquel being worse than the rest. Tingling, brain fog, no nausea for me though. I quit cold turkey but again this was for insomnia. It was a challenge. A couple days of not sleeping followed by weeks of slowly getting back to normal. I feel like I'm quite close to "back to normal" but have gone through couple day stretches where I just don't sleep. Or going to sleep feels foreign/un natural.

I agree with the rest that you should really be consulting with your Dr or finding a new one. Hope you are doing well.