Getting off of Seroquel

Hi! So I’ve been taking Seroquel for about 2 years now to help with my Borderline Personality Disorder & depression/insomnia. Currently on 250mg of Seroquel & 100mg of Zoloft. I’ve thought about coming off Seroquel for a while cause of all the bad side effects to my overall health like my heart & whatnot from long term use, but at the same time scared cause of the possible withdrawal symptoms & what might happen to me once I stop such as not being able to sleep. The main reason I wanna come off Seroquel is because I feel my Zoloft (which was only prescribed to me almost a year) is doing most of the work on managing my depression & I don’t wanna depend on Seroquel for the rest of my life. Another reason is that my heart occasionally “skips a beat” & is worrisome to the point where I panic internally. So I’m just looking to get some options/help/advice on this situation. Thanks so much for reading!

Hi @mdb89 and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I definitely understand not wanting to depend on a medication for the rest of your life. You will see that I moved your post to a like conversation so that you could connect with members like @sears, @jpshaark, @loribmt, and @hearttoheart1.

What type of side effects are you having from the medication?

Hi, i was diagnosed with Bipolar around 9 years ago and have Been taking Quetiapine ever since. As much as I think this was a great drug to start with as it really helped me, I've decided to come off it by slowly tapering as the cons by far outweigh the pros and I want to feel like me again. Alls I seem to feel most days is lethargic and tired and I've had enough. So far I've come down from 300mg each night (with a zopiclone) to 200mg(with a zopiclone(over the past 7 days and it seems to be going well so far. My intentions now are to drop down by 25mg every 2 weeks. Any advice would be hugely appreciated. Thankyou 🙂🙃

Hi @buzzy1, I will start by welcoming you to Mayo Clinic Connect. Glad you found the community. Connect is a patient forum and not monitored by Mayo physicians, but suggestions and personal experience is shared between members. I am happy to hear that you are slowly tapering off rather than going cold turkey.
You will see that I moved your post to this discussion regarding getting off of seroquel (Quetiapine) so you can read other members dealings and maybe connect with one of them.
Nine years is quite a long time. Are you being monitored by your physician to make sure you avoid heavy withdrawal?

Has anyone successfully “gotten off” seroquel?

I’ve been taking it for 5 years (100mgXR). I tried my own slow taper, cutting down by 25mg every 3 weeks. Once off, I ended up in psychiatric care for 2 weeks, and put right back on it. I also got a new diagnosis of “Schizophrenic” as a result of the stay.

I’m going to see my Psychiatrist in November and I’m going to ask about a supervised-taper of sorts.

The effects I don’t want to deal with anymore:
-Dead libido
-Yawning/Tremors from waking until around 6 hours later
-General feeling of malaise

Is it possible to be completely free of mood stabilizers? Or, are there any proven medications that don’t come with typical side-effects?

Some background:
My first manic episode was at 31 years of age. I was diagnosed as manic bipolar after being mostly awake for 6 days straight. (I would nod off and not realize I had gone to sleep.) I also quit drinking heavily, cold-turkey, 2 weeks prior.

Thanks for any input!

Hello I am new to Mayo Clinic and new to medicine. I was put on Seroquel and remeron for sleep and depression. I wouldn't sleep for days on end and have to eventually crash out. I ended up in a psychiatrist setting and they put me on medicine about 2 weeks ago. The strong side effects are worse than not sleeping. Constantly brain fog and feeling weird.
So how did you get diagnosed with Schizophrenia ???? Was it from no sleep or was it from getting off the medicine??? I am asking because I was put on 50mg and 2 weeks later my doctor put me at 25mg.

Hello I am new to Mayo Clinic and new to medicine. I was put on Seroquel and remeron for sleep and depression. I wouldn't sleep for days on end and have to eventually crash out. I ended up in a psychiatrist setting and they put me on medicine about 2 weeks ago. The strong side effects are worse than not sleeping. Constantly brain fog and feeling weird.
So how did you get diagnosed with Schizophrenia ???? Was it from no sleep or was it from getting off the medicine??? I am asking because I was put on 50mg and 2 weeks later my doctor put me at 25mg.

Hi @natthebrat97, I can understand the reluctance to take medicine if the side effects seem worse than the problem the medicine is meant to help. It can be a vicious cycle with not sleeping and depression. I think fellow members like @stlr21 @jakedduck1 @sears @eczarniecki @jimhd @hopalongnm3 and @atscaping may have some thoughts for you.

Natt, have you talked to your doctor about the side effects and how they make you uncomfortable? There may be other options for you.

You were diagnosed with Schizophrenia?