I have been on Seroquel for almost 5 years.  It is losing a bit of its effectiveness so I am switching to Abilify.  I was at 600 mg, but now I am at 400 mg with Abilify 10 mgs x 2.  Did anyone experience any withdrawal going off of Seroquel?  Thanks.

Katie :suspect:

Hi, Katie.  I haven't tried to come off of Seroquel, but I too am taking 600 mg/day and might be switching to another AP in the near future.  I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone has any input on this.

For what it is worth, before Seroquel I was taking 6 mg/day of Risperdal.  While in the hospital, they stopped the Risperdal one day and started Seroquel the next and I had no problems with this.

SC

Thanks, SC.  I don't feel very worried about withdrawal effects from Seroquel.  I have dealt with coming off Effexor XR quickly so I am sure I can handle anything that happens.  I think the sooner I am off the Seroquel the better.  I think it probably justs adds sedation and makes it hard for me to tell if Abilify is working.

Katie :cool:

I don't think that the Abilify is working out so I am going to talk to my pdoc tomorrow about discontinuing.  The RLS and akathesia are barely responding to the natural remedies and Klonopin and it is getting hard to tolerate.  Atleast I know Seroquel works without this side effect.  Oh well.  Another medicine to put on my lengthy "taken" list.  I guess that will be number 23 not including the meds I take now.

Katie :verysad3:

I am officially off the Abilify and back on Seroquel 600 thank goodness.

Katie

Oh well, I guess it was worth a shot, huh?  Welcome back to the Seroquel club.

SC

Hi Katie,

Sorry, I've been away from these boards for months.  I just saw this and I can tell you what it was like coming off 600 mg of Seroquel.

First... I didn't tell my pdoc so I tapered according to my own schedule, which I really rushed through because I wanted to be off it so badly.  That was my mistake, I guess.  I don't remember exactly how I tapered, but let's just say I most likely did it all wrong.  And so my withdrawal experience was absolutely the worst of the 20-something meds I've ever taken.

Basically, once my rapid taper was complete, I became useless and was in bed all day for a little over 7 days, missing school and falling behind.  I had the sweats, convulsions, headaches and bad bodyaches.  But I kept telling myself to endure so I did, and it was a bad experience for me.  

I'm sure you know already to taper according to the pdoc's plan, so my story is a cautionary tale of what happens when things are rushed.  I don't want you to go through that (if it even happens, since we all react differently to meds and their discontinuation).  

I've also rushed an Effexor withdrawal years ago, which was also bad, but truly, Seroquel hurt me alot more when I stopped.  Please be safe, and check with the pdoc about a tapering schedule that won't cause any problems, when and if the time comes when you want to stop.

Good luck & peace.

(p.s... sorry I yammered on for so long) :confused:

Hi, just switched docs two weeks ago so he switched me from zoloft and xanax to prozac and seroquel which is working much better. I already feel a marked diference.  

Thing is, reading this, am pretty amazed that you guys are on Seroquel 600? He put me on 200 to start and now 100mg but I still have trouble shaking it off in the morning.  It seems like it demands 12 hours of sleep or I'm groggy all day.  It's really been wrecking my morning schedule.  I haven't even been able to make it to the gym in the mornings.  And after work I rush home and try to be asleep by 9pm so I can function the next day.

Help! Does anyone have any suggestions? Or am I doomed to having friends give me 6 wake up calls each day?  :(

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Hi, I am new to this website and was hoping it would help. I have been tapering off of my Seroquel very gradually with my doctor. However, I have been experiencing the same side effects as when I started it a few years ago. I have bad headaches and am VERY dizzy and sweating, sometimes nauseaus. When I told my doctor this, she said that that shouldn't be happening because of how gradual we are decreasing. She suggested I might be pregnant or have an infection. This made me very nervous so I rushed out to get a pregnancy test! It was negative and now I'm wondering what is wrong with me. Has anyone experienced this before? Help!

Hi all,

I was on Seroquel a couple of years ago for close to a year. Even though my dose was only 75 mg and I tapered, I still had 2 weeks of wicked symptoms. Very dizzy, nauseous, sweating.....I felt like crap!

Kat3, it sounds to me like you're going through what I did. I've actually seen people comment on this on other forums as well.

Thanks so much for posting that. You really made me feel better. Glad to know I'm not alone. I was only on 100 mg for the last couple of years and have been tapering slowly. The dizziness is the worst part! Ugh. I feel like someone is taking my head and just shaking it. And the headaches and nausea. It's awful. I guess I just need to deal with it for the next few weeks. Hopefully then it will be better.
Thanks again :)

(((((Kat)))))

I know what you're dealing with, lol! It's a pretty crappy feeling.....yes, the dizziness.....not a normal dizziness.....it's somehow different. And the nausea....and the headaches.....and the just feeling like ca-ca, lol! Hang in there....you will get through it. You might want to try taking an anti-nausea medication that you can pick up in the drug store. That will take the edge off it a little. Other than that, try to stay relaxed, get enough sleep, some fresh air, and try to get a little exercise if you can.

Like you, I was freaking out when I started feeling the withdrawal symptoms! There is no mention of them at all where information about the drug is given. I finally was able to weed through a bunch of search results and found a few posts at different health forums where people were talking about what they were experiencing. I was so relieved to find them, lol! I've also told my therapist about this because, very surprisingly, he wasn't aware of it.

Unfortunately, I'm going through a really rough time right now and my therapist has put me back on a low dose Seroquel. I'm not happy about it, but there are other factors that are keeping me from being able to really alter my meds at this time.

Hope you make it through this soon Kat!

I am currently getting off of seroqual and so far not too bad. I am actually happy to be getting off of it because the last year I have been on it (on for 5yrs) it just quit working and I was having the bad se of the drug..the worse being hyperglycemia, weight gain, racing heart, stuffy nose, etc....I am currently down from 400mg to 200mg so far okey although it has been a little harder to sleep.

Whatever u do dont quit this drug cold turkey. I ran out of pills one day and didnt have the money to fill my rx so for 2 days I started seeing stuff crawling out of the walls. I think that is what happens getting off cold turkey. Weird??

I hope, I don't have to get off of it!

I have come down from 400 to 300 but over the cource of about 6 months. I was over sedated but ok now. I drop 25mg each time a couple of times ive put it up again...i drop my dose every 6 to 8 weeks this may seem a long drawn out process but have had absolutely no side effects hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice. I am currently at 800 mgs and I don't believe I am going off of it any time soon. I may decrease if my doctor adds Abilify, but I won't have to go down that much.

good for you going slow. I am dropping 50mg a week and each time i drop my sleep gets worse. That seems to be the only side effect. Even with ambien to help i am know at 150mg and i do miss the deeper sleep but i look forward to be off this med as it really has lost effectiveness.

Hello :)

I just came upon this site because I am also trying to get off of seroquel. I have been on 100mg for about a year and a half. I have tapered off according to my doctor's instructions. He told me to decrease by 25 mg each week.

I just took my last 25 mg pill two days ago, and am no longer taking anything. Now I am wondering if there is a lower dose I should have gone to.

The past few weeks had been fine. I was feeling a little more irritable and basically a little more emotionally vulnerable, but these last couple of days have just been really bad. I have had horrible headaches and nausea with absolutely no appetite. But the worst for me is that I have been feeling very sad/detached. It makes me worried if I was ready to get off at all (although before, I was very confident that I was). I am hoping this could be more of a side effect and not a sign that I should go back on it. Has anyone experienced these bad emotional "side effects" and were you able to stabilize yourself? Is this part of the withdrawal??

Any help or answers would be greatly appreciated!

I cold turkeyed 400mgs of Seroquel with ease. I switched back to Zyprexa.

Hmmm I was on seroquel for almost 4 years and had no withdrawal symptomps when I quit it this March. I was switched to another AP (solian, then serdolect) but it didn't work, so I'm on seroquel again. Actually have to say it's one of the most harmless medicines I've ever taken.

You shouldnt get the withdrawals with seroquel like you would traditional ssri's and such. Like most antipsychotics, seroquel doesnt get its therapeutic effects from serotonin or dopamine reuptake inhibition. It works by antagonizing certain serotonin and dopamine receptors(and histamine receptors which is where it gets its sedative effect). Still, you may get some some kind of withdrawal if you taper too fast. Insomnia is probably a big one. Also, if you were taking it as a mood stabilizer, you should be careful and watch for switching back over into mania.

This post has been edited by maintainin: Jun 3 2008, 11:32 AM

Hi Brian,

I am new to the forum as I was looking online for how to taper off Seroquel and I found most of my information on it here. However, I have read SO many posts about the "withdrawel" and how bad it is. I definitely don't want this but your post seemed the most logical to me. I am having to stop the seroquel because it has given me diabetes and my numbers are quite high (in the 200's sometimes). So as far as tapering I am not willing to do this in a 6 month long process. I take 300-400mg at night. I was given the seroquel because I suffer from depression and had 1 mild manic episode. I've been increasing it because it was losing it's efficacy. I also saw a post here that someone cold turkeyed 400mg without any symptoms. Any advice............???? From anyone?????

Thanks,
Lori

I just started taking seroqual 200\100mg at night and 25\50mg during the day if needed when I was last hospitalized. So far I notice my body getting used to it. I don't think I be coming off it for ages since my anxiety and paranoia is so high.

I was hoping that this topic might get started up again!

I'm currently on 200 mg. Seroquel a day (well, at night), and my pdoc is actually the one who has been pushing for me to get off of it. Now that I'm weaned off the hideous horror that was Luvox, I'm sure he'll want me to do is seriously. I took it for bipolar mixed mania, and I have to say that it did what it was supposed to do. But it's a horse tranquilizer, which I could live without (I didn't have any trouble sleeping before taking it, so that seems like overkill.) I've been lucky in that I haven't gained any weight, which was the main thing I was so afraid of before I took it. But the weird thing is that if I'm already not doing well, having a bad week, etc., THEN Seroquel makes me feel sludgy and depressed. If I'm having a good day, then it doesn't have that effect at all. Has anyone else noticed this?I also take Focalin, and if it's already a bad day anyway, the Seroquel and the Focalin just seem to be duking it out (they do have opposite effects on the dopamine receptors.) I think I'll be happy to get off it on the whole.

Anyway, my question is, how fast did people go off of Seroquel? Was it by the month, by the week, by the day, etc.? How fast did the dose go down, and by how much? I've dropped down from 300 to 250 and from 250 to 200, and each time, I didn't notice any difference at all. What do y'all think?

Hi: Just wondered if you're still on Seroquel and how long it took before the grogginess went away?