Seroquel Support Group

[[Co...]]

im really wondering if seroquel could cause muscle spasm/tics. i jumpec K 9 days ago, and on 5th day I took 50mg seroquel, as an emergency, since a horrible wave hit at bedtime. slept great for 8h and felt good next day, however i noticed increase in muscle spasm. the next day i took 25mg with less spasm, and last night i took about 10mg with nearly no spasm (but woke up more anxious).  I am wondering if this is common and I should give up on seroquel totally even occasionally.  but then also doxepin and remeron cause me the same effect.

 

I don't think you can completely heal if you're on any other meds. Because every neurotransmitter works with the other ones. Serotonine and dopamine are neuromodulators for example , histamine too.

So it does affect the gaba-glutamate balance. It doesn't mean you have to cold turkey everything. But tapering towards being med free is in my opinion the only way to truelly heal.

Your CNS needs stability, and if you are taking some meds once and a while you cause imbalances in your cns from which you will rebound.

I'm sure some people are fine on meds, but then again some people are fine on benzo's too.

I think you need to look at your situation and if you are not healing you need to look at the other meds. Because they can cause equally awfull withdrawal syndromes for some.

[[lo...]]

I see what you are saying. I noticed that seroquel helps me a lot for sleep at low dose, and makes my mornings not as dreadful in this acute stage. I wake up groggy and a bit zombified, but much more calm and not as anxious.

I am wondering if it is because the sleep is not as tense and more 'relaxed'. I think I might keep taking it at least for some time during acute w/d (i jumped 10 days ago). I will try to cut and get off gabapentin however.

I am wondering if it makes depression worse.

 

im really wondering if seroquel could cause muscle spasm/tics. i jumpec K 9 days ago, and on 5th day I took 50mg seroquel, as an emergency, since a horrible wave hit at bedtime. slept great for 8h and felt good next day, however i noticed increase in muscle spasm. the next day i took 25mg with less spasm, and last night i took about 10mg with nearly no spasm (but woke up more anxious).  I am wondering if this is common and I should give up on seroquel totally even occasionally.  but then also doxepin and remeron cause me the same effect.

 

I don't think you can completely heal if you're on any other meds. Because every neurotransmitter works with the other ones. Serotonine and dopamine are neuromodulators for example , histamine too.

So it does affect the gaba-glutamate balance. It doesn't mean you have to cold turkey everything. But tapering towards being med free is in my opinion the only way to truelly heal.

Your CNS needs stability, and if you are taking some meds once and a while you cause imbalances in your cns from which you will rebound.

I'm sure some people are fine on meds, but then again some people are fine on benzo's too.

I think you need to look at your situation and if you are not healing you need to look at the other meds. Because they can cause equally awfull withdrawal syndromes for some.

[[Co...]]

I see what you are saying. I noticed that seroquel helps me a lot for sleep at low dose, and makes my mornings not as dreadful in this acute stage. I wake up groggy and a bit zombified, but much more calm and not as anxious.

I am wondering if it is because the sleep is not as tense and more 'relaxed'. I think I might keep taking it at least for some time during acute w/d (i jumped 10 days ago). I will try to cut and get off gabapentin however.

I am wondering if it makes depression worse.

 

im really wondering if seroquel could cause muscle spasm/tics. i jumpec K 9 days ago, and on 5th day I took 50mg seroquel, as an emergency, since a horrible wave hit at bedtime. slept great for 8h and felt good next day, however i noticed increase in muscle spasm. the next day i took 25mg with less spasm, and last night i took about 10mg with nearly no spasm (but woke up more anxious).  I am wondering if this is common and I should give up on seroquel totally even occasionally.  but then also doxepin and remeron cause me the same effect.

 

I don't think you can completely heal if you're on any other meds. Because every neurotransmitter works with the other ones. Serotonine and dopamine are neuromodulators for example , histamine too.

So it does affect the gaba-glutamate balance. It doesn't mean you have to cold turkey everything. But tapering towards being med free is in my opinion the only way to truelly heal.

Your CNS needs stability, and if you are taking some meds once and a while you cause imbalances in your cns from which you will rebound.

I'm sure some people are fine on meds, but then again some people are fine on benzo's too.

I think you need to look at your situation and if you are not healing you need to look at the other meds. Because they can cause equally awfull withdrawal syndromes for some.

 

Oh you jumped that recently? You should hold everything stable then, also your gabapentin, wait until you are a bit more stable to taper anything else. (unless you have something you started recently) You will know.

I came on this site with flurazepam, trazodone and seroquel. I was taking the trazodone once and a while. I did many mistakes. If i look back now, i shoulnd't have taken the trazodone like that, and i should have tapered the seroquel first, i think. But it's always easier looking back. There is a gabapentin group on support groups, you might want to check it out.

[[lo...]]

Corsair12: you know the funny thing here. seroquel at low doses actually helps my acute a lot. at below 50mg it makes you extremly sleepy.

I was taking 50mg at bedtime, and sleep great for 8hours. and feel decent till about noon when it wears off. then the heavy anxiety hits me and I feel need to run away from people etc.

this afternoon i took 10-20mg or so, and altough I do feel like a zombie, I don't have that much anxiety anymore.

I am wondering how many people feel it helps in w/d. that sleeping zombie feeling is overhelming though. not sure what is worse, acute anxiety from K w/d or this.

I was prescribed it initially for insomnia 15 months ago (total for weeks - horrors) with clonazepam, and it made me sleep. then couple months in i didn't need it anymore and c/t;d. while i was tapering K. and my sleep was great till 1 week or so into the jump. I am just hoping this will bring me through acute....

[[lo...]]

question to all seroquel buddies:

does the super sleepy zombie feeling ever go away?

if you take 200mg seroquel, what is your regular dosing. do you need to take it 3x a day?

i am thinking currently of 25,25,50mg 3x a day

i think i can also stop gabapentin while taking seroquel as it is more effective and even less related to benzos

[[Co...]]

No, the seroquel is the most horrible med i have ever taken, and i have taken quite a few but ok. Maybe someone else did not have such a horrible time on it.

 

I have found that the withdrawal only starts after 5 days after a cut, does anyone have the same pattern? The first four days i sleep a bit lighter, but then bam on day 5 it's just absolutely

hell on earth.

I've slept very lightly (in a feverish way) for three hours, and have had akathesia/restlessness ever since. couldn't sleep.

And it's like someone has poured gas over me and put me on fire. The dryness is relentless, the tinnitus and shaking and buzzing feeling, the neuropathy.

How are your patterns?

[[lo...]]

Corsair sorry this stuff is so horrible to you. I tried just a small dose during the day. I have no idea how people can function on this during daytime. Do larger doses don't work as sedative?

[[Co...]]

yes. It has different action on different dosages. This explains it very well:

 

http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/07/the_most_important_article_on.html

 

 

At my dosage it's more histamine and adrenergic, i thought that would be fine, but it gives me hell of course. I might have had one hour of sleep tonight :/

 

I do think these are estimates, because i think it works probably differently on different bodies (we have other metabolisms , just like processing alcohol is different for everyone)

 

 

One thing i now noticed is that i had quetiapine when i was on 15 mg, and now it's seroquel (brand name) on 12 mg. I wonder if this would cause much difference :/

Does everyone use name brand here?

[[Co...]]

gardener what dosage seroquel are you at?

 

 

Pff i have major restless legs. Anyone else, and what can you do about it?

[[cr...]]

Corsair, I used to have terrible RLS, I googled home remedies for it and read and read.  I used the tips that got mentioned most often.  It's been too long to remember, but I suggest you try it.  I do remember....don't laugh......putting a bar of ivory soap at the bottom of the bed under the fitted sheet (still do that) drinking apple cider vinegar and doing these toe stretches at the kitchen counter, foggy on the details, but there are a lot of home remedies that really work. I wish you luck, it is a terrible thing to have. Cross

[[Co...]]

Had a moment to skim through the thread and have time to make quick comments.

 

Bets, I'd go to the microtaper thread and ask for very specific directions there about liquid titration. Give them all the details of where you're at and ask for a detailed plan. If you don't understand, ask again. I've seen people ask a dozen questions when they are trying to switch to liquid MT. Anne, builder, and SG are reliable. I haven't kept up with the newer members.

 

Rose, I'm so glad you jumped but sorry to hear you're not feeling well. This too shall pass and then you will be the pro here telling us all to hang in there!

 

Corsair, my problem with sleep was so severe and all other options available to me had failed, so it was take the Seroquel, die, or get locked up. So I would disagree that Seroquel is never the answer to anything. I knew the risks and I chose to take them because of the severity of my problem. So I replaced a life-threatening problem with a very difficult problem. I bought some time and lost some time. But I'm still here and I'm not locked up. I'm only speaking of my own experience. Each person has to make the decision for themselves whether or not they are in a desperate enough situation to try adding another medication.

 

Gotta run!

 

Gard

 

Didn't saw this message directed at me. I know what your saying. As i was desperate as well. Unfortunately i'm even more desperate now but in a "no win" kind of situation. I just really wished i could get off this horrible med. But it's not working out for me. It's 16 days after my cut and i'm in utter hell. I don't know how i can survive this.

I will need to make a long hold, again

But at the same time the side effects are killing me, i'm injured and my injuries aren't healing because I don't sleep, so i'm in a wheelchair. I can't walk but i have restless legs and akathesia.  All my past trauma's are coming back , while i thought i healed my ptsd. And i keep on forgetting to take my thyroid hormones. I'm living minute by minute. And not sure how i will ever survive this.

I guess i could have avoided this when i wasn't sleeping before, because i wasn't so severly injured when i started taking the seroquel. I could still walk a little bit, so that would help with the akathesia. But now... It's like every awful experience i ever had, can always get worse. The most unimaginable horror , and then it gets worse.

[[lo...]]

hey S. buddies. so after taking 40-50mg of seroquel for about 4 weeks now, i decided its time to cut it down.

I took 25mg last night, and altough I still slept 7-8h, I noticed my morning anxiety is worse. is this a normal symptom? of course I'm still close to post jump, so it might be just w/d.  I am also wondering how long it takes to resolve once you off completely.

[[Co...]]

hey S. buddies. so after taking 40-50mg of seroquel for about 4 weeks now, i decided its time to cut it down.

I took 25mg last night, and altough I still slept 7-8h, I noticed my morning anxiety is worse. is this a normal symptom? of course I'm still close to post jump, so it might be just w/d.  I am also wondering how long it takes to resolve once you off completely.

 

It is! I have bad anxiety after cuts. Don't go too fast, give yourself some time maybe, unless you can manage it. Watch out for any delays. (for me it's five days after a cut)

[[Co...]]

I'm looking at the different half lifes and seroquel seems to be the shortest one in comparison to the other atypicals

7 hours , compare this to risperdal (20 hours), abilify (75 hours), zyprexa (33 hours)

 

It seems to me like seroquel might be the xanax of the antipsychotics.

I've been on many benzo's, and i always found that the shortest half lifes were the most hellish ones. It leaves your blood so quickly. Horrible.

[[ba...]]

Can anyone give me an idea of how quickly and how much to taper off the Q? I have been on 200 mg for a year, the side effects are killing me. I am a week in, and have hit the wham. I don't know if Q is really addictive, I think it calms anxiety, and reducing it amps up the anxiety.

 

Started first couple of days by going from 200 to 150, then 100mg (last night.) This is day 9.

 

I really hate this med, and the side effects have become unbearable.

 

Appreciate advice.

[[Co...]]

Can anyone give me an idea of how quickly and how much to taper off the Q? I have been on 200 mg for a year, the side effects are killing me. I am a week in, and have hit the wham. I don't know if Q is really addictive, I think it calms anxiety, and reducing it amps up the anxiety.

 

Started first couple of days by going from 200 to 150, then 100mg (last night.) This is day 9.

 

I really hate this med, and the side effects have become unbearable.

 

Appreciate advice.

 

That's a very big cut. Try to do holds too because it can have a delay, for me the delay is five days after a cut. (and then two months to stabilize, but i'm a sensitive case so other's have other patterns)

They actually say ten percent every three weeks of your last dosage.

But look at your own case to see if you have to go slower or you manage going faster

[[ba...]]

Ty! Got really slammed yesterday (day 9) The amp had been building, appreciate the input.

[[lo...]]

baddove; are you still tapering xanax? I would probably get down to 50mg seroquel or so, and wait till you done with xanax as seroquel seems to help with insomnia. what side effects you got? i do seem have no problems with 50mg. are you taking all of it at night? i am wondering how people survive on this drug taking it during daytime, since its so damn sedative

[[ba...]]

baddove; are you still tapering xanax? I would probably get down to 50mg seroquel or so, and wait till you done with xanax as seroquel seems to help with insomnia. what side effects you got? i do seem have no problems with 50mg. are you taking all of it at night? i am wondering how people survive on this drug taking it during daytime, since its so damn sedative

 

I am still tapering xanax. At 200 mg of sero, I felt poisoned, experiencing all the negative side effects. Feel like it's toxic, and I can't stand the side effects of the sero.

 

My doc had me taking 150 mg at bedtime, and then 50 mg when I woke up a few hours later. Got to a point in my taper where I thought I could benefit by cutting the sero. I tried a month ago, by going from 200 to 150 (by skipping the 50 mg am dose), after a week, I was in the horrid shape I am now, and resumed the 200 mg.

 

The side effects of the sero (listed below) all came back and drove me crazy. tried again, this time I cut from 200 to 150 every other night for 5 days by skipping my 5 mg am dose. I actually felt much better. I was definitely amped with anxiety, but lost the sero side effects.  I then cut my night dose down to 100 (from 150 mg), plus the 50mg am dose if I woke up in the early am hours, most times I didn't. so it got skipped. and that's when I went insane.

 

What is so ironic, is that I sleep so much better on the lower dose, and don't feel the toxicity of the sero, but my anxiety is through the roof. Not my xanax withdraw, the anxiety.

 

I hate upping the sero again, but I can't function and just want to scream all day.

 

As to my xanax taper, I am 3,5 months into a long hold, and was just starting to feel stable, no windows yet, but more level. That's when I googled seroquel, and realized so many things that really bug my are actually side effects of the sero, and not withdraw.

 

Today is day 10 of the sero taper. I am going to have to up dose it to get this anxiety down, but am not sure if I will go to 150 or 200. Or 200 one night, 150 the next. I really don't want to go back to 200, that's the dose that gave me the horrid side effects. So, if I do, it will be every other , or every third night.

 

I have had a horrible xanax taper experience, intense sxs and withdraw. I started earlier this year, and went to much to fast. After a few months, I up dosed and help 6 weeks, then went down to my current dose. The long hold is to allow my CNS to stabilize.

 

seroquel side effects:

very stiff (rigid) muscles, quite intense

high fever, sweating,

confusion,

fast or uneven heartbeats, tremors;

feeling like I might pass out

daily headache

blurred vision, eye pain, and seeing halos around lights;

increased thirst and urination,

weakness,

nausea

  fever, chills, body aches, flu symptoms

dizziness, drowsiness, tired feeling;

bad cotton mouth

weight gain.

nocturnal eating

 

 

 

With all of this, I felt like I had to taper off. My doc recommended cutting from 200 to 100 over a week. I suspected it might make me insane, but did it anyway.

 

Input an how to taper with all the info I have provided appreciated.

[[Ra...]]

Hi all,

 

I haven't been on the forum in some time now but saw this thread and thought I'd jump in in case my experience could help someone.  I completed my Xanax taper in Feb 2016 after tapering for 23 months.  I started taking Seroquel during the worse (beginning) part of my Xanax withdrawal.  The S really stabilized me.  It helped me sleep and squelched a large part of my anxiety.  When my doc first Rx'd the S, he said the side effects were dose dependent and I was on a fairly low dose of 75mg.  I was very nervous to take it after hearing a bunch of horror stories.  I had a great experience as it really did stabilize me and allowed me to return to work which I needed desperately.  I was completely incapacitated and unable to work when I figured out Xanax was the problem.  At the time, I wasn't sure the problem was 100% Xanax as I was also in the middle of menopause and menopause was not kind to me at all.  I was taking hormones and tapered off them pretty quickly.  Things were not going well, so I started to reinstate the hormones.  Things got really ugly and I was unable to work.  I felt completely out of control.  Of course anxiety and depression as well as insomnia, extreme CNS sensitivity to cold, sound and smell, no appetite at all, nauseous, burning skin syndrome and severe cog fog were some of my symptoms.  I look back now and recognize all those symptoms as classic benzo w/d.  SO I was desperate, my doc had tried a plethora of other meds, all of them made me throw up.  So as a last ditch effort, we decided to try Seroquel and it was like a miracle for me.    I take 75mg immediate release all at about 7:00 at night.  It's not been completely without side effects.  I've gained 30 pounds, have some restless leg syndrome for about 2 hours after I take it, but so far, that's about it as far as I know.

 

I had wanted to taper my S after my X taper but was nervous.  I wasn't sure if all the awful symptoms I experienced in my X withdrawal would come crashing back, so I decided to take it very slow.  My doc allowed me to taper my X at my own speed.  He thought it was way too slow, but since I was steady and eventually successful, he said he would allow me to do the same with my S.  I had done a flat dry cut every 2 weeks on my X taper, but with my S I wanted to be more conservative to try to minimize any w/d symptoms.  I wanted to preserve my sleep as that is crucial.  I decided I wanted to cut 5% every 2 weeks.  My pills are those awful 25mg things which are rounded, almost impossible to cut with a razor or any other dry method.  In the last 8 months of my X taper, I was prepared to do a micro water taper if necessary.  Turns out, it wasn't necessary, but I stored that information away in the event I needed it for my S taper.  That's what I decided to do.  Turns out the 25mg pills dissolve very well in very warm to hot water.  I set myself up a spreadsheet reducing the 5% every 2 weeks, but it's a daily taper.  So on day 1, I'm reducing 1/14th of the 5%.  On day 2 it's 2/14ths of the 5% and so on.  At the end of the 2 weeks, I've reduced my starting dose by 5%. 

 

Starting at 75mg, I dissolve one 25mg tablet in about 5mls of hot water.  I have my 100ml cylinder filled with about 80mls of tepid water.  Then add my dissolved 25mg tablet to the 80mls and add water up to the 100ml mark.  Then I pour that whole mixture out into another cup, doesn't matter what size your cup is.  This process of pouring into another cup effectively mixes the dissolved tablet with the other water.  It also makes it much easier to withdraw what you need from that tall skinny cylinder.  Then I simply remove however many mls for that day and drink the rest.  Then I take the other 50mg in pill form.  After that 2 week cycle is done, for the next 2 weeks the spreadsheet recalculates 5% of the new total dose so I remain at a 5% reduction.

 

I started at 75mg in early October.  I'm now down to 55mg with no trouble at all.  No w/d symptoms, sleep is still perfectly fine, I feel great.  At some point much further down in the taper, the 5% will be a teensy tiny amount, so I'm not sure what I'll do then.  I don't want to drag this out over 3 years.  We'll see how it goes, but at this point, I feel great!

 

SG57 was instrumental in helping me get my numbers and spreadsheet set up.  That was over a year ago I got all of that information.  Thank you so much SG!!!

 

I hope this helps someone.

 

Bunny

[[ba...]]

Thanks rabbit. yes, those horrid white pills will not shave or cut.

 

 

Thanks for sharing your taper percentages. I do have liquid tapering equipment.

[[lo...]]

thanks for your S exp. guys. I got it initially for insomnia. and at  25mg it knocked me out hard. I was on and off 25-50 for couple months. CT'd it couple times - with no problems whatsoever, but that was while still on clonazepam taper.  now post jump as my sleep is a bit harder and mind is racing, i need the 50mg to sleep, but it works great and I sleep for 8h each night, with nearly no awakenings, or at worst, 1 short awakening somewhere 3-5am. but i am sleeping 10pm - 7am at least. and out of bed by 7:30 or so.

I tried to cut down to 25mg, but sleep was worse. I do not think that this is related to seroquel, but due to my post benzo jump time. I tried other drugs, like remeron, or doxepin, but I hated it. next day was a full angry zombie. with seroquel I have morning zombiness, but once that resolves after couple coffees I feel good.

I do experience some minor tremor muscle twitching, and I'm not sure if this is benzo post jump, or maybe seroquel related. but I had those without S during taper too.

so my past exp. tell me that getting off 50mg is not a problem at all, and my pdoc thinks it too - and with this drug, I believe it.

[[Co...]]

Good post. I'm starting a microtaper in january as well, hope it will go as smooth as yours!

[[Ca...]]

Without wading through this thread, can anyone tell me whether they have compounded serequel and on a dry taper, is it possible to reduce 25 percent a week of the 25 mg tablet?  I took off a quarter ten days ago and other than increased anxiety and some trouble staying asleep, have not found it too horrible.  But I am nervous about making another cut.

[[lo...]]

question to Seroquel users here, I know this drug comes with many nasty side effects (even at low doses). does anybody here had increased muscle symptoms while on this drug? like twitching, tremor etc? I'm 3 months off clonazepam, so this could be well normal benzo w/d and I had those symptoms even on times when I wasn't on this.

Finally as my sleep seems to improve, I decided to RT seroquel, and cutting from 50mg to 25mg didn't seem to cause any problems. I might be off this week....which would be my 3rd RT from this, and another confirmation that stopping this dose isn't an issue (for me at least)