Added seroquel withdrawal to benzo withdrawal. Please help!

[[Ca...]]

I think 25mg is considered a very low dose. Maybe after a couple of weeks at 25 go one night yes, one night no for another week? The important thing is to get off it. To be honest, I'm happy to attribute any withdrawal to ongoing post-benzo rewiring - I want to forget I ever took Quetiapine. To be fair, my psych doc did say this was "a hard fix". He didn't really explain why, just that "some people don't like how it makes them feel...". After one week off I'm feeling much less muscular rigidity and am not feeling as desensitized/detached as previously. I had some trouble sleeping the first couple of nights, and some digestive discomfort but am really feeling better now. Mind you, we're just home from a few days away from the madding crowd but I think it's a step in the right direction.

[[Ca...]]

To be honest, at this stage I don't know whether to post in the general Benzos forum, here or on the Paxil forum.....

I'm about 8 months out from Benzos, 10 days off Seroquel and a week into Paxil tapering (40 to 20mg). Basically, there's no way of knowing which of these drugs is making me feel so shitty, and to what extent. Then, of course, there's the underlying depression and anxiety. Plus day to day worries and circumstances. Oh, and general health issues, getting older, falling down and splitting my forehead (I'm still groggy from that....

So now I'm back to interrupted/poor sleep. Exhaustion. Lethargy. V. severe muscle rigidity especially in neck, shoulders, back but now also constant jaw clenching. Frequent urination. Hollow feeling in chest and stomach, irregular, shallow breathing. Heart palpitations. These are some of the physicals.

Mentally, I have zero concentration and am plagued by intrusive thoughts/rumination. I replay situations, conversations, humiliations from yesterday back to infancy. Also, my mind will latch on to a thought and loop it indefinitely.

Strangely though, I am less inclined towards catastrophic projective thinking, less irritable more generous with friends / family.

I don't know how this will end but I do know that until I am free of all pharmaceuticals everything is guesswork, as much by me as by my psych doc.

In the meantime I try to be engaged in what I am doing, get some fresh air, eat healthily, no alcohol for me but I do like to vaporize high CBD content cannabis in the evening (I know, this is taboo for many), read, study, care for the kittens (awesome therapy, again not for everyone) and try to see things in perspective - old school "count your blessings".

Good luck everyone.

[[Fo...]]

Hi Captain

I think I can reassure you.  My Gp/ hypnosis/ naturopathic doc has been. very up on withdrawal.

I am 7 days post Seroquel  jump from 25. The first few days were ok!  I was animated and positive and have been 20% off benzos too for 18 days.

The last 72 hours have been awful. Bloating, nausea, cramps and real belly ache.

I am pretty sure this is the Seroquel now out of the system and the body rebooting with difficulty.

I have searched high and low for how long this lasts without success.

But it is too uncomfortable to do much but rest and pour through the fluids.

As you pointed out, I feel calm amid this all. True— I may have gone down a bit quick but we are off Seroquel which in time will be taken off the market I am sure as it’s addictive, unhelpful qualities are discovered. Paxil with make you queasy and a bit adrift, but the similarity of our symptoms coming off Seroquel are there too.

Keep your chin up

Best wishes

Dick

Ps I have had advice to look at surviving antidepressant.com. In there they say ten percent reduction is wise. You and I both jumped. We are in withdrawal.  I can’t face going up and am using natural pain relief and rest while my body recovers.  I dunno who put me in touch with surviving antidepressant but THANK YOU I feel safer now. 

[[Ca...]]

Morning all. Well, I say good morning but in fact I haven't slept at all. I forgot about the insomnia part of quitting Quetiapine  All week I've had interrupted /poor quality sleep with anxiety dreams/nightmares. My wife says I've been muttering (and on one occasion shouting) in my sleep  .

Physically still clenched jaw, grinding teeth, "forgetting to breathe" etc.

But, my only pharmaceutical intake now is 10 mg paroxetine mornings. I hope to be 100% drug free within a couple of of months - after that I plan to be very careful about what goes into my body. If it turns out that I absolutely can't function without an A/D, it will be just one, single medication. I'm so tired of trying to second guess which drug causes which sx, or what interacts badly with what. So ideally nothing, or at most a single prescription. (Either way, the drugs don't work IME).

Right. Have a good weekend everyone.

[[Fo...]]

Keep up the positive thought Capt

Off Sero and as you promised only 4 dire days.

Sleeping well as take mirtazipine— next on the list.

Very scary threads on surviving antidepressants forum.  Shows we are all different.

Dick

[[Ca...]]

G'day all.

Quick update - still sleeping for crap but hoping that will work itself out. No point in obsessing about it.

But I did have a break from procrastination yesterday - got a bit of DIY work done. Did some DIY.

 

[i'm becoming more aware of the difference between "getting stuff done" & "doing stuff"..... Big difference]

 

Anyway, I installed some new speakers and ended up doing a major spring clean in my "office". Also made a start on chucking out 30 years worth of redundant paperbacks, CDs, old laptops, phones, cables etc. Decluttering.

 

It's funny how even now, after so long, I still fail to recognise the waves and windows until much later, if at all.

Anyway, the goal remains the same - to be drug free (or at least down to the lowest dosage of just one medication) in the foreseeable future.

 

Good luck all

[[Fo...]]

Take care Capt not to overdo it!

Have found to my cost throwing myself at the garden has nuked me today

Dick

[[Ca...]]

Very true, Dick. And I have been known to bite off more than I can chew. But yesterday was a reasonable goal - drill a couple of holes, tidy up a few audio cables. Of course, things are always a bit trickier than you expect, and I didn't reckon on the amount of dust and grime I encountered, but I found myself absorbed in the job at hand - the same as gardening I guess (although I only have a small terrace).

MINDFULNESS 

[[Ca...]]

I think the Seroquel is out of my system now. To be honest, I have found discontinuation of this drug easier than many others - valium especially (no surprises there!).

 

NOW I'm down from 40 to 20 to 10mg paroxetine as my only A/D. Because I'm cutting 20mg pills in half, I'm sometimes forgetting to take it in the morning and the onset of withdrawal is fast and significant. The temptation is to drop the paxil altogether but for once I'm going to be sensible and take my time going from 10 to 0 - like maybe after the summer.

I realise also that this is a seroquel thread and I'm talking about paxil now....... apologies.

[[Yu...]]

I am so happy for your Seroquel withdrawal. This drug make people stupid an emotionalless.

[[Ca...]]

Thanks. I think I escaped by the skin of my teeth with Quetiapine  :'(

Was it @fortylongyears who described it as "a chemical cosh"? I only took it for a little over 3 months as an Add-on for resistant depression, GAD and as a sleep aid after quitting Benzos. (Talk about cavalier prescribing!). My brother thinks our father was prescribed it during his decline into dementia. It didn't help much