Seroquel (Quetiapine) is a short-acting atypical anitpsychotic drug that is primarily used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. In some cases it is also used as an antidepressant augmentation strategy to treat major depression. It is sometimes used to help manage Alzheimer’s disease and is used at low doses for the treatment of insomnia. Despite the fact that this medication has a variety of uses, it should really only be used for its intended purpose – to treat schizophrenia and possibly bipolar disorder.
Many people take it and it works great to help people manage the positive symptoms of schizophrenia. It also helps prevent major mood swings among individuals with bipolar disorder. With that said, not everyone responds well to this drug – in some cases the side effects become unbearable. Additionally, for some individuals this drug doesn’t work well enough to justify continued usage.
Although this is a drug that can be beneficial for some people, the long term effects are not very promising. In many cases, this drug actually worsens intellectual functioning – especially in elderly with dementia. It also tends to elicit a variety of unpleasant side effects for the person taking it including: weight gain, sexual dysfunction, drowsiness, and worsened motor functioning.
Factors that influence Seroquel withdrawal include…
When you withdraw from any medication, there are important factors that will influence your withdrawal. These factors include: time span, dosage, your physiology, and whether you tapered off of the drug or quit cold turkey.
1. Time Span
How long were you taking Seroquel? If you were taking it for an extended period of time (e.g. over a year), you are likely going to have a tougher time coming off of the drug than someone who only took it for a few months. If you were on this drug for many years, it may be extremely difficult to quit.
2. Dosage (150 mg to 800 mg)
What dosage were you taking? In general, it is hypothesized that the higher the dosage you take, the more it alters your brain functioning. If you take a high dose for a long term, it is going to take your brain a much longer time to normalize in regards to neurotransmitter functioning. The drug comes in doses ranging from 25 mg, 50 mg, 100 mg, 200 mg, 300 mg, and 400 mg.
For treatment of schizophrenia, most people take between 150 mg and 800 mg per day. If you are on the 800 mg dose, it may take longer for you to withdraw. Fortunately the dosing is nice if you need to conduct a gradual taper – you can keep cutting your dose in half.
3. Individual Physiology
A lot of withdrawal symptoms will be influence by your individual physiology. Despite the fact that many people experience the same symptoms when they quit taking this drug, some people don’t experience as many symptoms, while others experience more symptoms. Another thing to consider is whether you have a mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar. Withdrawal can trigger symptoms or a relapse of symptoms related to the illness for which you were taking it.
4. Cold Turkey vs. Tapering
How should you quit taking Seroquel? For most people, it is highly recommended to conduct a gradual taper. If you are on a higher dose and you quit cold turkey, you will likely be unable to function. By conducting a gradual taper (e.g. slowly reducing the dosage over time), you are allowing your body and brain to slowly adjust to changes.
If you have been on the drug for a long period of time, even tapering may be difficult. If you are someone that quit cold turkey and aren’t looking back, prepare yourself for a long recovery period and symptoms that feel as if they are never going to go away. If you haven’t yet quit this medication and want to taper, slowly reduce your dosage every few weeks. It may take months to taper off of your medication, but it will minimize the withdrawal symptoms.
Seroquel Withdrawal Symptoms: List of Possibilities
Below are a list of common symptoms that have been reported during Seroquel withdrawal. Keep these symptoms in mind when you come off of the medication so that you know what to expect. Although you may not experience every symptom on the list, it is likely that you will experience something when you quit taking this drug.
- Agitation: If you feel especially agitated, it’s because you’re brain is no longer receiving the drug. This drug helps many people stay calm and reduces agitation. When a person quits taking it, they may become increasingly agitated and it may last for awhile.
- Anxiety: In many cases this drug helps people with anxiety. When you stop taking it, your anxiety may skyrocket. Everything you do may provoke nervousness and intense anxiety. Try to realize that it is just from withdrawal and that you will recover.
- Concentration problems: Although this drug can cause concentration problems while you take it, you may also experience poor concentration when you stop it. Some people call this “brain fog” or foggy thinking – it is due to the fact that your brain is trying to readjust itself.
- Depression: When withdrawing from this antipsychotic you may spiral into deep depression. Any medication that affects neurotransmitters can result in depression when you withdraw – especially if it had a subtle antidepressant effect when you took it.
- Dizziness: A common withdrawal symptom from any psychiatric medication is dizziness. This may be extreme when you quit taking Seroquel, but shouldn’t last longer than a few months. For most people, this sensation goes away after a few weeks, but for some, the dizziness persists for a long time. Don’t freak out if the dizziness lasts longer than you anticipated – realize that it is a result of post-acute withdrawal.
- Fatigue: Feeling excessively lethargic, tired, and fatigued is common when quitting an antipsychotic. Although this medication tends to be sedating while you take it, the withdrawal takes a toll on overall energy levels. When your brain is trying to readjust, you may become extremely tired and feel like sleeping all day.
- Headaches: It is common to experience headaches when you quit taking Seroquel. The headaches may be minor or may feel like full blown migraines. These will subside eventually, but may last weeks before they go away.
- Heart rate changes: You may notice that your heart rate becomes excessive when you quit this drug. Some people notice that their heart beats excessively fast when they withdraw. You may also notice heart palpitations – these are caused by both withdrawal and anxiety.
- Hypersensitivity: A person may become hypersensitive to sights and sounds when they come off of this medication. The person may not realize that it is from drug withdrawal and their neurotransmitters are not functioning properly. Therefore normal sounds may sound excessively loud and normal sights may appear excessively bright.
- Insomnia: It is common to experience insomnia when you quit this drug. Insomnia is usually caused by anxiety and/or sleep disruptions. Your entire sleep cycle may be thrown off when you quit this drug and you may experience increased anxiety.
- Irritability: Don’t be surprised if you become increasingly irritable and difficult when you stop this drug. In general the medication tends to calm people down almost to the point of a stupor. If you feel excessively irritable, know that it’s likely a result of withdrawal.
- Itching: Some people notice when they quit this drug that they become itchy all over. If you are experiencing excessive itchiness when you stop Seroquel, just know that it’s a result of withdrawal. If it becomes too unbearable, you may want to conduct a slower taper.
- Mood swings: It is common to experience mood swings when you quit this drug – even if you are not bipolar. The mood swings may be more pronounced and uncontrollable if you are bipolar, but even individuals that aren’t will notice that they may feel angry one minute and hopeful the next.
- Nausea: One of the most common symptoms associated with withdrawal from Seroquel is that of nausea. You may feel nauseated for an extended period of time until your body becomes used to functioning without the drug.
- Psychosis: It has been discovered that withdrawal from antipsychotics can cause psychosis. In other words, you may experience hallucinations, delusions, etc. when you are coming off of this medication. Most people don’t experience psychosis when they withdraw unless they have pre-existing schizophrenia – but it is still a possibility.
- Sleep problems: A person may notice major changes in their sleep patterns and length when they quit taking this medication. One minute the person may have bouts of extreme insomnia and the next minute they may feel extremely tired.
- Suicidal thoughts: Many people take this medication to help with suicidal thoughts and depression. When you quit taking it, you may feel more suicidal than you have ever felt. This is due to the fact that your neurotransmitter levels are out of balance and you are no longer receiving the drug to help.
- Sweating: A very common symptom is that of profuse sweating when you stop taking Seroquel. This may be prevalent throughout the day and/or may occur while you are sleeping. You may wake up from sleep in a pool of sweat. Just know that this is your body’s response to withdrawing from the drug.
- Vision changes: Some people experience pain in the eye and visual disturbances as a result of taking this medication. It has been hypothesized that this and other antipsychotics could lead a person to experience blurred vision even when withdrawing. Some even hypothesize potential “eye damage” as a result of taking this medication.
- Vomiting: Unfortunately you may vomit a lot when you stop taking Seroquel. This can be a result of intense nausea and/or your body’s way of detoxifying itself. If you feel like vomiting, just know that many people experience this during withdrawal.
Note: It is documented that Seroquel stays in your system for around 1.6 days after you stop taking it. Once the drug is out of your system, it can take a long time for your neurophysiology to recalibrate itself back to homeostatic functioning.
Seroquel Withdrawal Timeline: How long does it take?
The withdrawal process tends to affect everyone differently – therefore there is no predictable timeline for withdrawal. Some people may fully recover from symptoms within a month or two, while others may struggle with symptoms for months after they take their last dose. There is really no telling how long you will experience symptoms, but as a general rule of thumb, I recommend waiting 90 days before expecting any sort of recovery.
If you have been taking a powerful psychiatric antipsychotic drug for an extended period of time, it is going to take your brain and body quite some time before they fully recover back to homeostatic functioning. Your neurotransmitters and receptors have been altered by the long term drug usage, and your brain will need some time to reset its functioning.
In order to ensure the fastest possible recovery, you can make sure that you are eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, staying productive, and getting some exercise throughout the day. Exercise helps stimulate functioning in the brain and rids toxins from the body. If you are getting some exercise (even if its light), it will go a long way towards helping you cope with recovery symptoms and recover quicker.
If you have been on Seroquel and would like to share your experience, feel free to do so in the comments section below. By sharing your experience, it helps other people realize that they are not alone and not going crazy.
I have not put any Seroquel into my body since yesterday morning (approximately 36 hours ago) and do not intend to ever do so again. Bottom line: Seroquel withdrawal is absolutely doable, I even went down from 25mg to zero as the last step. No further tapering (e.g. via 12,5 mg) was necessary.
I have a clear head now (not imaginable with Seroquel) and I have also lost the awful metallic taste in my month. For all out there that are struggling, I wanted to give this to you as a message of hope. I have done it and you can do the same. It is so much worth the effort and pain.
As a recap, I was @ 450 mg about 2 months ago and @ 150 mg about 2 weeks ago. Now @ 25 mg and feeling reasonably OK. On this basis, I will attack the final step tomorrow morning. No more SeroKill will be in my body as from tomorrow. Did NOT have any of the following when tapering down: vomiting, nausea, itching, insomnia.
Had only regular mood swings, anxiety, reduced appetite, so more or less manageable W/D effects. I really hope that this toxic sh-t will be out of my system soon. To summarize, for short term users decreases of 50 mg weekly down to 100 mg and the 25 mg weekly below 100 mg are absolutely doable.
Will confirm the success or failure in a few days from now.
Have now reached 50 mg, going down to 37,5 mg the day after tomorrow. Surprisingly, I can still sleep more or less OK without additional medication (Melperon / Melneurin). Appetite somewhat reduced, but also OK. Would like to be @ zero SeroKill within the next 2 weeks.
Major W/D effects are very frequent mood swings, anxiety attacks and a general feeling of insecurity, nothing else. No itches at all. I would like to be an example for others that SeroKill elimination is doable. Will let you know how it goes.
It has been 3 weeks since my last dose… I am SOOOOOOOO angry with my doctors for not telling me about the withdrawal effects of this drug! 3 weeks, and last night I only got 2hrs sleep. I’m am so sleep deprived it physically hurts, drives me to panic attacks, hot and cold flushes, vomiting and join pain. God help me!
I have been given at some point (luckily only for a few weeks) 450 mg Seroquel. As soon as I found out about the potential consequences (I had definitely already noted a massive weight gain, from 66kg to 75 kg in just a few weeks) I decided I wanted to get rid of this awful drug. Have tapered down in steps of 50 down to 150 mg without major issues, just a bit of anxiety and nervousness, plus diminished appetite.
Since then, I have tapered down in 3 steps @ 25mg and I am now on 75. Sunday evening will bring the last 25 reduction to 50. From then on, I will go down in steps of 12,5 mg (more or less twice per week). I am a bit worried the closer I come to zero, obviously.
If things work out my way, I should be at or very close to zero towards the end of this month. Wish me luck. By the way: I absolutely HATE Seroquel.
I’ve been on and off Seroquel since 2010. When I am depressed and can’t sleep, it’s a wonderful medication because it will make me sleep (longer and deeper than a sleeping pill) and bring me to a functional level of depression. 300 mgs. has been the right amount for me. My bipolar cycles tend to be 3-4 months depressed, 3-4 months well (or manic or managing manic).
Because the manic is not much of a problem for me at this time, I like to go off Seroquel when I feel better so my body can cleanse from it’s toxicity. If I notice signs of mania that I can’t manage, I can always take a seroquel because it works quickly to bring me back down to earth, but not necessarily need it on a regular basis. Anyhow, once I feel better I like to get off the drug ASAP albeit in a responsible, comfortable way.
I drop 50 mgs. and allow slightly difficult sleep until sleep is easy. Once sleep is easy for 2 nights in a row I drop another 50 mgs. and on it goes until it’s out of my system.
I’ve just gone cold turkey off 500mg per day. Have had 4 hours sleep. Not looking forward to this but I have to do it. The damage is not worth it. Good luck everyone.
I am down to 25mg but I am yet to taper off fully. Such is the ferocity of this drug. Every time I am trying I am getting bedridden. One can perhaps get off it if one quits one’s job and becomes institutionalized. That is not an easy option as you do not know in what state you are going to be even if you manage to quit.
I was put on 1,200 mgs of seroquel and have bin on that dose for over 5 years, I have had a lapse in my insurance due to missing open-enrollment for my works insurance program. I was able to cut my dose in half after getting my last script in order to stretch them and that wasn’t the hard part. After that I moved too 300, cutting in half again, not so bad just a couple hours less sleep, motor functions fine, didn’t miss work. Now came the hard part, I ran out & am suffering like hell.
My mental health has slightly changed and I get small ups and downs every once in awhile, and now after day 2, flu like symptoms. Just dry mouth constantly, and I don’t feel dehydrated what so ever, my mouth is just insanely dry 24 freaking seven. I am a big soda drinker for the caffeine due to the hours I work and I know that, plus working and moving constantly cannot be helping, cause we don’t get to drink on the floor where we operate heavy machinery.
I’ve been reduced too 4 hours of sleep a night if I am lucky. I call my doctor and he tells me I need to get more ASAP cause it can cause manic episodes and depression, which I suffered with before, have had a past suicide attempt. And I keep giving myself anxiety attacks with overthinking everything, and the more research I do about the drug the more doomed and entrapped I feel.
They need to enforce a new act for the doctor to review all of the long term affects, because I feel abused. What kills me is he knows I suffered depression, why would you give me something that could potentially end my life just because I am suffering from bad insomnia after the attempt. But my tip is too taper, if your on a high dose you may cut it in half till you get around 300-400 mg then I’d go down 50 mgs every week, then when you are down too 100 do 25 a week for 4 weeks. Good luck, going too bed, dry mouth is irritating me ATM.
I took Seroquel in low dose for 6 years for chronic insomnia (25-50 mg). I recently tapered off, and am experiencing headaches, bad dreams, anxiety and fatigue. I was just wondering how long it took any of you to finally have the withdrawal effects go away?
As per the drug websites it takes a minimum of 90 days to fully get off the drug. Then you have to deal with your routine problems as well.
In reply to your question, WS, only speaking for myself of course, because everyone’s withdrawals are different. I had to taper very very gradually because of the effects that even the slightest difference in dosage caused. I have been off completely now for over 3 weeks and am still feeling withdrawal symptoms. Waves of nausea, headaches, still have trouble getting to sleep as my brain adjusts. I have read that it can take up to 6 months to get back to a normal pre-seroquel life. Whatever that may have been. Good luck.
I was taking 150 mg the last year. I started while I was pregnant because it was a safe alternative. The dosage was low enough that my doc told me I wouldn’t have to taper, I’d be fine to just stop; she didn’t warn me about the withdrawal.
The worst has been the vomiting, I can’t eat at all. It’s been three days since I stopped and I’ve already lost 5 pounds due to the excessive vomiting and nothing helps, not even the morning sickness “tips” that got me through the first trimester. Ugh!
I find all this information very interesting. I’ve been taking Seroquel for almost a year to help with the insomnia caused by Wellbutrin. I wasn’t able to sleep at all, and tried different things (Melatonin, Ambien, Marijuana and others) but none of them worked. It wasn’t until I got off the Wellbutrin and started taking 400mg a night that I could finally get a good night’s sleep.
I also take it with Clonazepam. It’s a powerful combination but it’s the only thing that can get me to sleep. I have tried to get off the Clonazepam, but I get restless and can’t get to sleep. The only side effect I have felt is excessive daytime sleepiness, but it only happens when I’m not active during the morning. If I get myself out of the house and do some exercise, like walk the dog for half an hour, I don’t feel the sleepiness.
I don’t know if it’s due to the fact I haven’t been taking it too long but I haven’t felt any of the side effects mentioned by others here. Hopefully I can get myself off it before I start feeling any of these side effects, but reading the withdrawal symptoms it seems like it would be harder on me if I stop. Thanks for sharing all your experiences, I will take them into account in the future.
Reading these messages is very scary. I’m only on a 25mg pill for sleep, but I didn’t know about the weight gain and the point of it was to get sleep so I could lose weight, so I’m going to get off of it. I guess my doctor wasn’t too swift prescribing it for sleep since my goal was weight loss, huh?
Amazing how many times I’ve noticed that doctors don’t know what they’re doing. I’m thinking to abandon medicine totally. Maybe become a breatharian… joking, but at this point, it seems equally reasonable.
I wanted to chime in about something though. Withdrawal of anything is always similar. The reason is because of the adrenaline. Cold turkey will push your adrenals into overdrive and you will be in permanent fight or flight. When your body starts running out of materials to make adrenaline (adrenal fatigue), you get the symptoms of exhaustion with insomnia, body aches and flu symptoms.
Your body is trying to re-up the neurotransmitters, and the first step is adrenaline, which releases histamine and the histamine stimulates neurotransmitter production. That’s why you’re itching, that’s why you’re anxious, etc. There are websites out there that talk about this, and talk about using Benadryl to counteract part of the effects.
Additionally, Seroquel like most antipsychotics of both typical and atypical types, is an antihistamine. So you’re getting a double dose of histamine reactivity. Antihistamines are almost all anticholinergics, so bingo, brain fog, especially for elderly dementia. Doctors in rehab have drugs that target the excess adrenaline, and some prostate enlargement drugs also target and deactivate adrenaline.
That’s the real source of the problem, the adrenaline. But OTC, our choices are limited to mostly antihistamines. However, all antihistamines will make you gain weight also. They have the same effect on your thyroid as antipsychotics. So once you’re off of the Seroquel, you also need to get off of the antihistamines.
If you’re ever taking care of an elderly person, NEVER give them an antihistamine. You will see a visible degradation of mental ability. To a much smaller extent this also happens to younger people. Abandon the antihistamines as soon as you’re over your withdrawal.
If you want to verify any of this, go to pubmed and put in some of the vocab words in here. Also, google something like “home rehab” or “rehab at home” to verify the Benadryl stuff I said. The info is out there, but it took me months to find it, read it, understand it. Have patience and read up.
Pray for me because I’m quitting it, but I’m going to taper even the 25mg, while taking Benadryl. I’ve had good results getting off Cymbalta that way. I also took an anti-nausea, Dramamine when I got off Cymbalta. The combination of the two helped a lot. Especially with sweating. If you can get ondansetron, that will really really help with the sweating.
It’s not controlled so you can ask for it just because you’re nauseous. Never believe a doctor if they say you can just go cold turkey. It’s a cruel thing, because they’re betting you will fail and run back to him. Quit safely, with understanding of what’s happening.
I have something else to add. Seroquel is a neurotransmitter ANTAGONIST (look it up, compare with agonist and modulator), that means, your body will make tons and tons and tons of extra receptors in a vain effort to have them activated. So when you take it away, your body suddenly senses the deficit in neurotransmitters and wham, nasty withdrawal. This is the opposite of opiate withdrawal.
Take opiates for a long enough time and your body decreases the number of neurotransmitters. If you go off of them, you are still in a deficit, but the deficit is now because there aren’t enough receptors, so it seems like there isn’t enough neurotransmitter activity. Also your body stops making dopamine if you’re on an opiate on a high dose for a while.
Oddly, the solution to Seroquel withdrawal is an opiate to replace the dopamine that is missing, or something like Cymbalta which increases all 3 of the most studied neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine, dopamine). Taking Cymbalta would be the fastest way to balance your body out again. But this concept has not yet percolated from the science lab to the doctor’s office. You can verify what I’ve said on pubmed, but pubmed doesn’t make the rules for medical practice.
This gap between science and medical practice is what’s hurting all of us. The people responsible for slowing this process down (from sci to med), are the Public Health Policy makers. Many of them are drug company execs. They don’t want to cure you, but keep you addicted. Just like drug dealers, only legal.
I was put on this drug two months ago and started on a low dose of a quarter of a 25mg tablet per day till I felt happy to try a full one. I’ve felt worse and worse the more I was on it till I decided to come of it. Ive been tapering down back to a quarter of a tablet and yesterday I didn’t have any. Today I can’t stop having panic attacks, sweating and terrible chest pains. This morning I felt suicidal and ended up taking valium which freaked me out rather than calming me down like it normally does. Its the anxiety and negative thoughts that are doing me in. I may take a very small dose tonight.
I don’t see dates for comments but it’s September 2016 as I type this. I’m trying to come off 75mg of Seroquel. It helped initially last year in October with severe anxiety, sleeplessness and suicidal thoughts. I ended up in hospital and the doctor there prescribed it.
Now a year on I feel like a woolly headed fool as most days I struggle to remember words or wake up out of the drowsy state it has me in. Worse are the night terrors, sleep paralysis I think is what I get. I dread sleep. 4 days ago I stopped and I’ve not been too bad apart from nausea and excessive sweating.
I’m of course nervous of any symptoms returning so I will go back to the doctor if this happens BUT I refuse to take this medicine anymore. Good luck to all suffering with the withdrawal symptoms. I have been there with seroxat and back then they didn’t believe me until it broke on the news.
In reply to your comment Anne Marie, yes, there are dates next to comments going back as far as 2014. They’re not very noticeable, but they are there. But the side effects of withdrawal are listed at the very top of this forum, in case you didn’t see that part. I just re-read it and still cannot believe, how horrific and toxic this drug is.
I’ve been tapering off for months now, from 100 mg down to the slightest little smidgen that I can slice off and still be able to swallow. Last week I tried not taking it anymore, even with the tiniest little piece of the pill and I was awake for well over 36 hrs. I decided to take it twice the next day to get my brain back to normal and could not believe how horrible it affected me after tapering down to almost nothing.
So there it is… the toxicity even at the most minutest amount is still too much to handle. My side effects are always the same, flushed, nauseated and headachy. Everyone here seem stop react differently. Good luck but keep at it. I feel so much better being almost completely off, can’t wait till I am done with it. -Kathleen
I was on 700mg for approx 10 years (as well as escitalopram), only in the last two I researched into the long term effects of staying on it, and was quite alarmed by what I found so decided to quit, but not before reading forums like these so I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and it wasn’t. Exaggerated mood swings, from optimism to suicidal in a matter of hours, very bad stomach pain for months, aching all over at times, and a lot of lesser ones. I live in UK and am thankful we have a free but overworked healthcare system, and throughout my consultations I was seen by different people who asked me what I was taking and how I was feeling, but never asked me how long I was on it for.
10 years is far too long and the seroquel (called ‘baby heroin’ in some countries) turned me into a lethargic zombie. I feel I was ill-advised into the long term effects of this drug but know I was initially put on it with the best of intentions from my counsellor and psychiatrist. In short my personal advice is to get off it as soon as you can, expect a lot of emotional and physical discomfort (hopefully you will have neither), but it IS WORTH IT in the end.
I’ve been iff seroquel for 7 months. Was on it 7 years in a row ar about 200 mg a day. I tapered down and the withdrawal was pretty bad mostly horrible itching and insomnia. Still have the insomnia. Maybe sleep 5 hours a night which sucks. I think I am noticeably aging because of lack of sleep. I have lost 20 pounds without even trying which is great. I’m just super happy to be off of that sh-tty drug. I took a lot of vitamins and amino acids which really helped. It can be done. Good luck.
I have been off seroquel for a couple days now due to running out and I feel like total crap. Glad I read all this cause now I know it’s the seroquel doing it… Ugh.
I’m bi-polar and ADD with severe mood swings. After my second pregnancy I got really bad and almost ruined my marriage. When I stopped breastfeeding I decided to do something about it. I talked to a psychiatrist and went through a few different medications to find one that worked and had the least amount of presented side effects.
I started taking 12.5 mg in the morning and ended up going to 12.5 in the morning and 25mg at night. It worked for a little while but then I noticed the severe mood swings, irrational thoughts, weight gain (despite exercise and diet), and the fact once again my marriage was being horrible affected. 2 days ago I said enough was enough and I’ve quit cold turkey.
I can’t sleep well at night, am nauseous from the time I wake up until I go to bed, I can’t focus for more than 5 minutes, and I can’t remember anything reliable. This will change and lessen over time but sucks. Thanks seroquel.
I have had bad experiences with drug withdrawal, enough to not want to live anymore. I have finished taking seroquel a week ago. I am only experiencing mild symptoms. The secret – reduce by only 10 percent or as close to this as possible every two weeks or longer if necessary. It’s hard to be patient but u can do it. Also Google Biobalance a new and very successful nutrient treatment. I pray this will help someone.
6 weeks ago I cold turkeyed depakote and lamictal combined. I had been on them for over 10 years, misdiagnosed bi-polar. It was rough but within a month I was starting to think. 2 weeks ago I started with the seroquel which was originally prescribed to help with sleep. I have been on 200 mg for 10 years. Coming off this drug is worse than opiate withdrawal.
I am having to taper. I have found exercise is the key. I am walking at least 2 miles a day. The walking helps with the pain, had to power through pain at first. The not being able to think is the worst of it. I am in constant fog and I still have another 100mg’s to go. This drug should be banned. What is helping me the most is not fighting the emotions coming back, it’s just my brain waking up they are going to be exaggerated after so many years of being asleep, exercise and believe it or not beer.
Hope this helps. Those of you who are working and doing this I am in awe! I also tell myself at the worst times that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
Omg, they put me on that Seroquel to help me sleep in 2005. I was on 1600mg. I was to take it at night. I couldn’t walk. I had to crawl to the bed. Then they went down to 1200mg. Same thing happened. Then 800mg. It made me so tired in the day. Then I decided to take 1 400mg pill and a half and then I could sleep and I felt better.
Now it doesn’t work at all. I have gotten me a new medical doctor and I was told I should have never been on that stuff. The with draws are terrible. I can’t sleep any at all, sweating, shaking, vomiting. I have been to the doctor and ER a total of 5 times in 13 days. I’m going back to the doctor again to day for them to see how I’m doing. I have been reading a lot about that Seroquel and that stuff is dangerous.
If you have been taking it for years, it’s going to take months and months for you to feel better possibly up to a year. They put me on this mess to sleep. I am not bipolar or schizophrenia and it is used for that. When I get well, I’m thinking very seriously of suing the doctor that put me on this. For the ones that are trying to get off of this and has been on it a long time… be ready because you are in for some sh-t.
I was on 1,200 and now since October 2015 and now is August 2016 I went from 1,200 from a horrible doctor to now 150 mg. It is now weird and hard. People will never understand. I am still trying to go to 150 mg’s. I hope you do well.
I took seroquel xr 200mg for about 2.5 year. I tried to stop taking it once in a while for a year. After half a day w/o seroquel I always felt like as if I have a flu and I felt like I had to grit my teeth all the time. Of course sleep would never come and I’d take the seroquel before completing the day. I was also using 20 mg paxil to go with it but paxil was quite easy to quit.
I didn’t even get through anything. I guess it was just like placebo comparing to seroquel. So, after a few attempts I finally didn’t feel the flu-like symptom. Of course the sleep was not there again but it wasn’t the biggest problem. I started to fall asleep usually around 6-7 in the morning. The days past like this.
And here come the ‘itching’… unbearable itching. I often hurt myself cuz of it. It made me quite paranoid that I had some other disease. It didn’t go away for 4-5 months but it wasn’t that severe after 2 months already. I must say that I don’t miss seroquel at all. Wish you all the best.
I have been going through withdrawals for 9 weeks now. I wasn’t sleeping more than 2 hours a night until I got some melatonin slow release. Nausea, dizziness, depression, lethargy, unfocused, extreme anxiety as well. Mind you, my psychiatrist didn’t feel the need to warn me about withdrawing or help when I complained of acute insomnia etc. he actually sat there, scratched his chin and stated “I just can’t work out why your insomnia is this bad”.
I had to find out for myself and my pharmacist helped with the melatonin. I thought I was relapsing in my mental health not understanding withdrawal symptoms. I simply can not believe that bloody doctor did not consider withdrawals or even attempt a discussion with me about it. Seroquel is highly toxic and I regret the day I ever began ingesting them (ironically for insomnia).
I should have been told to take a bloody long holiday, instead I got a prescription. I took them for two years. I would have benefitted more from a 2 year long holiday – God knows it would have cost the same and I wouldn’t be in this sh-tty withdrawal not knowing if I’m ever going to be able to sleep a natural unaided sleep again in my life.
My former psych prescribed first Latuda and then Seroquel as an adjunct to my antidepressant. I don’t think either drug did much in this regard, but Seroquel has at least helped me to sleep. When I expressed a desire to taper off my medication, my doc told me I was on such a low dose of Latuda (20 mg) that I could just stop taking it. That’s when all hell broke loose, I was hospitalized, and it took well over six months for me to feel any semblance of “normal.”
She started me on Seroquel XR in December and got me up to 150 mg, but since March (and with a new, much more proficient psych), I’ve been slowly tapering off Seroquel. Currently, I’m at 75/75/50 (lower dose on every 3rd day), and I already feel mild to moderate W/D symptoms (nausea, dizziness, agitation, “Rorschach brain,” etc.). I almost feel that I need to see a neurologist in case this med is causing long-term damage.
What helps me with my W/D symptoms are frequent, rigorous cardio exercise (45 minutes to an hour a day), along with frequent productive activity. Work has been a Godsend in that it keeps me busy and keeps my mind off my W/D symptoms. I am really worried about how my body and brain are going to handle being completely off this medicine, but under my doctor’s advice, I’m tapering off very slowly–glacially, in fact.
It may be another year before I’m off this med completely, but I’d rather go slow and steady rather than rush myself off and suffer horrible W/Ds like the ones I had with Latuda.
I was on a low dose of Seroquel for the treatment of insomnia and PTSD for about two years when I suddenly stopped taking it. I experienced a brief manic and psychotic episode where I was hospitalized for a month and diagnosed with schizophrenia and put on much higher dose of antipsychotic for two years. I did tell the psychiatrists I had suddenly stopped taking Seroquel and I thought that was the reason for my admission but they disbelieved me.
The Seroquel reduced my level of cognitive functioning and motivation so profoundly I stopped showering every day, I was unable to remember my telephone number and when I was put on the anti psychotics for schizophrenia my cognition and motivation worsened significantly. So very badly that I was diagnosed with the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and put in hospital for my low motivation symptoms, they thought I had major depression and wanted to try Lithium and ECT with me.
As if I wasn’t already traumatized. I was offered no psychology for the PTSD but I was so medicated with anti psychotics that it didn’t matter. I wasn’t able to participate meaningfully in psychotherapy anyway. It took two years before the doctor would reduce my anti psychotic medication down to nothing, so I could prove once and for all I wasn’t schizophrenic.
But I’ve now been off anti psychotics for over a year and feel fabulous, I’m even getting my mojo back and I’m going to engage with psychotherapy to get on top of my PTSD, for once. So it all worked out in the end but I wouldn’t recommend taking antipsychotics for an illness that does not have psychotic features. I think I was badly let down.
I can honestly say, since being prescribed Quetiapine, it has absolutely ruined my life. To anyone thinking or about to start this medication, I urge you to do as much research as possible because the withdrawal effects from however little dose/time you’ve taken it, is horrific. My medication journey hasn’t been an easy one. I was originally prescribed most antidepressants which failed to work.
After several months off work, no social life, erratic mood swings, I was beyond desperate to get better and be “normal” again. I was then prescribed Quetiapine by the Psychiatrist. Initially, I felt better. I was sleeping better and my mood swings became less erratic, my friends and family could really see a change in me. Within weeks, things took another turn.
I became to feel like a zombie, I couldn’t function without having a least 15 hours sleep, my weight gain was beyond shocking and my mood swings were worse than they’d ever been. After three months of hell, I decided the best thing to do was to stop Quetiapine altogether under the watchful eye of my Psychiatrist. I’m currently on day 4 and it’s probably the most unwell I’ve ever felt in my life. Constant nausea, vomiting, migraines, these crippling electrical volts going through my brain, and continuous low mood and suicidal ideation.
It’s not been easy and I can only hope I get through this. If you’re reading this with the intention to start Quetiapine, I urge you to reconsider. I understand different people respond well to different medication, but it seems I won’t be the last person writing in this forum (amongst others) with similar experiences.
I’ve been off of 600mg Seroquel for three months now and still have severe anxiety, dizziness, burning sensation in my head, insomnia, and involuntary muscle movements. I’m thinking about coming off Celexa now, but I’m wondering if it is too soon.
Hey Norma, You might want to give your brain a longer break before tapering off anything else. Talk with your doctor about it, but with all of the W/D symptoms you’re still having after 3 months, you might want to refrain from tapering off anything else until your current symptoms start to stabilize. JMHO, but check with your doctor before doing anything.
Just started, been wanting to quit this freakin seroquel. More like nyquil. Starting cold-turkey today and especially after reading these posts. I have been on it for 2 years and was having the worst chest pains for 33 and I am healthy. What worked to stop those pains was lowering the dosage.
The quacks like to up your dose to shut up your crying and keep you sedated. This proved to be extremely unhealthy and increased my panic attacks which is the most creepiest feeling ever by the way. Worst comments on this drug I ever seen too, glad I read this. Feel like a bubble head, I plan like the other girl getting my life and brain back and fire doctors that do not care about you.
This is walking the plank here in my view by taking this crap. Yes, hard to hold an intelligent convo with dull insensitive emotions. I am actually a Christian, but this makes me so angry. Also I think it has affected my spirit negatively which is not good. It feels like I’m a zombie on Walking Dead show, fell victim to another quack.
No sense in complaining and crying no more, on one thing to do now is to try to get my senses back the healthiest way I can.
So glad I found this forum. I’ve spent 9 months tapering off 300 mg of Seroquel for sleep (on for 2 years). Quit completely a week ago and it’s been hell. All the symptoms you all have talked about, nausea, worsening insomnia, itching, joint pain, hopelessness, etc… Yet I am so glad I quit and I am bound and determined not to go back. Tired of using prescribed pills to avoid facing my issues. It’s going to be rough, I have no illusions about that, but I feel freedom right around the corner. Thanks so much for you all sharing your experiences – I don’t feel alone or crazy anymore.
I have been on Buspar for 7 months now. After having been on that for only a couple of weeks, I realized my anxiety had not be under control yet. I wasn’t sleeping through the night; mainly waking very early. After having a panic attack, the ER doctor put me on Prozac to accompany the BuSpar.
The Prozac made me so ill in three weeks that I could barely eat due to the nausea and I was almost nonfunctioning. I did sleep, however. My primary doctor took me off of the Prozac and prescribed 25 mg of Seroquel. I was sleeping like a baby! That along with the BuSpar seemed to be working together. After about a month, I started to notice how hungry I had become.
After about two months, I was having terrible hypoglycemic symptoms and what I thought was increased heart rate. My doctor was monitoring everything and I had to monitor my glucose levels. Meals wouldn’t last long. The symptoms would come on quickly once they started and I would get fast and hard headaches and then started to shake.
I had to plan my day around what and when I would eat and be sure I was either near a restaurant or equipped with decent food items. My doctor was reluctant to take me off of the Seroquel because I was at least “balanced” and sleeping. After another month, I had had it with being run by food. I saw a PA who told me I could cut my dosage (I am very sensitive to meds anyway) but to do it gradually.
I’ve been cutting the 25-mg tabs in half for almost two weeks now and have been more anxious. Two days after on the lower dosage, all at once my heart rate increased and I started to tremble and couldn’t stop. I had to go home from work. A week later, it happened again but to a much lesser degree. I’m sleeping almost as well as being on the 25 mg full dose but not quite.
My hands shake more and I become more irritable. I have noticed, though, that I don’t get as hungry as often but I still have to be on top of having snacks. I’m hoping to quarter the tabs within the next week or so. Not sure how long I should do the tapering. Has anyone else had hypoglycemic symptoms on this med??
I was put on Seroquel while in treatment – for sleep and post-acute withdrawal syndrome from suddenly stopping benzos. I was on 250mg a day. I wanted to quit, but had read the difficulty many had had. I started it in October and decided to quit in February. I tapered down successfully, but it took me almost 6 months to do it. Here’s how I did it:
Because I was on it only 4 months, I was able to reduce 25 mg a week until down to about 150 mg. Then it got harder. I had to reduce by 12.5 mg about every 10-14 days. By the last few rounds until quitting, I went from 37.5 mg to 25, to 125, then to ~ 6 mg, then to 3. I am finally off, as of three days ago.
The way I would know it was okay to further reduce was by how anxious I wasn’t for two days in a row. The anxiety was horrible but it would lessen with each lowered dose after some time. I did research on anxiety and found three things that helped make this journey more bearable. I found Acetyl L-Carnitine (ALCAR), Niacinimide, Holy Basil, Turmeric, and L-Tyrosine.
The upside is that not only was my anxiety improved, but I got a mood boost from the ALCAR. My thinking was clearer because of the L-Tyrosine, as well. I’m still not sleeping well. That started at 12.5 mg. I do use Deep Sleep (herbal) and Melatonin with L-Theanine. It helped tremendously along the way, now not so much. But this is a powerful drug that is helpful until the side effects outweigh the benefits.
For me, it resulted in about 20 pounds and feeling drugged much of the time. I feel like a better, happier, and fatter (lol) version of myself. Hopefully not for long on the fatter part! I wish everyone success! If you’re thinking of doing this cold turkey, you are making a big mistake. Of course you want to be off of it right now. But our brains cannot handle it, and it may put you in the ER.
If nothing else, tapering will help with learning patience – it did me – and it will minimize (but stretch out) withdrawal symptoms over time. I can handle being a little off part of the time much better than completely wrecked for a long period of time. Hopefully my experience will help someone. :-)
I was prescribed this hellish drug the 1st time I went to rehab (for a heavy hydrocodone addiction…which after 18yrs, I’ve finally overcome). Seroquel was great for sleep @ 1st, was prescribed 200mg/nighttime. But like any drug for me, if it gave me any type of mind-altering effect, I would increase dosage. Over the next 5 yrs I had moved my way up to 1500-1800mg(5-6x300mg) a night & would fight the sleep to feel the awful buzz this drug gave me. I don’t know why, I am an addict is all I can tell you.
It eventually lead to me becoming the biggest a-hole you ever met, not to mention i puffed up & gained 25 lbs cuz it gave me the munchies. I was literally a fat Oscar the Grouch 24/7 & for some reason, my girlfriend stuck with me(Now thats true love…or just plain sad, but I love her for it either way). Years passed & Finally, I grew to hate it. If this is what it took to sleep…then I was willing to never sleep again.
So I packed a suitcase & rented a room for 2 wks at an extended stay motel & quit cold turkey(no visitors except for my girlfriend to bring me food & see I was alive then leave). It was hell… I didn’t sleep 6 days in a row, just tossed & turned for what seemed an eternity. I sweat, had pounding migraines, racing thoughts, horrible anxiety… I couldn’t even watch TV it was so uncomfortable.
It was like opiate withdrawal all over again. I couldn’t eat & had to force myself to drink a 32oz gatorade everyday. I wanted so badly to say “screw it” & go find some valium or ativan but I toughed it out. After 2 wks I went home & still was only getting maybe 2 hrs of sleep in 30 min intervals a night but it slowly got better. It took MONTHS before I was able to get a solid 4-6 hrs of sleep again.
I don’t wish that on anyone. I never thought the day would come when I didn’t need an ambien, ambien xr, lunesta, remeron, seroquel, ser xr, etc. just to get an hr of sleep. My advice, don’t even give the doctor(thats bribed by the pharm company to push its pill) the satisfaction. Try all other avenues 1st, whether it be herbal or better yet, try one of those relaxation drinks (Drank, Purple Stuff, Sippin Syrup) they all have those herbs that help with sleep such as valerian root, rose hips, L-theanine, melatonin, etc…
I don’t know if what I just typed will actually help anybody, just sharing my experience. Good luck all!
I quit cold turkey on the 3rd from 300 mg Seroquel XR daily. I dunno if any of you have encountered this, but it gives me terrible panic attacks. I wound up in the hospital on the 3rd with a massive panic attack, and that’s what prompted the quit. So far I feel like hell. I’m sleeping, but probably only because I’m taking Ativan. I have no appetite, weakness, fatigue, and brain fog.
I’m doing better than most of you guys by the sound of it, but I don’t really get why ’cause I’ve been taking Seroquel at a reasonably high dose for almost 2 years. Oh, and I’ve quit smoking at the same time. Jooooy~
Anyways good luck all of you. If anyone wants to be Seroquel quit buddies and we could help each other along with moral support and someone to complain to who understands I’d be up for it; feel free to email me.
Hi there Tunisia, That sounds quite a lot to cope with in one go, were you smoking for some years? You mention panic attacks and it got me interested.
I had a few panic attacks when I was on quetiapine and two of them were bad enough for me to be sent to hospital in an ambulance, the other occasion the ambulance men stayed with me for an hour or more in my home. Have you spoken to a doctor/psychiatrist about a systematic, tapered withdrawal for the nicotine AND the quetiapine, maybe to put some structure around it all?
I was never in a high dosage, I did try 200mg once and it floored me, I promised myself I would never do it again, I took a 100mg for three years. After dropping by 25mg a week I stopped nearly a month ago with very little to worry about regards withdrawal symptoms, I was lucky because I had nothing else that conflicted with it having detoxed from painkillers a couple of months before.
Whatever you do I really wish you well, the symptoms seem so different for so many people there doesn’t seem to be anything consistent, at worst all the symptoms you have and at best, some flu like feelings, some hot flushes and sneezing? All the best to you, Charles
I’m in the process of quitting seroquel / quetiapine after over 15 years of taking between 50 and 12.5mg. I saw a lot of terrible stories/advice in the comments. Do not quit cold turkey. Be extremely skeptical if a doctor advises you to. Even if you haven’t been taking it for awhile, be cautious and work alongside a medical professional to taper your meds gradually. I’m at 6.25mg now and even that slight decrease is powerful. You’re taking this for a reason, so be kind to your brain and let it gradually adapt as you quit. You will get there. Good luck!
Ari, I totally agree with you. I dropped 100 mg of Seroquel from 200 mg and dropped 0.5 of Klonopin from 1.0 all in one month. I am now trying to figure out how to regain more mood stability while still trying to not go back up any. It was too much of a drop in Seroquel at one time, and I shouldn’t have tried to also decrease another med at the same time.
What I really want to do is to figure out how to heal the root of what is causing my symptoms and to stop just treating the symptoms with medicine, but to stay on medicine until I have gotten enough true healing of the root causes so that the withdrwal from a safe taper is not a big deal. Best of luck. – Ted
I am 23 and was put on 50mg over a year ago as I lost the plot a bit at Uni and started hearing voices. Finished Uni (yay Masters) and am a lot happier now so am trying to wean off. All I’ve done is drop from 50 to 25 and oh my goodness I feel horrid.
Vomiting, nausea, headaches, eye pain, dizziness, tiredness, sound sensitivity, it’s awful! I have honestly never been this physically ill in my life… I hope it gets better soon. :(
My dance with Seroquel has gone one for many, many years. On it, off it, on it, and so on. Off it due to cost, no alternatives left. Got up to 600 mg and it’s taken me a year to get down to 150mg. Went cold turkey two days ago, withdrawal is far worse than I expected.
Nothing close to benzodiazepine withdrawal, but still very unexpected. Cold sweats, flu like symptoms (runny nose, nasal issues, headache), insomnia, feels like I am in a dream during the day, nightmares at night (if I do sleep). Average sleep per night is maybe 4 hours but very broken.
Woke up at 3am and couldn’t go back to sleep. Had these side effects before and are no less comfortable now. If you are coming off Seroquel read this thread it will help you understand what you are in for. It definitely helped me. Good luck!
Hi everyone, just an update, I have been off of this dreadful drug for three months now after tapering off, (I think as we all react differently, it is really trial and error). Anyhow, I feel so much better, getting to sleep is still an issue but once asleep I do sleep well. I have been doing a meditation called a body scan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zsCVqFr6j1g) and it works really well, it slows your breathing and occupies your mind.
Even though I have had different issues to cope from the ones that led the doctors to put me on this drug I am doing well and have even secured a new job. The things I would recommend are be prepared for all the stuff the withdrawal throws at you. Also exercise, I walk every day and it has helped so much. Also I do still feel anxious, sweaty and as if my heart is racing but I use belly button breathing techniques.
I’m not saying life is perfect but it’s much better for me not to be on this drug, I can engage and have all round totally better cognitive function.
I just wanted to give light at the end of the tunnel. But please do-not beat yourself up if you are struggling or feel you need to take this drug we are all unique and now may not be the right time for you. Please look after yourselves and be kind to yourselves. Wishing everyone kindness.
Its been three weeks since I tapered down to 50mg, and that did not present any side effects; however, after trying to split that in half to make 25 mg, they started. Severe nausea and headaches. So bad I had to go back to the 50.
How long does it take to taper down with minimal side effects? Does anyone have advice? Headaches I’ve lived with most of my life, but the nausea, BRUTAL. I cannot handle it. Your thoughts are really appreciated, anyone?
Hello Kathleen, I went from 100mg down to 25mg in a month reducing my intake by 25mg each week, then I stopped altogether, this was ok’d by my doctor.
I’ve been off them altogether for a month now and the worst thing I got was the ever so slight feeling of a cold bubbling under, hot flushes for a while, some leg cramps at night but that was it.
I took quetiapine for three years probably and it was getting me to sleep at night but at what price? My suggestion for what it’s worth, and this helped me when I detoxed, on my own from co-codomol, (after surgery five years ago)… Get a juicer and get some apples, celery and carrots down you every morning, get out and walk, and get some fresh air in you.
Small things I know but you can’t just treat the body on it’s own, the mind must be nurtured too. I’d recommend a book by Mark Williams called, ‘Mindfulness’… I can’t say enough good about it. Also, be kind to yourself, don’t feel angry or resentful but keep in mind that you WILL get off the quetiapine …it might just take longer.
I was lucky, I have never smoked, never done recreational drugs and packed in alcohol years ago (bored with drunks). In many ways I had a clear run at it. Hope this helps. ‘May you be happy and free from suffering’ :-) Charles
Thanks Charles. I am trying to cut down again as of this week. I am going every other day 50 – 25 mg. I think I’ll do that for a couple weeks, then stop. Thanks for your good advice. Well received. Take care.
I’m in this boat too. Tried to cut down from 50 to 25. It’s been 3 days of vomiting, nausea, eye pain, head pain. :( Apparently if you wait weeks between tapering down again it helps…
I was put on Seroquel for sleep issues in 2008. It worked great for 9 years, until I developed fasciculations in my left wrist. This condition is not uncommon for people who have taken the medication 5+ years and are older (I am 58). However, they can also be a sign of ALS, so I had to find out. So, on my own, I decided to stop taking the medication to see if the condition improved.
Two weeks after starting to taper, I am taking about 6mg per night (1/4 of a 25mg pill). The fasciculations have gone away. I have lost 3+ pounds without trying. That’s the good. Among the side effects I’ve had are irritability, confusion, sleep issues and itching. We’ll see what happens when I give it up completely.
I think it’s been easier for me (so far) than the stories above – but this stuff is scary bad. I am very sorry for everyone who is struggling to get this drug out of their life. Good luck all.
After 14 years with the same Dr, I switched. Glad I did. To shorten a very long story after several sessions my new (ER) doc decided I’d been misdiagnosed with BiPolar Type II 14 years ago and never should have been put on these meds. So, I’m right now doing a long taper off of Seroquel (then I will attempt a taper to at least lower my Clonazepam dose.
I had already lowered it without really meaning to from 4mg to 2mg a year ago by not taking meds I was so doped up!) My old doc at various points had me up as high as 400 Seroquel (and 600 Topamax) in addition to the 4.0 clonazepam. I had lowered on my own the Seroquel to 300 (and the Topamax to 400–those were levels I’d been at for years–I don’t remember why she increased, but she never would listen to me say we needed to go back down, so I finally left).
My new doctor is an experienced CLINICAL Psychiatrist, but hasn’t held sessions in a while. She hasn’t had a patient have problems come off of Seroquel before (to the point I needed to take Phenergan suppositories so I could attempt to keep eating and drinking) so I’ve been bringing in research papers to her. We worked with a compounding pharmacy to develop a liquid I use to titrate my dose and be able to go off much slower. I also found out the hard way that if I hold at a dose (say 100mg) for too long, and then try to resume titration get off, the nausea comes back horribly!!!
I’m now under 50mg, and titrate off about 1-2mg every week. When I get closer to 0mg we’ll see what happens… and how I handle going the entire way there. Using the liquid I may break it down even smaller. Right now: Nausea is better, but I have little to no energy, sleep is ok some nights, other nights nothing works. We are going to get me off of the Topamax next, then at least some of the Clonazepam. I know these drugs are helpful and needed to some, but they seem to have been developed horribly.
My EKG says I may have had heart problems at some point in the past–I don’t remember anything, I’m 47 and a mom of two. I do know: this (all the meds combined and what I’ve been thru as a result) has destroyed my relationship with both of my kids–getting on the meds “trying to find the right cocktail”, being on it, and now getting off. I’m having to work very hard to rebuild things, but one is getting ready to leave for college, and I was diagnosed right after the other was born: they’ve always known me on some drug cocktail and never mixed good…
I’m also having all the other Seroquel withdrawal issues–headaches, muscle probs, anger, etc. Im trying to peel back the drugs to continue to find the real me. For the first time in almost 15 years I feel me inside but it is hard. I’m encouraged by some of the comments regarding the Seroquel withdrawal–and please be encouraged by mine. I started at 300 mg and in 10 months I’m now under 50 mg. BUT I had to learn the hard way at times to go very slow–and educate myself and my own doctor about everything.
I went off 300mg cold turkey and am paying for it! Talk to your prescriber first!!! Sorry I did it. Now I don’t know what to do. Any suggestions?
I would recommend (I know this is three weeks old, sorry!)
1. calling your doctor ASAP
2. going back on previous dose
3. tapering off slowly
For me 50 mg down every three days worked very well except sleep problems but I was on the XR version so that probably has a lot to do with it. How’s it going now Lisa?
I have been on Seroquel for years to control my rapid cycling bipolar 1. I started on 600 mg and am now down to 150, eventually planning to quit the drug completely. I tried going cold turkey and the withdrawal was absolutely horrible. The insomnia is merciless, I cannot sleep more than an hour at a time. My body cannot regulate its internal temperature, mind racing non-stop, weakness, muscle spasms, complete lack of coordination, diarrhea, and by day 3 the uncontrollable projectile vomiting starts.
My body completely shuts down. The medical community is aware of all of this-that is why they emphasize the importance of not quitting your medication. The dangers of mental illness are very real, and quitting medication suddenly can be very damaging to yourself and others. If you are not happy with your treatment a good doctor will help you find alternative solutions-and if they don’t help you find a new doctor.
I am now working with my doctor to taper off of Seroquel, and so far things are going well. When my dose is lowered it takes a few months for my body to acclimate to the new dose, but the transition is not disruptive to my life. This method just takes patience. Regardless of your chosen method, do not take this on alone. Have your support gathered around you: Doctor, therapist, friends, family, spiritual groups, support groups, etc…and if you don’t have anyone, then find someone.
Best to all who are living with the struggles of mental illness, to all who have chosen to be proactive in their health by accepting treatment. In the future may we have better treatment options which only help and never hurt.
Incredible to see people’s comments. SO MANY OF THEM. I’ve been on Seroquel XR for two years, 200 mg. After a psychotic/manic break it was bumped to 600 mg. I slept 9 hours, took another hour to get out of bed, needed two very strong coffees to actually become awake, gained weight, you know the drill. And then the tardive dyskinesia started. First in my lips, then eyelids (go on, try to fall asleep while blinking non-stop) and then in my right shoulder.
And at this point I broke. I told my CPN that if the shoulder doesn’t stop moving all the time I am checking out. She understood what that meant. First they added Akineton. Which did nothing. Then the taper started and I was given clonazepam to help with the TD. It did help but at 500 mg I needed five 0.5 mg pills to get through the day relatively symptom free. Now I am down to last 50 mg seroquel XR and 1 0.5 mg clonazepam pill.
Withdrawal… for me it’s been such a mixed bag. I am dropping 50 mg per three days. The first night after lowering dosage my body’s like “sleep’s overrated, we’re not doing it”. I have to sleep though, I’ve got rapid cycling bipolar I. Two nights ago I called the psychiatric ER to ask what the hell am I supposed to do if I took maximum safe dose of zopiclone (22.75 mg), 10 mg of diazepam, it’s 1:30am and I am completely awake.
They told me to call in an hour, and I fell asleep 55 minutes later – I know because I was checking if an hour has passed. :P Other than that… one day – completely suicidal, lost, confused, anxious. Another day – feeling great. Suddenly getting up before the alarm – this started happening at 350 mg. I thought it was my sleeping pills making it so hard to get up!
I wake before 8, get out of bed and get on with my day without a drop of coffee! But the mental side effects… by Gods. Today is a good day, which confuses me, because according to previous weeks it should be hell. I’ve gone hypomanic and went to the gym 12 times in 14 days, mostly focusing on cardio and long sets/short rest weight workouts, to lose weight. Cut out sugar completely (on 600 mg I could eat a cake in one go, on 200 I lost interest in sugar, which is how I used to be).
How much weight did I lose? NONE. Apparently it’s going to be like that until my last pill, which is tonight. I am preparing for the worst once I am completely off it. It’s such a ride, those last weeks. Some days I feel perfectly well, energetic, rested. Some days I am a wreck. Some nights – after dose drop – I can’t fall asleep without enormous amounts of sleep meds.
Two nights later I need half a pill of zopiclone. Today has been diarrhea day. (Rejoice!). One more thing: tardive dyskinesia is almost gone – not completely – but also another side effect is gone: blurry vision. My optician couldn’t figure out what the hell was wrong, they gave me three different pairs of contact lenses to try, but no matter what, in the evening I’d see blurry – halos and that sort of thing.
As I am lowering the dose my sharp vision is gradually returning. Keep on keeping on everyone, I’ll be back with an update in a week – unless I’m hospitalised or something equally fun happens! Last pill tonight! I am on lamictal 300 mg and I am continuing that – I have zero side effects, it works great on my depression and it’s one med out of a dozen or so that I tried that actually seems to do its job.
Three days later:
THE GOOD: I am already losing weight. Today marks the first day since 2013 that I weigh less than 93 kg. I am energetic despite sleeping seven hours (SEVEN?!?!?! nine used to be my average). Mentally I feel stable, maybe a bit happier than I should be but I’m not going to complain.
THE BAD: Falling asleep takes three zopiclones, which is concerning to say the least. Dry lips. Tardive dyskinesia, while almost gone, is still hanging around every now and then. Also I’ve now had a mild headache for five days and counting.
THE UGLY: Diarrhea is a joy, isn’t it? Oh well. Maybe that’s the weight I’m losing. :P Also the allergy symptoms. I am only allergic to oranges. Well, now I seem to be allergic to air, and who knew one human being could produce so much snot? I sneeze in my sleep. Can’t decide whether to beg my GP for antihistamines or ride the snot wave hoping it ends in some sort of foreseeable future.
Altogether it’s better than I expected. Not exactly a smooth ride but it looks like 95% of you had it worse. Hugs for everyone who would like ’em.
A week later: Allergic symptoms are almost gone. Weight is dropping – I had to tighten my belt three times this week (I’m working out a lot and eating low-carb, which changed exactly nothing while I was on seroquel – but now it does). Headaches are gone. Tardive dyskinesia is still a problem which worries me greatly as I’ve read it can become permanent.
Sleep is still very problematic – last night I just didn’t get sleepy even though I’ve been up for 18 hours. Had to knock myself out with the sleeping pills. I hope this changes soon as I am worried about how many sleeping pills I need.
No nausea or stomach aches although the diarrhea continues. I am eating less though – as if my stomach shrunk rapidly. I have the same breakfast every week – protein shake, oatmeal, fruit – and in the last few days I haven’t been able to finish it. It’s the same with other meals.
Ray! I was encouraged to read your stuff… I’m doing well after a month off quetiapine. My symptoms were very few and I feel very, very lucky. Funny about the food, for me I’m eating SO well and look forward to cooking my main meal of the day, usually brown rice and veggies (steamed) with hummus and tofu.
I’ve gone right off meat, right off chocolate and right off coffee…odd but I just don’t care for any of them any more. I will say that I do use half a zopiclone to help me sleep quite well, I also take one 5HTP tablet at night with my other meds, statins and heart medication… also Vit B complex.
I occasionally get a hot flush, sometimes feel a sneeze about to happen and that’s it. Take care out there :-)
Congrats Charles! :) I’m looking forward to only needing half a zopiclone – down to 1.5 right now (new update below). I hope it continues going well for both of us. I’m both very relieved that I don’t have ALL of the symptoms of withdrawal and really sad that most people get hit so hard. It was way easier for me than I expected. But I guess most people for whom it goes well don’t post here – why would they.
Another week has passed… My mental state has been a bit all over the place. Well, I took seroquel for something, so it’s not that surprising. Depression paid a visit. Then something else happened: I got completely flat. I could literally lay in bed and contemplate the ceiling, and on occasion I did. Then a friend who also quit seroquel told me that it’s yet another sign of withdrawal.
Sleep is still very difficult, and I am on maximum dosage of sleeping pills. I stayed up an hour longer last night and all I achieved was hurting eyes. I have enough sleeping pills for two weeks, but obviously this is not fun. Tardive dyskinesia seems to be slightly lessening. I told my pdoc I was no longer using clonazepam to control it and switched to akineton (which did nothing when I was still on seroquel) and she told me akineton can affect my moods.
So I am white-knuckling through it, and the movements in my right shoulder seem to have dislocated something (? – like a shoulder-blade is sticking out) but it is getting less difficult. So good. 91 kg now. I’m exercising, eating well (and much less too), stomach has settled. Overall it really seems much easier than for most people here. Big hugs all.
Another week passed… Weight is dropping – I am down to 90. That makes 3 kg in 3 weeks. Eating much less than before, small portions 5-6 times a day. Having enough energy to exercise, do things around the house, get out and see people. My mood swings seem to have calmed down – with my ultra-ultra-rapid cycling 9 days of stable mood is a good result, sadly. Flatness is gone.
Still sleeping 7-7.5 hours and getting up refreshed. No caffeine. But I still can’t fall asleep without sleeping pills (managed 1.5 zopiclone last night by staying up an hour longer than usual, on the plus side I actually got sleepy). Tardive dyskinesia definitely lessening which is amazing, I was so worried that it would become permanent. Still happens, but less than before. Right shoulder getting better too, it’s still not quite as it should be but I no longer have this feeling that it’s dislocated.
Oh yes, blurry vision is gone completely. I can’t believe how many side effects this med had, and they all creeped in slowly so I thought I was just getting old and that sleeping pills made it so hard for me to get up. I am not impressed by this at all. I am really not anti-psych but my life quality has improved drastically since I quit.
Big hugs everyone. I hope you all get better, keeping my fingers crossed.
4 weeks and 4 kg down :D Had to stop wearing my usual shorts as they’re dropping. Same with pyjama pants. I will need to replace half of my wardrobe as I got rid of most smaller clothes thinking I will never fit into them again.
I also managed to go from 2 to 0.5 tab of zopiclone. Still sleeping 6.5-7 hours, which I am not used to at all, I got up two hours before my husband today. But I actually got sleepy last night, for the first time since quitting seroquel. Incredible.
Tardive dyskinesia is almost completely gone. Still occasionally pops up but the movements are now happening for about 15 minutes a day (as opposed to HOURS) and they’re… gentle, if that’s the right word. I wish it would bugger off completely but I guess I have to wait a bit longer. Right shoulder is fine by now – I was so worried. Mood still stable. So all in all things are going much better. I just hope to never take seroquel again.
Two weeks later… My weight loss slowed down. I was kinda hoping it wouldn’t, but then, 4.5 kg in five weeks is nothing to complain about, and I think 0.5 kg per week is healthier. Tardive dyskinesia is still happening :(. I now worry it did become permanent. It’s not terribly bad but it keeps on going. The blinking, the mouth movements and, again, the shoulder movements. NOOOO. My doctor doesn’t want me to take any more clonazepam or akineton to mask the symptoms, so I lay in bed trying to fall asleep while blinking non-stop. :(
I noticed that clonazepam actually works like instant depression and sleep med at once since I quit seroquel – I took up to 2.5 mg a day when the TD was very very bad, now 0.5 reduces me into sitting on the sofa wishing it was nighttime and I could just go to bed and stay there forever. It goes away a day after but I am not exactly enjoying it. Sleep has actually dropped further.
I sleep average of 6.5 hours and wake up refreshed and rested. 1 zopiclone is generally enough, but still necessary. Not getting manic though as far as I can tell, which is very good news. I now feel safe enough to get on with the process of quitting tobacco. I didn’t want to quit two things at once, since I feared the side effects so many of you wrote about, but I think I’m safe from those by now.
My mood is pretty much exactly as it should be and I am hoping it stays like that. I really, really don’t want any more antipsychotics of any sort in my future. I know they might be necessary but the tardive dyskinesia is absolutely terrible. Does anybody have experience with quitting seroquel because of involuntary muscle movements? Did they eventually go away, and if yes, how long did it take?
Big hugs for all people suffering – I hope you all get better soon.
This is probably going to be my last post for a while, I’ll try to remember to come back in a few months. I am yet to notice any negative effect of quitting seroquel past the initial period. My sleep averages 6 hours, so it dropped even further. No manic symptoms detected though, and I am energetic. My weight, which stayed around 88.5 kg suddenly decided to plummet – down to 87.5 in two days. Hmm. Oh well.
Not too upset, just had to tighten my belt again. That means 5.5 kg down in approx. 6 weeks. Mood swings are present but to be honest they are pretty much always present no matter what meds I am on. (Currently only lamictal). Tardive dyskinesia is the bad news. It is not gone. It’s much less of a problem, but it persists.
My CPN tells me that it should be gone by now and since it isn’t it probably became permanent :((( even though we acted on it really quick. NOT HAPPY. I can live with this level of TD disturbances. But… had I known earlier… I don’t think I would have agreed to take this med. :( It helped when I started it, it really did help. But I should have stopped as soon as it was possible. And I didn’t know that.
As usual, big hugs to all the sufferers, and I hope things get easier for all of you!
Last one from me… It’s been over three months. 8 kg down. Back to normal 8 hour sleep. 1 & 1/2 zopiclone does the job. My blinking persists but it is getting less irritating with help of propranolol. I actually miss the mental help I had from seroquel. Not the side effects! Not the weight! But it helped me stay stable.
I had a very serious crisis a month ago and actually refused to call crisis line because I thought (my brain wasn’t exactly clear) that they would give me seroquel and I didn’t want that because now I already have permanent tardive dyskinesia which is fairly minor and I REALLY don’t want it to become major again. Good luck everyone. I’ll keep you in my prayers.
Ray, I’ve really been moved reading your account of your Seroquel taper. I’m wondering how you are doing and if the TD has changed at all. I saw a girl on Youtube who had bad TD and after 2 years it was barely noticeable. Hugs to you.
I wish people would read this article and the comments section BEFORE they start taking this drug and then decide IF they still want to take it. Unfortunately, psychiatric nurses won’t tell you anything about the withdrawals, and few of them will tell you about all the side effects of the drug. I learned the hard way after quitting cold turkey, but there is hope. After 5 months of withdrawal symptoms, I’m free of it and I feel okay. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helped me far more than the drugs ever did,
Unfortunately Jeff, I wish I had known it existed. I would have felt a lot better knowing most of my symptoms and side effects were because of this drug. Plus having to go back to my psychiatrist every 4 months, he kept me on it insisting I needed it and I’m still going back regularly. I don’t get why. I hate being on anything. I don’t feel as though I need them and when I was put on them, I was going through a very dark emotional time thus reason for my breakdown. I wish I knew.
Update: I went from 100 mg down to 50 over a two week timeframe. My symptoms were a lot of headaches and stomach issues. Nausea and acid reflux. They are better now that I’ve been at 50 for a week. I intend to taper more till I get to NONE. I’m trying the slice off a little at a time. Hopefully I will remain symptom free.
I couldn’t get my Seroquel script renewed for 4 days and it has been the worst week of my life! This HAS to be as bad as heroin withdrawal, and it takes forever (months!) to get rid of withdrawal symptoms! I was nauseous, vomiting, had no appetite, slept during the day and night, sweated big time, my joints hurt, my eye hurt, had sinus problems, was irritable, and lethargic.
But I really feel normal for a change, I feel like me. I was taking around 200mg a night and it seemed to be doing less good, even for insomnia which was I felt the best advantage of Seroquel. So, I’m going to try to stay off it, or at least withdrawal gradually because I’m tired of not being me, and I don’t want to go through this again!
Please help… Does this all finally come to an end??? I was on 800 mg nightly for over eight years along with 1000mg of depakote and 200mg of pregabalin. I withdrew over the space of 5 weeks realizing that I wanted to see how I could function as a member of the human race after being on medication for over 14yrs!!
I couldn’t work out what was going on with my physical self as in my mind I feel ok but with the constant nausea, vomiting headaches diarrhea terrible sleep mood swings, light and sound sensitivity etc etc etc I still can’t quite believe nearly 3 months down the line I’m still no closer to feeling any better???? I’ve had an endoscopy, blood tests, stool samples, ultra sounds, urine samples all showing nothing!! Until I found this page I thought I was totally on my own and Drs have repeatedly turned me down for help with everything as nothing shows so there obviously isn’t a problem in their eyes.
Constantly I questioned whether this was the results of my withdrawal and the Drs point blank replied with no as the meds would only take a week at most to get out of my system. So 3 months later still waking everyday sick as a dog and almost hourly questioning whether I should get back on the damn seroquel!! Trying to work and purely just live is a terrifying concept when everyday I wake up praying it’s going to get better and it doesn’t.
How can this possibly be right?!! So again please someone provide me with the hope that it does stop?!?!
I am so happy I found this forum. And am so grateful to find so many people in the same boat willing to share. Everything everyone says hits home so much. I had a breakdown 6 years ago and was put on Lamictal and Seroquel. Very high doses. I am still on both, however, doses are lower. I gained over 30 pounds. Lost some on Medifast 2 years ago, but 20 has come back, so am trying again. So so hard.
I feel completely drugged with a hangover every morning. My husband is finally coming around to realize its these damn pills and not a thing I can do about it. No motivation, no energy, complete brain fog. All on a constant basis. I’ve decided I’m going to wean myself off of Seroquel, especially after seeing all of these posts; doctors approval or not, because I cannot stand feeling this way.
I’ll stay on Lamictal as it has no side effects that bother me except the occasional lamictal headache”. I realize having the breakdown was a culmination of events in my life at that time, not that I was “crazy”. I talk to a therapist regularly and with her help, feel that half of these meds are not necessary. Maybe they were at the time, but certainly since my situation has improved, don’t feel they do anything different.
He also has me taking ativan as needed which I take at bedtime and now that my blood pressure has been going up steadily, my internist has me on a beta blocker as well as 2 other meds. I found I have to take that at night as well because during the day, well, I might as well not get out of bed at all.
So minus the Seroquel I hope I have no sleeping problems, and hopefully will start losing the weight again. I’ve been on Medifast for the past 3 months and have only lost 12 lbs. I should have lost at least 20. Its so restrictive. I am so grateful everyone shared their experiences here. I don’t feel so crazy or alone anymore.
I am, and oversedated on 200 mg of Seroquel, 1200 of Neurontin, 1 mg of Klonopin and 300 of Lamictal. My major concerns are pre-diabetes and constant oversedation. I have been on them for about 3 years. I have gotten off of three of them before – It was difficult.
I can’t seem to come up with a plan of how long to take to get off of them, or in what order to do it. My doc told me I would never get off all of them, and that did not make me happy. I want to replace taking meds with exercise to maintain mood control.
I tried a 50 mg drop in Seroquel last month, and it was too much. I was in withdrawal within hours. I would love to be off all of them and doing well 10 days before I see him in the middle of September – that is 65 days from now. How do do it, in which order and stay stable mood wise and experience minor withdrawal??? Any thoughts?
I didn’t change my Seroquel amount by 25 mg last night. Instead, I split up my Lamictal dose to 100 mg three times a day yesterday, and today I am going to try to go twice a day with the Lamictal 100mg. This may be too much of a jump – but I will adjust. I did sleep well last night and woke up feeling less groggy – but I am still way oversedated at night.
I am thinking of trying to spread my meds out a little more during the day instead of taking them all at night. Given the very short half life of Seroquel, this strategy may aid me getting off the Seroquel. I could evenly split all the meds into three times a day – but I feel like that might oversedate me during the day – but if I did and then started to adjust downward slowly.
I might have more success and less withdrawals – especially if I try to take a little time to get off all of this stuff. I don’t want my depression to increase, so it is all a balancing act that I have to be very careful with. I think I will only drop to 250 of Lamictal today instead of 300. That is a safer plan. Prayers for all you out there who are on this thread. Ted
I have been on seroquel for 12 years and I am only 22. I am a diagnosed bipolar and I have no idea how to function without this medication… and that scares me. My doses have ranged from a total of 1100 MG to now my lowest dose of 400 MG. Sounds crazy doesn’t it I have been prescribed the XR and regular.
I would like to change my medication to a less powerful medicine but I am afraid of being unregulated in my daily life. I am a mom and am employed full time as a preschool teacher my medication makes all this possible I am terrified that withdrawal and the period needed to recover will possibly have a huge impact on my family and work. I’m currently in a withdrawal due to neglect to refill on time and it really makes me realize how much my body needs it…
I vomit, shake, eradicate mood swings, my stomach is in an uproar. I also experience extreme insomnia and my body muscles clench and release. It’s hell I need to think about the long run I’m going to be medicated my whole life and I really would like that medication to not be so powerful over my health. If anyone has medication that has worked for them to switch to from seroquel I’d love to have the name.
Good luck to all of you out there trying to get regulated. I hope our lives stay steady.
My thoughts and prayers are with you Hannah. Don’t ever give up your hope of getting to the cause of your symptoms and eventually getting off the meds safely and slowly. You win if you don’t quit.