experiences of coming off seroquel

Information about depression and other related health issues (includes medications).

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Emz
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:31 pm
Location: Sydney

experiences of coming off seroquel

Postby Emz » Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:45 pm

I was taking Seroquel for the past 5 years, not as an anti-psychotic but as a "chemical straight-jacket". It made me feel numb instead of in crisis, helped me sleep and prevented me from causing harm to myself.

I came off it 3 weeks ago under the advice of my psychiatrist and after being well for 6 months.

Since then, I have been feeling more and more depressed. Emotions that have been masked for years by the seroquel are coming up again. I have been getting flash-backs to past trauma and I am starting to feel like i'm in crisis again.

Is this just a coincidence or is it possible that this is happening because I'm not on Seroquel. Has this happened before to others?

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sauer_kraut
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Location: Virginia U$A

Postby sauer_kraut » Tue Jul 21, 2009 1:01 am

I am actually very floored at your pdoc. He took you off of it and you had been well for 6 months. What magazine provided the mail order PhD for him? You were BETTER so he takes you off it. That is WHY people take medicine to begin with. To get well. You do not pull a diabetic off insulin because the insulin was making the diabetes better. Same goes for psych meds...

I too, take Seroquel and it is so important to me. All my meds are but that one is really important. I had an issue with my prescription and was severely undermedicated for a week. It was hell. I already knew that I have to take it (and my other meds) for the rest of my life. If I do not have meds, I go all unstable and nuts and fall to pieces.

Is it possible he is taking you off them as a trial to see how you do without it? Docs sometimes do that depending on the med and all. If not.. I would totally let him know ASAP that you need the Seroquel. Explain how you feel and see what happens.

Best of luck to you. Hope you can get things right again.

Monty
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Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:44 pm
Location: Canada

Postby Monty » Tue Jul 21, 2009 5:33 pm

Holy crap,

I can only echo the previous comments. Why would any pdoc take you off Seroquel, when you were doing well.

Doesn't it make more sense to take you off things "when you aren't doing well".

I take seroquel, religiously. I have been taking it for many years and it has become a necessary part of my chemical regime.

I have a friend who has been on zyprexa, successfully (whenever off she has crashed ) and has just been told by her pdoc that she will have to go off it. In her case I think that it is because he is changing drug suppliers.

We have to remember that pdocs are also getting "help for themselves" from drug representatives.

Emz
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2009 10:31 pm
Location: Sydney

Postby Emz » Fri Jul 24, 2009 11:21 am

sauer_kraut and monty, Thank you both for your replies and your expressions of concern. They do mean a lot. I do have to disagree with you both since I fully support my pdoc's decision to take me off seroquel.

Seroquel isn't the primary reason why I have been well for 6 months. The reason is because I have been working very hard in therapy and the skills I have learnt are actually working. Seroquel cannot be singularily attributed to my recovery since I have been taking it for 5 years, and it has only been in the past six months that I have been stable.

At best the seroquel helped to bring me down from the point of crisis, help me sleep and make me feel numb.

It made perfect sense to take me off it since I was no longer in a state of crisis and the side-effects began to out-weigh the benefits. I have gained a great deal of weight and have developed glucose intollerance (pre-diabetes) which my doctor believes is due to the seroquel. I cannot risk having this develop into Type II diabetes when the benefits of seroquel are so minimal.

Since starting this topic, the problems I originally had have become easier to manage. I'm sleeping a little better and my depressed mood has lifted slightly. It looks as if my problems were only transitory

Monty
Posts: 830
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2009 3:44 pm
Location: Canada

Postby Monty » Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:17 am

Emz,

Glad that things are going better for you.


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