Comments: A Long Seroquel Taper
Docs are using it to treat insomnia, so it doesn't surprise me that withdrawing Seroquel would lead to problems sleeping.
I know a patient right now on Adderall and Seroquel. That makes no sense whatsoever to me. It seems that if the patient is so overstimulated that she is no longer sleeping at night that the best thing to do might be to decrease the Adderall and tell her to lay off the coffee. But instead, the doc just added an antipsychotic and called it good.
Posted by Lisa at January 30, 2007 05:27 PM
What I want to know why guides to coming safely off meds are not widely available in the states:
Making sense of coming off psychiatric drugs - http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Making+sense/Making+sense+of+coming+off+psychiatric+drugs.htm
This stuff is sooo dangerous, and withdrawal is often mistaken for symptoms! - What percentage of depressed patients end up with an bipolar misdiagnosses after withdrawal symptoms are mistaken for DSM ones?
Posted by Sophia at January 30, 2007 07:24 PM
I'm coming off of Risperdal. All neuroleptics are hard to come off of. I've been coming off of 11 mg for 3 years. I'm down to 1 1/4mg. I came off of 50 mg of Seroquel and 150 mg Zoloft in about 3 months. I intend to be neuroleptic, benzodiazapine and antidepressant free. With neurofeedback and diet and nutrition I may even consider losing the mood stabilizer. My neurologist doing the neurofeedback has gotten lots of bipolar's off their meds. (all of them...with success) And yes, Sophia, it's very difficult to find good information about coming off of meds safely. I'm using Breggins rules...but he is a bit of a ranter and not totally balanced. I do think he has a relatively safe method though. Grace Jackson, author of "Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide to Informed Consent," pointed out to me that there is literally no research on how to come off of psychotropics...only anecdotal commentary.
Posted by Gianna at January 30, 2007 08:25 PM
And, Oh...I was on Risperdal and before that Thorazine for 15 yrs...all the more reason it takes so long to free oneself. The brain has to readapt to being without mind altering and and brain changing drugs.
Posted by Gianna at January 30, 2007 08:27 PM
My daughter is on meds for ADD Straterra and Luvox for OCD. Her doctor also wants her to take Seraquel because he claims she is delusional and now should be on disability. This girl was fine up until these drugs got into her system and now he feels she should collect disability? I am ready to scream with frustration. She has been on and off drugs since 12 due to the ADD but now they have gotten stronger and stronger. Any advise as to how to wean. Hes convincing her that if she goes off she will do permanent damage to her brain. I hardly believe it. Now anything about alternative methods and what are they. i'd be interested in finding out some?
Posted by kate at February 10, 2007 06:23 PM
.."permanent damage to her brain."
If she remains on the meds that could possibly happen. This is only my opinion, but it's time for a 2nd opinion.
Posted by Stephany at February 10, 2007 08:35 PM
I had this same problem getting off of Seroquel and had to take a similar, gradual approach because otherwise it was impossible to sleep for hours, once you had missed the sedation "window" that peaked about an hour after ingestion.
I remained on Seroquel for about three years before tapering off, and I found that it was harder than ever dealing 'straight' with my chronic (overlooked) anxiety d/o and PTSD for lack of conscious practice. For those who are quitting these kinds of drugs, good luck. The rewards are generous, the regaining of an emotional landscape. The dangers are exactly the same, dealing with feelings, pleasant and otherwise; also the random erratic message from a pre-frontal cortex that would fit the description 'outside of rationality' that may not fit well with ordinary day-to-day consciousness. But after all, part of the function of the pre-frontal is to imagine things in order to try them out without having to actually do them. Thus the loss of the freedom of dreams or the realm of imagination.
It is also a wonder to regain memory of one's actual (rather than symptom-profile) life problems and deficits so long neglected, and attempt to begin again to cope with them when they had been for years on end dealt with 'automatically;' i.e., one's recollections of emotionally charged trigger events for that time were rendered virtually absent by use of the illusion that the drug provides. It seemed at first I would become emotionial over nothing and angered way too easily.
There is a lot of heartache over what one might have done or said differently, had treatment not have intruded and interrupted and removed one from their regular lives. It is hard not to imagine what might have turned out better had we had the full use of our reasoning, memory, and personality, and that is very depressing to think about, though not unreasonable had I not been misdiagnosed for so long.
Due to the 'state dependent' learning factor, in which the mind remembers differently depending upon how it is chemically altered, even by alcohol, there seems often a "Rip Van Winkle" effect in which it is difficult to relate to the changes that have happened internally and externally while drugged, and even hard to recognize a true chronological relation between them. But for me, the immediacy and clarity of being neuroleptic-free, paired with new-found sobriety, is finally far better than any drugged state. I have tried to build agility in my perception and sharpen my memory by writing and journaling, often about the treatment experience.
Posted by Paul at February 11, 2007 12:07 PM
Excellent comment Paul.
Posted by Stephany at February 11, 2007 04:42 PM