[piano97]

Anyone have experience with either tapering off seroquel, or moving to a lower dose because of side effects?

[tecomsin]

Yes. I had a difficult time weaning off seroquel. My advise is to go slowly and in small increments. What dose are you on and how long have you been on seroquel?

[piano97]

600mg XR and 100mg IR.

What dosing were you on?

Did you experience reductions in both xr and ir?

How were they different if so?

Originally Posted by tecomsin

Yes. I had a difficult time weaning off seroquel. My advise is to go slowly and in small increments. What dose are you on and how long have you been on seroquel?

[tecomsin]

I was just on xr 600 mg at night. At first I dropped by 100 mg and then waited until i no longer felt the dose reduction before dropping again. Then I dropped by 50 mg, then by 25 and at the very end I was splitting the 25 mg into slivers to slowly wean off. The last 25 were the hardest for me. I remember sleepless nights, sweating and feeling really sh***y.

[piano97]

Did you go on another anti-psychotic at the same time?

When you started the taper, did you continue taking XR or did you start taking IR?

How long were you on it in total?

TIA

[piano97]

Did you lose weight? And if so, how much and timeline of.

[tecomsin]

I don't recall losing weight just not having much of an appetite. It was about 9 years ago so my memory isn't perfect but weight gain or loss was not a big factor. I just tapered off it and not onto anything else at the time. It was very hard to get off of but I was so happy I did because I was a vegetable on it. I was on total about 9 months including a long taper

[piano97]

Cool. Thank-you for sharing your experience.

[Wonderfalls]

This isn't my advice but when I stopped it cold (twice) I didn't have any problems. I switched to Latuda which probably has no bearing on the subject. At the time, though, I was taking a medium high dose of Seroquel, using it for an antipsychotic,, and it didn't make me sleepy. On the other hand I really don't want to quit my current 50mg because it helps me sleep so well at that dose. Maybe insomnia would be a side effect of quitting it?

Just the same, tapering off is always a good precaution.

[piano97]

I think I'd get manic quick if I stopped cold.

I agree in general I think tapering is far better of a plan, but at the same time I think people go too slow and it just prolongs things, then you focus on it too much and it hurts rather than helps. You increase the psychological dependence on it.

I'm thinking I'll drop by 20-25% and hold a couple weeks. Use PRN klonopin, benadryl, and 25mg IR tablets.

I've got to get off this crap. It worked well and still does, but we've had to bump the dose up several times. If I could exercise daily and not isolate so much (both things which seroquel impairs), I think I could get by on less.

I do think I will need to still take it but I'm not OK with the dose anymore. I've gained almost 20 pounds still and that is with eating really really well for 2 months now. It's all in my abdomen (worst place it could be). I'm tall and lean. Now I have a mega gut. My blood pressure is crazy high now too.

I isolate like crazy since the last dose increase. I needed it for manicky stuff, I honestly don't remember why now. I do not cycle anything near like I used to, which is awesome. But I also isolate way too much and some of that is a personality change from the seroquel. I'm fun and now I'm like a hermit.

I'm not going to change anything tonight. I need to think about it more and plan more.

[~Christina]

I went from 600XR to zero and not a single hiccup.

[piano97]

Did you replace it with anything, and how long were you on it?

Originally Posted by ~Christina

I went from 600XR to zero and not a single hiccup.

[~Christina]

No replacement. Stayed Medfree for 6-8 months I think , maybe a bit longer.

[Pookyl]

I’ve been on both types of Seroquel for just over 3yrs. The dose has been in a constant state of flux depending on my mood and the severity of the episode. Last Nov/Dec my prescribed Seroquel was halved and Epilim was added.
Each time my dosage of Seroquel was altered no tapering was involved.
My weight has yo yoed since my diagnosis. But I no longer care.

[tecomsin]

I think there's a small subset of people who have difficulty getting off Seroquel. The rest don't. Seroquel was the only med I ever had a problem stopping.

[piano97]

Did you go back on meds after that and what was the reasoning?

Originally Posted by ~Christina

No replacement. Stayed Medfree for 6-8 months I think , maybe a bit longer.

[Chuck1970]

I found that it takes months to wean off. The first time I weaned off I stayed up for 3 days straight. after that I would 1or2 hours of sleep and it took 3 months to sleep for the normal 6-8 hours to come back. I found this drug the very hardest
for me to get off.

[piano97]

Thank-you Chuck. I'm sorry to hear it was so difficult for you to come off of it.

What doses were you taking, and how long? Why were you originally put on it? Did you replace it with another medication?

I dropped to just 600 XR last night with a little bit of klonopin. I slept about 8 hours. I am noticing that since I first made a reduction, I'm sleeping less, but not necessarily in a bad way. There was a time when I needed at least 10 and more like 11 or 12 hours. And would still be groggy a couple hours.

Now, the new norm seems like 8 or 9.

I know I can not completely come off of it right now, but I do want to continue tapering down to 300-400.

I have gained over 20 pounds. My blood pressure is way up. I was sleeping all the time, and being a total hermit.

When I started seroquel last summer, I had an almost immediate improvement in cycling. We adjusted dose a couple times and I ended up on 750mg total. At 600mg now and pausing here. If cycles comes back I will take 50mg prn and/or klonopin to make sure I'm sleeping.

Thanks, and I welcome more thoughts and feedback Chuck.

Originally Posted by Chuck1970

I found that it takes months to wean off. The first time I weaned off I stayed up for 3 days straight. after that I would 1or2 hours of sleep and it took 3 months to sleep for the normal 6-8 hours to come back. I found this drug the very hardest
for me to get off.

[99fairies]

A couple years ago when I was IP I was put on 900 mg of seroquel. I was on it for 3 weeks. Then he sent me home with none and I did fine. No problems coming off it cold turkey. But I wasn't on it for very long, so that could be why. He was trying to beat the mania out of me with it. It worked!

Seroquel XR is a key player for my moodstabilization. During the last four months I've been on between 400-600 mg. I'm currently on 400 mg. The reductions from 600 mg were usually in 50 mg or 100 mg increments. This level of reduction didn't affect me negatively, as my moods were level and the points to the reductions was to ease sedation, which they did. I do know that if I went directly from 400 mg to 0 mg that I wouldn't be able to sleep much at all, unless some other sedating medication was added to my evening mix to make up for the loss. I'd also surely become manic or depressed from such an extreme reduction, again unless another helpful antipsychotic was added in its stead.

It's been a while since I took large doses of the instant release (regular) Seroquel. I do believe that the extended release (Seroquel XR) is more weight friendly for me than the regular. Really, at doses of 400 mg and below it is weight neutral for me. Only when my Seroquel XR dose starts inching up to 500 mg and above do I get super hungry. I happen to find Seroquel XR to be the most side effect friendly antipsychotic of all of them for me, as long as the dose is 400 mg or below. 400 mg is likely the dose I will stay at. It is still helpful for moodstabilization at this dose.

The only thing I'd say that Seroquel regular did positive that Seroquel XR doesn't do is to put me to sleep quicker. With Seroquel XR I have to take it early, like at 7 pm to get tired at 10 pm or 11 pm. Also, it is best that I try to fall asleep fairly early (like at 10 pm or earlier) so that I avoid morning sedation. But as I recall, regular Seroquel could sometimes cause morning sedation, too.

Ever since Seroquel XR went generic, there is no reason why I would ever want to take the regular instant release. Of course perhaps some people's insurance (or no insurance) might still have a notable price difference, but my insurance has made Seroquel XR quite affordable. I find the generic 100% as good and effective as the name brand.