Going off meds

My pdoc put me on seroquel at the hospital and once I gained 10 pounds I could go off it, I did gain the 10 pounds, but I'm having brutal brain zaps. This happen to anyone else going off seroquel? I'm also going to a nutritionist today. Losing 80 pounds in 6 months has raised some red flags.

Losing that much weight in 6 months is not good. Maybe signs of an eating disorder especially if gaining 10 lb. leaves you at a normal weight (again not sure of your BMI). I lost 7 lb. from June to August, and the PA was thrusting nutritionist info at me because of a low BMI (17) when I saw him earlier this week for a UTI. On the other hand, I have spent most of my adult life weighing low, except during pregnancy (104 to 110 lb) because of exercise and my body weight settling low after ED recovery and post-breastfeeding. My old pdoc only really was concerned when I had a relapse and went below 100lb. I am 5’4” tall. New pdoc does not seem too weight obsessed.

Is the Seroquel helping otherwise? If so, it’s not a good idea to go off it without your pdoc’s knowledge and perhaps another med to replace it? You don’t want to end up back in the hospital.

My diagnosis Is EDNOS.

I have no advice, but hugs my friend.

If you have ED-NOS, it’s definitely not a good idea to go off Seroquel because of a weight gain the doc doesn’t seem concerned about and wanting you to see a nutritionist because of extreme weight loss in a short period of time.

ED-NOS is a defunct diagnosis since the DSM-V came out. You no longer have to be a certain BMI or lose your period to be diagnosed with anorexia, restricting type or purging type. I think th guidelines in the DSM-V are low body weight, fear of gaining weight, restricting or purging calories ( for me, through excessive exercise). I didn’t realize until I got my medical records from my old pdoc, and she had anorexia, purging type listed on nearly all the visits along with bipolar and panic disorder. I thought what was she doing, eyeballing my weight because she rarely weighed me or asked my weight? I thought I was ED-NOS for years after it was defunct because I still had my period. They do have something new for EDs that don’t fit into all the categories OSFED, I think. I don’t remember all the new definitions though. You can google the DSM-V definitions for EDs, which I think they have now changed to FEDs ( feeding or eating disorder).

At the hospital I started losing clumps of hair. Doc said I was 20 pounds under weight and that I'd have to lose 10 to be healthy enough to metabolize my meds properly. Yesterday I found my skinny clothes and they all fit me, even jeans in a size 0.

You need to gain weight then, more than 10 lb. if you are losing hair and such. That is BAD ED stuff. I don't know your age, but the effects can be long lasting, such as osteopenia or osteoporosis, tooth grinding (started with nutrient deprivation, can't stop it, it's been a fortune in dental work), infertility (even if you think you never want kids, I hit 28, and that biological clock started ticking for me and suddenly, I wanted them), increased risk of stomach cancer. If you can't metabolize your meds properly, shouldn't you be in some sort of hospital, the eating disorders facility and getting help? Because the meds aren't going to help if you can't metabolize them. And GET RID OF THE SKINNY CLOTHES! And did you know the brain actually shrinks with nutrient deprivation, leading to a lower IQ?

Speaking of brain shrinkage have you head of the kindling effect? Every time you have an episode- say, manic- brain cells die? It just gets worse with each consecutive episode.

that makes sense to me, i have often wondered if many of my problems were med side effects or the progression of the disease, i would like to learn more about this,thanks for sharing.

Back to my original question, has anyone have a hard time getting off of seroquel.

No, depends how much you're taking though. I went off a low level sleeping dose 25-50 mg without any issues, but a higher dosage, you'd be best off getting a doc to taper you and/or switch you to something else. I've never gone off Seroquel at a dosage of 200 mg or higher, so I can't say about that.

I was taking 400, just to increase my appetite. I feel okay without it, it's just these damn brain zaps.

I went off 1200 or 1500 mg to 0 in a few days IP. They warned me brain zaps could be pretty bad. I had some but not many. I was rapidly going on on clozaril at the same time so I don't know if that helped balance things out. It seems like (foggy memory of that time) that they lasted a few days after the Seroquel was gone.

I remember having horrendous brain zaps on Paxil in college so I feel for you. Hope it stops soon.

What are brain zaps?

Brain zaps are hard to explain. I experienced them badly going off Effexor, which is notorious for brain zaps when tapering off. It feels as if your head, brain, or both have experienced a sudden tremor, vibration, buzz, shake, jolt, or electric shock or zap. It is a very awful sensation and tends to happen randomly (at least they did for me). And tapering Effexor was so bad with brain zaps, I actually had to open the capsules and count out the round balls and take certain numbers for the brain zaps to decrease while tapering off. This is not unusual for tapering Effexor though; many people have to taper it that way.

I have trouble getting off even a small dose, 150 mg. I go from sleeping 4-6 hours to 3, and the 3 is bad sleep.

I had brain zaps getting off Zoloft. It’s terrible...good luck.

When I came off remeron I lost 40 lbs in 5 months but it wasn't because of an eating disorder. The withdrawal just caused me to lose weight and not eat as much.

I had brain zaps off of Effexor. Psychiatry resident thought I would be done in three days.

Uh, no.

I don't remember having them on Seroquel, but I don't remember much of that time anyway.