Bipolar Support Group

Someone please tell me this will get better. I started on 25mg in June 08. Up to 100mg by Nov 08. Back down to 25mg throughout Jan/Feb 09... I've been off of Seroquel for 4 days now. I spent all of today crying. I've started feeling like I don't want to get out of bed in the morning, and it is SO HARD to sleep at night. How much longer will this last?? How long does it take for one's body to rid itself of Seroquel?? I don't have insurance so I can't go back to my pdoc or my gdoc or a therapist.

you poor thing. i wasn't on seroquel long enough to have withdrawal symptoms from stopping it, but i've had withdrawal shit from plenty of other meds. it sucks so badly. why did you stop taking it in the first place, if i can ask. i'm here with you and know how badly it feels. it does go away. google seroquel and withdrawal term and symptoms. it might at least help to know there's an end in sight...talk if you want to. i'm around most of tonight even if it looks like i'm offline i'm just switching tabs.

I stopped taking it as I was scared of developing the long term side effects (tardive dyskensia, tics, diabetes, etc)... and I wanted to try and deal with my bipolar issues au natural. I don't want to take pills to be normal... I'd rather be abnormal. That and I don't have insurance anymore and Seroquel is FREAKING expensive.

I didn't know there were bad withdrawals. Oh I'm not looking forward to that. I have also gone through withdrawals..my huge one was from lexapro and it lasted for 4-5 weeks. My pdoc advised me to stop 20mg cold turkey. It was pure hell. It helped for me to know how long it lasted for other people and what the symptoms were (I'm not usually this way, I'm just going through withdrawals).

You can do it.

asteroid - this has been happening to me too! I CANNOT SLEEP AT NIGHT. I've been awake the past 72hrs. I just went off my seroquel too. Is this really withdrawals??

Post edited by: karmapolice, at: 03/06/2009 08:49

Wow, I'm sorry that you are suffering. I am currently going thru Seroquel withdrawl from 600mg a day to nothing. It would be worse but I have some Zyprexa (olanzapine) samples that I've been snacking on and I found that I needed 40 mgs of Zyprexa per day just to function. Now I am at week number 2 without and I am feeling increasingly irritable and I like to sleep as much a day as possible.

Well, I guess I am very lucky to have a large supply of vitamin Z to get buy till later this month.

I was not aware that 25-50mg Seroquel could cause a major dependence problem, that sucks!

My mom actually hates me being on Seroquel at all. She says that Paxil and Seroquel are the Devil's drugs! lol

-Dark

astrid,

How are you dealing with bipolar disorder naturally? I'm curious.

I talked to one gent who took care of his mood disorder by seeing an orthomolecular psychiatrist. This guy was a pilot and he wanted to still fly (can't on meds).

His wife mentioned a mood disorder, but I wonder if John Denver just treated his naturally but let things get out of hand with alcohol at the end.

Color me curious and wish you the best decisions in doing that!

Hello~

I created an account on here to respond to this thread. I was diagnosed with Bipolar II disorder about 12 years ago. For the past 11 years, however, I have been taking seroquel, between 25mg and 50mg per night. I have been on other medications during this time, but no others aside from seroquel for the last 4 years. I believe that I'm majorly addicted to it, as I cannot sleep without it. I may be able to doze off, but my heart beats extremely fast and I get anxiety and just feel *weird* overall. I've tried weening off, but it seems that even a half of a 25mg will do the trick. I know it's a very low dosage, but I'd still like to get off of it, because it's unsettling how addicted I am to it. I'm also scared to go to psychiatrist to "regulate" this because of the hell I'll go through when I go off of it..

I'm wondering if there are any other medication substitutes for sleeping that would help with this issue? I imagine this is similar to other addictions to sleeping meds, and I am terrified of not having seroquel every night. Does anyone have any good tips about how to go through this withdrawal process?

Thanks so much in advance...... I really appreciate the insight that this community has.

Post edited by: cbrown5, at: 04/24/2009 08:55 PM

I take Trazodone to help me sleep and find that it does a wonderful job of allowing me to sleep for a full 8 hours. I take 100mg when I feel level and 300mg PRN when I'm manic or can't sleep. If I take 100mg, I'm able to fall asleep in 15 minutes. If I take 300mg, I fall asleep in 5.

Insomnia is one of the withdrawal symptoms of Seroquel.