Harm Reduction Brain damage quetiapine

[Jannn]

Hi all,

I take 200mg of quetiapine daily since 15 Aug.
I got it prescribed off-label because I worried about my body too much while I was in a clinic. It didn’t take my worries away because it was all. It was caused by the stress due to the environment.

So once I decided to go home all those worries disappeared.

However, I have enormous issues with my cognition and my brain does feel very strange. I tapered to 50mg in 3 weeks but zero improvements.

Scared to death that my life is over. I was highly intelligent, highly educated (quantitative finance/econometrics master, CFA ETC). But I’m not able to do anything anymore and structuring my thoughts and speaking is hard. I feel very confused, sleep poorly, dont understand newspapers and feel extremely unmotivated. It’s like my brain has been emptied by the quetiapine.
I never felt like this in my life - it does not feel natural at all - and it must be the quetiapine. Even in the clinic I wasn’t feeling like this. I could still think clearly but was just too stressed out.

Any people here with quetiapine experience? Did it also made you feel like a different person? Issues with cognition? Did it recover after quitting?

Thanks!

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Neuroleptics were originally developed as an alternative to lobotomy. Think about it. I would much rather feel like shit at times than chemically lobotomize myself with a substance that includes all the downsides of hard drugs (developing tolerance and addiction) without the fun.

Indeed. I think a lot of people underestimate just how powerful that class of drugs are, and I think they are too frivolously prescribed by shrinks for relatively minor issues. They should really be treated as a last resort type of medication.

That said, quetiapine is probably one of the more forgiving ones.

@Jannn You were prescribe quetiapine off label for what? Sleep or depression? I think I saw your other post in which you mentioned maybe some paranoia or anxiety about your ear? Have you been diagnosed with anything?

Anyways, the brain has remarkable healing powers, but is also the slowest organ to heal and can take some time. 2 months of quetiapine isn't that long. You will recover. It's not permanent brain damage.

You can probably stop cold turkey with no issues at all. If you need it for sleep, doses as small as 10-15mg will work.

It can take a few weeks to normalize after APs.

 

[Jannn]

I got into a clinic 1 July because I kept on worrying about my ear. Obsession due to stress. In the clinic I got very stressed and forgot about my normal life, so I projected it all on my body, so ears, eyes, throat etc…

Eventually I got prescribed quetiapine to help me reduce this worries about my body. But it did not work. I just started to feel very tired. 3 weeks later I left the clinic and at that time I started to notice I had cognitive issues. The psychiatrist wanted to keep me on quetiapine to “stabilize”, because I have acted strange and super worried in the clinic.

I was too scared to stop it then myself CT. After many calls the doctor agreed to lower it to 150 and then to 100. I myself have continued to 75 and now 50. But the cognitive issues seem even to deteriorate.

But the quetiapine seems to have affected me enormously. Literally I have no thoughts in my head and even playing with my daughter is hard.

I feel completely handicapped and not sure how to continue to live like this. I have gotten before a small dose of Haldol 2mg and lorazepam 2-4mg in May and June but never experienced my brain from stopping to work. I just got very dizzy in June…

I didn’t listen to doctors at all in the clinic and just acted very stressed all the time. And I made the fatal mistake of taking 200mg quetiapine.

My head feels so strange and unable to form any thoughts or have a normal conversation. It is as if my 130IQ has gone to 80 in a few weeks…

Absolutely desperate because I have a wonderful wife and kid and career but without my brain working that all goes to hell…