Misc Life after antipsychotics?

[Catiapine]

Hey everyone so I am a first time poster on BL but I have browsed the forums for years. Anyways I have been on antipsychotics for about a year and a half. First I was on Abilify up to 10mg a day. Currently I am trying to ween off of Seroquel. My starting dose was 400mg and bumped up to 600mg. It has been a incredibly painful withdrawal compared to every other drug I have done. I am currently down to 150mgs. I have been extremely paranoid, (I am prescribed it for my paranoid schizophrenia.) but I want to live without this horrible drug. So my question is if there is a life after long term anti psychotic use? My Dr says I need to be on it for life but has reluctantly helped me taper so far. These drugs are horrible and I can't even remember what its like being off of it. Has anyone successfully gotten off seroquel and if so does your brain ever go back to how things were or do these drugs cause more permanent mental side effects. Thanks and stay safe!

 

[conscious-observed]

Catiapine,

I deeply sympathize with you. I wish I could give you a hug, right now. I don't think anyone online can give you an honest answer. You will have to talk with your doc, take in all the information you can from every source possible, and sift... It is true that antipsychotics are overprescribed, and are detrimental, but it is just as true that some people NEED them to function.
This is a daunting thing to face. I am proud of you for giving your Doc prior knowledge to your wanting to taper, this is the most conducive to treatment way to get off of meds. Please, be in touch with him, and keep close with your support system. I have much more to say, but I want you to get a response.

I was on seroquel, and I can't honestly tell you if my brain got back to normal. I went through a lot of very traumatizing things that I'm sure changed my brain function.

Just be positive and strong. You are strong, you are loved, and you are not alone.

 

[conscious-observed]

I also was on Abilify, though don't remember dose. I have at one point been on Lexepro, Paxil, Risperidal, Depakote, Thorazine, Seroquel, Zoloft, and others, at various doses, in various combinations. I agree that these drugs aren't beneficial to everyone, but some people need them. It is so scary and saddening to think of not being able to live without these drugs, which also means a life without other drugs... You have to learn for and with yourself these things.

 

[conscious-observed]

I an unmedicated, and have been since 2009. I have been fine. But this took work, and I was wrongly diagnosed at a young age, and put in various placements, due to behavior that was named clinically morbid, but in certain environments, including the one in which i lived, were completely adaptive.... Mental health is a precious topic, I wish you the absolute best, my friend.

 

[Catiapine]

Thanks and yeah I realize that these medicines are not a joke. They drain you of life yet are sold as something to help get your life back. However it does keep my symptoms at bay which in my opinion was manageable without it! The worst part so far is not being able to sleep. I have gone a solid 60 hours so far and I don't think I will be able to sleep tonight either and lack of sleep just makes everything worse. It's rough thinking I will need such strong medication to live a normal life and the sedating effects have forced me to try other drugs to make it through the day which at the end of the day probably just makes me worse. The thought of being able to be happy without them is what is keeping me going.

 

[manboychef]

I took abilify at 10mgs a day. They gave it in combination with effexor, lexapro, seroquel. I was able to get off the abilify and effexor and lexapro, and seroquel but now I just feel frazzled all the time. I can't work. My focus comes in spurts and my OCD, that was managed for a time on these drugs, has gotten worse since being off them. I take zoloft now which helps with some of the anxiety, but I am still extremely paranoid and rarely if at all leave my house. I have to take temazepam and xanax to sleep now but I still have extremely lucid terrifying dreams.

Having mental health problems lead me to become extremely addicted and dependent on opiates for many years. It was my gold standard for allowing me to focus, to not be extremely worried all the time. I actually felt normal some of the time. It made the positive aspects of OCD...the attention to detail, the ability to do extremely repetative tasks without being bored by it, the thinking of possible outcomes to problems and planning for them so they dont happen...it lead me to be an amazing chef. However, opiates only work for so long due to diminishing returns. Eventually, I had to use just to be the same ball of anxiety I always was.

I need meds to get by, I take kratom to alleviate some of the paranoia, but the main thing I do is I have a network of health proffesionals to help me, help myself.

Lastly, I feel for you. It is extremely hard having mental health needs. Most people that have never been around it, or experienced it does not understand it. Most doctors are just now understanding how some of these problems effect the brain and how medication works on the brain. Goodluck, and you've got my prayers.

 

[Michael_25]

I currently take 550mg of clozapine a day. The worst side-effect would be the lethargy. I can sleep for 14 hours straight. If I wake up after 9 hours, I still feel incredibly tired. Also, incontinence is a problem. The medicine makes me piss the bed and I wake up at 5am and have to change clothes and put a towel over the wet patch. It has helped me, though. Not completely, but it has helped me somewhat compared to other anti-psychotics. Seroquel and olanzapine did nothing for me. I guess you have to take the good with the bad. If you're a paranoid schizophrenic, I'd strongly advise you to listen to your psychiatrist, but also voice your concerns. I'll be on clozapine for life.

 

[jammin83]

Hey OP, I am right there with you my man. I have been in withdrawal from olanzapine for a year. I switched to seroquel in January. It has been very taxing on my mind. I was down to 25 mg of seroquel at one point but destabilized again and so I have been holding at 100 mg. I just can't seem to fully stabilize. I was using alcohol to cope and have developed a bit of a dependency on it that I am working on phasing out. I have verbal tics now that I didn't have before similar to tourettes. I don't really know if it will ever go away. You should be tapering no more than 10% every 3-4 weeks. You can use a mg scale or volumetric dosing to help you with this. Some people that have a hard time with 10% utilize microtapering of even smaller cuts over a shorter period of time.

I am anxious and get paranoid too. I have balance, dexterity, and coordination problems. I am nauseous and vomit almost every day. I am constantly hot and have a weird pain on either side of my stomach. I sweat and have this burning, flushing feeling constantly. I have this overdrive, head-pressure feeling. I don't remember what it is like to not be in withdrawal constantly. My life is a living hell day in and day out but I am sure I will get better eventually, I am hoping so at least. It is a long, difficult road unfortunately.

You might want to try a good magnesium supplement, sublingual b12, and fish oil as AP withdrawal depletes magnesium levels. These help a lot of people out in withdrawal. Remember to listen to your body and don't push it if your withdrawal symptoms get worse. I used a wide variety of substances to try and cope because my brain is super-sensitized right now, it doesn't take much of anything to make me worse. I have been through several withdrawals within my withdrawal from opiates to phenibut. I can use pheinbut for a day or two and get withdrawals from it. I can use opiates for a couple days and get withdrawals from it. Yeah, welcome to hell. Don't do what i did, it set me back substantially. Try and steer clear of drugs until you get better, they will all make it worse.

Let me know if you need anything, I will be happy to try and help. survivingantidepressants has some good withdrawal info on their site. You could sign up and start a thread in the intro section for some specific advice.

Best of luck, cheers.

 

[SixBuckets]

I'm still medicated and don't foresee that ever not being the case, but about six years ago I switched from Seroquel to Solian (amisulpride). I found that (for me) it has massively fewer side effects and is much less sedating. I was pretty stable on Seroquel, but on Solian (plus a few other things) I'm a normal functioning adult who can work and study.

I'm afraid I can't give you any advice on coming off antipsychotics completely, but if your problem is side effects of Seroquel, I would highly recommend investigating a change to an antipsychotic with fewer side effects. They all work differently on different people.

Either way, good luck!