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Mental Health Coming off Anti-psychotics Megathread

Chatative

Chatative

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Due to the popularity of the 'Coming off Invega Sustenna' thread, it seems only natural that we should have a megathread for coming off of anti-psychotics.

The purpose of this thread is to share experience and/or advice with regards to coming off & recovering from being on anti-psychotic medications. Although different medications & ROAs may widely vary the experience of coming off them, much of the same advice can be applied to recovering from some of the persisting side effects. Hopefully over time this thread will develop a wealth of advice that can help those on the road to recovery.

Myself, I have come off APs twice. My general observation is that time really is the best healer. Try your best to get on with living a healthy, active lifestyle & given time things will improve. <3


N.B. - I would just like point out that abruptly stopping anti-psychotic medications can have some potentially nasty consequences. Anti-psychotics should therefore be tapered off gradually under the supervision of a medical professional where appropriate.
 
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Successfully quitting Antipsychotics?

Has anyone here managed to do it? I know they say AP are not addictive but they definitely cause dependances.

So my question is has anyone successfully stopped taking them? Did you have withdrawal symptoms? And how long did they last?

I would also be interested in hearing how long typically it takes to develop a dependancy

Love and Light
 
It is most definitely possible to come off APs for many people. As I alluded to above... I have done so twice now.

As long as they are tapered off properly then the "withdrawal symptoms" should be kept to a minimum. A lot of it will depend on what dosage you have been taking & for how long.

On the whole the most noticeable thing for me was an increase in anxiety / variable mood for the first couple of weeks in both instances. That soon disappeared though.

The second time I came off APs, which was almost 8 months ago now I think, I did have a slight increase in symptoms but that calmed down after a month or so. That's the main risk with coming off APs suddenly, that it can cause symptoms to get worse.

Largely speaking I manage to cope quite well with very mild symptoms. I occasionally have a bad day or two, but nothing to warrant going on meds again.

I don't know what you are on APs for, but the best course of action is to talk to whoever prescribes your meds. I assume a psychiatrist. They should be able to come up with a proper schedule for tapering off. Depending on how symptomatic you are, it might be best to try reducing dose for a while to see how you fare before coming off. As long as you aren't suffering any particularly troubling side effects, you really can't taper off too slowly... only too fast.

As for dependence. I think that is too strong a word still... I think it would be more correct to say your brain adapts to the medication. I'm no scientist, but I would imagine being on APs for more than a few of months would facilitate these adaptations to a large degree. (perhaps someone with a more scientific background could offer some proper insight...)

Anyway, I wish you all the best in coming off your meds. Assuming that is why you were asking... there is often a point at which it is more beneficial to be off meds than on them. Happily a stance my psychiatrist also takes! I'll just add though that if coming off meds doesn't work out, don't feel bad... despite what people would like us to believe they can sometimes be the better of two evils. (hence why I chose to go back on them a second time despite having had a bad experience the first time)
 
You seem to be downplaying it a bit tbh. Some folks have a much harder time and it can be a pretty traumatic experience. Gonna add a few things based on my own experience and research on the subject.

APs definitely can cause dependencies and severe withdrawal symptoms (not sure why you put that in quotations) but it is different than something like opioids. Many atypicals influence many different systems and pathways. Not just one receptor. I believe zyprexa to be one of the worst in this category. The main risk of coming off of APs suddenly is certainly not a return of symptoms. It can be a whole lot worse than that. You can destabilize your entire nervous system and be sick for a very long time, some folks don't ever recover entirely, but that is atypical.

It is not uncommon for recovery to take longer than a year. It can be 3-5 years, there is no set number on how long it will take to recover. Everyone is different. I've had the sickness for over 18 months now and my original symptoms are the least of my concerns. Still have a ways to go so its going to be at least two years for me, maybe more. After around a year, people seem to start improving but don't be discouraged if it takes longer than that. It is not uncommon. Some people it will be almost impossible to come off of these meds if they have been on them for decades.

A proper taper can minimize symptoms but for some it will still be a painful process no matter how slow you go. Don't assume that your doctor will know how to taper your meds. I've had half a dozen of them (or more) and none of them knew how to taper anything. Educate yourself on tapering or you could find yourself in a world of hurt. Don't ever assume anyone has your best interest at heart. Look out for yourself. The medical profession is largely ignorant of the type of damage that these drugs can cause from rapid cessation. These drugs can wreck your body and mind and the withdrawal process is more dangerous than the drugs themselves IMO. Something very unique happening from a physiological standpoint. You can feel physically sick in addition to mental health symptoms. I had hundreds of different symptoms both physical and mental, painful doesn't begin to describe it.

The best way to taper is using medication in a liquid form and making minuscule cuts with an oral syringe. The rule of thumb is 10%/month or less. For me, I've experienced where a 10% cut is way too much. Sometimes medicine in this form isn't available. make your own solution/suspension, use mg scales, or count beads, it will depend on the medication. There are little tricks you can do but you need to be precise. This process can take years. Some folks can just jump off fairly quickly, but if you run into trouble quickly go back onto your last dose you felt comfortable at, and i mean QUICKLY. Don't ever let withdrawal symptoms get out of hand. You can do serious damage to yourself. You can also make much smaller cuts over a shorter period of time, something like 2%/week. This smooths out the discontinuation curve and allows your body to adjust without big cuts.

The worst offenders seem to be invega, risperidone, and zyprexa but that's not to say you can't get it from something else. You can get withdrawal syndrome from almost any psychiatric medication though but esp APs. I can not stress enough how dangerous this is. I underestimated it and i am still here. Still feel like I have brain damage and its been a long time. Take it slow.

Ill post more info later when I get more time but that's all for now. There is a lot to know about tapering medications.

survivingantidepressants and theicarusproject are both good resources when it comes to tapering meds, I found the SAD website to be superior but that comes down to personal preference. You can start a personalized thread in the intro section of the SAD website where you can get personalized feedback.
 
Thanks for your input jammin. Much appreciated.

I have no idea why I put withdrawal symptoms in quotations either to be honest! That is just based on my experience, I wasn't downplaying anything from my perspective. I appreciate things can be very different. I guess my attitude is sometimes it is best not consider all eventualities. Sometimes it is easier to travel the road to recovery not looking for problems or trying to blame them on any one specific cause.

Perhaps I should clarify that the longest I was ever continuously on APs was a year and a half on orals meds at a moderate dosage. I recovered exceptionally fast that time... I mean a couple of months to full functioning despite the fact I was like a living zombie for 3-4 of those months. This time around, I would hesitate a guess at 4 months or so. (I was on a low dose of oral risperidone incidentally)

I am interested to know what you mean by sickness jammin? I still have problems but I attribute them to my psychosis and/or other concurrent problems. They were all in existence before I ever went on APs to one degree or another. (I'm not doubting you by the way, I have genuine curiosity. It can only help for me to expand my knowledge on such things)
 
Didn't mean to offend Chatative, this is just a touchy subject with me. Sometimes I can be a bit overly blunt. My apologies. :)

By sickness I mean the combined mental and physical symptoms I have experienced over 18 months. Talk about synergy lol. I mean being destabilized mentally and physically.

A brief history, I was on zyprexa for five years. Three of those was on 20 mg (max dose). I was on risperidone for a year before that. Risperidone did little for me and I was swtiched to zyprexa which wasn't available to me prior. My symptoms cleared up more or less and I felt good for a little while. My program switched shrinks on me and I got an extra med happy one. She kept upping my dose when I told her I didn't think I needed more meds. Tbh I was fine on 5 mg. 20 mg was way too much and didn't improve my symptoms at all prob made them worse. I was in a position where I was obligated to take meds or I would have stopped sooner.

but to better answer your question, I have had a lot of symptoms. I had GI problems, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarhhea. Dizziness, coordination problems, weird jerks and tics, including tourettes style verbal tics. The verbal tics haven't gone away. Weird numbing/tingling feelings in all my nerves. All of my nerve endings feel completely fried. Tension in my whole body and up and down my spine. Muscle pain, joint pain, and overall feeling of just being plain sore. Tension in my head or head pressure. I have a spot in the back of my head that felt numb and dead when I was on the drugs. No longer numb and I can feel the lights going crazy back there. My brain won't shut off, I am constantly wide awake. I am exhausted but I don't get tired.

Severe mood swings, full blown mania (was BP II before wo psychotic features). Bone crushing depression, but I was depressed before, nothing like this. Inability to concentrate but that is improving. Feeling scattered, hallucinations (never had before), hearing voices and on the verge of psychosis sometimes. Sleep paralysis. Irritability to the extreme. Sensitivity to drugs and food. For a while if I drank anything with high fructose corn syrup I would vomit. I got hooked on phenibut using it two times a week. I have had several drug withdrawals inside of this withdrawal bc I was using drugs and alcohol to cope (don't recommend). Paranoia, etc, etc. I could on for days.

For a long time I felt like I wanted to die but I am getting better. I microdosed ibogaine TA and it cleared a lot of the stuff up (can't mix with APs but I was off). I was feeling great, better than I ever have in some respects, but I still had some symptoms but they were manageable. the contrast was night and day and I was relieved that most of it was over, or so I thought. I lowered my gabapentin, which I have been on for 5 years and want to get off of badly, and it destabilized me again and all my symptoms came back. I was fucking sad man. I felt good for like two months. I wasn't using drugs at all for a little while there, but when it came back I started drinking again and using some kratom. I have almost stabilized again but I can still feel 'the sickness' and it goes to my core. Its depressing as fuck. I just want to go back to being normal whatever that means I don't know anymore but it certainly isn't this.
 
Also noteworthy that autonomic dysfunction can happen from AP cessation. I have had many of the symptoms.

From the wiki

Dysautonomia (or autonomic neuropathy) is a term for various conditions in which the autonomic nervous system (ANS) does not work correctly. Dysautonomia is a type of neuropathy affecting the nerves that carry information from the brain and spinal cord to the heart, bladder, intestines, sweat glands, pupils, and blood vessels.[1]

The diagnosis is achieved through functional testing of the autonomic nervous system, focusing on the organ system affected. Investigations may be performed to identify underlying disease processes that may have led to the autonomic neuropathy that is causing the dysautonomia. Symptomatic treatment is available for many symptoms associated with autonomic neuropathy, and some disease processes can be treated directly.[medical citation needed]

The symptoms of dysautonomia are numerous and vary widely for each individual,symptoms of dysautonomia are due to inefficient or unbalanced efferent signals sent via both systems.[2] The primary symptoms present in individuals with dysautonomia include:
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Not much you can do for it really either.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dysautonomia

People have been diagnosed with this from various psych drug withdrawals. For some it goes away, but not always. Often times it will just take years. If you have had long term problems I would recommend ibogaine but do your research bc it be a dangerous drug. I would recommend microdosing. I wouldn't flood with your brain in such a delicate state.

Also of note, I was convinced I had something majorly wrong with me besides drug withdrawal. Blood tests showed I was fine, i didn't get a brain scan but most people that do don't find anything. I was convinced i had some some type of deficiency. b12, magnesium deficiency of some kind. I think this is pretty normal to do.

I did start taking magnesium, b12, fish oil, etc. Which I would recommend. b12 and bcomplex vitamins can be activating for some. Use small doses and tirate up. Magnesium is great and so is b12. on the fence about fish oil. A round of probiotics won't hurt either but take breaks. I think it is normal to search for the cause and the who and the how and the why but most of it is a waste of time. Treat your body well, light exercise (walking for me), and get strapped in for the long haul. Assume you will get better and play the part but don't assume it will be over anytime soon. You can drive yourself mad with all the mind games and the schizoid thoughts don't help with that.

Melatonin for sleep. You really only need .5 mg or 1 mg. More than that is overkill. Its more like a switch, not a sedative or hypnotic so more doesn't equate to more sleep. Always keep your doses small and steer clear of most herbs. Really I wouldn't take anything besides the supplements I mentioned. They can destabilize you, make you feel worse and delay recovery. Adding drugs into the mix increases the chaos and won't tame it.

Small doses of kratom help me now but i noticed it can kick up my hallucinations sometimes. Wouldn't recommend really for this reason and I found out that psychosis has been observed in rats so be careful. Any drug withdrawal you go through will be 10x worse than what it would be. Your brain is sensitive and no drugs is the best way to go, but it is understandable to want to medicate. Drugs won't affect you the same though so keep that in mind.
 
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To be honest i have very little experience with AP, ive been prescribed seroquel 50mg for the last 6ish weeks but after doing some research dropped it down to 25mg after a couple of weeks and took it down again 3 nights ago to 12.5mg. Yesterday and today my anxiety has been horrible along with racing thoughts so im gona hang out here for a while. In a week or so im going to take it to 6ish mg & stay there as long as need be before jumping of. I haven't discussed with my psychiatrist as from what the nurse has said they want to put it up. Ive not been diagnosed as yet but the nurse has made it pretty clear her thoughts on it being a bipolar diagnosis.

I dont feel that i need need this medication & quite frankly have decided to try and deal with any 'issues' through alternative therapies, good diet and supplements.

I find it ridiculous that addicts, either in replacement therapy or otherwise, are totally disrespected & looked down on by society, dont get me wrong people that steal cheat lie & lead a dangerous lifestyle i don't agree with, but there are a lot of 'coping addicts' who hold down jobs, live a normal, honest, life but have to take a pill etc, yet doctors are happy to hand out these medications sometimes with wrong diagnosis, that are, IMO, much more detrimental to health, because theyre 'not addictive'
 
Don't take any diagnosis why you are jumping around and off of medication. That's a pretty tricky thing to do and a nurse isn't qualified to diagnose anyway.

IME seroquel is one of the more tolerable APs. Not super hard to quit for me. I was on a low dose for 6 months and had no withdrawal symptoms. It was never very effective for me though. Racing thoughts and anxiety are typical AP withdrawal symptoms but they are also signs of bipolar, so it can be complicated and confusing.

After 6 weeks on a low dose you are probably ok. APs can be dangerous but I think you are over-analyzing a bit. You could have some withdrawal but it should be pretty short lived. Most of the risk comes from people that have been on them for years. 1 or even 2 years is a whole lot better than 4 or 5. Dosage and length of treatment are the main contributing factors.

I think it is good for you to be researching the drugs you are using but sometimes reading stuff online can send us into panic mode. Its important to note, that people that have problems with the drugs are most likely going to be much more vocal than those who have had few if any problems from drugs. Generally speaking, seroquel as horrible as others. Ive heard of people puking blood and stuff but they were on much huger doses and for much longer periods of time.

If you are having problems just stay where you are. It takes longer than a week to adjust to a cut. For every adjustment you make it can be a few weeks before it catches up. This is part of the reasoning behind the 10% a month deal. You could be fine for two weeks then WD symptoms flare up. So always take your time after a cut. A good taper will minimize WD symptoms and will also help your original symptoms from rebounding which contributes to your overall success.

If you need something for sleep that is safe and effective, you might try melatonin or CBD oil. They have few side effects and are likely safe. CBD has been shown in clinical trials to work against psychosis. Its pretty good stuff. It also helps with anxiety so it is a good alternative.

Always slow down if you are experiencing WD symptoms but it sounds like you might be a little predisposed to anxiety issues.

Let me know if you need anything. good luck.
 
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Thanks you. I'll be the first to admit i have bad anxiety, to the point of a few weeks ago i was having physical symptoms, couldn't breathe, hot prickly skin, couldn't stop thinking at all. I have alwqys suffered with anxiety and depression on a few occasions, but since i lost my daughter in December its the worst its ever been. I also think i may have had a slight withdrawal from ativan before being prescribed seroquel & didnt have an explanation of what it was, as well as my anxiety i had severe paranoia & hallucinations, which I've never experienced before, hence my current paranoia with seroquel. Throw in opioid dependance, withdrawal & usuage again now & of course its a recipe for disaster.

& i agree with the majority of online accounts of meds can be mostly negative as people who have not suffered are probably just carrying on with life which is why i posted here, i have a lot of respect for members of bluelight, their opinions & generally the site over all.

Could you tell me more about CBD oil?

thank you x
 
Not to butt in on the conversation or anything, but I'd like to clarify a few things.

Puking up blood is not at all a typical side effect of taking any psychiatric medication, to my knowledge. If you're experiencing this, please quickly head over to your nearest hospital.

From my experience, ativan withdrawal, though some legitimately do need it, can be remarkably horrible to go through an complete. It's a benzodiazepine. All benzodiazepines are notoriously difficult to stop using, if use has gone on for months or years. Opioid withdrawal, again from my limited knowledge, is much more a mental loss, after one has gone through the several weeks it takes most of the physical symptoms to pass. Combined with benzo withdrawal...well, I can't imagine.

Simply searching for CBD on your favorite internet search engine should provide plenty of knowledge. But I'll do a bit of summary here. It is a naturally-occurring compound in marijauna. Recently, as in the past ten or so years, breeders have sought to increase THC levels in their plants basically as much as possible. This makes their product more potent, bringing up revenue. Marijuana these days tends to have quite high levels of THC (as I understand, usually at least a few times that there was in the 1990's and before). This is at the expense of other cannabinoids, including CBD.

Breeders don't want a lot, if any, CBD in their product, because CBD largely acts to diminish the effects of THC, and THC is mostly what makes people high when they smoke weed. Without going too much into the technical jargon, THC is a weird cross between a hallucinogen and a stimulant, while clinical trials of CBD suggest that it has antipsychotic, anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing), and antidepressant qualities. It has been shown to relieve stress, while THC mostly creates it.

Currently, CBD isn't a psychiatric medication. It hasn't been standardized and verified, yet. As such, people selling products apparently containing CBD might be selling a product with no CBD in it.
 
I only know one person who's been prescribed anti-psychotics for a long period and successfully come off them (as in, now he doesn't have symptoms or experience distress related to poor mental health). He was diagnosed with schizophrenia* but suspects his condition was actually drug-induced psychosis that was misdiagnosed. He quit drugs completely and tapered off Seroquel. He did a long, sensible taper, but the discontinuation syndrome was completely brutal. He said he experienced way worse psychosis, delusions and distress in that withdrawal period than he did when he was first admitted to hospital. It WAS temporary, though, and since those withdrawal symptoms eased up, he's been more or less fine. The one or two times he's smoked weed since then have almost sent him back to hospital, though - he's had to commit to full abstinence from psychoactive substances in order to maintain a medication-free lifestyle.
So I know it's possible - but after seeing that experience, I would NOT recommend withdrawing from antipsychotics without good, consistent, supportive medical supervision and some lifestyle changes to back it up if necessary.
 
Oh and my * was supposed to link to this:

* there's a bit of a phenomenon in Australian mental health, especially public mental health, of diagnosing anyone who presents with any kind of psychotic symptoms as "schizophrenic" because schizophrenia has the most medications listed on our government subsidised pharmaceutical scheme. If you're diagnosed with, say, psychotic bipolar or schizoaffective disorder, you have only one or two subsidised antipsychotics to choose from (and if you have something like psychotic unipolar depression, you have none) but if you're diagnosed with schizophrenia you can access most antipsychotics at a subsidised rate of around $38 a month (or $6 if you have a concession card). Non-subsidised medications can be many hundreds of dollars a month. So a lot of people have formal diagnoses of schizophrenia even though their symptoms and treatment align better with another diagnoses.
 
The only thing more dangerous than doctors prescribing AP's for depression and anxiety is the surviving antidepressants website and there ten per cent bull shit.
If you really need to taper the tablets, half for a week, then a quarter for another week and jump.
You might get a few days insomina as your brain gets some much needed dopamine, but thats got to be better than the side effects from the poison you are putting in your body.
Anybody that thinks AP's actually do anything but harm you needs to do some research although that can be difficult when your under the influence of them.
Just another money making scam from big pharma and their collaborators imo.
 
Stuck_x said:
Thanks you. I'll be the first to admit i have bad anxiety, to the point of a few weeks ago i was having physical symptoms, couldn't breathe, hot prickly skin, couldn't stop thinking at all. I have alwqys suffered with anxiety and depression on a few occasions, but since i lost my daughter in December its the worst its ever been. I also think i may have had a slight withdrawal from ativan before being prescribed seroquel & didnt have an explanation of what it was, as well as my anxiety i had severe paranoia & hallucinations, which I've never experienced before, hence my current paranoia with seroquel. Throw in opioid dependance, withdrawal & usuage again now & of course its a recipe for disaster.

& i agree with the majority of online accounts of meds can be mostly negative as people who have not suffered are probably just carrying on with life which is why i posted here, i have a lot of respect for members of bluelight, their opinions & generally the site over all.

Could you tell me more about CBD oil?

thank you x
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man, you've been through a lot. I am sorry things have been so hard for you. If you can afford CBD (which Ho chi summed up nicely) that is a good alternative to seroquel and will work for depression and anxiety and hallucinations at the right dose. it is expensive though. with all that you are going through, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay on a low dose? At a low dose, seroquel isn't that dangerous. Its mostly a histamine effect and not even an anti-psychotic at that dose. If it calms you down for now to get through this then maybe you should stick with it. I think that trauma can certainly cause a lot of mental health symptoms and cause psychosis among other things. Sometimes its good to experience our emotions but we do need to be able to function. Obviously its your decision but most people only get some itching and a couple weeks of less sleep at that type of dose for a short time. Your call. best of luck. <3

You may also be going through PAWS from benzos so it is more complicated. benzos can take years to recover from fully but its hard to say. I would just stay where you are and stop jumping around for now. Put your mental health first no matter what you do.

I should also mention that tenex or maybe clonadine would help with AP withdrawal. There isnt much to take that helps but these are pretty safe medicines that wont get you hooked.

Gabapentin also worked for me but i was already prescribed it. It really isn't something you want to get hooked on though so I wouldn't take it every day. It is one of the only things that helped me at all so worth mentioning.'

I think CBD could be useful but that would be more like a cross taper. Never tried it, i just stick to pot. Its real hit or miss as far as helping. Depends on the kind I get. Some will give me anxiety and paranoia, others are great. Its a roll of the dice tho for some. For CBD I would stick to the kind from marijuana if you can. CBD from hemp may not be as pure but is legal everywhere. Most have units in mg.
 
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Ho chi, ive heard of a few people that were throwing up blood from high doses of seroquel withdrawal. Something happens when stopping these medications for some of us that isn't very well understood at this time. It is much more than withdrawal in the typical sense. Its hard to explain unless you have been through it, but its a monster. It only happens when you start lowering your dose or stop completely. Does a lot of weird things to people. Some don't have any problems at all.

Bad robot. The reasoning behind 10% a month is sound. You can do serious damage to yourself if you have been on the medicine long term. I used to hold a similar view but I was wrong. You have to gently ease down off of this stuff. It takes time for your brain to heal; a very long time. When you jump off, you can shock your nervous system, and that's where the damage can happen IME.
 
jammin83 said:
Ho chi, ive heard of a few people that were throwing up blood from high doses of seroquel withdrawal. Something happens when stopping these medications for some of us that isn't very well understood at this time. It is much more than withdrawal in the typical sense. Its hard to explain unless you have been through it, but its a monster. It only happens when you start lowering your dose or stop completely. Does a lot of weird things to people. Some don't have any problems at all.

Bad robot. The reasoning behind 10% a month is sound. You can do serious damage to yourself if you have been on the medicine long term. I used to hold a similar view but I was wrong. You have to gently ease down off of this stuff. It takes time for your brain to heal; a very long time. When you jump off, you can shock your nervous system, and that's where the damage can happen IME.
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I think the thing to realise here, is that everyone will react differently to coming off meds just like they do to being on them in the first place. (I think you basically say that, but just to expand for the point I'm trying to make...)

Some people who have taken them long term can stop fairly abruptly with no ill effects, yet others who have only taken them for a comparatively short time may have significant trouble even tapering down, never mind coming off them altogether. Neither of those are common scenarios but they do happen.

Although the reasoning behind the 10% rule is sound, for the vast majority of people, it is probably unnecessary. Regardless, it's almost impossible to achieve unless like you say, you have access to oral suspension. It may be the safest option but in most cases it is a lot of hassle for little benefit.

It's perfectly possible to taper most meds using oral tablets at the different doses available. There may be some instances where a pill cutter may be of use, but it's certainly not needed IMO.

I do appreciate that some medical professionals may advocate coming off too fast though. I would imagine most wouldn't be advocating anything dangerous though...

It's certainly the case that the longer you have been on a medication, the more gradually you should taper. That doesn't have to mean doing 10% at regular intervals.... staying at intermediate doses for longer periods can help ease the process too. I've certainly heard of people on APs long term taking over a year to taper of meds in the extreme.
 
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Stuck_x said:
Thanks you. I'll be the first to admit i have bad anxiety, to the point of a few weeks ago i was having physical symptoms, couldn't breathe, hot prickly skin, couldn't stop thinking at all. I have alwqys suffered with anxiety and depression on a few occasions, but since i lost my daughter in December its the worst its ever been. I also think i may have had a slight withdrawal from ativan before being prescribed seroquel & didnt have an explanation of what it was, as well as my anxiety i had severe paranoia & hallucinations, which I've never experienced before, hence my current paranoia with seroquel. Throw in opioid dependance, withdrawal & usuage again now & of course its a recipe for disaster.

& i agree with the majority of online accounts of meds can be mostly negative as people who have not suffered are probably just carrying on with life which is why i posted here, i have a lot of respect for members of bluelight, their opinions & generally the site over all.

Could you tell me more about CBD oil?

thank you x
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It sounds to me like you have an awful lot going on so it coud indeed be very hard to pinpoint what the cause of your problems is.

Regardless, is there any specific reason you want to come off Seroquel? The racing thoughts & anxiety are the exact sort of things it is likely to help with at lower doses. If you've only been on it for 6 weeks, at what you must have realised with your research is a very low dose... then it stands to reason it is highly unlikely you are getting withdrawals from the Seroquel. They could be related to your other dependencies (I don't know) or it could be something akin to bipolar like your nurse thinks.

Even if the professionals are guessing at this point, they are making educated guesses. It would probably be worth discussing your concerns & any surrounding circumstances like your opiate use & coming off ativan. They can't force you to take the meds but they will at least be able to offer some insight into what is going on that we, or even you, can only speculate on.

The way I see it... it might be worth playing the doctors game for a while. By all mean be as involved as you can, but until there is a bit more certainty about what is going on it is probably best to err on the side of caution. As jammin says, your mental health is the #1 priority for now.

PS - There are quite possibly alternatives to the Seroquel. Even if you don't want to go down that route, it's still a good idea to let them know what is going on.
 
Thanks for the advice and opinions. Just to clarify ive not taken the ativan in about 6 weeks, I decided to just jump off as i wasnt taking it long & felt the longer i took it, the more i would suffer.

The main reason i have stayed on the seroquel is because close family have encouraged it, but I've been suffering bad side affects, even when i was opiate clear. Including, but not limited to, severe headaches, every day, like ive never experienced before, shaking/trembling, not being able to wake up in the morning & when i do, really not being bothered to do anything, my heart beat is strange too. Theres a lot more too. I appreciate i am experiencing issues because of other things like shock, grief etc, but I really dont like the seroquel and dont want to have to deal with it at a later stage because it helps now. As an addict, or recoving addict for the last 4 years, I appreciate the struggle & dont want to include another substance into all this.

last night i took 1/3 of a 25mg tablet & 1.5mg of melatonin. I slept ok so i dont think im going to suffer as much as I thought. I will be telling my psyc all of side affects and look at something alternative, but if they insist on me continuing, then i will manage it alone.

I would much rather manage my issues with a few pain pills, opiates i have experience with and know what to expect when the times right to come off them. I am putting a lot of steps in place that are not medication in order to manage things without dependance. The doctors really should explain the implications of medication when they are prescribing it x
 
Bad Robot said:
The only thing more dangerous than doctors prescribing AP's for depression and anxiety is the surviving antidepressants website and there ten per cent bull shit.
If you really need to taper the tablets, half for a week, then a quarter for another week and jump.
You might get a few days insomina as your brain gets some much needed dopamine, but thats got to be better than the side effects from the poison you are putting in your body.
Anybody that thinks AP's actually do anything but harm you needs to do some research although that can be difficult when your under the influence of them.
Just another money making scam from big pharma and their collaborators imo.
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I actually came back to this thread to talk about my psychiatrist wanting to reduce my antipsychotic dose by a third and my anxieties about whether I'll maintain my stability on a lower dose. But this kind of unhelpful and destructive advice makes it pretty clear that this isn't an appropriate forum for people with mental illness to seek support around medication changes.
 
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