I am trying to stop Seroquel, or the generic quetiapine on my own.
I have no doctor. Mine quit during COVID-19-19 and they have not replaced him in over a year. I just FaceTime with nurses every 3 months and they find doctors that just call in the prescriptions.
I am on 600 mg of quetiapine a night, 6 mg of alprazolam or Xanax and 10 mg of Ambien or the generic zolpidem, plus clonidine .5 mg all to sleep, 20 mg of Adderall for the day. So lots of meds for a relatively small person. I am 5’2” female, 162 lbs. I was about 130 before that drug, and have been on all these medications for 20 years.
I am trying to taper off of Seroquel now because the warnings came true. I went in for a physical and this is what they found:
I have high cholesterol because of it and I am having to take a statin now. Statins cause their own set of problems.
I had to throw away everything I eat and go on a strict diet.
This medicine makes you gain weight you can’t easily lose and many other symptoms like not being able to swallow, so I choke easily.
It has caused my left breast to leak and now I have to go for a diagnostic mammogram.
It has made me feel like I just don’t care about anything really. I still love my children and grandchildren, but I am skipping events because I have become withdrawn and just waiting to die. I am one point from having type 2 diabetes.
I need a little input. I have tried other doctors and even hospitalizations to get off, but I tried to commit suicide in about 2006 and no doctor has been willing to take the chance of taking me off now that I am labeled. I thought I could figure this out on my own so I tapered down from 600 mg a night to 400 mg and had no real problems. I think because I live in a Medical Marijuana state and I substituted it with pretty strong gummies.
I was feeling confident so I went down to 300 mg within the next week. (I am not on XR). This lasted one night and the withdrawal set in. I swore I was not going back to 400mg, but the pain in my lower stomach hit hard and exploded into anxiety that washed over my whole body, every 5 minutes or so. It was a nightmare.
I only went to 300mg for one night and the withdrawal lasted for almost 3 days, so I am back at 400mg and clueless.
I do have complex PTSD, meaning it was trauma early and sustained over a long period of time, plus General Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, OCD, ADD, Major Depressive Disorder, panic attacks, insomnia and (agoraphobia which is a symptom of quetiapine). I have also diagnosed myself with Borderline Personality Disorder, I was raised by a very violent narcissistic Mother and my bio Dad was just executed for murder a few years ago, so a possible genetic component.
I did go to college for Psychology, because my oldest Son is Schizophrenic and I wanted to understand it better.
I don’t know how I am going to deal with these problems without medication, but the Seroquel is literally killing me slowly.
Thank you in advance for your attention and, or advice. I know. Go to another doctor, but my insurance only covers one place and they think I am better on the medication even saying they would take me to court if I didn’t comply. Thanks again.