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I am including this massive study on tapering seroquel. The charts are very good.

 

https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/47/4/1116/6178746

 

As with all psychiatric meds, slow and low.

 

I take it 3 times during the night. A year ago I was taking 4 doses a night. I felt too drugged out. I removed one dose. I did it unconventionally. I took my 4Th dose, and skipped it two nights in a week, then 3 nights, then stopped the 4th dose.. Most unusually, I did not experience withdrawal. About a 3 week process. At my high  dose , the receptors that experienced wd were those above 300 mg.

 

Some guidelines propose doing just what I did, although I did not know it at the time. Skip a dose then wait as you gradually skip more. Not on the same night/day.

 

I am now at 3 doses, and parking my butt there until my xanax stabilizes, I got thrown into a medication a and surgical set back in September, which involved  surgery, opiates, and then antibiotics near the end, in February. I am only now getting hints of recovery from the setback.

 

A few notes for sero wd:

 

You may have an easy time, you may not, learn about the tapering guidelines, the wd effects and prepare yourself.

 

Most suggest tapering as one would a benzo, a gradual reduction over time.

 

At different doses, seroquel affects different parts of the brain. If you are at a "sleep" dose, that is usually under 100. That is the least difficult taper. Over 100, you hit other receptors, over 200 and 300 , each time you hit new receptors. Hence, as doses are lowered, the lack of seroquel hitting certain receptors will kick in (say over 300 mg) at 200, the receptors will undergo a different experience, and at 100, once again. You need to give it time. At each  "100" going below that number (for example, 150 to 100) certain receptors will experience wd. Wait it out. No matter how long it takes.  Once those receptors are healed, you can continue.

 

Also, most sites propose tapering down to a goal point, then holding for 3 weeks at least . The reason for this, is that seroquel often has a delayed reaction that hits at 3 weeks. There is an excellent chart of symptoms in this paper.

 

Symptoms:

https://academic.oup.com/view-large/figure/267393405/sbab017f0001.jpg

 

I fall in the serotonin category for my wd from sero more than any other.

 

From experience, benzo's do nothing to remedy the withdrawal manifestations of seroquel.

 

i will attempt as i continue my xanax taper, to at certain times (at least 6 months apart) reduce seroquel dosage. If I get slammed with wd sxs, I will reinstate.

 

Seroquel wd is very ugly, and and can be a nighmare for some of us. Waiting out the receptor healing is the key. The higher your 24 hour dose, the more are affected. And you must give those receptors time to heal. If you don't and jump from say  250 to 75, you will actually go through what feels like 2 distinct yet simultaneous withdraw experiences as different ones are affected the higher your dosage.

 

This is not like benzo withdrawal, where you gradually and fairly consistently cut.

 

You have to pause, and wait.

 

I hope this helps.

Peace Out

-Dove

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for the info dove,

Last night I lowered my dose from 200mg to 150mg with no noticeable difference in my sleep. Tonight I will try it at 100 and see what happens. I see you started taking it in 2018 for sleep. Is it still working? I’m just curious if this drug eventually quits working. I hope I start sleeping naturally again before that happens.

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Thanks for the info dove,

Last night I lowered my dose from 200mg to 150mg with no noticeable difference in my sleep. Tonight I will try it at 100 and see what happens. I see you started taking it in 2018 for sleep. Is it still working? I’m just curious if this drug eventually quits working. I hope I start sleeping naturally again before that happens.

 

My Q has worked for sleep for as long as I have been on it (see signature).

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The sero has always worked.  In fact, at my dosage (500), it acts as a mood stabilizer, and calms down nighttime wd and anxiety. If it had not put so much weight on me, and other side affects, I would stay on it indefinitely. I am not going to get completely off until after I finish the xanax taper, because I need the sleep it provides. And, also the "break" it gives me at night.

 

I saw you cut, and had no effects. Remember, a seroquel reduction  takes 3 days to hit (usually.) I would hold at the 100 for a few days and see if you get any wd.

 

-Dove

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The sero has always worked.  In fact, at my dosage (500), it acts as a mood stabilizer, and calms down nighttime wd and anxiety. If it had not put so much weight on me, and other side affects, I would stay on it indefinitely. I am not going to get completely off until after I finish the xanax taper, because I need the sleep it provides. And, also the "break" it gives me at night.

 

I saw you cut, and had no effects. Remember, a seroquel reduction  takes 3 days to hit (usually.) I would hold at the 100 for a few days and see if you get any wd.

 

-Dove

 

That's interesting, Dove. I'll remember that.

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I stayed at 150 last night. When I layed down last night my anxiety was in overdrive for some reason. Because of that I decided not to reduce again. It still helped me sleep but it wasn’t as restful as last couple of nights. I think I’ll stay at 150 for a while.
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Sounds like your finding your way. Seroquel reduction methodology is not the same as benzo tapering. I did tell you I cut out an entire dose (150) over 3 weeks with no significant affects. You have to listen to your body to either cut out a dose over a 3 week period, or reduce your dose by the 5-10% and wait at least 3 weeks to get the full effect.

 

Anytime you start feeling dope sick, I suggest putting the sero back. The wd does not feel the same as from benzo's, but it is horrible.

 

Later, I tried reducing by 10%, and it was horrible, I had to put it back.

 

I missed one of my 3 doses last night. No affect.

 

But, as i stressed, it usually takes 3 days for the brain to catch up with the reduction.

 

If I continue to sleep through dose 3 , I will gradually dump it as I did a year ago. Missing doses is an indication your body is ready to reduce.

 

However, I am on day 2 of a xanax cut, after being in a set back since September for surgery, drugs, all the stuff that creates a medicinal setback. However, yesterday I felt like my body was ready, and it went well. OK so far today as well.

 

So the xanax taper is my priority, but if my body is telling me to drop another sero dose , I will.

 

interesting drug. Different experience reducing it than a benzo.

 

Hope you do well with this cut!

 

-Dove

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Hey everyone,

I am currently taking 150mg of seroquel per night for sleep. I’m wondering how people taper off this drug when time comes. Do you cut your tablets, can you make a liquid? Im actually kinda of scared of going thru another withdrawal but I desperately need the sleep that this drug provides. I welcome all advise and tips on this.

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I used to take about 3mgs. of Seroquel at bedtime.  I used to take a 200mg tab and then cut that down with an Xacto knife into very tiny pieces to about 3mgs.  It was prescribed to me for my Lupus.  I just stopped taking it.  I had severe symptoms even taking those 3mgs at bedtime.  It made me drool and it also upset my stomach and gave me stomach cramps and it made me very forgetful too.  Are you having any symptoms from taking 150mgs of Seroquel?  That's quite alot. 
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Hi Becks,

I am not having any other symptoms that I am aware of. I’m 6 months from a Xanax ct that has rocked my world. I have had severe insomnia and this is the only thing that helped. I’ve been taking 150mg. A night for a about a week and I think I will go down to 100 tonight and see how that works. I hate this drug merry go round and I fear that I will never get off of it. If only I could start sleeping on my own.

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Try to keep seroquel as low as possible, even if your sleep isn't perfect.

 

Jumping from a benzo to land on an antipsy isn't a long term great deal.

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Hey everyone,

I am currently taking 150mg of seroquel per night for sleep. I’m wondering how people taper off this drug when time comes. Do you cut your tablets, can you make a liquid? Im actually kinda of scared of going thru another withdrawal but I desperately need the sleep that this drug provides. I welcome all advise and tips on this.

 

I use water. The tablet I use dissolves pretty easily. I give it a shake before I pull my dose just to be on the safe side. It's pretty easy.

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  • 2 weeks later...
I take 25mg of serequel for sleep. I know my psych doctor is going to eventually wean me off this too. Are the withdrawal symptoms pretty bad?
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I take 25mg of serequel for sleep. I know my psych doctor is going to eventually wean me off this too. Are the withdrawal symptoms pretty bad?

 

How does seroquel make a person sleep?

Curious. Thank.you.

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I used to take Seroquel and it doesn't put you to sleep, it knocks you out.  It's an evil drug.

Is it safe to use though maybe once on occasion?

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I wouldn't touch that stuff with a 10-foot pole.  One dose of only 3mgs. caused me to drool, have bad stomach cramps and I became completely forgetful and incoherent.  A man on this forum named Joey has Tardive Dyskinesia from taking Seroquel.  He can't stop jerking all the time.
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Seroquel really does knock you out big time.  I used to have insomnia. I'm afraid that will come back as I wean off klonopin.  I don't want him to wean me off seroquel while getting off klonopin.  I tried to get off it on my own and I experienced bad withdrawal effects...worse than what I'm going through now with klonopin.
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Seroquel really does knock you out big time.  I used to have insomnia. I'm afraid that will come back as I wean off klonopin.  I don't want him to wean me off seroquel while getting off klonopin.  I tried to get off it on my own and I experienced bad withdrawal effects...worse than what I'm going through now with klonopin.

You take Trazadone AND Seroquel?

 

Whoa.

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I tried Trazodone too one time and it was very sedating.  The combination of all those two drugs could be very sedating. 
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I talked with my doctor yesterday. He wants me to come off the Trazadone and go on Ramelteon. It's sort of acts like melatonin. It doesn't work for everyone though.  But, yes my old doctor put me on both of those. She doped me up really good. I never knew the dangerous interactions between all the meds.  So I will stop the Trazadone. Trazadone has a half life of 12 hours so you are drowsy during the day. That is the case with me. So, we will try this other med. I'm sick of feeling so sedated all the time.
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A lot of these off-label sleep meds work because they are antihistamines. Seroquel has strong antihistamine properties at low doses.
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Didn't know seroquel is like an antihistamine. It really helps with sleep.

 

Seroquel is an antihistamine first. It hits the histamine receptors before it hits any other receptors. At low doses, most of the Q binds to the histamine receptors so there is little/nothing left to go out and do it's antipsychotic stuff. Generally, they say do not go over 100mg for sleep. More will not help. Your histamine receptors will be filled up by 100mg, leaving the rest of the drug to hit other receptors and do other things that you may not want. I don't think I would go over 50mg (I'm a thin female.) The smallest tablet is 25mg. That's what I usually took. Some people find half of the smallest tablet to be enough. It is one of the most sedating antipsychotics.

 

Sorry, I don't have the time/energy to find the citations for all of that, but if you google you will find reputable sites (such as pubmed or .edu sites) with the information.

 

There are other meds that also have antihistamine effects as part of what they do, older antidepressants, for example. I can't metabolize them well, so I can't use them, or I would have preferred them to Q. Antipsychotics make me nervous, even at low doses.

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I'm on 25 mg of seroquel. It works very well for sleep.  My doctor wants me to come off Trazadone and go on another med for sleep. It acts a bit like Melatonin.  But, I can't take it with Trazadone.  I don't want to go cold turkey off Trazadone while I'm tapering off Klonopin. Yep...somehow my old doctor drugged me really well. I'm on so many sedating drugs. It's very tough to get going in the morning.  I feel so much fatigue during the day.
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