Seroquel Withdrawal
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I am having trouble withdrawing from Seroquel. I used to take 100mg for sleep, but managed to bring my dosage down to 25mg. However, I started to have anxiety problems and went back to 50 mg. Since then I've been shaving the 50 mg pill down to 3/4 of a pill. However I get very tired and groggy. If I try to shave it down further I get anxiety that only improves when I take more seroquel. It seems like I have a choice between anxious and groggy.

Do you have any suggestions for how I could get off of seroquel completely while minimizing the grogginess and/or anxiety?

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My advice hunny, try going down at least by half every week. I've never had withdrawal symptoms from Seroquel so my advice to jump cold turkey might be misinformed and harmful, so I'd advise the weekly halves of dose. The thing with Seroquel that might not be very well known is the lower the dosage the higher the effects of sedation, amnesia, and somtimes anxiety/agitation. Typically, dosages between 25 and 75 milligrams are the most potent doses for sedation, grogginess, amnesiac effects. After these doses come the 'theraputic doses' which are mainly used to treat psychotic disorders such as Schizophrenia or Bi-Polar disorder. The effects of sedation or grogginess will level off at 75-100 mg, and at >100mg will not increase in effect. (Which is good for patients with psychotic disorders et al that would require a theraputic dose.) However, the FDA in the United States has not approved the use of Seroquel in anything other than the treatment of Schizophrenia or Bi-Polar disorder. In Canada it is approved for Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar disorder, some mood disorders, for the use as a mood-stabiliser in addition to other drugs, and as an add-on mood-stabiliser in some cases of depression at low doses. It is prescribed off label for anxiety disorders and for sleep disorders, but I would only recommend them for those uses under hard pressed situations. There are a million better drugs for anxiety or sleep disorders. Seroquel can be a godsend for psychotic disorders but not much else.

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My question would first be, why are you on it just for sleep?
For me, this drug was worse than an exclusive anxiety drug because of way too many side effects.
I went through almost two hellish months after tapering off of Seroquel. Today, I feel so much better and my Dr. and I work together to keep me this way.
My family see's the marked improvement and is proud of how I handle life these days.
There can be life after this drug, but never go off of it without medical supervision.
My thought is to ask the Dr. to evaluate if you still need the Seroquel, or if he/she would try alternate meds.
Best of luck to you!

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Have you consulted your doctor for assistance?

Seroquel contains the active ingredient Quetiapine, which is an antipsychotic and a sudden cessation of any medication that has an effect on brain chemicals is going to cause the types of symptoms you've been experiencing.

Your doctor should be able to help find a way to taper off, while minimizing the withdrawal effects, as much as possible.

https:/­/­rxchat.com/­wiki/­Seroquel/­

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