seroquel bad withdrawals and symptoms

I am ITCHING!!!! LIKE FREAKING CRAZY...EVERYWHERE, MY HAIR, MY FEET, HANDS, LEGS, EVERYWHERE! I have tapered off this med. and this is my 3rd day off completely, but I don't know what to do about this itching. Is anyone else having the same probs? Does anyone have any solutions? Please I am really needing some help....thanks! sara

skw wrote:

I am ITCHING!!!! LIKE FREAKING CRAZY...EVERYWHERE, MY HAIR, MY FEET, HANDS, LEGS, EVERYWHERE! I have tapered off this med. and this is my 3rd day off completely, but I don't know what to do about this itching. Is anyone else having the same probs? Does anyone have any solutions? Please I am really needing some help....thanks! sara

I have been off seroquel for 3 days now,from 800 mils weaned down to nothing.I don't have any headaches,or body aches,or any kind of problems with that and I came off it in 3 weeks,,my palms were itchy last night though! I was scrathing them for a hour! I am not hungry at all,which is good cause the serquel put 50 lbs on me! Maybe for the itching a good aveno oatmael bath may help.I have second stage lyme desease and get alot of itching anyway,and it does help! You can try that one!My tummy is alittle weird,not throwing up or anything,so thats good! Good luck with it,all withdrawls end! It just takes time,the itching will pass too.now sleep may be alittle harder! Good luck![

Just stopped 50 mg. a day of Seroquel. I don't recommend it.-Nausea, sleeplessness, racing thoughts. I am determined to get off of this stuff that I have been on for at least 5 yrs. My last regular general dr. visit-I was told I was borderline diabetic.-do the research on SEroquel and it causing possible diabetes. Just in the three days I have stopped Seroquel, I have lost 4 pounds.-Interested in comments about similar situation.

Hi. I'v been on 50mgs seroquel, 450mgs lithium and 10mgs lexapro, for a year and am bp. My Dr. okayed it for me to try and reduce the seroquel to 25mgs but right away I noticed my thoughts starting to change and going back to "what got me to this place in the first place." Before this regiment of meds I had mixed mania, from lack of sleep, my body temp was abnormal, burning top, freezing legs,and slit my wrist. As much as I hate taking any kind of drugs I am thankful that I have them and will not go off without being completely honest with myself. All these things that I'm reading on here sounds like deniel of what you were and cannot face..If becoming diabetic and gaining a little weight is what it amounts to I'm glad at least I'll have a sound mind to handle what I might get anyway.

I HAVE BEEN ON SEROQUEL SINCE 11/07, I WENT ON IT TO HELP ME SLEEP.
I KNEW THAT THIS DRUG WAS DANGEROUS, THE FDA HAS BLACK BOXED IT, BUT I DID NOT KNOW IT WAS GOING TO DO TO ME WHAT IT HAS DONE.
IN 6/2008, MY DOCTOR FOUND THAT I HAD A CATARACT FORMING IN MY LEFT EYE. AT THE SAME TIME I NOTICED THAT MY VISION HAD CHANGED DRASTICALLY, EVERYTHING WAS BLURRY AND MY EYES HAD BECOME DRY. I MADE AN APPOINTMENT WITH AN EYE DOCTOR WHO CONFIRMED THAT I HAD THIS LEFT EYE CATARACT, AND HE REFERRED ME TO THE EYE SURGEON AT THIS GROUP. THREE WEEKS LATER I WENT TO SEE THE EYE SURGEON, WHO NOT ONLY TOLD ME THAT MY VISION HAD CHANGED DRASTICALLY AGAIN, FOR THE WORSE, BUT IN LESS THAN THE THREE WEEKS, I NOW HAVE A CATARACT IN MY RIGHT EYE.
I WENT ON THE INTERNET AND LOOKED UP SIDE EFFECTS OF THIS DRUG. UNDER LESS SEVERE WAS LISTED VISION CHANGES. UNDER RARE BUT SEVERE WAS LISTED CATARACTS.
I NOW HAVE TO HAVE EYE SURGERY TO HAVE THESE REMOVED, AND BECAUSE NONE OF MY DOCTORS WILL HELP ME GET OFF THIS DRUG, I HAVE HAD TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO COME OFF IT.
BEFORE I STARTED THIS DRUG, I HAD MY EYES CHECKED AND THEY WERE PERFECT. NOW I AM IN A MESS...
I AM GOING TO PULL TOGETHER ALL PERTINENT DATA ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ME AND SEEK LEGAL COUNSEL AGAINST ASTRA SENECA, THE COMPANY THAT MAKES THIS DRUG.
ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCED THIS SIDE EFFECT?

I take 200mg's of Seroquel each night for sleep. I tried to go off of it cold turkey also. After 3 days of no sleep, I became jittery, started twitching uncontrollably and felt like I was having an outer body experience. I was terrified and thought I was totally losing it. A call to my therapist and she quickly told me that it is nearly impossible to go cold turkey off of Seroquel and that it must be tapered off slowly over a matter of weeks by slowly reducing the dosage by 25mg's every other week. A friend drove me to the pharmacy to pick up my renewed Rx for 200 mg tablets of Seroquel and I quickly took 1 as soon as I got back in the car. Within 2 hours I felt like I was back in control of my body.

Then I did more research and found out that Seroquel is often prescribed for insomnia even though it shouldn't be.

I had anxiety and panic attacks due to the failure of a long term relationship and never thought to question the psychiatrist when he prescribed medication.

I have suffered from bipolar for years. Been on many meds for years, now take seroquel, depakote, paxil, nortryptiline. Experienced trouble walking about starting 2 years ago. Now have tremors, and many other troubles. Trying to find problem, but hard with so many meds. After reading here, many of the symptoms mentioned about seroquel sounds like many of my symptoms. I am going to try reducing that and see if it helps. Originally at 600, then 400. Have been at 300 about 6 months. Any thoughts on med combination.

I INITIALLY STOPPED SEROQUEL COLD TURKEY, FROM 800MG TO ZERO, BECAUSE I CHECKED OUT OF LOS ENCINITAS (DR. DREW'S PLACE) TO TAKE CARE OF MY BROKEN ARM, CASTED, BUT SWELLING. I JUST FORGOT TO GET A SCRIPT, NOR DID THEY GIVE  ME ONE. WITHIN 24 HOURS, I HEARD PEOPLE SCREAMING A SONG IN MY HEAD, AND FELT BEZERK. FORTUNATELY I CALLED MY DD, WHO MENTIONED I SHOULD CALL A SHRINK - I WAS TOO FAR GONE TO DO THINK OF THIS MYSELF. SO NOW, 2 YEARS LATER, I WEIGH 35 POUNDS MORE, I SLEEP UP TO 18 HOURS A DAY, AND I'M ON 100 TO 200 MG. I'VE ASKEED THE SHRINK FOR SOMETHING A BIT LESS INTRUSIVE, SANS A RESULT. ANY HELP OUT THERE?

i was on seroquel for 7 years. the doctors put me in it for insomnia (i think that's a bit overkill). i was up to 700mgs by the time i was 17. i couldn't get out of bed. i couldn't process what people were telling me. i couldn't think. the doctors saw that it just wasn't doing it for me so they knocked me down to 400 mgs. i could at least process information on that much. i knew from then on, i had to get off of seroquel. it took me 6 years.
i got prescribed a strong dose of benedryl to help me eat a couple weeks ago when i was feeling sick. my doctor is a jackass and didn't realize that it was going to react with my seroquel, but the pharmacist caught it. he told me the benedryl would put me to sleep before i got very much of a change to eat anyway so i should try something else. i told him to give me the prescription anyway. i took the benedryl in replacement of the seroquel (dropping it cold turkey at 50 mgs) and weaned myself off the benedryl. but as soon as i was off the benedryl, i stopped sleeping.
i don't know if i can take this much longer .. i haven't slept in 4 days. i've tried everything. i tried benedryl, alcohol, nyquil, ambeon, lunesta, lorazapam, melatonin, i even tried going back to seroquel. nothing has worked so far. once i stopped sleeping, it's like that was it. i want to know if anyone else is having these problems. i can't find anything quite like my symptoms anywhere on the web.
if anyone else has gone though this, i need to know what to do. i went to see a "sleep specialist" but he didn't listen to a word i said. i told him that my symptoms started when i stopped taking the medication. he told me that was a big fat coincidence and that the reason why i wasn't sleeping was because i was "worried about sleep". i never said that. %-)
if anyone can help me, please send me an e-mail with the title "seroquel help". it would be very much appreciated.

i was on 900mg of seroquel following a manic episode. a few months later another doctor told me to stop taking it. at the time i was in a homeless shelter in downtown toronto in the winter. i ended up getting pneumonia from the withdrawl shock. however i didint' know it was the withdrawl at the time i just though it was pneumonia. im only 25 but do have asthma and smoke weed and ciggs. still this is unusual. i was sick for 6 months with pneumonia. the doc woudn't give me an antibiotic again when the pain in my lung didn't go away, they said it was from the seroquel withdrawl.

... i think what happened is i threw up the antibiotic so it didn't completely work or something. i got another antibiotic 6 months later and was fine in a week.

however i was so f#$%@#$%^ing ill for 6 months!!!!!! diarrhea, coughing up sh*t, chills, itching, couldn't sleep

take zyprexa i think its alot better but don't take too much of any of em you really don't need that much. not nearly as much as they prescribe.

oh yeah i'm actually taking seroquel again now... supposed to be on 600mg a day but i only take 100. initally it gets you kinda high and its fun but after a while it sucks.

i tried getting off it last week cold turkey.... couldn't sleep for 3-4 days, got cold chills, weird thoughts towards the end.

i'm trying to get off this time cause i quit smoking weed and i think thats what was making me crazy in the first place.


doc's will prescribe you all kinds of sh*t..... that you don't need

i have been on seroquel, zyprexa, fluanxol, adavan, effexor and haldol in the last 5 years.

reed wrote:

Hey Newbie, hi I have been taking seroquel for 8yrs, the very first year I gained 80lbs. I was on 100mgs, then 200 and so on and so on till just last month they put me on 800mgs. Well i feel so bad about the way I look now, that I even contemplated suicide. I am also on 4mgs of clonipin. well now i am quitting the Seroquel by myself, I take abt 100mgs at night and I also take a sleep aid from walgreens and the clonipin. tonight i am not taking anymore seroquel, I dont feel bad I sleep good (oh by the way ) i take 5HTP 100mgs twice aday and it really helps if you start to feel anxious. one in the morning one at night. So I will keep you posted if I have any withdrawals, and if I dont. But please if your Dotor wants to put you on Seroquel, please say NO, it will make your life a living hell, and they continue to raise your dosage, and they don't tell you abt the weight gain, or diabeties that it can cause. Just say no to Seroquel please. I hope this has helped someone out there. My prayers are with you.

I have recently, this is third night, stopped my seroquel cold turkey. Was taking 100 mg at bedtime just to help me sleep. Longer version: Doc prescribed Depakote (sp?) Prozac and Seroquel. Don't recall dosages, but a lot. Stopped D & P cold turkey, because...tired of meds. Kept taking seroquel cause knew it helped me sleep. But serveral days ago decided to research side effects and am done with that c**p too.

Haven't slept, sore neck, sick to stomach and don't feel like "myself" what ever that's supposed to feel like. Sudden temperature changes in my body. Not going to give up though. But would like to chat with someone going through same stuff.

I was on 300mg of Seroquel, and my Dr. slowly tapered me off. It is not good to quit these drugs "cold turkery" do to the side effect. I am now on 50mg of Seroquel, with 5 days left to go and then I am done. I am getting off of the Seroquel do to the weight gain I have experienced. I went from 130, to 170 in under a year! I rather be crazy then over weight! I don't plan on going on anything else, I am just praying that with diet and exercise, I will get my bipolar in check.

I was also taking 600 mg of seroquel and my doctor took me off of it extrememly slow. It took me about 4 months to be totally done. With each decrease in dose I experienced several nights of insomnia, but just stick with it because it does get better.

My son is 18 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in Nov. 2007...since then he had been on quite a few drugs...he was on 600mg of Seroquel for about 6 months...I had to switch psychiatrists because his was no longer on our insurance. Well, the id**t I took him to completely ripped him off of Seroquel cold turkey less than 2 weeks ago. He's having terrible withdrawal symptoms...he hasn't slept since he went off of it...it was only helping him sleep like 4 hours a night...but being off of it he hasn't slept at all. He also suffers from ADHD...and the id**t psychiatrist I took him to not only took him off his drugs...(he was also on 30mg of Lexapro and Remeron...I don't remember how much)...she stopped all of them completely and put him on 25mg of Lamotrigine AND she gave him an ADHD medicine...Vyvanse, which made him high as a kite for 36 hours! I told her about this, and of course it was MY fault...I gave it to him at the wrong time of day...but she said "If YOU don't want him to take it...I'll give him something else"...she gave him Strattera...40mg...I gave it to him for a few days but stopped because talking to other doctors, they said they would never give ADHD meds to a bipolar patient.

I have an appointment with a nurse practitioner (because I'm sick of psychiatrists and their "only prescription drugs" policies)...but that appt. isn't for a few days. He's a senior in high school and hasn't gone to school in 2 weeks...besides the fact he's depressed that his girlfriend of 2 years broke up with him...he's sick as hell from withdrawals. i.e. Major night sweats, nausea, diarrhea, hallucinations, no appetite, NO SLEEPING...you name it he's got it!

I didn't like him on the drugs...but I KNEW he shouldn't stop them cold turkey. Apparently Dr. A$$hole-a didn't think 600mg's of Seroquel was a high dose. Not only that...but she KEPT all his meds! The first visit I took all the meds he was on and had been on to show her his history of meds, and she said "i'm going to keep them and lock them up"...then the second time I saw her 2 days later....she told me that I'm an enabler because my son is 18 and he won't get a job, so I should be throwing him out of the house.

Beware of these medications...but most of all...beware of A$$hole doctors!!!!!!

Does anyone have any sleep remedies? He just cannot sleep....