Seroquel withdrawal

[worrieddaughter911]

My mother was released from a mental hospital yesterday. She has been taking 600 mg of seroquel for 2 years. She was taking the seroquel while inpatient also. The dr. only sent home a rx for nortriptilyne 75 mg and klonopin .5 mg 2x daily. I'm worried sick about her having withdrawal symptoms or going manic. I have spoken to the hospital and they say it will be fine but my research says otherwise. I don't know what to do. Her regular doctor is on vacation till Monday. Any insight or help will be greatly appreciated.

[scoobyd2]

ive tried unsuccessfully to come off seroquel.i take 100mg twice a day,a relativly small dose.when i do,my tongue swells up(not to the point of being threatening)makin eating and brushing teeth a little tricky as it makes me feel sick,this last about a week.i get a sensation that is unpleasent and the only way i can describe it is that it feels like you want to throw up and **** yourself(this has never happened,though guts do tend to be bad) at the same time.but by far the worst is the insomnia,i dont know how long this lasts for(ive read varying accounts from a week to 6 months)i think i went 2 or 3 months,maybe more(its hard to tell,time crawls and things become strange)i would tend to stay awake till dawn(it seems to come in waves,lasting 10 minutes to half an hour, you feel sick as a dog,praying for sleep,like when poorly after too much drink and the next your mind is racing,your blood is boiling and you feel like pacing around the room)then get maybe 5 to 6 hours sleep,but you never feel rested.its a horrible sleep(with horrible dreams) and you feel like you are only ever just below the surface,waking 3 or 4 times an hour maybe more ,after a while you start to hallucinate(and its no fun because you feel so sick and tired).and probable worst of all is trying to get a straight answer(if the dr knows you are trying to come off the meds they will always blame the symptoms on the illness they told you to take the meds for in the 1st place).what i mean is,(I'm schizophrenic)insomnia causes the same symptoms as schizophrenia.if i ask the dr why im hallucinating(and they know im trying to come off meds) they will always insist its the schizophrenia to blame(and not the insomnia) and that he could tell the difference(which is rubbish)if i approach the question from another angle(not mentioning coming off meds) asking what symptons insomnia causes,he will tell me and when i ask how he could tell if these symptons are caused by insomnia or schizophrenia he/she will say they cant tell.i think(i know this is what i will do if i try again)you have to step down a step at a time,25mgs,and do this for at least a week (prob more like a month).i tried gradually before,but think i did it too quick(25mgs a day i think,maybe a week,my minds sometimes a bit hazy,and still got the withdrawals).i think your dr wants shooting for treating you and your mother this way.i hope this has offered some insight and i wish you and your mother health and happiness for the future(BY THE WAY you might want to try googling RUFUS MAY,or the dr who hears voices.listening to him for 5 minutes spoke to me more than years with other crank shrinks.he is a shrink who is also schizophrenic,and been in mental ward,he knows both sides of the coin,i wish i could see him)

[Athena_M]

How's your mom now?

[worrieddaughter911]

I spoke with the charge nurse and the discharge planner. Both insisted that stopping the Seroquel was correct. I have left several messages for the doctor but he hasn't returned any of my calls. I have made an appointment with a new doctor on Monday. Hopefully he can help make sense of what's going on.

[Anonymouse88]

Did you actually get to talk to the doctor who took care of her on inpatient, or to a clerk or a nurse?  People come back from hospitals with screwed up med lists all the time, and a low level person might blow you off or not understand the seriousness of the situation.  While you can stop Seroquel cold-turkey in extreme circumstances, it's not really a good idea for any med if you could wean instead.  If you have some Seroquel left, I would keep her on it until you can reach her doctor, and if they haven't started the new drugs, ask a pharmacist about interactions or just hold them til you can talk with her doctor, although reaching the inpatient doctor would probably be faster and work just as well.  

If all else fails, you can bring her back to the hospital.