I would like some encouragement from members of the forum. Today I have an appointment with a nurse practitioner. I am going to ask her to take me off the Seroquel I have been on, on and off, since the 1990’s. “The nervous patient is afraid to say no. We must learn to say no with culture.” Dr Abraham Low. I have been under the heavy hand of the psychiatrist for 20 years. He’s not there anymore. Seroquel is an oppressive drug that makes me feel like committing suicide. Nonetheless, I have let the psychiatrist prescribe it for me and have taken it for years. I need to find the courage to say no to the medical profession on this one. This is the catch 22 of AP medication. A little encouragement goes a long way.
Coming off seroquel isn’t easy. My experience with coming off seroquel was nearly fatal. The lower doses made me super psychotic and it made me suicidal . Cross tapering to another Anti psychotic first would be safer from my experience.
I do not know how to help you. I am on Olanzapin and Seroquel and I have had no problems with Seroquel.
Glad to see you back on here @martinhersey1.
Be honest with your pdoc/nurse. Tell her how bad you feel on it - Look into alternatives.
Good luck with everything
When I was on the ward one of the nurses led a group where we discussed meds. He said at the end of the day it is our bodies and we have a right to vocalise what goes into it.
One caveat in the UK may be if you are on a compulsory treatment order. I think then changing meds can be complicated. Otherwise I would stand up for yourself to the nurse. By that I mean tell them you don’t like this med. there are lots of meds some work better than others.
I wouldn’t quit meds cold turkey though. Seroquel is quite strong and if you just stopped taking it you would likely get bad results. But a doctor/nurse led medication review could help you tremendously.
Wishing you all the best for your appointment.
Wow, that’s sounds shocking. My pyschiatrist was silly enough to believe my suicidal thoughts in the hospital were a result of my diagnosis, not the Haldol I was on. Off of Haldol - zero thoughts of self-harm, on Haldol - daily thoughts of self-harm.
I wish more psychiatrists would let us go untreated, Dammit, sometimes I wish they had to suffer SZ & take meds just to get a feel for what they’re doing to us.
I was put on a very low dose of prolixin. Immediately ran into mood issues and suicidal thoughts.
I felt the same way about risperdal consta. Clinic charged $$$ for it without pre-warning, tons of diarrhea, sexual side effects and HUGE weight gain without voices stopping… Serqouel has been a relief. I cut it into pieces at bedtime and sleep pretty soundly most of the time…
The nurse practitioner reminded me I would have to taper off gradually, not just stop. She had no problem with my stopping the Seroquel. This morning, on the lesser dosage, I feel lighter. My mind is not so depressed. now at 50 mg. Thank you all for your input.
**Good luck @martinhersey1!
You will find something better… **