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steveo
09-04-13, 11:10
Just been to see a very rude and abrupt psychiatrist.

He wants to put me on this drug 25mg three times a day along with my escitalopram.

I'm VERY unhappy about taking this medication and I really don't know what to do.

Can anyone please help me.

Emphyrio
09-04-13, 21:35
What was the rationale for it? Seroquel (quetiapine) is quite a powerful drug, I'm not surprised you have reservations about taking it.

When I saw a psychiatrist they suggested adding a low dose of an antipsychotic medication on top of antidepressants - I wouldn't ever want to take one though unless I had some kind of psychosis/severe delusions.

steveo
09-04-13, 22:40
No idea for the rationale. Off label, quetiapine is used for anxiety and he wants it to be used in conjunction with my escitalopram.

I need to call him asap because today was too much to take it. The information he gave me was far too much and at one point I burst out crying. I lost all faith in him the moment he suggested I switch from escitalopram to seroxat. I thought that he is a man who cares very little for my long term health. He clearly must know that seroxat is damn near impossible to come off of.
I'm 28 years old. I was never this bad in my life. It was only after coming off of 11 years of Citalopram that I've developed this constant anxiety and depression and since coming back on SSRIs, I've developed suicidal thoughts and have been self harming. I've expressed these concerns to him and that I want to be medication free ideally and my worry is that I will never ever come off the medication.

He doesn't care.

So I will be picking up the meds in a couple of days. Whether or not I take them, I don't yet not. I'm 85% sure at this stage that I won't be touching them. 15% of me wants to give them a go.

There are very few posts on this site about quetiapine so I have very little information to go on about what it's like being on it. From the little infomation I have read, I hear it makes people very sleepy and gives them a good nights sleep. Well, I have very great sleeps as it is and already feel groggy throughout the day so I don't want that to add to the equation.

Still very confused and scared.

Emphyrio
10-04-13, 18:02
I think that the psychiatrists don't know anything about being on meds - if they did, they would realise that the tapering schedules they use are often far too inadequate. A lot of GPs/psychiatrists seem to think that coming off a medication over a month or two is enough to minimise w/d symptoms, even if you you have been on a medication for many years.

How long have you been on escitalopram for? When you next see a GP you could tell him/her that you want to stay on it and you have reservations about going on paroxetine. I'm not surprised you don't want on it - have you heard of paxilprogress? Thousands of people who use the site have experienced protracted withdrawal that can last up to 2 years after coming off a psych-med (not just paxil, but all the SSRIs) - of course, the GP thinks its the 'anxiety coming back' and thus prescribes more meds that often make the situation worse.

I know what you mean about meds doing funny things to us. I came off prozac last August, felt really bad around December, then asked for citalopram. I only took it for 6-7 weeks at 10mg then came off it as it was making me restless. 2 months later I experienced horrendous anxiety and intrusive thoughts that I think was related to withdrawal effects from both prozac and citalopram. I got back on prozac over the summer but I had really bad side effects this time around. I came off that slower, felt well for 2-3 months, then felt really depressed (not many intrusive thoughts though) and so have been on sertraline for 3 weeks.

I'm going to come off this very, very slowly (if I ever want to come off it for whatever reason) because I'm scared of what w/d and rebound anxiety can do.

I'm sure that the meds have done something to me to make me reliant on them. Before I took meds I could generally cope most of the time, now I feel really hopeless off them, even though I've put a lot of positive things in place in my life.

steveo
10-04-13, 22:45
Well I'm glad I've just read what you've said as I have exactly the same thoughts about this!!!!

A quick background - I was put on Citalopram at 17 and was on it for 11 years. Each year was better than the previous and eventually in the last 4 years I was pretty anxiety free. So I VERY slowly tapered off last year and took my last tablet in October. My mood declined massively and then this Jan at the very start, I had the worst panic attacks out of the blue. Absolutely horrible.

Went back on Citalopram and it made me feel much much worse. Tried various doses from early jan until mid March and finally gave up on it and switched to Escitalopram.

Starting to feel a bit better but I'm still VERY far from where I was.

Basically I've never been this bad in my entire life and I've had anxiety since I was 5 years old.

I have done alot of research since into long term SSRI use and how the brain adapts to what they do and how they compensate. I don't know if I'm going to successfully come back on an SSRI right now which is scaring me to no end, and I'm worried that I'll never ever be able to come off the meds.

It seems we share a similar story. I'm not willing to try another SSRI after this. I honestly have no idea what to do. I'm so scared. I'm in hell and it's all because I came off my medication! They have ruined my life!

Emphyrio
12-04-13, 01:50
Was just wondering how slowly you tapered off? Some people recommend that you should come off SSRIs at 10% ever 4-6 months. That's 10% of the previous dose too - so it may take 2 years to come off it. However, it allows the brain to compensate for the changes. Maybe people seem to think its about getting the meds out of our system - its more about ensuring that our brain can compensate for the changes over a long period and enable us to maintain a good quality of life.

The longer you have been on an SSRI the longer the tapering process should ideally be. I'm sure that the escitalopram will kick in soon - however, you may have w/d from citalopram for a while afterwards.

Every time I've come off meds I've generally felt crap 2 months later and worse than I was before I ever took meds in the first place. If I come off sertraline in future I'm going to do it very, very slowly. Though if it helps I'll probably stay on at a low dose indefinitely...

---------- Post added at 01:50 ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 ----------

I've also heard that people can react really badly to meds if they come off them too quickly. I was fine with prozac in the past, however, when I went back on it last summer I felt absolutely horrible and lost a stone in weight. I had really bad sexual dysfunction on it too. I guess my body just saw it as poison this time around.

steveo
12-04-13, 22:38
I took about 7 months to come off the meds.

In hindsight, that wasn't long enough but I didn't expect to ever be in the situation I'm in now.

What's your drug history and current meds?

I too was fine on Citalopram for 11 years but this time round just couldn't handle it. On Escitalopram now which is SLIGHTLY different chemically and my bodies still not loving it that much.

We have very similar stories!
x

shotokansho
12-04-13, 23:11
Hello there.

I am taking Escitalopram and Quetiapine and I am fine on both, although I am considering coming off the quetiapine. I've been on the Escitalopram 20mg for a few years but I have been taking 400mg a day of Quetiapine also. The reason I am thinking of coming off the quetiapine is because I don't really suffer with mania or psychotic episodes that often and it has also made me put on weight.
Would you be able to see someone else for a second opinion? It's not good if you can't connect or have trust in your psychiatrist. They are supposed to be helping not making you feel worse. Remember you don't have to do anything you don't want to.

Emphyrio
12-04-13, 23:37
Hmmm - well your taper isn't too bad I guess. Some people seem to be really sensitive to meds, others seem to be able to cold turkey off high doses, experience brain zaps etc for a few weeks, then get back to normal. I wish I could be in the second group!

I first went on meds in summer 2003. I was getting occasional intrusive thoughts about harming those close to me, probably a combo of stress/caffeine and lack of sleep. So I saw the GP who prescribed 10mg escitalopram. Stayed on it for 2 months then c/t'd as I really don't think it did anything much looking back on it. No side effects either I remember. Then got hit with really bad anxiety 2 months later, saw a psychiatrist and got fluoxetine. Was on it from 03-early 08, had 8 months med-free whilst working but felt low for most of it so went back on in September. It was 'activating' but other than that the side effects were minimal.

I then started feeling really agitated and restless around summer 2011 and thought it could be partly to do with the prozac. I then asked to switch to citalopram - did so for around 10 days and felt really, really agitated and restless (possibly because the prozac wasn't yet out my system). I stopped all meds for a while again as I felt better, then started citalopram around Christmas at 10mg for around 7 weeks as I felt low and unmotivated, came off it as I had a period of feeling hyper again which I attributed to the meds (I now know I have these 'hyper' periods when I'm off meds too).

Felt really bad 2 months after stopping citalopram - really intrusive thoughts etc. Tried clomipramine which was horrible, then decided to go back on prozac as it was what I had taken in the past. I had really bad side effects this time around, which was partly why I came off it in the end. Had a couple of months where I felt good around last Christmas, before feeling crappy again and deciding to try sertraline at a low dose.

I guess that in the short term at least it looks like I'll need some kind of medication to keep my head above water. I'm having a very unstructured lifestyle as a student though with strange sleep patterns so I'd like to think I'll have a better chance coming off meds with a more regular lifestyle (if I ever do come off them in future!)