Need Advice! Thanks in advance!
Hi guys,
I'm Andrew, 27, been taking Quetiapine for about 8 years now and i'm so glad I found this forum. I recently moved to a new area and the GP surgery is a lot better here, less crowded so the GP actually has time to read notes (I know! It's a miracle lol). I was only on 50mg and I know that it's only a small dose but the sleepiness on it was ridiculous, minimum 10 hours a day. And i've put on 5 stone since starting the drug because of the insatiable hunger at night, i'm sure most of us can relate to that. I was diasnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in 2013 and was just prescribed Quetiapine by a very overworked NHS Psychiatrist. I was told it would "help with my sleep" even though I had nothing wrong with my sleep and wasn't experiencing manic episodes, psychosis etc. And that's where the problem started really. I thought a few months ago enough is enough, it's not helping me with anything, i'm sick of sleeping this much. the only thing it does is make me sleep loads and eat loads. My GP was quite shocked that i'd even been prescribed it in the first place seeing as Quetiapine isnt a registered drug for BPD. He was really helpful in trying to reduce it. 50mg 6 days a week and missing one day for the first few weeks which seemed to work. Then 25mg 6 days a week. Then he gave me a pill cutter and said try 12.5 mg for 2 weeks (he gave me a pill cutter because you cant get any lower than 25mg). First few nights was OK, went to sleep at midnight, woke up at 4am for food then went back to sleep at 6am and woke up at 9am. I stopped taking it on Sunday and I've been awake for almost 50 hours and it's driving me crazy. I'm tempted to take it again as I have a few pills left. I've spoke to my GP and he said he can give me a short dose of Tamezepam bit I dont wanna replace one drug with another. I'm pretty desperate right now so any advice at all would be appreciated. Thanks for reading! :):):)
Re: Need Advice! Thanks in advance!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Andy699
I was diasnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in 2013 and was just prescribed Quetiapine by a very overworked NHS Psychiatrist. I was told it would "help with my sleep" even though I had nothing wrong with my sleep
Sigh! It was probably prescribed more on the basis that sedated patients are usually less of a problem. This is why a lot of the elderly in aged care are on antipsychotics. :curse:
Quote:
I was only on 50mg and I know that it's only a small dose but the sleepiness on it was ridiculous, minimum 10 hours a day. And i've put on 5 stone since starting the drug
One of their curiosities of sedating antihistamines such as quetiapine is they are most sedating at low doses becoming progressively less so as it is increased.
Quote:
I'm tempted to take it again as I have a few pills left. I've spoke to my GP and he said he can give me a short dose of Tamezepam bit I dont wanna replace one drug with another.
Taking a benzodiazepine as a 'circuit breaker' for a week or two might be a good move. Dependency is unlikely to become an issue in only 2 weeks and there is little point in taken them any longer as tolerance to their sedative effects tends to occur fairly quickly. I suggest you only take temazepam as needed, not daily just in case, but clear this with your GP first if he has prescribed a different regime.
