So after being on the mood stabilizer Seroquel (generic is quetiapine) for over 8 years, I am trying to scale back on it and see if my bipolar II is better now that my brain is fully developed. Even in my late teens when I first showed signs of the illness I never had a full blown manic episode or exhibited more than a couple of the symptoms that define mania, though I had full out, hardcore depression, for which I take Wellbutrin. I am really hoping this goes well, because Seroquel is a bitch. If I sleep less than ten hours a night I can hardly function the next morning because it hits up your histamines (imagine taking a huge dose of Benadryl). Unfortunately this also involves some seriously tough side effects even when weaning slowly down, because once your body adjusts to taking Seroquel it does not want to stop. Think inability to sleep, nausea, cold sweats, and restless legs, among others. I am recording the mg I take every day and what moods I experienced that day. After about a week taking half dosage my moods remain steady. If I do not take my antidepressant, I am depressed in a few days' time. I no longer go to the pdoc who originally diagnosed me (back when it was called manic depression and there were no "levels") and, like I told my new pdoc, the reason I want to cut back the Seroquel is to see if the diagnosis is good. It was made at a time when I was young, away from my parents and town for the first time ever, and horribly depressed. I did not have typical mania (absolutely no euphoria or delusions, in fact what she labelled my mania was actually quite unpleasant and involved obsessively thinking about my problems). My mother was also diagnosed as bipolar in the early 2000s after having been declared chemically depressed for thirty years--she was diagnosed as a bipolar (manic depressive) who has never had a manic episode but possibly could. (It was quite a popular diagnosis for awhile.). My brain has changed so much from when I was nineteen, and my life as well, that I want to know if I truly still need mood stabilizers--if not then I do not want to be taking them because Seroquel is not easy on the body. It is entirely possible that it's just wishful thinking, a sad hope that I won't have to take this uber sedating medication forever, but it's worth a try. I never did anything dangerous while manic, just watched excessive amounts of TV rather than make friends and picked up new hobbies. We will see how this goes and if I do experience mood swings then maybe once I am off Seroquel my psychiatrist can try some drugs with less impact on life quality. Because that is what Seroquel does--it interferes with my quality of life by making it tough to lose weight, making me feel hungover when I wake up every single day, and leaving me so dependent on its chemical properties that (unlike my other drugs) if I forget to pick it up at the pharmacy and miss one single pill then I can't sleep and have severe withdrawal symptoms. Talk about miserable.
Has anyone else on here taken Seroquel for its mood stabilizing qualities? If so, how old were you when you started (I was 20) and how long have you been on it (almost nine years for me)? Also, are you still on it or did you find another drug?
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