Posted by yxibow on June 8, 2008, at 6:26:09
In reply to Cogentin for Seroquel and being fed up!, posted by Crazydiamond on June 7, 2008, at 23:44:48
> Ugh! Where do I draw the line?
>
> I was hating Seroquel, I had taken it for about a month: 25mg am/75mg pm.
>
> I was just so frustrated! Seroquel stopped my distorted thinking, but caused me to be sleepy all the time. Sleeping midnight - 9am, and napping 4pm-7pm. No drive to do anything. Depression... didn't have enough energy to speak.
>
> I also got put on cogentin to treat the muscle rigidity side effect of Seroquel. Medication to treat the side effects of another medication?! I was pissed. Since it helped my distorted thinking, pDoc wanted me stick with it.
>
> On the flip side, I would be totally okay taking medication to counteract weight gain caused by the drugs. How does this differ from being so pissed about cogentin?
>
> I decided to discontinue, reducing by about 25mg a day with out the guidance of my pDoc.
>
> So now that I've been of Seroquel and Cogention for a few days, I feel loads better!
>
> I have an appointment with pDoc on Wednesday. I have never discontinued a medication without her supervision. Is she going to pissed?!
>
> Now here's the deal, my distorted thinking has not comeback! I think it may have been a part of bipolar episode of somesort. Yeah sure, it will probably happen again, but seroquel is not fantastic for me. Ahh. Was discontinuing the right thing to do???
> I feel loads better but not sure what means in the long run!
>
> Thank you!
>
> ---
> past drugs:
> lexapro
> prozac
> risperdal
> lithium
> ritalin
> ativan
> [seroquel w/ cogentin]
>
> currently:
> Klonopin 0.5mg bid
> Lamictal 150mg big
> Vit B12 Supplement.
>
> Please excuse me if I did this wrong, I'm a n00b.
>
>Not wrong for not wanting to take an agent voluntarily that you think is causing bad side effects, I can't blame you there.
But discontinuing a neuroleptic that has been in your system for more than several weeks requires a gradual taper or WD, withdrawal dyskinesia can occur, which basically eventually resolves itself in most all cases but not pleasant to go through, not to mention the anxiety that could occur from dropping an AP all together (I did it for side effects and fears which I had a right to do but it caused extreme anxiety and other things I wont go into).
I do take it now again, it was always offlabel, but it is indefinite at this point, because it improves my functionality, not as much as it used to for unknown reasons but otherwise I have a lot of confusion issues (it is not for any disorder normally prescribed for).
The amount you were on was probably not significant but 12.5mg a day is a rough taper of 100mg of Seroquel, unless there's a reason (rare NMS which would mean instant discontinuation of anything for sheer safety sake regardless of what might interim), and its also AMA -- against medical advice.If you go to a doctor and you have a particular regimen, and hopefully the both of you discuss it -- it should not be a passive meeting, I wish more people spoke up to their doctors about their feelings even if the prescriber may disagree about what is suggested -- that is to be expected, and when a regimen is started, and a doctor doesn't know that it is stopped -- there's nothing they can do if an emergency occurs because psychotropics were dropped.
Anyhow, I'm not trying to lambaste this particular situation, I'm saying especially with complicated regimes, dropping all medications or part of them without consultation can land someone in the hospital, which is not a place actually where treatment is the best place because case history isn't known.
Anyway, best wishes with further therapy-- Jay
poster:yxibow
thread:833565
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080606/msgs/833580.html