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Quetiapine stopping proper range of feeling?

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jacqueline66035
jacqueline66035

Hi. Everyone. Back again for some much needed advice regarding quetiapine. I've posted previously about a mistake being made by my psychiatrist when he neglected to tell me to halve my dose of venlafaxine as I raised my quetiapine. This resulted in extreme anxiety, detachment and restlessness. This has now been resolved. I have been without one day of venlafaxine while the proper dose was organised. My quetiapine has been raised at a speed which I thot was a bit fast to allow me to see how I coped. (100mg every 7 days up to 300mg which I took last night. I didn't feel so well after taking it last night and felt my thoughts jagged when moving from one thought to another and a feeling of confusion and rising anxiety. My feelings are coming back tho (sadness at times and happiness) but for some reason these feelings seem to stop halfway and this is making me feel anxious. Can quetiapine do this to you if your dose is too high for your needs? Any input would be much appreciated as I've lost all faith in my psychiatrist for his blunder regarding the venlafaxine and 2 CPN's on my team have given conflicting advice. One said I could be on quetiapine for life while the other said that after a period of balance I could slowly wean off and use my care plan to monitor my condition and if any of my warning signs appeared I could use meds if required. I'm 51 and had 1 period of hypomania last year which was wrongly treated with 3 different antidepressants and no mood stabilizer which left me ill for 5 months. I was ill again this year and for 6 weeks was treated with only antidepressants which made me even worse. I spoke to my CPN (who contacted my psychiatrist immediately and low and behold they've decided to reduce the quetiapine back to 200mg for the next week to see how things go. Could do with advice and reassurance. Thanking everyone in advance.

0 likes, 7 replies

7 Replies

  • nigel45109
    nigel45109 jacqueline66035

    Posted

    Hello, you have had so many changes, and one quite large one yesterday. The changes you have made, have eventually been established as being the correct ones. You cant read anything into how its effecting you, for a good 3 or 4 weeks, possibly longer. You will be having a degree of withdrawal from reducing ven, and the start up of the new drug, and the short period of the error in dose. The only thing you can take some reassurance from, is that you are now on the correct doses and direction. Neither doctor knows, you may need to be on the new drug for life, you may be able to come off it. No one knows at this point. Also, you should try not to think about the future. Concentrate on just getting through the day, for the next 3 or 4 weeks, and try not to expect any improvements for now. For now, you just need x no of days, of being on your current dose, to see improvements, which is the hardest thing to do.
    • jacqueline66035
      jacqueline66035 nigel45109

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your reply. This is the worst thing I have ever had to deal with in my life and over the last 13 years I have had bereavement of close family members, divorce, several house moves and a diagnoses of ASD for my daughter. I've gotten thru all of these things and only had 8 weeks of postnatal depression (which was a walk in the park compared to this!). It has truly scared me how ill I have become and how much of myself I felt that I'd lost as I hardly recognised myself. It has only been about 10 weeks since I felt my health really went wrong but as everyone knows with mental health, weeks can feel more like months! This forum has been such a help to turn to. I'll do as you said and take one day at a time and make the most of the little chinks of light appearing now and then. I hope that you are keeping well at the moment. Your reply is much appreciated.

    • jacqueline66035
      jacqueline66035 nigel45109

      Posted

      Hi Nigel. Sorry to message you again but felt the need to get in touch. Yesterday as the day went on I felt more like my usual self. I had a wider range of feelings. I could feel sad and also happy and felt closer to everyone. I did have times where I felt "foggy" and detached. It was the best day I have had for months. I hugged my daughter and felt all my usual emotions towards her which was such a relief. Because I felt better I forgot to take my quetiapine until late (2hrs later than usual). I fell asleep but this morning I felt I had no emotions at all and didn't have any feelings or drive to get up til 12.45. I am really concerned that now I'm on the lower dose of antidepressant and not high that my quetiapine doesn't have to work against it and is shutting down my emotions. I really can't handle feeling so awful again. I have a really good life but can't feel it. Do you think I should ask to have the quetiapine lowered slightly? I wouldn't get in touch if I wasn't really struggling. I need to feel something and the total blandness is scaring me to be honest.

    • nigel45109
      nigel45109 jacqueline66035

      Posted

      Hello, your current situation is simple for the next couple of months. You sit and wait to see what happens. You shouldnt make any changes for quite some time, youve had so many, you need a period for things to settle down and start working. Your meds do not directly effect you on a day to day basis, nor will you suddenly recover as they do not work like that. They very slowly increase production of certain chemicals you need more of, and surpress others you need less off. Each time one chemical is minutely changed, it also has a knock on effect on hundreds of other chemicals in your mind. These each in turn effect each other, again and again, and it goes on

      The changes are minute. Your meds are also working against the bad chemicals, that your anxiety is srill stimulating and producing. Your anxiety levels/settings are currently very high , and are working against the very small changes your meds make. Its like a constant tug of war. Eventually, the meds build up the levels of good chemicals yiu need, and eberything gets balanced. This is why the meds take so long to work. For now, you will get good and bad days, that are constantly changing from one to another. Eventually the good days become more frequent and last longer, and the bad ones less frequent and weaker. Its impossible to read anything into how you feel for the next 3 weeks, as you are going through ven withdrawall, and quen start up. Then you need another 3 to 4 weeks for the new meds combination to starting working, and you noticing improvements. Further necessary changes to your meds, eg reduction in ven, will cause more changes and withdrawal effects

      thereby delaying recovery. I dont think you will notice much in the way of improvements until you have been on a constant dose, for a mimimum of 4 weeks. Just trying to give you an idea of whats going on with your condition and meds, and why you cant read anything into how you feel at the moment. At the moment, its just getting through the day as best you can, and you need days under your belt for your new medication combination. Not much help, you simply cant expect improvements at the moment, or read anything into how you currently feel. Once your meds start working, your anxiety levels will come down, your moods will start to stabalise, and all of your symptoms will start to reduce. When this starts happening, your improvements will accelerate, leading to recovery.

  • karen_57593
    karen_57593 jacqueline66035

    Posted

    Hope you get better soon jackie you've always been there for me big hugs xxx

    • jacqueline66035
      jacqueline66035 karen_57593

      Posted

      Oh thanks Karen. That's really kind of you! I'll get there in the end! Just balancing these meds can be tricky. Feeling a bit better just now. Will probably have ups and downs alot over next few days. How are you getting on now? Are you feeling a bit better?

    • karen_57593
      karen_57593 jacqueline66035

      Posted

      Doing ok with the depression it's the sleep I'm still having issues with. As u say it's just balancing out what medication is the best for us. I'm going too try an anxiety tablet tonight instead of a sleeping tablet too see if it's the anxiousness that's stopping me sleep. It was just someone I was talking too in my work said it's maybe not my sleep it might be my anxiety that's stopping me sleeping I dunno will try anything xxx

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