Hi.
I am on Seroquel XR 200mg daily plus Seroquel 150mg as required when extremely agitated. As well as a high dose antidepressant to treat BPD, AvPD, OCD, GAD, PD, mood disorders are in remission thanks to the antidepressant. SSRIs, SNRIs, MAOIs are mostly ineffectual in treating my anxiety and OCD which caused me a huge amount of distress day to day. I was a wreck, and have been barely scraping by the past ten years. Last year I had a breakdown, lost 15kg in 2 months, barely kept my job but am now seeing a psychiatrist and psychologist every two weeks after avoiding them for 17 years due to bad experiences. I've been on a merry-go-round of meds until recently where I've stabilised. Seroquel gets rid of my anxiety. I can't take benzos as I have a habit of simply eating whole boxes of them when I feel down. Seroquel isn't typically prescribed to treat anxiety. Usually just schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.
But I finally feel well.
Problem is the potential side effects of Seroquel. It's insane and can cause permanent movement disorders where a person loses control of their tongue/jaw/neck/arms etc. There is no current effective treatment for the disorder which can come about from antipsychotic use, such as seroquel.
I am torn between the potential (albeit very rare) side effect profile of the drug vs finally finding something that works after decades of trying.
Every drug has side effects, but this is life changing if it happens and is untreatable.
I want to change meds but also don't want to go back to how I was. I am really confused about what I should do.
I haven't spoken to my doctor about it yet, but will asap once I see him. I've been on antipsychotics for the past 9 months and am doing well on them. :/
What should I do?
Don't really have any advice other than consult your doctor, but must have been pretty hard to open up about this topic. Thanks for sharing and I hope you can get the answers/help you need! :)