seroquel…any experience?
Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I’m a 49 year-old man who has been on rivotril (or another benzodiazepine) for 25 years for anxiety. I developed problems (at least I thought so) with my memory. After years of psychotherapy and "some" personal growth, I decided to try being drug-free. I was surprised I was able to come off the rivotril, and considered it quite a victory. Unfortunately my anxiety/panic has come back to haunt me. My shrink first wanted to put me on celexa. I tried it briefly, and had complete blockage of orgasm and weird feelings. I told him I didn’t want to have those sexual side effects. In addition, I had tried paxil for a few years a while back, and was never able to reduce the rivotril, so I figure the paxil wasn’t helping that much with my anxiety anyway. NOW he wants to try me on a small dose of seroquel. After reading about it, it scares me. Also, I don’t feel I am that "bad" a case, and what I’ve read, gives me the impression that this med is a last resort. I have a prescription for it, but I am afraid to take it. Any thoughts on my situation from you brave souls who, like me, have the challenge of moving ahead despite fear? Ron If Rivotril helped you and you now have a recurrence of the original anxiety symptoms I’d suggest you get back on it. It can indeed impair short-term memory but as you noticed it’s not *irreversible brain damage* but goes away when the med is stopped. For a garten variety anxiety disorder antipsychotics like Seroquel are not recommended and are certainly no first choice meds. IMO. Just my 2 pesos. Philip
I agree here with philip and am wondering why your doc wants to start you on an antipsychotic instead of conventional anxiety medication. It seems you did well on the rivotril, so I would suggest going back on that. Personally, I don’t think benzo’s are first line, and other medications such as SSRI’s or rarely TCA’s should be initiated and tapered to a good tolerable dose that controls the anxiety if you can tolerate them. Celexa is notorious for causing sexual dysfunction in women and men, as is paxil. Since lexapro is the active metabolite of celexa, I woudln’t suggest that one because of your reaction to the celexa. Talk to you md about initiating low dose zoloft or fluoxetine. If these don’t work, then the clonazepam you were on is probably your best bet. If low dose SSRI helps with the anxiety, you may be able to wean back off of the clonazepam once you titrate the dose and are properly controlled. This works in some and not others. I tend to shy away from antipsychotic use when not needed due to their extensive side effect profile. Even though seroquel is a less potent antipsychotic it usually has potent sedative effects. In some cases individuals can suffer from akathisia or increased restlessness, which sounds pretty annoying. Not only that but the proposed mechanisms for these newer atypical antipsychotics is so extensive that the side effects of this would in my opinion be worse than the celexa or paxil that you took. However, keep in mind that everyone is different and no one drug affects us all in the same way. Jeff Pharm.D 2006
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I’m a 49 year-old man who has been on rivotril (or another benzodiazepine) for 25 years for anxiety. I developed problems (at least I thought so) with my memory. After years of psychotherapy and "some" personal growth, I decided to try being drug-free. I was surprised I was able to come off the rivotril, and considered it quite a victory. Unfortunately my anxiety/panic has come back to haunt me. My shrink first wanted to put me on celexa. I tried it briefly, and had complete blockage of orgasm and weird feelings. I told him I didn’t want to have those sexual side effects. In addition, I had tried paxil for a few years a while back, and was never able to reduce the rivotril, so I figure the paxil wasn’t helping that much with my anxiety anyway. NOW he wants to try me on a small dose of seroquel. After reading about it, it scares me. Also, I don’t feel I am that "bad" a case, and what I’ve read, gives me the impression that this med is a last resort. I have a prescription for it, but I am afraid to take it. Any thoughts on my situation from you brave souls who, like me, have the challenge of moving ahead despite fear? Ron If Rivotril helped you and you now have a recurrence of the original anxiety symptoms I’d suggest you get back on it. It can indeed impair short-term memory but as you noticed it’s not *irreversible brain damage* but goes away when the med is stopped. For a garten variety anxiety disorder antipsychotics like Seroquel are not recommended and are certainly no first choice meds. IMO. Just my 2 pesos. Philip
I agree with Philip. I was given all sorts of new antipsychotics and anti-seizure meds for anxiety and they were much to powerful and had scary side effects. I’d go with the Rivotril over seroquel anyday. Stuff that messes with dopamine is risky. I know of a few people though who did well on seroquel. It seems like it a less horrible reputation than zyprexa, risperdal, etc. Good luck! Gabe
Response:
If Rivotril helped you and you now have a recurrence of the original anxiety symptoms I’d suggest you get back on it. It can indeed impair short-term memory but as you noticed it’s not *irreversible brain damage* but goes away when the med is stopped. For a garten variety anxiety disorder antipsychotics like Seroquel are not recommended and are certainly no first choice meds. IMO. Just my 2 pesos. Philip
Thanks for the opinion Philip. It is true my memory improved once I stopped the Rivotril. I think I would rather struggle with memory, however, than have the sexual side effects of an SSRI. I was just hoping for some other drug that acted more like Rivotril, without the memory effects. But what I read about seroquel frightened me. Does anyone know of another anxiolytic drug that might work like rivotril, but without the memory impairment? And in the low doses that my shrink was thinking of, could Seroquel be that drug? Thanks again, Ron
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, I’m a 49 year-old man who has been on rivotril (or another benzodiazepine) for 25 years for anxiety. I developed problems (at least I thought so) with my memory. After years of psychotherapy and "some" personal growth, I decided to try being drug-free. I was surprised I was able to come off the rivotril, and considered it quite a victory. Unfortunately my anxiety/panic has come back to haunt me. My shrink first wanted to put me on celexa. I tried it briefly, and had complete blockage of orgasm and weird feelings. I told him I didn’t want to have those sexual side effects. In addition, I had tried paxil for a few years a while back, and was never able to reduce the rivotril, so I figure the paxil wasn’t helping that much with my anxiety anyway. NOW he wants to try me on a small dose of seroquel. After reading about it, it scares me. Also, I don’t feel I am that "bad" a case, and what I’ve read, gives me the impression that this med is a last resort. I have a prescription for it, but I am afraid to take it. Any thoughts on my situation from you brave souls who, like me, have the challenge of moving ahead despite fear? Ron
If Rivotril helped you and you now have a recurrence of the original anxiety symptoms I’d suggest you get back on it. It can indeed impair short-term memory but as you noticed it’s not *irreversible brain damage* but goes away when the med is stopped. For a garten variety anxiety disorder antipsychotics like Seroquel are not recommended and are certainly no first choice meds. IMO. Just my 2 pesos. Philip
Response:
Hi, I’m a 49 year-old man who has been on rivotril (or another benzodiazepine) for 25 years for anxiety. I developed problems (at least I thought so) with my memory. After years of psychotherapy and "some" personal growth, I decided to try being drug-free. I was surprised I was able to come off the rivotril, and considered it quite a victory. Unfortunately my anxiety/panic has come back to haunt me. My shrink first wanted to put me on celexa. I tried it briefly, and had complete blockage of orgasm and weird feelings. I told him I didn’t want to have those sexual side effects. In addition, I had tried paxil for a few years a while back, and was never able to reduce the rivotril, so I figure the paxil wasn’t helping that much with my anxiety anyway. NOW he wants to try me on a small dose of seroquel. After reading about it, it scares me. Also, I don’t feel I am that "bad" a case, and what I’ve read, gives me the impression that this med is a last resort. I have a prescription for it, but I am afraid to take it. Any thoughts on my situation from you brave souls who, like me, have the challenge of moving ahead despite fear? Ron
