4th Seroquel Update - Feeling Poor + reflecting on the insidious side effects of 400mg quetiapine for 22 years

@seroquel My head hurts again today and I don't feel like speaking with anyone face to face, I found out that quetiapine tapering can affect the speech part of the brain aswell. (Aphasia) I've had this a few times since reducing to 100 because I did it too quickly I feel like I need to take a step back from work I'm caring for my elderly parents as well. if I can reduce my stress levels I think this would help a lot with my tapering journey as stress makes my withdrawal symptoms much worse. The good things about tapering though is that my side effects are slowly reducing ☺️ If I need the bathroom in the night I can just get immediately out of bed ☺️and not be stuck to the mattress for 15 minutes before my body can physically move. If there was a fire in the night I would be able to get out now. I can also get straight out of bed in the morning and I don't need several cups of coffee to wake me up for work ☺️ I can breathe through my nose ☺️ I don't need to use a decongestant every night which is bad for your health. I don't get a dry mouth and tongue. But I am having to train myself to breathe through my nose again during the day as well as night time. Which means no more sinus headaches ☺️ I can swallow at night time ☺️ although sometimes I still struggle with food and need to make sure I chew well first and I found exercises to strengthen the muscles in my throat I can dream and I can feel properly relaxed in the morning and rested like my normal self ☺️, not like a forced sedation My tongue is slowly returning to a normal size ☺️ I still have a scalloped tongue but I can see my taste buds again and my tongue is very slowly starting to feel more comfortable in my mouth My chesty cough which was so bad it felt like I was going to cough out blood is also slowly improving ☺️ I didn't think this was related but the improvement indicates otherwise. The cough started during covid and I thought it was related to breathing in my own condensation from wearing a facemask a lot. I hope that as I taper more my lungs will clear completely I don't bruise easily anymore ☺️ hopefully this means my immune system is improving but I won't know until a blood test checks my white blood cells. Which I think are in the lymphatic system I can walk in the sunshine and exercise without getting headaches ☺️ my temperature dysregulation is slowly recovering. My body sweats to cool down now, no sweat during exercise or hot weather on 400mg. My cheeks don't burn up during the day so much that I need to drink cold water to cool down, this has almost stopped. I can move at my normal speed ☺️ which is quite fast. The Parkinson's like effect from quetiapine is almost gone I don't have a long green tint effect on my eyes from the sunshine ☺️ but I have seen a purple flash a couple of times which could be something to do with my CNS recovering, I have had my eyes checked this year and the photo was healthy. My eyesight gets blurry in the evenings ☺️ My eyebrows are growing back ☺️ which could indicate my thyroid is feeling better and I don't need to take iodine as much anymore. My hair is thicker ☺️ I don't have tachycardia anymore ☺️ no more irregular thumping heart, although my heart rate is fast about 13bpm too fast at the gym but hopefully if I keep going I'll be able to recover my heart strength. No tapering flutters for a good while either ☺️ I still have anhedonia and it's difficult to be motivated and to complete things 😞 I still get a stress rash 😞 which may well be histamine related. Quetiapine affects my histamine I think I might have bile secretion problems but I'm keeping an eye on it and if it persists or gets worse I'll go to the docs 😞 I'm going to try dandelion and rocket to help recover But I wouldn't be surprised if quetiapine has done some damage to my body, heart or liver potentially. Hopefully I can reverse it if it's not too late. They're supposed to check every year, Ive had an ECG once in 22 years So although my head hurts today, I don't feel like doing anything or speaking to anyone directly, it's made me very happy to see that I'm doing much better than I was when I was suffering all that time on 400mg of Quetiapine and believing that I had to take it and believing that I would have psychosis and bipolar if I didn't take it.☺️ I don't need it ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️ I didn't need it I don't have any suicidal thoughts, anxiety, bipolar or psychosis ☺️ and yet I occasionally experienced all of this on 400 mg quetiapine 😞 It didn't work for me. The side effects got so bad, I decided to chance it, thinking I would increase my dose if I couldn't cope. BUT I don't need to, even I still can't believe that I'm not ill, like I believed I was. I just need to make sure I look after myself physically and mentally in the future, and be true to myself Thank you to everyone that I've met this year online that has guided me to this safe place where I can take this journey off quetiapine even though it could be 3 years, at least there's light at the end of the tunnel, without this information I would be very ill. Thank you for letting me know I'm not alone 🫂 🤗