Robin Williams
12 2018-02-13 by cispanda
He was prescribed seroquel 7 days before he killed himself. A drug known to cause suicides (the last thing he looked on his tablet by his bed was drug side effects). I could speculate that might have something to do with it but we will never really know.
A bottle of Seroquel prescribed to Williams on August 4th, just seven days prior to Williams’ suicide, was missing 8 pills. The Seroquel instructions advise to take one pill per day as needed.
Side effects associated with Seroquel include psychosis, paranoid reactions, delusions, depersonalization and suicide attempt.
42 comments
1 Fiveinchtaint11 2018-02-13
I think I took seroquel for a time about 9 years ago. From what I remember I did not like it.
1 waitingforatidalwave 2018-02-13
Could there be enough in his system after 7 days (assuming he took the prescribed dosage) to have that kind of effect? I've never taken that drug but others I have took a month or so to really get into my system and make any changes to how I was feeling, good or bad.
1 willo494 2018-02-13
No
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
It's in your system after the first dose. It has a a half life of around 6 hours.
1 GMPollock24 2018-02-13
1-6 weeks to reach full effects depending on the person.
1 n0eticsyntax 2018-02-13
Neuropharm major reporting in.
1- 6 weeks, notice that spread? The reason for that is because the effects vary greatly from patient to patient. If the patient already has a compromised liver or kidneys the full effects could easily hit them in a week or less.
1 GMPollock24 2018-02-13
Take an upvote from me.
Robin Williams had a history of alcohol & drug abuse. It could indeed have an effect on him earlier than the listed 4-6 weeks.
I just wanted to point out that the 1.5 hours isn't accurate for the full effects of the drugs when taken for the first time.
1 n0eticsyntax 2018-02-13
Sure, and to be fair I've only skimmed the replies to the article and a bit of what OP has said throughout the thread; I could do to catch up on the conversation a bit more.
That being said, I saw a subject that I can confidently comment on and did so. Your comment about his history of drug and alcohol abuse is what lead me to this line of thinking as well. That and personal experience with a few buddies in the Army, alcohol and seroquel. Nasty stuff on it's own, even worse when you combine it with alcohol (and an alcoholics damaged filtration system)
1 brock_lee 2018-02-13
What's the conspiracy?
1 waitingforatidalwave 2018-02-13
That the drug might have helped persuade him to kill himself by either enhancing or causing suicidal thoughts
1 brock_lee 2018-02-13
Are acknowledged potential side effects a conspiracy?
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
If his wife had just left him 7 days before it would have been brought up and have been huge news in that story. But the glaring issue of the initiation of a drug known to cause suicides wasn't.
Mainstream media get's a lot of money for advertising from pharmaceutical companies so when yet another suicide/homicide happens caused by these drugs it's not mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpinCRaAQOk
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117410
"The manufacturer of the nation's second-best-selling anti-depressant must pay $8 million to the relatives of a man who killed himself and three others after taking the drug Paxil, jurors said."
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/antidepressants-side-effects-psychosis-nice-terror-attack-german-wings-pilot-extremism-terrorism-a7191566.html
"Just two years after Prozac came onto the market, a 48-year-old man, Joseph Wesbecker, went into his workplace with a gun, killing eight and injuring 12 before killing himself. The drug company, Eli Lilly, paid vast amounts of money to the families of victims on condition they keep quiet. A few years later there were 170 claims against Eli Lilly from people who claimed similar instances of violence and suicide."
1 brock_lee 2018-02-13
Then why wasn't this information the thrust of your post, when all you did was mention Robin Williams and force us to drag it out of you?
1 OHyeaaah97 2018-02-13
Cuz ur stupid
1 willo494 2018-02-13
7 days is in no way long enough for the drug to be in your system.
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
the drug is in your system after the first dose..
1 willo494 2018-02-13
Lol no.. it takes between 6-8 weeks for those type of drugs to take effect
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
No It's in your system after the first dose. It has a a half life of around 6 hours.
1 willo494 2018-02-13
It's literally the first search result when you type in the question on google. I was wrong by 1 week.
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
"Quetiapine fumarate is rapidly absorbed after oral administration, reaching peak plasma concentrations in 1.5 hours."
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2004/20639se1-017,016_seroquel_lbl.pdf
1 willo494 2018-02-13
Yes. After it's in your system.
https://www.headmeds.org.uk/medications/20-quetiapine/use_and_action
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
"Quetiapine fumarate is rapidly absorbed after oral administration, reaching peak plasma concentrations in 1.5 hours."
1 willo494 2018-02-13
You can't argue with stupid. You're right I'm wrong. But anyone else reading this have a look
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
"7 days is in no way long enough for the drug to be in your system."
Quetiapine fumarate is rapidly absorbed after oral administration, reaching peak plasma concentrations in 1.5 hours.
mean terminal half-life of about 6 hours
1 willo494 2018-02-13
Repeating yourself doesn't make it any more true. You don't understand what you're reading
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
you're an idiot.
1 willo494 2018-02-13
I must be to keep arguing with you. You're embarrassing yourself because you don't understand what you're reading
1 GMPollock24 2018-02-13
That says 4-6 weeks but could be in full effect for some in just 1 week. Depends on the person it seems.
1 suza727 2018-02-13
Correct. I don't support this theory because Williams was a known manic depressive who was supposedly diagnosed with Parkinsons (?) shortly before his suicide.
But, Seroquel isn't like an SSRI, you can feel it immediately. Or at least I could.
1 Imsomniland 2018-02-13
You clearly have never taken anti-depressants before
1 haveyouseenmymarble 2018-02-13
You seem to be confusing something here. The drugs are in your system immediately, but your body tends to take several days to weeks to adjust its own chemical balances in such a way that the interaction produces the desired effects.
I have plenty of experience with opioids and anti-depressant drugs, and it's virtually always the same deal. You have medium to severe side-effects after about half a day, lasting for about a week or so when your body begins to adjust and compensate for some of the side effects.
So in my experience, it's very likely that Robin had a hell of a shitty week due to side effects and he, unfortunately, broke before his body and mind could adjust to the medication.
1 imightgobloww 2018-02-13
I have chronic insomnia and Seroquel really helps me to sleep. I take a pretty smal dose and haven't suffered in the way of side effects.
1 dystopian_love 2018-02-13
Ever try cannabis?
1 imightgobloww 2018-02-13
Yeah me and weed just don't on. I suffer with anxiety and it makes it ten times worse... Funny coz I love shrooms.
1 dystopian_love 2018-02-13
Haha yeah I get that. With all the new products being made, I would suggest trying CBD oil. They remove the THC part so it's all pain relief with none of the anxiety. But to each, their own.
1 imightgobloww 2018-02-13
Thanks ! I'll look into it!!
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
antipsychotics are some of the most harmful and damaging drugs in medicine. I really hope you were informed by the prescriber about this and you should research.
1 imightgobloww 2018-02-13
Yeah but I sleep soundly every night.
1 cispanda 2018-02-13
These drugs (antipsychotics) are tranquillisers and take decades off peoples lives with the side effects. You are not different from the majority of humans. These class of drugs are horrendous on the human organism.
No doctor should be prescribing them for insomnia.
1 carneyratchet 2018-02-13
I have never seen seroquel activate a bipolar. Now throw a ssri or amphetamine on a bipolar whose mood is uncapped with a mood stabilizer, that is disaster after the first dose. Atypical antipsychotics need weeks to build up in the fat cells until it finally saturates the brain (which is mostly fat) to see the eps and pseudoparkins.
1 Upupabove 2018-02-13
That's so sad
1 willo494 2018-02-13
Yes. After it's in your system.
https://www.headmeds.org.uk/medications/20-quetiapine/use_and_action