Coming off Olanzapine

dear markuk

my experience of olanzapine is very similar to yours. but my worse nightmare is trying to come off it. its taken me months of very distressing anxiety symptoms every time i reduce (once a fortnight). however, at night when i suffer the most i drink a glass of cider which helps me thru and calms me down. i'm currently on the tiniest dose of 0.5mg at night, so NEARLY there. another month should see me off it entirely. my advise to anyone even considering reducing is to do it extremely slowly. and wait till your settled on the lower dose a couple of weeks before reducing again. i believe it's called \"discontinuation syndrome\" and has a high incidence coming off olanzapine and is not true withdrawal symptoms.

My partner suffers from bipolar. He has been on olanzapine for a year and similar to markuk he has missed a year of his life and a year of his children growing up. Whilst on the drug I can only discribe him as being like a zombie and just breathing and not living. He was a slim, intelligent Telecoms engineer but whilst on olanzapine he is too druged up to do anything and spent most of his time asleep. He is carrying so much extra weight it is hard for him to function. He is very determined to make himself and his family happy and has joined a gym, stopped taking the tablet and stopped smoking. I don't recomend drinking to anyone in similar positions as I think it just prolongs the agony and is a mask rather than a cure. Healthy eating and lifestyle is hopefully what is going to help my boyfriend live a long and happy life. I'm very proud of him because I think he's opting out of the easy option of being a vegetable (something that society wants). It is far easier for doctors to recommend these drugs as they drug up the patients so that they do not have to deal with them. Anyway, it's early days I'm keen to know how markuk got on being olanzapane free

I have been taking olanzapine for 5 years. To be honest, I had no symptoms, except possibly weight gain as a result. I have been slowly coming off it. My dose was 5 mg/ night. Coming off it was no problem. Almost like I wasn't even taking it. I have a minute amount to cut out and then I'm done with it. My doctor gave me 3-month periods of cutting back , eg. 1/2 tablet at a time, but I thought this was ridiculous to have to wait this long, so I speeded It up, and there were no symptoms at all because of the withdrawal of this drug, unless you want to count ... A better mood. It will be so nice to be drug free. I do think it was helpful when I was taking all of it regularly with sertraline, which I am in the middle of giving up too. So Good luck, everyone. I'm fed up taking pills.

I'm at a loss as to why my psych prescribed this for me. I am weaning off diazepam & zopiclone. I've had some serious bowel probs,(long story) now nearly resolved, have severe osteoarthritis, and I experience phantom limb pain due to below right knee amputation. I was prescribed Tramadol for my arthritis. It gave me anxiety hell. After 4-5 weeks, I weaned off over 2 weeks, then just stopped ct. Was quite happy with no anxiety. Then a dear friend suddenly turned nasty & insulting, harassing me with hurtful emails, all over money. This was the last straw, on top of all my health issues, & weaning off the 2 meds, which was causing some anxiety, but nothing major, a little down at times too Told my psych. She prescribed olanzapine She said it's non-addictive. I researched it, as I hadn't researched valium & zopiclone when put on those, and they caused many probs, (I was put on valium to supposedly help with my tinnitus, zopiclone as I'd had a bout of sleeping trouble, due to pain) so, after reading up on this olanzapine, I'm wondering what the heck is she doing to me? She'd told me zopiclone is non-addictive, when it's now found to highly so. I can vouch for that! Well, after reading as much as I could on olanzapine (zyprexa), there is no way I'm going to take this med. I am also on Mirtazapine 60mg, nortriptyline 10mg, zoloft 25mg, oxycontin 20mg, & 30mg, oxycodone hydrochloride (endone) 5-10mg prn, pandadeine forte, which is 30mg codeine with 500mg, paracetemol 4 daily, Gabapentin 1800mg, in divided doses daily. Also as stated above, diazepam 5mg 3-4 daily, zopiclone 7.5mg 2 daily, not nightly, (It's a sleep med) but daily. I want to get off all these brain, soul & mind destroying poisons, except perhaps gabapentin as phantom limb pains can be unbearable when you can't rub your leg, foot or toes etc. I no longer suffer depression so will wean off the 3 anti-deps next, then the painkillers, as they no longer work on y arthritis pain. I'm a great believer in Natural Therapies, and already my bowel probs are nearly resolved by taking Chinese herbs. All that needs to be done now, is to have my bowel prolapse operated on. I can now eat solids again, after 5 months of near starvation, & losing 16 kilos from lack of solid food,(but that's another story). Olanzapine is the issue here. Why would my psych prescribe this, when I am not bipolar, schizophrenic or manic/depressive? I'll never ever again mention I've been a little anxious or a bit down. I was referred to her 10 mths ago, to sort out my meds & start me on a weaning off valium plan (which she didn't do) and all she's done is prescribe more dangerous drugs such as seroquel to begin with. I weaned myself off that after 2 weeks of weirdness & nausea. Told her & she then prescribed sertraline 50mg. Too much, I felt so ill on that dose, but was a little depressed at the time so I cut the dose 25mg, as I wanted to trust her & give it a fair go Still on 25mg, but feel I could do without it. Next was the dreaded zopiclone & I trusted her again when she said it's non-addictive. I was having a little trouble sleeping, due to pain. Became addicted so fast that I began needing it during the day, as I was highly anxious when I was put on Tramadol. After weaning then stopping Tramadol, I do get a bit of anxiety if I don't take zopiclone, but can't wait to be off it. I DO NOT like drugs controlling me! Unfortunately, I find I still want zopiclone during the day. I'm down to 1 & a 1/2, but am prescribed 2 a day.

I WOULD NOT TOUCH OLANZAPINE WITH A TEN FOOT POLE! Not after reading the horror stories from people on this med. Thanks for 'listening'.