Coming off Olanzapine

Hiya everyone. Im back on olanzapine again after sucessfully getting off it for a few months lat year. I thought that was it, but then stopped sleeping completely and started to slip back into psychosis so I had to get on it or get hospitalsed again. I quickly went down to 5mg then 2.5mg afterwards which I seem stable on usually; but have tried twice this year to stop completely, but both times completely stopped sleeping again. I dont know if its withdrawl or my condition causing this sleeplessness. Has anyone got any idea how to get off these tablets and still sleep? Last time I tried cutting my 2.5mgs in half before coming off it but that wasnt enough and I stopped sleeping, but maybe I should take 3/4 then 1/2 then 1/4? any help would be apprecited, thanks... Also find it really hard to cut the tablets accurately, hs anyone got any tips? thanks

Good night,

I am writing in this forum because I need some help. I have been prescribed over the past 22 years by different psychiatrist numeous medications. I was never diagnosed with any mental disorder, but am a recovering alcoholic and addict; so they have argued that the following medications would help.

I have taken the following meds "to help me with my addiction", or so they say..

Seroquel - 800 mgs a day (for 4 years)

Wellbutrin - 500 mgs a day (5 years)

Lamictal - 400 mgs a day (4 years)

Lyrica - 200 mgs a day (2 years)

Valproic Acid (Epival) - 1500 mgs a day (7 years)

Olanzapine (Zyprexa) - 20 mgs a day (7 years)

I have also been given from Diacepam, to adderall, and Ritalin. 

As I told you, I abused benzo´s, oxy´s, coke and alcohol when I was in my teens and twenties...big time. I smoked weed on a daily basis, but that actually used to help me...it helped me relax, study, and socialize....so when the shrinks /therapists told me I had a real drug problem, and it would help me stop, i saw it as a solution. WELL MY LIFE HAS BEEN HELL. TAKING WELLBUTRIN AND SEROQUEL I had numerous manic episodes (not on "illegal drugs" ), heard voices, even got to the point of hurting myself. The dr´s solution was to take me off that, and put me on VALPROIC ACID AND OLANZAPINE....at first i felt good...CAUSE I WAS HIGH ALL THE TIME. I would wake up really drowzy (it felt kind of good), and was able to daze through the day....but did not crave coke or alcohol. I had many side effects that I was living with at the time, but never paid attention to... maybe the most important to me was "I could not "perform sexually" during the a.m., it actually took me like til 4 pm to "get started". As time went by, I started developing a serious problem around people...I GET EXTREMELY ANXIOUS AROUND MOST PEOPLE (except my wife, and maybe 2 or three other people), I am always in a terrible mood, I don´t concentrate, I get tingly sensations on my joints, sometimes i have panic attacks, sometimes my heart beats at a million per second, i get tunnel vision, i have excrutiating head aches,  bladder / stomach problems, I have really bad dreams, I have blurred vision, and chest pain.

The one person that has it worse than me is my wife, I love her with all my heart, and she goes through hell because of me, and in return I go through hell....it´s a effin circle. 

I really want to quit Olanzapine and Valproic Acid because it is making me miserable. I am bringing down my doseage and now take 500mgs of Valproic Acid and 5 mgs of Olanzapine at night...but want to get rid of it....

I have been reducing my dosage to 2.5 mgs of Olanzapine and 250 mgs of Valproic Acid for the past 3 days but am going through some serious hell. And the worst part of it, is I just read the composition of Olanzapine and it has Benzo´s.... (ONE SURE WAY FOR THE DR´S TO MAKE ME STOP MY ADDICTION HUH) (JUST SAW THE DOCUMENTARY "PRESCRIPTION THUGS" and the news today on CNN) IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW.

I need some advice, I really want to quit these hell drugs... I don´t know what to do....

I´ve been surfing the web, found articles on Magnesium deficiency (actually think that might be a problem), and am thinking of taking supplements; maybe try some other herbal stuff + excercise....

I´ve kind of always have missed also smoking an occasional Jay...haven´t done it in over 9 years, because they drilled my head so hard, and wouldn´t like to jeopardize my marriage. But at the end, I have been finding some interesting articles today. 

Please any comment is welcome

Bless you

 

I can mirror your sentiments entirely.

Drug should be banned I believe. I reckon I lost 2 years out of the past 3 - the depression was so severe I would get up, wash and rush, then sit about all day just breathing.

i was worse than suicidal as I had zero interest in anything , full stop.

good luck and good health,

I took olazipine for over 5 years for bi polor all it did was make me gain a hole bunch of water weight i was on 15mgs every night I quit cold turkey and had no problems that pill is no good

You are my looking glass mirror

I only suffered 3.;4 years of torment

Hi,

I wanted to share my story in the hopes it might help people or give them some hope.  

I have been on olaznapine for about 6 years now.  horrible side effects, i was really skinny before, now i gained 60 lbs, mostly around the belly.  terrribly unmotivated, couldnt wake up till the afternoon, out of it, etc.

i kind of needed olanz, though, but now things are better and I have started tapering off it for 10 months.

one thing that has really helped me is taking a chinese herb called Chen Pi, which is made from citrus peels.  i take some every morning, and it really helps me wake up earlier, like 9 am instead of noon. 

about a year ago I started to take lamotrigine and had a pretty good response to it, which really helped me in my decision to taper olanzapine. no real lamotrigine side effects yet.  seems the rash problem is mostly nonsense (i hope?)

i have been taking clonazapam, 0.5 mg (also called klonopin), its really great to smooth out the anxiety and and panic, especially with the tapering.  if you are on it, i highly recommend tapering olanzapine first, so you can use a little extra clonazapm to ease the panic you occasionally get.

Recently I also started taking a tablespoon or so of oat bran fiber in the morning.  this must have really helped the gut biome, boosting some good bacteria, because after i took it for a bit, my anxiety really calmed down and my mind was clearer and calmer. its hard for your stomach to adjust to it at first, but after I did it was great.

if i feel worn out or stressed out, some b-complex vitamins can help perk me up.

anyways, on to the taper.

I have been on 2.5 mg for a long time.  but it became really obvious i needed to get off.  i had knee problems due to extra weight.  i was out of it, high cholesterol etc.

I started by just breaking off tiny bits of the pill before I took it.  I got a digital scale called the gemini 20 from amazon.  it measures to a very small amount, but the accuracy can be off, sometimes it measures my pill at 2.45 mg, sometime 2.3 mg.  you need a completely flat surface, and usually need to adjust your calculations as to how off it is that day.

I went really really slowly.  at some point when I was down by like 15%, I had a night of real panic, where I felt like something was unspooling in my brain.  i took some extra clonazapam, and just waited it out. next day was fine.

after 10 months I am down to 1.4 mg.I am going extremely slowly as I am cautious.  its been a bit of a journey. sometimes in the morning I have dizzyness or some balance issues.I discovered that taking an electrolyte mix used for fitness solved the problem, atleast so far.  I use one called Electro mix, which is just a little satchel of electrolytes like potassium and magnesium you mix with water.  there are a lot of other brands, I used another one called nuun.  even gatorade, but it was too sweet for me. 

If I wake up dizzy I take a glass of electromix it and feel better pretty soon.

i went through a period  of a couple weeks where I just felt really exhausted everyday.  i went up on the dose and it stopped, then i went back down on the dose in a few days.  you might have to go up and down sometimes.  sometimes if I feel weird I might just take a full 2.5mg, then go back to the normal dose the next day.

for sleep, I am doing okay.  if I cant sleep i take a swig of vodka and it callms my mind and i drift off.  i use these things called blue light blockers - a type of glasses you can wear at night to help reset your circadian rhythym.  if i wear them starting at 9pm for a couple days it really sets my clock and i can fall asleep much earlier.  google it!

i also try to take my olanzapine around 9pm to peak in my system around 11, so i can sleep then.

dealing with this whole thing can be hard, and annoying.  i'm not sure if my side effects  from olaznapine have improved that much. im still fat, sometimes am a zombie till 2pm, have occasional diarrhea, etc. I'm hoping in the next couple months to increase my lamotrigine to 150 mg, and then lower my olanzapine to 1.25 mg (half my original dose), then keep it there a bit, see how I feel, then go down to 1 mg, and then see how it goes. it might take another year.  i actually dont plan to be truly and completely off this stuff for a long time.  i wouldnt mind having a tiny dose everyday as a prophylaxis long term.  unless i cant get skinny or still feel like a zombie.

To be honest, in comparison to all the ridiculous awful things that have happened to me in my health over the last few years, this taper is not that big a deal.  i would advise to go slowly though.  I am down about 40% from my inital dose, so we"ll see how things go from here, the hard part might be ahead!

I wrote all this because I want to help people who are struggling with this.  I hope this helps.  its a hard road,. if you are suffering, do what you can to help yourself and heal yourself.  I have been suffering with a lot of bad stuff around medication and my health for many years.  I have worked consistently over that time to help myself and heal myself.  some things seem like they accomplish very little, but over many years can build up to put you in a different, better place.  remember most of all, things can take a long time. be patient and kind to yourself.  dont force yourself. it can really take a long time to be healthy, and there may be roadblocks and setbacks along the way, but keep going, helping your self little by litte.

also one thing that sounds really simple and stupid, but does wonders for me, is doing just a little exercise every day. I just do 10 minutes on the treadmill at a moderate pace, just enough to get my heart pumping. i do this 3 or 4o times a week.  its such a small amount of exersize, but i makes a huge change in my mood, i feel a lot happier. if you cant do 10 mins, do 5, just do the tiniest amount, if makes a big impact.

blessings to all of you.