coming off olanzapine and epilem

Hi muhummad

What is your dose of olanzapine (m.g)8 years?How did you taper.when did you stop ?How is your sleep now?how many hours are you sleeping every night ?how is your sleep quality?Are you experiencing excessive dreams?

how long did it take you for your sleep to come back to normal?  Did you take any meds or sleeping pills to assist you?  The insomnia for me has been so difficult.  I stopped cold turkey from 10 mg of zyprexa.

hi,

I was on 10mg olanzapine,  they then moved me to the generic,  zyprexa, same dose.  When tapering i was shooting in the dark. After about 5 years I reduced it to 5mg. from there on it was a bit agonizing. I went cold turkey for 2 weeks, I slept,  or so I thought,  but my mind was awake. my partner told me that I used to sit up straight and look around and then lay back down. I had no recall of that the next day. as well as talking about work in my sleep.

I then went between 5mg and 2.5mg for two years, until 2.5mg was suitable.

then again played between 2.5mg and 1.25mg for about 8 months. the last 4 months that I was on 1.25mg I used to increase it to 2.5mg if I felt that my mind was working overtime. eventually just stopped cold turkey 2016 November and haven't had a pill since. When i did stop zyprexa, i was also using a herbal alternative for anxiety and sleep.

I was also initially on prozac as well twice a day

I haven't had better sleep now than I did in the past 8 years. my sleeping patterns aren't regular, like all people. but I can function on 5-8 hours of sleep comfortably now. Also I no longer experience that zombie state for the first half of my day. my memory, concentration and overall learning capabilities along with energy levels and state of mind and thought have gradually but distinctly improved.

dreams wise,  while on the tablets I had little or no dreams whatsoever. now I dream a more regularly,  this also helps with my rest. before,  I'd wake up the next day not really knowing if I'd really slept.

Hi kate,

I also tried cold turkey from 10mg, have to taper. I did i read up on the net about how pharmaceutical companies advise tapering off. They say 10% every 6 months. Although i only found this out after i stopped. In my opinion and experience when it comes to tapering its all about the individual. Its almost the same as when they put you on meds, they experiment with the dose to get it right. Now you just have to experiment on how much to decrease it for yourself.

Till now i have a bit of troubles sleeping but have learned to remedy it with alternatives, like music, reading a book, i've read that the mind cannot just turn off as well. so an hour before bed dim the lights in the room, set the mood to sleep. An hour before i sleep i lay down on my couch, dim the lights and listen to soft music or audio.