Olanzapine withdrawal ride from hell
Posted , 11 users are following.
1 year ago I had a hospital admission from being majorly depressed. As well as being put on an anti-depressant they also threw in Olanzapine which I continued to strongly question the psyche doctor over the next year as I didnt feel myself at all 2 months ago I decided to stop taking it Within 48hrs I felt a profound difference having clearer thinking but then came absolutely awful physical withdrawal symptons and following that really bad mental disturbance with terrible anxiety/shakes and now worst/frightening of all is I feel by how Im functioning that theres been some sort of damage to my brain but one thing for sure Im going to make someone accountable for whats happened to me
2 likes, 85 replies
margaret69208 karogers
Posted
karogers margaret69208
Posted
Hello Margaret
Oh my goodness! It sounds absolutely hell for you!
What are the Doctors saying is causing your severe symptons?
As for myself the only ongoing problem Im having is severe sleep disturbance with very distressing dreams "every" night. I have woken up crying 4 times and most mornings I feel quite tearful. I really dont know whats going on. Could it be stopping Olanzepine cold turkey like I did has altered something in my brain!
Its a lethal drug causing all sorts of chaos!
Feeling quite fluey today so have bought myself high potency vitamin C and will head home to rest once I leave the library. My father who is 85 living in Christchurch (my hometown) South Island is extremely ill in hospital with his heart. I feel I should go down and support my Mum so am about to look at flights I really hope you get some relief from you pain soon.
Continue to keep in touch ok.
Warm regards
Kerry
margaret69208 karogers
Posted
karogers margaret69208
Posted
HI Margaret
As we both know all this suffering because of lethal Olanzepine!
I sent u a private a message with my email address after asking the sites support team how to Hve u received it? Maybe u have to click on the white envelope icon beside yr user name or mine to access it. You can send a private message by clicking the white envelope icon beside my user name
Have a go! I can no longer sit quietly about the misuse of these psychiatric harmful drugs and am making it my mission to make these health professionals sit up and listen! I'm horrified by what u and others have been through and shared with me!
Hope u can access my private message so then u will have my email
Warm regards
Kerry
margaret69208 karogers
Posted
karogers margaret69208
Posted
HI Margaret
You have been getting my messages? I ask because you haven't mentioned about me telling u I had managed to send u a private message which gives you my email so have to got that message?
Am happy to hear u have toughed the withdrawal process out Its a slow hard process! I havnt been feeling very well this week and not sure whether it's still lingering withdrawal symptoms from Olanzepine or side effects from tapering off my antidepressant
So r u still forging ahead with taking the medical profession to court?
I'm still proceeding with my complaint
Hoping things continue to improve for you! Warm regards
Kerry
bruce47310 karogers
Posted
I am the patient here, but I am ignored and they listen only to my wife, who is NOT on my side.
bruce47310 karogers
Posted
Okay,
I always tell the truth so please don't be offended.
This thread has degenerated into Margaret and Kerry exchanging essentially private information in public - you guys should PM each other. I have made more than one comment on this thread, each has been ignored.
Therefore I am unfollowing this thread.
I should say once again that there is nothing like this forum in New Zealand, which is why we end up here.
New Zealand is still (essentially) a British colony - God save the Queen!
karogers bruce47310
Posted
I sincerely apologize for somehow missing yr comments Definitely not intentional for not replying Its difficult to follow when on my smartphone I now share info with Margaret privately after having to request advice on how to do so.
Anyway wishing u well :-)
tal64919 karogers
Posted
Hi I'm also on zyprexa and i want to come off it.A good idea is to cut back very slowly.You can use sandpaper to make the tablets smaller and this way you can cut back at a slower rate and hopefully have less withdrawals.Good luck
grace00581 karogers
Posted
Restarting Sertraline/Successful Olanzapine Withdrawal
I’m 33, female and suffer from major depression, I have been on sertraline 50mg and gabapentin 2400mg for about 3 years now. I got a new therapist and she decided to switch me to fluoxetine 25mg and Olanzapine 10mg as an “add on” told me it would help my irritability and work well with fluoxetine. So I’ve taken them for about a month but I stopped taking Olanzapine because I’ve read some horrible stories and it didn’t even make sense to take an antipsychotic in the first place so I took it for about 2 weeks and stopped and didn’t get any withdrawals. Anyways I’ve gone through hell and back this winter long story short I overdosed on codeine phosphate because my root canal tooth was hurting I know how insanely stupid of me I took too many of them at work as a painkiller ended up in ER and poison center got out and decided to just stop taking all of my meds because I’ve been thinking about marriage and pregnancy for a while and just thought it was time to be medication free I even called and asked my doctor she told me oh ok yeah go ahead and stop you should be fine so I did WRONG I was sooooo wrong and that’s how my hell started I couldn’t sleep my heart started racing and beating hard and I just knew something was wrong plus I was sick with a cold and I’ve decided to go to a hospital and when I was admitted my heart rate was 115-120 and I had high fever anyways I stayed there for 10 days i kept hoping the withdrawals would get better but no it got worse day by day I was beyooooond miserable and suicidal and the most horrible thing was that I couldn’t sleep I called my therapist she told me I have to take Olanzapine otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sleep at all so I did very reluctantly as I was dying to sleep and on the 12th day I just knew I couldn’t do it anymore and I started taking my sertraline again and my therapist upped my dose to 100mg fast forward a month later I got back to normal thank you God!!
Now my nightmare with Olanzapine: By this time I’ve had been taking it 10mg for 2 months and I’ve decided to just stop taking it as it was making me into a zombie and I started getting these thoughts of suicidal ideations and I had gained like 7 pounds and I started to feel hopeless just didn’t care at all and I knew that was not me so I thought I could just go cold turkey as it was just an “add on” anyways WRONG again first 3 days were ok 4th day I couldn’t sleep at all and woke up with my heart palpitating and this excruciating anxiety my chest felt like it was burning and I couldn’t breathe so I went back on it saying ok im gonna wean off of it this time so I took 10mg for 7 week 5mg for 2 weeks and 2.5mg for 4 days and of course when all hell was breaking loose I ran out it was the holidays and my doctor was out of town I had some Seroquel 50mg I took 12.5 for 3 days but then didn’t want to get hooked on that either so I called my doctor she gave me a script for Olanzapine but something just told me to stick it out and not to take it ever again so i told my doctor I don’t want to take any antipsychotics and that I just need something to help me sleep she gave me phenobarbital I took 2 of them for 3 days and didn’t want to get hooked on that either and then switched to Benadryl it seemed to help but it gave me maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep the most the first week was the worst almost no sleep then heart pounding and anxiety in the morning I have never been sooooooo miserable and in agony in my whole life I was sweating like hell on the 4th day twitching while I was laying down not being able to eat almost at all and then the next week came the anxiety and heart pounding I just kept praying and praying and on the 12th day I went to a psychiatric clinic there this doctor pretty much told me that I should go back to taking Olanzapine and that Olanzapine doesn’t and shouldn’t cause any withdrawals I wanted to slap the s**t out of her excuse my language so I pretty much went home and never looked back but honestly I almost gave up I almost went to get those damn pills but I said to myself I’ve come this far and to just go back???!!!no so I kept on praying and I got some melatonin 5mg I took that with this anxiety reducer medication called Adaptol it did help me and one good thing that came out of that doctor’s mouth was to take my sertraline before bed that helped alooooot it almost stopped the horrible anxiety and heart palpitation upon awakening the next day so I went on like this for a month with 3 4 hours of very light sleep and fast forward to now after over 2 months and a week later im ECSTATIC to say im almost back to normal!!!!im sleeping again PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!slowly but surely I started to get my sleep back and my body started to readjust thank you GOD!!!i’ve learned soooooo much throughout this hell not to get all religious but im a Christian and without a doubt the only thing that gave me strength and hope to go on was my faith in God without him I would’ve been dead by now when I was at the hospital all I could think about was how to end this all painlessly without causing any burdens to my family how? But there IS hope guys it IS possible to get off this horrible med!!!I would like to give you these following tips from my personal experience:
Do not ever go cold turkey on any psychiatric meds wean off slowly and once you start to get the withdrawals like insomnia and anxiety get some sleeping pills and take your other meds like antidepressants before sleep it will help your morning anxiety. Gabapentin 600mg helped me aloooooooot throughout this hell I wouldn’t have been able to go to work or even function without it. Now I take sertraline 50 in the am and 50 in pm and 1200mg gabapentin 600mgx2day and my sleep is almost normal but I do wake up at nights but that’s ok im sure it will disappear with even more time but one thing ive noticed is that Im unable to sleep if I eat a lot of food before bed especially if I eat meat so try not to eat much past 6 or 8.
So this is my story dear ones I shared it in hopes of helping someone somewhere going through the same thing. I believe everything happens for a reason I’ve been through hell and back but you’d be surprised how much a withdrawal will humble you and make you think about the wrongs in your life and get closer to God and repent I’ve done a whole lot of it!!!!Anyways I wish each and every one you a successful recovery from the bottom of my heart!!!TRUST me its POSSIBLE!!!time is key!!!time does heal it all but in the mean time you need help like your antidepressant or sleeping pills etc and most of all have faith reject those thoughts of what if I will never sleep again what if I will never get back to normal again what if what if!!!!you will NOT be stuck with this med forever you WILL sleep again!!!!your body WILL recover!!!!May God bless you and help you all!!!
karogers grace00581
Posted
HI there
Well first I will commend you for hanging in there.....in through that he'll! Just amother horror story about Olanzapine! It makes my blood boil! I posted my own horror story late last year about my bad experience of withdrawal symptoms were like going cold turkey I chose that drastic option only because the Doctors weren't listening to me when I repeatedly told them I didn't feel at all myself
My physical and mental health was thrown into chaos I ended up at Accident and Emergency quite a few times Thank God that's all behind me now! And amazingly I'm now being considered for a role as a Consumer Consultant in Mental Health as I wrote up a questionnaire for Consumers representing Medication Management It's a huge issue and I intend to speak up strongly with the caring of fellow consumers!
That drug should be banned! These professionals just don't know enough or don't want to know the damage it does!
Anyway hope u continue to feel well!
DrNoIdea007 grace00581
Posted
Hi, how long were you on Olanzapine? When my son tapered off it (after 3 years) he got better and better each time we lowered dose. He got to 0.10ml and then we stopped completely. His first symptoms didn't appear for about 6 weeks. Starting with a touch of anxiety and THEN NO SLEEP for nearly 2 weeks. His anxiety got worse, he starting leaving home and walking miles and all on NO SLEEP. He then started getting very violent, followed by hallucinations. Mind you, he never had any hallucinations or psychotic episodes before taking Olanzapine. Doctors said it would have always been 'underlying' as they deemed him a bit manic - and hence why started on Olanzapine. All just one Drs opinion "I see some mania in his eyes!"
Long story short - ended up in ED - then adult psych ward - medicated on multiple drugs in hospital to try and make him sleep - put on 20mg of Olanzapine (went absolutely wild in hospital after this quite sudden increase) and eventually sent home. It took nearly 3 months to stabilise him. Mind you, Drs completely ignored our pleas in regards to him having adverse reactions to high doses and sudden increases of meds.
He's on 7.5mg now and we'd like to think, as he's still young (18), that we can eventually get him off completely. We know his brain is still growing and hopefully this may help. Your story has given me some hope. I know now that the insomnia is what started his downward spiral after stopping the first time. Any 'normal' person will go crazy after no sleep after only a couple of days, let alone weeks!
Thank you for your advice.
karogers DrNoIdea007
Posted
Hello
I've just read yr reply to Grace!
I think u replied to my post last year on "My ride from Hell from stopping Olanzapine" I was struck with the worst anxiety body temperature fluctuations terrible nausea and my sleep was seriously disturbed for a long time but no way was I taking any amount of that drug again despite the Doctors suggesting I did. They just don't listen! That drug totally altered me! It was a nightmare but Thank God I had the strength to follow my gut instincts that it was causing so many problems to my physical and mental health. I hope your son slowly and surely gets better! :-)
grace00581 DrNoIdea007
Posted
Hello there, im so sorry to hear that about your son, i have been on Olanzapine 10mg for 2 months. Did they prescribe it to your son for depression or mania?my new doctor put me on it as an "add on" with fluoxetine. Yes i do believe by tapering down little by little he will be able to come off it. However since your son has been on it for 3 years it might take him a longer time to recover it took me over 2 months to recover and be able to sleep again but im not 100% back to normal yet as i've mentioned if i have a heavy meal i almost cant sleep later that night so i'm managing my diet also. I think if your son is on 7.5mg you guys should follow the 10% reduction rule and once he's completely off of it get some sleeping pills and melatonin 10mg.
I completely understand how you feel these doctors just DO NOT care and DO NOT have any IDEA how bad the withdrawals are!!!when i saw that psych doctor i was on my day 12 of no olanzapine and almost no sleep she told me that i will start to get hallucinations and that i should be under supervision and that i should get admitted i asked her right away will you try to put me back on Olanzapine or any type of psych med if i continue to not sleep she told me "well we'll have to take the necessary measures" which meant YES whether you like it or not! they might've even injected me with it if i refused to take it I could just tell!!! So i pretty much understood her VERY well i said ok i'll talk to my family and think about it and i NEVER looked back THANK GOD i never did!!!!and it just breaks my heart to hear they did that to your son!Olanzapine turned me into a zombie who didnt care about life who just kept eating eating and eating and never feeling full and started to give me thoughts of suicide which was the most scary thing!
I can certainly understand what your son was going through its complete HELL!what helped me alot was reading all those horror stories while i was going through withdrawals because i understood what was happening to me!had i not known i would've thought i was going crazy!so i think that its very important to prepare your son mentally as you taper down let him know that its OK that he's unable to sleep well and that he will have insomnia, anxiety, sweating, body temperature high and low every 20min twitching and etc(all of this has happened to me). Time is key i've read that the neurotransmitters in our brains need time to readjust which was true.
Anyways im sorry for my late response i just hope and pray your son gets off this med and you are right he is very young and maybe his body will be able to readjust faster if not then i pray that God gives him the strength endurance and hope to go through that hell because he sure did help me!Withdrawal is the most horrific part during this time please make sure to monitor him stay close to him because every person is different and i know that i've thought about suicide more than once during that time so please be very careful and gentle with him. I dont know if your son is on other meds I was on sertraline and gabapentin during that time so they helped me greatly.
If you have other questions do not hesitate to ask. I'll keep your son in my prayers and im really proud of how much you care about your son!!!May God bless you all!
grace00581 karogers
Posted
Hello there Kerry,
I know right thank God the worst part is over!!!I'm so glad to hear about the consultant position!someone who ACTUALLY took these awful pills and been through the withdrawal hell most def should speak up!I know exactly how you feel I honestly had soooooo much rage and anger towards that new doctor who prescribed me Olanzapine!it's an antipsychotic it ONLY should be prescribed for schizophrenia when necessary NOT for depression EVER!!!this damn thing caused me so much pain and agony and even though I'm able to sleep now I still haven't come out of this horriffic shock fully just yet...i know I will as time goes by for now I'm just grateful to be able to sleep and not have anxiety in the morning...anyways I really hope you get that position so that these doctors would get some real knowledge about what's this horrible med is doing to people!I honestly almost hated the doctor who prescribed me Olanzapine but I forgave her as I could tell she didn't mean to harm me she was just very ignorant regarding these antipsychotics I told her this should never be prescribed for depression and that she should be very careful with other patients in the future she said she will strongly take it into consideration and I also told that psych doctor at the clinic that I will never agree with her "opinion" that Olanzapine shouldn't and doesn't cause any withdrawals!I told her I'm GOING through it and there's thousands of ppl throughout the entire world going through it i told her to do some research!she still kept saying I've never heard about it and that only side effect she knows is weight gain i told her no s**t I've gained 7 pounds in just 2 months!!!she treated me as if I was some vain person who was worried about getting fat i told her I don't mind the weight gain that much but these awful thoughts and just feelings of hopelessness were taking over me and i was turning into someone completely different...she didn't seem to care at all she told me well I think it has to do with something else I kinda went off on her asked her WHAT else could it be?just 2 months ago I was fine I was myself and ever since I started taking Olanzapine I've been feeling that way!she still was defending her opinion at that point I was just like ok it's useless speaking to this person I told her what I had to say... left and never looked back...
i really hope you get the position, if we can help just one person make the right decision about taking Olanzapine then the hell we went through would be worth it to some extent...try not to put too much pressure on yourself though dear...
I wish you all the best Kerry and I hope you continue to feel better and better🤗🤗🤗
Sincerely,
Grace
karogers grace00581
Posted
Hello Grace
I really appreciate your response! :-) And I really feel how strongly like me you think about this drug from living he'll experience! The more I talk about it and hear many other stories about misuse of medication it makes me more determined to make these professionals listen! They don't know it all!
Wishing you future good health! :-)