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  1. Years ago I had a problem, gas pain in the chest 24/7 and belching 24/7, I went to the gastroenterologist, from there to the neurologist and he sent me zyprexa, 3 months 2.5mg and one month 5mg, and I am going to start giving it up because I feel that it has deteriorated me cognitively and artistically, will I go back to how I was before? I'm very scared, I want to be able to be like before I took these pills, if I had known I would never have taken them, I'm sorry for my English but I'm Spanish, and I apologize if I'm in the wrong forum because it's the first post
  2. TLDR - Dr badly advised Zyprexa CT at 2.5 - Tried to reinstate Zyprexa after 1.5 months off. -Started to see improvement at .25 reinstatement dose -After 4 days, accidently up-dosed to 2.5 and had bad reaction -Tried to lower back to .25 but was still to activating from up-dose -Lowered dose to 1/8, no reaction but started to get sick with new withdrawal symptoms -Back up to .25 at dr order, but had a reaction (not as bad as the 2.5 dose), will things get better over time? -Don't know what to do now -Life feels ruined Hi everyone. As many of these stories go, I feel like my life has been crumbling, and it happened in such a short amount of time, and I possibly ruined any chance I had to salvage it forever. Back in 2020 I started a prescription of 10mg Dexedrine for ADHD. In January of 2021 I had a very stressful and traumatic life event happen that sent me into psychosis. I ended up coming out of it on my own, but continued to take the Dexedrine not knowing it could have been a contributing factor. December of 2021, continued stress from that same traumatic life even remerged and I entered back into psychosis but was this time hospitalized. I was given 10mg Zyprexa in hospital. Upon exiting the hospital my Dr quickly started to reduce the 10mg Zyprexa (I don't think we even went to 7.5 but can't remember) and by February I was on 5mg, March I was on 2.5 and by the last week of April I stopped CT, although I didn't realize it was a CT at the time being told it was the lowest dose and fine to stop . The obvious happened and I entered extreme withdrawals. I called Dr about a week later and told her about the extreme anxiety I was having and was prescribed Buspar. The very day I took it, the insomnia started. Called Dr again, she prescribed hydroxyzine as needed for insomnia and anxiety. Anxiety still increased to a 3 day panic attack from not sleeping. Went to urgent care and was prescribed klonopin to stop panic attack and helped some with sleep. I kept pushing through thinking things had to get better, but was extremely scared about becoming addicted to klonopin so took sparingly only after several days of hardly sleeping. The insomnia was brutal and destroyed me. Some night out the blue I would get 8 hours, and then days with very little. I do not do well mentally/physically with low sleep, I have always need TONS of sleep including naps to function so this was almost giving a new form trauma. After several weeks of suffering I found a FB group and this website about going back on and tapering off more slowly. I asked my dr to help reinstate and taper off, but she would not saying she did not have the capacity to do that, plus she said I was not diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar and so was not a medicine I needed to be prescribed. I literally begged to go back on thinking it was the only way to get my sleep back. I told her I would die if I did not go back on and get sleep, she said go to the hospital and hung up on me. Could not go to hospital as I have a daughter to take care of, so found a new Dr. She unfortunately also said I should of been fine to come off at 2.5. I told her about going back on an tapering off more slowly but was told "you can't do that, 2.5 is the lowest dose they make!" She gave me Mirtazapine instead. Took 3 doses for 3 different nights 3.75, 7.5, 15. None of which helped more than a few hours of sleep. At this point after reading this website about withdraws only improving by reinstating the original medicine I was scared to start a new medicine that might not even help, and seemed just as difficult to stop as the zyprexa. Dr then thought maybe the insomnia was caused by an adverse reaction to buspar after it started the first day I took it. Told me to stop CT and wait a few days to see if it helped. I did sleep for 8 hours one night a day after stopping but then could not sleep for 3 days. Called dr again and begged to go back on zyprexa. She finally agreed after we waited a few more days for buspar to get out of system. When I asked what dose to start the zyprexa with she was confused as she said 2.5 was the lowest dose. Decided to follow advise and wait a couple more days to see if it really was the buspar but ended up getting a horrific cold and reinstated zyprexa (after 1.5 months off) on my own without dr help (since she most likely would of had me just go back to 2.5) Started with .25 and actually started sleeping again for 4 days! But at this point my husband was over my struggles as it's now been over a month of hell and was pressuring me to get better by the end of the week (even though I had a legit cold, and know it takes time to stabilize). I got nervous about losing my family and thought I could try to increase a little from .25 to .5mg. Since I was sick my husband cut my pill, BUT not paying attention cut an old 5mg pill I still had in closet instead of the 2.5 giving me a full 2.5 dose. Ended up having an extreme bad reaction. Instead of calming me it made me crazy/manic/a touch akathia/ extreme stomach pains like and animal was trying to gnaw through it . Could not fall sleep but did eventually for 2 hours. Next night tried to go back down to .25 dose but same thing happened, just not AS bad, did not sleep and so after not sleeping the night before took a klonopin, and did sleep. Didn't take any medicine the next night since I was scared of the reactions (no sleep). Was considering stopping all together after reaction but tried 1/8 of dose the next night in the middle of the night when I could not sleep and did not have a reaction and even slept some. Tried 1/8 dose next night but did not sleep, no bad reaction to it but EXTREME anxiety over what this all means and what to do about dosing now. Had doctor appoint and this time brought my husband and mother along for support and explained everything that was going on. She seemed more on board this time with letting me reinstate at a small dose and was able to get a prescription for a liquid I got filled at a compounding pharmacy for .25 dose since I did sleep on that when I originally reinstated it. I was such a wreck from all the stress of trying to figure out right dose and feeling like my life was over (also I believe I started to experience new withdrawals from switching doses around and was starting to get very sick quickly) so at 6:30pm took .5 klonopin and then took the .25 dose. Ended up again having a small reaction after taking pill of slight panic/anxiety/akathia. Took an epson salt bath for 2 hours with some chamomile tea and actually calmed down to the point that I was actually sleepy and was able sleep all night long. Unsure how much of a role klonopin played in all that, but I imagine it must have helped. Where I find myself today. Dr said to give it time to work and see her next week. I am very concerned that our mistaken large up-dose made me hypersensitive to the medicine and will continue to have these reactions after taking it. My family of course does not understand any of this and thinks you can just take a pill and start to feel better, so that is adding to the stress. Once you become sensitive to a medicine like that, is it at all possible for your system to calm down and become stable again on it, or did we ruin that chance?? I feel like I finally figured it all all out, only it might be too little too late... my Dr finally on board agreeing to a small reinstatement at the lower dose, finding a compound pharmacy to do a liquid prescription, the plan to slowly taper off now, but worried I have ruined my chances. I feel now like I could not even stop taking the medicine without some sort of taper if I continue to have these type of reactions as I was already having new withdraw symptoms from just the week I played around with the doses. I wish I could back in time, and never took that accidental up-dose! I really felt at .25 since I was sleeping I could have stabilized and possibly salvaged my life. If I keep having these reactions I don't know what I will do. On the positive side, since the CT my stomach had been getting progressively worse, could not eat and suffering low bloodsugar drops, and since starting again is completely back to normal, so I am seeing some improvements to reinstating. I don't know if this is accurate but it feels like my body is in a battle. My CNS is clearly not happy what I have put it through and spazing out, but at the same time my brain is now already dependent on me being back the on medicine. Can my CNS eventually calm down and accept the .25 dose or did I loose my chance at a successful reinstatement for good?? Will giving it more time work like my dr said? Should I try to lower it some? I think the 1/8 dose was too low as I got withdraw going back down that low, even from such a short amount of time at the .25 and the accidental updose. Am I stuck on this medicine now not able to stop immediately and suffering ever time I take my dose needing a klonopin to counteract the medicine reaction for the rest of my taper? It's hard to think sometimes your life might be over from such a small mistake, so mentally this is destroying me.
  3. Hello! Just discovered this forum recently. It has been an eye opener in how to get off psychiatric medications. Wish I knew about this in the beginning! I have been struggling with anxiety since I was young. Anxiety use to be nothing to me and as an anxious person, it kept me focused and in the moment. I always exercise and try to eat healthy. Im 35 years old. In the last few years, my anxiety has become different. I can say it also has been a stressful last few years with life changes and feeling more weight on my shoulder. One time during late 2016, I experienced what may have been an anxiety or panic attack (sweating, heart racing, racing thoughts, feeling impending doom, etc), then just feeling unusual and uncomfortable being in different places, waking up suddenly gasping for air with my heart racing, and head pressures everyday. I went to a doctor and everything was normal. She said to try zoloft. Im not someone that likes taking medication everyday. So I rejected her offer to try zoloft. Afterwards, I saw a psychiatrist and from what I told her, she diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder. She wanted me on Klonopin and Lexapro. I also did not go through with the med recommendations. I thought with time and just keeping busy, these symptoms would go away. With time, I was sorta getting better. But I was still dealing with daily head pressures, waking up gasping for air, heart racing at night and being in places where there is alot of movement going on (big crowds). In 2018, I went to see a neurologist for the head pressures and anxiety. She prescribed me Elavil for two months. I thought that Elavil was not like the other medication types that were mentioned a year ago by my doctor and other psychiatrist. So I went ahead and tried Elavil at 10 mg everyday for two months. During those two months, I felt relief from daily head pressures but still was dealing with gasping for air at night and heart racing at times. My neurologist said its ok to stop Elavil after two months so I stopped it. I dont think I felt any withdrawals or any different after stopping Elavil. However, it wasnt until after about 3 months I stopped that things went totally off. It started with sleep. One night, i couldnt fall asleep and didnt have that strong feeling of tiredness or deep sleep that I usually do. My anxiety was heightened because of the fear of not sleeping and not having that feeling of deep sleep. However, I did have nights afterwards where I could sleep but only a few hours but I wasnt able to do a full 8 hrs. So I guess I had fragmented sleep following that night. I believe my anxiety went to another level. Watching tv felt strange, I had ringing in my ears, and my heart would race when I was driving at times on the road. After work one time, I became desperate for sleeping normal again that i saw a different psychiatrist. He diagnosed me as bipolar and put me on zyprexa (5 mg) and klonopin (0.50mg) to begin with. I told him I wasnt bipolar and just had anxiety issues. Anyways, I went ahead and took the zyprexa and was able to get alot of sleep on it. After a month on zyprexa, I tried stopping it abruptly. Bad choice. I could sleep for days and my anxiety got so bad. I ended up back on zyprexa and taking klonopin daily. In the start of 2019, I switched psychiatrists and went to another one thinking I can get off the meds and be back to my normal self. This new psychiatrist diagnosed me with GAD and panic disorder. She said I was on the wrong meds and to try a third med lexapro on top of the other two meds zyprexa and klonopin. I did lexapro for a week starting at 5 mg but had a manic episode on it so I stopped it after a week. Afterwards, she said to try zoloft. I did zoloft at 25 mg for a week but didnt feel comfortable being on a third med so I stopped it. For months, I was stuck on zyprexa (5 mg) and klonopin (0.25 mg). Everyday just felt like torture at work. I was able to function but I still felt uncomfortable being in different places. However, I did notice that during the months of 2019, I didnt have head pressures and rarely woke up gasping for air. I did at times have my heart racing. I must say that I was able to nap sometimes during the day being on these two meds and felt a sense of sleepiness at times. In August, I switched psychiatrists again. I saw a third psychiatrist based on online reviews and word of mouth. When I told him what I was going through, he said I had GAD and panic disorder. He wanted me to switched from zyprexa to seroquel since it had chemicals that would be better for me. So I went from 25 mg to 50 mg of seroquel and 5 to 2.5 mg of zyprexa in a month span. He said to go off of the 2.5 mg zyprexa but I told him I wanted to taper more. I was afraid that I would experience what I had from the time I ct’d zyprexa the first time. When I went down on zyprexa starting in August, I didnt notice much difference in how I felt. I went down further to 1.25 mg and now around 0.625 mg. So basically, I held each dose for a few weeks. Having discovered this group recently and now the 10 percent rule, I feel scared as to my taper off zyprexa. Right now, Im on Seroquel (75 mg), Zyprexa (0.625 mg and tapering very slowly), and Klonopin (0.25 mg). I feel bad now that I did 50% reductions in the beginning for zyprexa and didnt start the 10% rule until I got lower. I went by how I was feeling going down and didnt really experience any difference going down on zyprexa from August to this month. I still cannot sleep without medication which has now been seroquel. Id love to know your input about this situation and if what Im doing is ok so far. Also, what may have messed up my sleep to begin with if it was because of my anxiety or maybe stopping the Elavil to begin with may have contributed to sleep problems. Medication history: April 15 2018 to June 15 2018: Amitriptyline (10 mg) stopped after 2 months. Not sure about withdrawals. October 2018: Olanzapine (5 mg) November 2018: Olanzapine (5 mg) Klonopin (0.50 mg) December 2018: Olanzapine (5 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg) January 2019: Lexapro (5 mg) stopped after 1 week. No sign of withdrawals. zoloft (25 mg) stopped after 1 week. No sign of withdrawals. Olanzapine (5 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg) February 2019 to July 2019: Olanzapine (5 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg) August 2019: Seroquel (25 mg to 50 mg) Olanzapine (2.5 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg) September 2019: Seroquel (50 to 75 mg) Olanzapine (1.25 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg) October 2019 to December 2019: Seroquel (75 mg) Olanzapine (0.625 mg) Klonopin (0.25 mg)
  4. lucyinthesky

    Histamine food intolerance

    Hi guys, I’ve been doing some research into histamine since I believe it plays a very key role in the withdrawal process--at least from the medications that I’m on. I will summarise what I’ve found below as well as the potential impact it could have on managing the withdrawal from antipsychotics such as Zyprexa/Seroquel. I searched this forum but couldn’t find any good overview or discussion, so hoping this can help people. Many of the popular antipsychotics such as Olanzapine/Zyprexa and Seroquel/Quetiapine have a very powerful antihistamine effect: only a very small amount of these medications are required to block the H1 Histamine receptor. Zyprexa, for example, has a Ki(nM) of 0.65–4.9 according to Wikipedia, which is incredibly low (the lower the Ki(nM), the smaller the amount of a medication is needed to block a certain receptor). Therefore, withdrawing from histamine-blocking medications (Zyprexa/Seroquel) is associated with increased histamine (as the blocking effect is reduced, histamine levels become elevated). Certain groups of people might have even had a histamine intolerance and/or high histamine before going on psych-drugs (and both histamine intolerance and high histamine--also related to under-methylation--have been linked to psychosis and other psychiatric disorders), so coming off histamine-blocking medications can also exacerbate this pre-existing imbalance, on top of the effect described in the point above. Histamine is a neuromodulator of the adrenals, so elevated histamine can make the adrenals release a lot more adrenaline, instigate ‘fight or flight’ mode in the body and cause severe anxiety. There is also a strong link between histamine and sleep; having high histamine can cause insomnia. Interestingly, histamine levels naturally peak around 3am/4am, which is when many people experience cortisol spikes and unwanted adrenal activity. Sound familiar? All of these symptoms are very common in the withdrawal process, as we unfortunately know. When withdrawing from histamine-blocking medications, you can take steps to bring down histamine levels to help manage the adverse effects mentioned above. I’ve found anecdotal success stories online from the world of integrative medicine; Alice Lee (MD) says: “If you ever want to successfully reduce a medication that blocks histamine receptors, you will need to know how to lower histamine levels.” Lowering histamine levels can be done through a combination of diet and supplementation: 1) Follow a low-histamine diet (google it for more info!) 2) Through supplementation - taking a histamine digester that ‘chews up the histamine in food’ - Alice Lee recommends Histazyme (by Dr. Amy Myers, MD), but I’ve also seen Daosin 50 and other brands which all contain the same ingredient, Daimine Oxidase 3) Supplementation - natural histamine blockers like Allqlear by Integrative Therapeutics, Histaplex A-B by Biotics Research, or Opsin II by DesBio. Avoid xenobiotics for antihistamine support, such as Benadryl, because the body will react with an inflammatory response to a xenobiotic. I know that this kind of integrative approach is generally a dirty word on this forum, but for me it makes too much sense to ignore. Most of this advice comes from Alice Lee, who is a “holistic psychiatrist” who actually went through the withdrawal process herself, and reports impressive success stories weaning her clients off all kinds of medication (APs, ADs), just check the testimonials on her website TL;DR: I’m going to try a low histamine diet (being more careful around the time when I make a cut to my medication), as well as adding some of the anti-histamine supplements and histamine digesters. I will still be tapering using the 10% method. If anyone else has research or real experience in this area, I would be very curious to hear it. I think it is a very under-recognised factor and understanding more could potentially make for a smoother withdrawal. I'm also conscious that it's only one piece in the puzzle, and there are other receptors to tackle too. But for insomniac, Zyprexa-dependent folks like myself, it could be really key. More reading and links to the success stories can be found here: http://www.holisticpsychiatrist.com/viewpoint/2018/6/7/understanding-histamines-connection-to-mental-health and http://www.holisticpsychiatrist.com/medication-withdrawal/ https://beyondmeds.com/2014/07/13/histamine-psych-drugs/ and https://beyondmeds.com/2013/01/07/histamine-intolerance/ from around 33 mins https://www.mthfrsupport.com.au/dao-deficiency-and-histamine-the-unlikely-connection/
  5. I've been on 10mg of Olanzapine (zyprexa) for over a year now. I didn't take the time to research this drug when I was prescribed it and thought it was a miracle. It ended my drug-inducded psychosis immediately and provided me with sleep for what felt like the first time in my life. It no longer provides me with the ability to sleep. It's not that I feel like I've lost these things, I actually have lost them: I've lost my intellect, my creativity, my ability to learn and retain new information, my ability to play music, my libido, the list is endless. I'm afraid the damage is permanent. I am 100% physically dependent on this substance. If I don't take it I feel anxiety immediately and can't sleep (not that I'm sleeping well as is); I've never missed a dose for longer than 24 hours. I am incredibly frustrated with myself for enabling my addictive personality to take this drug without thinking about the consequences I now face. I really thought I was "cured". But now I know I'm looking at likely worsening symptoms and possibly return to psychosis on top of withdrawal, increase in insomnia, anxiety, and depression. And who knows what other physical or mental side effects will persist or appear or worsen as I start to get off this drug. I'm going to try to jump from 10 to 7.5mg. I have an appointment tomorrow and I'm going to discuss tapering immediately. I can't seem to find [m]any success stories of people getting off this soul-destroying drug and I fear I've basically ruined the rest of my life by starting this drug. I am 100 percent positive I will relapse on alcohol either as I taper or when full withdrawal hits and I quit entirely. I really don't even care if I do, I just want to get off this bullsh*t. I may even drink my way through a rapid taper. I'd rather drink for a few months and withdraw from alcohol with a librium taper than continue on this med. I mean, thats how I feel, I can't say with any certainty what I will or won't do. Either way, I need to get off this poison before it robs me of any more of who I am. I've just read it literally decreases the size of our brains after 36 weeks by over 1% and up to 10%, which is far more than the average human loses in their entire lifetime. I'm upset, scared, feeling hopeless. Feel like I face an insurmountable task. Like I've ruined my mind, my spirit, my body. Just incredibly disappointed in myself. I mean I'm already incredibly anxious and depressed, I can't imagine things getting much worse, but here I am. Any hope, insight, success stories, etc...would be greatly appreciated because I feel like I'm ruined. Also a taper schedule would be nice. Ideally I can just do it in 2.5mg drops as I'd rather not deal with a syringe or micro-dosing. Thanks.
  6. Hello I always wanted to return to the site and thank all that helped me in the dark hours and also the forum owner and originator for the tireless work that has helped so many people Heres my thread when I first asked for help http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/6865-andy-hello-tapering-from-zyprexa/ I wont go into how I finally quit the drug because it wasnt the normal 10% approach although I tried 5 times and failed miserably.I found a good understanding doctor who helped me reduce and more than anything listened to me without prejudice.This helped enormously,I finally jumped off at 1.25mg and to be honest it wasnt to bad,by far the worst reduction was going just under 2.5mg,I had severe migraines ,nausea,heart palpitations,sickness,depression,mania,mood swings and relentless insomnia.The insomnia was by far the worst symptom as it made me anxious and very irritable ,all this while trying to be a good father and holding down a very stressful and demanding job.Of all the drugs I was put on Zyprexa was the hardest to quit,it was hell and back but it can be done I have recently started my Taekwondo training again that I practiced for over 15 years but couldnt while I was on this terrible drug,I now feel calmer and sleep well.I put on over 3 stone while on zyprexa even though I ate a well balanced diet,I felt lethargic and had no interest in life,that has all changed and the weight is coming off steadily. Excercise has been the most helpful tonic for me and even when I had had zero sleep I went to my class and worked out.It slowly but steadily improved my sleep and made me feel confident again that I could get over all of this,when you start to see improvements you start to see light at the end of the tunnel Things are heading in the right direction and my outlook on life is positive once again.I feel good Once again thankyou for all your help and for people just starting the journey dont ever give in it can be done,god bless you all Andy
  7. I'm brand new to this forum. I'm not real social so I generally only read and don't write. However, I feel the topic of letting people now that it is possible to get completely off Zyprexa (olanzapine) is so important that I had to share. I'm bipolar with an extreme depression and an anxiety disorder. I was put on 5 mg of Zyprexa in 2003 when I went through a very bad down cycle. Since 2003, my body kept building up a tolerance to the Zyprexa so my Doctors kept raising the dose all the way up to 30 mg/day starting in 2015. That's when I really starting having bad side effects such as high blood sugar, high liver panels, high cholesterol, testical issues, a 25 lbs weight gain, and my right breast started drooping. My family has a zero history for any of these things. I don't eat any junk food, very little meat, I swim 1 plus miles 5 days each week, and I have kept the my weight off (I'm 6'-2" and currently weigh 180 lbs, don't smoke). In November 2017 my Doctor said I needed to quit taking Zyprexa. She wasn't the Doctor who put me on the drug and told me all along she wasn't a fan of it but since it worked, keep using it. My Doctor initially said to taper by 25% every 10 days. I did some online research and told her I would rather start at a 10% reduction and see how it went. When I did my first reduction, within 2 days I was having just about every withdrawal symptom you've read about. The worst were the headaches, insomnia, anxiety, high pulse, twitching, zero energy, and sweats. People are always going to say that a 10% reduction was too much of a taper. In my convoluted mind, I thought, why prolong this agony. I went ahead and dropped by by 25% every 10 days. My last dose of Zyprexa was 11 weeks ago today. At week 4 my symptoms got even worse. My doctor gave me Ambien for sleep and Valium for the anxiety. Neither did a thing so I stopped. I had to withdraw from Klonipin in 2003 and know how tough Benzo's are to stop taking. I even swore back then I'd never take another Benzo. However, the Zyprexa withdrawals were so bad I was willing to try anything. One thing that I did notice right from the start is that on days when I swam, I always felt better after the swim. The harder I swam, the better I felt. This is similar that Andy has been telling people. I'm not talking about a mild sweat lifting weights. I'm talking about a kick ass workout where I am completely worn out. This is something my Doctor also told me. After stopping Pshyc meds, your brain has to readjust. One way of getting the brain to adjust quicker is to do something natural that releases the endorphins. At week 8 my doctor put me on Trazodone for sleep (little help, 2-3 hours instead of 0-2 hours). I still take 150 mg Trazodone each night (Trazodone isn't a permanent answer either. My Doctor told me 150 mg is a low dose and easy to stop. She used to prescibe up to 1000 mg when Trazondone was used as an antidrpessant). At week 9 I started taking 20 mg of pure CBD oil each night. I don't know if it's the CBD oil, a placebo effect, or I'm getting better with regards to sleep but I'm getting 2-3 nights each week of 6-7 hours of sleep. On the other nights I'm getting 3-4 hours sleep. This is something I can easily deal with. At week 9 is when I noticed a significant improvement. I went 2 days without any symptoms other than feeling tired and zero energy, and having insomnia. Then I had 2 bad days and since that, I've had no other symptoms other than a tired feeling, zero energy and I'd say moderate insomnia (tolerable compared to how I was feeling). The tiredness could be the sleep hangover from the Trazodone. I see my Doctor next week. I'm probably gonna start cutting back on the Trazodone and see how things go. I would say I'm a success story. I still take 150 mg Wellbutrin SR for depression (down from 450 mg), 1800 mg Gabapentin for anxiety and back pain, and the 150 mg of Trazodone for sleep. I don't think I'll ever be able to stop taking all medicines because of my mental health illness. I have to be a realist. By the way, my Doctor gave me a prescription for Abilify which I HAVE NOT taken. I'm gonna see how things go before I ever take another antipsychotic again. If I tried to put a number on how I feel, I'd say I'm at 75%. I've never felt completely normal in my life, but I'm definitely feeling A LOT better. Zyprexa does have it's place. It saved me from a very dark time when I tried to kill myself 2 times. It also helped with other issues. However, I wish the Doctor's at the Mental Hospital told me about all of the dangerous side effects, the drugs addiction, and the pure hell it is to stop taking Zyprexa. I'm not 100% better. The insomnia is miserable (I'm not gonna lie), I still feel tired with zero energy. However, all of the other symptoms are gone, my blood work is well below normal, and my physical symptoms (******** problem, saggy right breast) have pretty much resolved themselves. Is this a coincidence? I don't think so. If you do internet research, all of these are side effects from Zyprexa. I can testify that everything Andy has told people is correct. Exercise helps the most. CBD oil has helped (I'll keep taking it if it keeps helping, otherwise I'll stop). I don't know about the diet because I've always eaten pretty healthy. I want to tell people it's not a pleasant experience to go through. It's taken about 6 months from the time I started my taper to where I am now (11 weeks Zyprexa free). It really is mind over matter. When you're going through the withdrawal, it feels like the misery is never going to end. I always thought forward. Things may get better tomorrow and then one day, it unexpectedly did. My recommendation is this. Exercise hard, don't take any Benzos (you're trading one difficult addiction for another and they did zero for me), don't take a real sleeping pill like Amien (another very addicting drug that didn't help), and exactly what Andy said, don't use the internet. People only write about their misery getting off Zyprexa. Reading these stories will only make you feel worse. There are probably more success stories out there that you don't get to read because I think these people don't post their stories. I think the majority of people who post are miserable being at the beginning or in the middle of the withdrawal and don't see a positive outcome. As an example, if you read the horror stories about getting off Zyprexa, most people who post these stories are either beginning the taper, or a few weeks or month since the last dose. I've only read a few posts where somebody shares their story and is a few months off their last dose and all of these stories have been positive. That's why it's dangerous to read the misery stories. I think that it can make things worse because you can get a feeling of panic or anxiety about how bad it's going to be. It's not easy. It will definitely get better. Andy outlined his story perfectly and I've tried to do the same. I've told everybody what worked for me and what didn't. Everybody's timeline is going to be different. I took a very high dose for a very long time. Just hang in there and look forward to the day when you'll start to feel better. Good luck to all. Hang in there. It really does take willpower and a strong mind. Kudos to Andy for sharing his story. I'm not trying to hijack what he's shared. Only let people know I've had a similar experience.
  8. Hi, I wrote my introduction on the 4th of October 2019 ☼-francisco-on-the-way-to-a-success-story At that time, I was seven months of all meds – I stated that the post was a combination of an introduction and a success story since things were on course at the time. Since that post, my mental has been put to the test like never before but it's now been around one year and 10 months since I stopped taking meds and I believe my mental health has passed the test. I was given a diagnosis of bi-polar by a consultant psychiatrist in the autumn of 2011 after years of volatility in my mental health and began taking meds six months later. I started with Lamictal (Lamotrigine) – after a few weeks on a low dose, the dose was increased – the next day I noticed a rash all over my body and stopped taking it. I was then given Abilify – I was on this over for a month or two but stopped taking it since it caused me insomnia and really intense pain in my wrists. Next, it was Olanzapine/Zyprexa (5mg) to deal with my elation – the 5mg worked well but when the dosage was increased to 10mg and 15mg, it caused nothing but depression so I went back to 5mg. I was then given Prozac to deal with the depression side of things – this however, caused me the worst depression I ever experienced. I was on it for a bit over a month until I could take no more and stopped taking it. My psychiatrist then prescribed me Venlafaxin/Effexor in September 2012 – I started at 75mg and eventually made my way up to 300mg. As the dosage increased, my depression did get better but the side affects most certainly got worse – constipation and intense sweating in bed at night. Also, I always felt the medication was causing me brain fog, despite what my psychiatrist was telling me – ‘all these meds do is treat depression’ I was told and basically, how limited intellectually I felt was in fact an actual reflection of the abilities I was born with. I was really getting fed up with the side affects and decided to do what a lot of people in my situation do – come of the meds without telling my doctor. I slowly tapered down the anti-depressant but came off the Olanazpine quite abruptly – result: disaster. The depression came back in a big way. Around this time, I remember one sleepless night lying in bed just saying to myself over and over – ‘I just want to die – I wish I had the courage to kill myself’. Went crawling back to the psychiatrist in July 2015 and told him the truth – needless to say, he was quite annoyed but prescribed me Cymbalta/Duloxetine (60mg) and agreed to reduce my dosage of Olanazpine to 2.5mg. The Cymbalta no doubt stabilized my mood at that time – I was pretty dam low, as you can imagine. Once again, I felt it was limiting me but after the volatility I had experienced, I was happy for a bit of stability. In the summer of 2017, I began to learn a lot about the affect diet and exercise can have on mental health. Up until that time, I thought I ate and exercised healthily – how wrong I was. Over the course of around a year, I completely changed my diet and exercise regime – I experimented a lot and ended up with my current diet which is essentially a Mediterranean diet – meat, dairy and eggs a few times a week but primarily plant based food – mainly unprocessed. A lot of my free time now is spent cooking and preparing food. After I started with Cymbalta and before I changed my diet and lifestyle, I felt that my depression/elation cycle was going on in the background but the medication was keeping it in check. As my dietary and lifestyle changes kicked in, I began to feel that the cycle was longer there – I was essentially stable. I got married in July 2018 to the woman who stuck with me through the diagnosis and all the mental volatility over the years. Immediately, we started trying to conceive – I really wasn’t mad about the idea of trying to conceive while I was on medication – I know that women are advised to come off meds before becoming pregnant and I wondered if my own meds could have an affect on any potential child I conceived. Did a bit of research – heard a bit about meds possibly causing fertility problems but nothing about meds causing birth defects etc. For a number of months after the wedding, we tried hard to conceive with no success. Consequently, I made the decision to start tapering. Not surprisingly, my wife was initially reluctant given what happened previously when I tried to come off meds – this shook my confidence a bit but I really believed that I could cope this time round, given the dietary and lifestyle changes I had made. Unlike the previous time, I told my psychiatrist who to my big surprise, did not object in the slightest. He initially suggested that I stop taking the 2.5mg of Olanazpine altogether – he told me that according to the research, 2.5mg has no real anti-elation effect – it only really aids moderate anxiety and sleeping. I genuinely believed that the olanzapine was indeed helping my sleep so I decided to continue taking it and instead drop the Cymbalta from 60mg to 30mg at the beginning of November, 2018. I was on the lower dosage for three months – I didn’t notice any major withdrawal affects during that period. Consequently, when I saw my psychiatrist three months later, I suggested to him that I stop taking the Cymbalta altogether – once again, to my big surprise he was very supportive. I continued to take the Olanzapine for another month – I had planned to stay on the Olanzapine for three months but given what the psychiatrist told me previously about 2.5mg not really having any anti-elation affect and given how I hadn’t experienced any major withdrawal affects up until that point, I decided to come off completely at the end of February 2019. A part of me was worried that my sleep would go to hell without the Olanzpine but once again, I really believed as long as I stuck to my diet and lifestyle, I would eventually enter into a natural, healthy sleeping pattern – this transpired. Also, around four or five weeks after I ceased the meds completely, I started having withdrawal effects – my nervous system reacted and consequently, I felt very edgy and jittery and my concentration levels went down significantly – obviously, work was quite difficult during this period. Also, it’s not easy to say this but my performances in the bed room were pretty mediocre during this period also (not uncommon I suppose). This was quite severe for around five weeks and then gradually started to diminish. I fully expected some withdrawal affects so they did not surprise me one bit when they came. Once again to stress the point, self-belief was hugely important at this stage – I just knew that as long as I stuck to my diet and lifestyle – essentially, the way I was designed by nature/evolution to eat and exercise – the withdrawal affects would pass and I would reach stability. In the year since I posted my introduction, I had to deal with an extremely stressful project at work which was further complicated by a certain pandemic, the very difficult birth of my first child and a lot of subsequent and extremely heated disagreements with my wife under very stressful circumstances – as I said above, my mental health has been put to the test but I haven't gone back on meds and have absolutely no intention of doing so. As I type this post, I’m in fact currently staying in my parent’s house following a particularly nasty exchange with my wife – in many ways, my family are great but I’ve already heard ‘I think you should be taking medication to get you through this difficult time’. I know they mean well and just want what’s best for me but they just don’t understand me and never really have. For most of my life, I’ve been miserable and it wasn’t because of some chemical balance in my brain which would have been triggered no matter what – I had to deal with some personal problems which were really inhibiting me. Like my medication, those problems have been put to bed – I’ve been married for over two years and have been a father for a year. The first year of my daughter's life has been extremely difficult for all the reasons mentioned above – it's been difficult but I've coped. My marriage is in a very bad place right now and if it does survive, it’s going to take a lot of work and compromise between my wife and I. If it doesn’t survive, I firmly believe I’ll be able to cope with all the difficulties which come with marriage breakup as long as I find the support I need – the kind of support which this forum offers – guidance from people who’ve experienced similar things. If I was still seeing a psychiatrist now, I reckon he would have drugged me up to my eye balls in an attempt to get me through this difficult time. If I wasn't taking meds and hadn't made all the lifestyle and dietary changes I made over the last couple of years, I would have completely collapsed in the face of all the adversity I've had to endure. I'm still standing, however. Life now is extremely difficult like it is for a lot of people but I've found a way to manage. Now, I want to find a good life.  I have no problem saying that I have the bi-polar gene. I experienced all the symptoms and those closest to me can verify that. However, I don’t consider myself mentally ill and do not believe that I was born with a chemical imbalance in my brain. As long as I live the way I was designed to live, my bi-polar gene will be completely suppressed – it simply won’t be an issue. For the most part, I believe that the symptoms I experienced were basically a reaction to all the things I was doing wrong – my diet, my exercise routine, my work environment, my learning environment, my past relationships etc. I plan to keep the potentially harmful parts of my bi-polar gene suppressed for the rest of my life and in order to do that, my life is going to be quite mundane – no substance abuse, regular moderate exercise, healthy sleeping patterns and I’m going to have to continue to spend a lot of time (but not too much time!) cooking and preparing healthy food. However, I will take ‘mundaneness’ any day of the week over mental volatility and side affects from psychiatric medication I’ve had to endure over the years. Having come through all that, the stability and strength I’ve found are all the sweeter – ‘spring would not be so welcome, if we didn’t have to go through winter’. As well as the mundane lifestyle I mentioned above, I’m also going to have find a working environment which I'm designed for. In January 2010, I had a nervous breakdown at work. The job I was doing at the time was a fairly basic office job. The company undertook a large project which I was part of which turn out to be extremely stressful for all involved and which I simply could not cope with. One day, I simply left the office and never went back – didn’t hand in my notice, didn’t tell my supervisor, didn’t tell family/friends. I went home, packed a bag and took off on a train to another city where I stayed in a hostel for a week. Subsequently, I was unemployed for three and a half years while I was trying all the medication mentioned above. Once I found the medications which stabilized me, I once again started doing similar type very basic office jobs – most were temp jobs completely unrelated to the what I studied in university and which needless to say, I didn’t exactly thrive in. These ‘go-nowhere’ jobs were all I felt capable of doing while I was on meds. I never built a career based on my university qualifications because I just felt so hindered by all the personal problems I was going through back then. I ain’t no office worker – I'm an introverted, insightful writer and researcher. In university, I received a first for my masters in International Relations. That was a hell of a long time ago but I feel I just have to get back into research once again. My own personal and fairly primitive research over the last decade or so helped me recover from a very serious mental health problem when all the so called experts were telling me that I would be on psychiatric medication for the rest of my life. I would love to build a career based on writing and researching about mental health and helping people who have also been told that they will be on medication for the rest of their lives. I believe I’m on the right forum to achieve this goal and look forward to contributing to the great work which is done here going forward. Many Thanks Francisco Quote: ‘Spring would not be so welcome if we didn’t have to go through winter’   Previous Meds taken (Not all at once - Mid 2012 to July2015): Lamictal, Abilify, Olanzapine, Prozac, Venlafaxin/Effexor Side Affects: Skin rash, insomnia, worse depression, constipation, intense sweating at night, brain fog Most Recent Meds: Cymbalta (60mg), Olanzapine (2.5mg) Taper: dropped Cymbalta to 30mg for 3 months until end of Jan 2019 - stopped Cymbalta completed at the beginning of Feb 2019. Stopped Olanzapine completely at the end of Feb 2019 Withdrawal: around 4/5 weeks after ceasing meds completely, my nervous system started to react - felt very edgy, irritable and couldn’t concentrate for around 3 or 4 weeks. Have been feeling stable since despite numerous stresses in my life
  9. Hello all, just found this site and was looking for some advice on tapering off antipsychotic's. It all started about 11 months ago when I was prescribed saphris for depression by my pdoc to augment pristiq, (I know I should have known better). All was fine until about three months in when I started slowly developing anhedonia, just a complete lack of interest in life, it messed up my endocrine system, and destroyed my short term memory. Having successfully quit seroquel cold turkey in the past I thought saphris would be a breeze.... Boy was I wrong, only managed to make it there days in before the overwhelming anxiety (which I've never had before)and insomnia drove me back onto it. After three failed attempts to taper off(lowest dose is 5mg and couldn't cut sublingual wafers any lower), my pdoc suggested switching to 10mg zyprexa for two weeks then stopping that cold turkey, well that was a mess again, had anxiety from hell and insomnia. Again we tried switching over to seroquel which failed.So now I'm back on zyprexa (with a whole new set of side effects)with the plan of tapering off at a rate of -1.25mg every two weeks, currently I'm down to 7.5mg with moderate anxiety, intermittent insomnia and an insatiable appetite. Just wondering if this is too aggressive a taper, I only have tablets available so I'm just relying on cutting them into quarters. Just want off this pharmaceutical merry go round, feel as though I've been lobotomized.
  10. Moderator note: link to benzo forum thread - Miko789: Xanax withdrawal/tapering Hi, I'm new to the forum, I have some questions I want to ask. My doctor prescribed effexor for depression, in 2009. Now I'm free of symptoms and I managed to come off with withdrawal symptoms though. That's with the antidepressant. Now I'm on Risperdal consta from November 2013 and seroxat 10mg. My doctor prescribed with risperdal consta 3,3mg/day long acting injection every two weeks. From February 2015 he lowered the dosage to 25mg/every 2 weeks equals 1,66mg/day. I tried to lower the seroxat 10mg but after 40-45h I have withdrawal symptoms vertigo, dizziness. Is it possible to cut down seroxat? How about the Risperdal consta (long acting injection). Has anyone tapered off completely without withdrawals? I read about the 10% harm reduction procedure to taper off and I'm going to tell my doctor and follow. thanks in advance
  11. Hi all, A week ago I reinstated Zyprexa after a too fast taper off the medication. I developed a headache around my switch to 7.5mg which intensified over time. At the withdrawal’s peak, I experienced intense restlessness and flu like symptoms of chills, headache, insomnia, and nausea. The flu like symptoms dissipated soon after reinstatement, and after 10 days I am left with a light headache (compared to throbbing, splitting migraines) and a feeling of inner restlessness or anxiety (manifested in a feeling of my heart beating through my chest). My sleep has improved, but is not great due to the restlessness. I sleep for 3-4 hours, wake up to pee, sleep another 2-3 hours, wake up to pee, then sleep another 1-2 hours. I don’t know if I reinstated properly; if I reinstated enough, or too much. I worry that I could be damaging my CNS on a dosage too low for my body. I regret coming off Zyprexa so quickly before my head could adjust, but at the same time I hate what this medication has done to me and I want off of it badly. So did I reinstate too much? I’m constantly uncomfortable but at least this is bearable. I have a plan in place with a new psychiatrist to wean off starting January using a liquid suspension, but at this point I have no idea what the right course of action is. Any advice or comments are appreciated.
  12. Hi everyone, I'm pursuing tapering off zyprexa (olanzapine). I'm wondering how important the 10% decrease is? I'm on 2.5mg and it's the only one I'm on. I'm considering using a pill splitter to taper so I would decrease by an eighth (so 12.6%) each time. Here's what I was thinking and I was hoping you all could weigh in. This would obviously be super flexible too depending on how things go and I'm open to suggestions. 2.5mg (whole pill) 2.19mg (7/8) stay on 8 weeks 1.88mg (3/4) 8 weeks 1.57mg (5/8) 8 weeks 1.25mg (half) 8 weeks .94mg (3/8) 8 weeks .63mg (1/4) 8 weeks .32mg (1/8) 8 weeks 0 I did find a psychiatrist who's willing to help me taper and I haven't asked about compounding it yet but that may be an option. As you can see from my history I went off it cold turkey years ago and didn't really have any problems (trouble sleeping for a few months but that evened out) but then had a psychotic break a year later which I'm realizing may have been akethesia. I'm just hoping to do this the right way this time, a way that helps me get the best outcome.
  13. Here's my story: Looking to wean down off zyprexa and eventually ziibryd (SSRI), I have only been on these kind of meds since Aug 2021. Hoping to get off sooner than later. Battling some anxiety, restlessness and feeling numb, no emotion, not who I was before all this happened. Peace! I got Covid in August 2021, didn't sleep the whole time I had it. About 10-12 days in I went into what they call psychosis. I told people in the Emergency Room that God took His Spirit from me, I tried to jump out of the car, had severe severe anxiety at that time too. The ER put me out and I woke up the next day, they admitted me to the mental health floor. They put me on numerous drugs, so many I can't remember them all. I was sleeping at night due to the heavy medications, I was still agitated and battled anxiety. I know one medicine I was on was risperidone, resteril, a sleeping medicine and adavan as needed for anxiety. I was there for 7-8 days and then release to home. I was then seen by family doctor, she knew me because we lived in same neighborhood, she could tell I wasn't myself. She then wanted to ween me off of the risperidone, over the course of a week. That drug was horrible and I my body didn't like coming off of it, so much so that I was scared of people including my own family, I felt like I was on the "bad side". Had suicidal thoughts. I then was sent to another ER and went to a mental health facility and was there for 3 weeks. I was on risperidone and zoloft and mid way they switched me to zyprexa. After 3 weeks I got discharged and started 20 mg zyprexa in October and 150mg zoloft. I was also give trazadone for sleep if I needed it, well I quit taking that because the zyprexa helped with sleep. I have been at home since October and am now on 5mg of Zyprexa and 20 mg viibryd. I take several supplements- vitamin C, Magnesium, zinc, B complex, vitamin D3, omega 3 fish oil. My gut health probably isn't where it should be. Really do good to exercise everyday and eat healthy for the most part. I have to force myself to exercise. I used to really enjoy working out, hiking and etc. I have not felt myself since this whole thing started. I don't have any real desires, emotion. Looking to wean off zyprexa even more.
  14. Hello all, I am a new member here. I hope I am in right place to ask advice what to do next now. If you have time to read it and give advice- I thank you in advance! It may be a little bit long, but I write all my history with drug olanzapine now (sorry for my bad english also! ) I got anxiety disorder from a long term illness in spring 2015 ( Borreliosis, different nerve pains, ear infection which caused tinnitus) Antidepressants did´n work. Only drug that took my anxiety down was olanzapine. I took that from May 2015 up to June 2016. ( 2,5 mg) By then I have had cure for my illness and there were no symptoms to bring up anxiety. Then got down from it at once, and I got back very bad tinnitus and also anxiety. Tinnitus subsided then slowly but for anxiety I need to take olanzapine again ( 2,5 mg) December 2016. Started to reduce it very-very slowly and was free of it by August 2017. Some time in Fall I hade bad back nerve pain and it lasted long time. Which brought up anxiety again. In January 2018 I started to take just 1 mg olanzapine again. I got rid of the pain slowly ( got also inflammation treatment the same time ( 2. round). Within month my back was ok again and I reduced olanzapine to 0 mg by April. Everything was grate with no anxiety up to November. I started to feel strong pain in the neck and in my ear ( ear which got tinnitus from ear infection) ...In the of one week I felt again anxiety. I didnt want it to get worse, so I started to take olanzapine 0,75 mg to help me to sleep and stay calm. Now I got to know that I have facial nerve inflammation. The pain killers are working. My question and problem is that last night I felt suddenly very strong pressure in my ears and throat and again loud tinnitus I feel that it is olanzapine that can cause it or my it be form pain killers I am taking second round here ( iborofen).? Should I continue with olanzapine or stop this 0,75 mg at once ( I have taken it one week) Or reduce it slowly. How slowly? It seam to me that I take very very little dosages, but seams that it still can mess up something. Thank you again in advance for giving advice what to do now. with kind regards, Mommi
  15. Hi friends, My name is Gibby and I'm a 25 year old male with a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder. I have been on medication for 5 years. I have been fairly stable while on medication, but I've been unhappy about taking olanzapine, even though my dose is very low (1.8mg for five years) and the physical side effects are more annoying than dangerous. However, I understand that serious complications can arise from taking this drug for a long time, so I've been looking to come off it for quite awhile. I started a withdrawal at the beginning of June, but it was mostly an experiment and I lasted about three days; I didn't really know what I was doing. Last Saturday night (with my doctor's consent!), I decided to try again with some more supports in place and some more coping techniques. These helped but I wasn't sleeping at all, and these last few days have been very bad. I haven't been able to eat or exercise much and my parents are exhausted in trying to care for me. I still feel like "me", my personality hasn't changed but I feel physically really unwell and anxious and depressed. I've decided to go back on the medication for awhile to get stable again (I expect to be a little zonked for the first five days or so back on, no big deal) and then try a different plan. My family wanted me to keep trying to get over the hump, but I can feel my nervous system freaking out and I don't have the practice in CBT techniques or keeping my mind safe, especially with no sleep and no real plan. I did my best for five days, and I hope that giving up now to try later doesn't make me some kind of chicken. I really wanted to but I guess my body-mind isn't ready. Do you guys/gals/others have any advice for next time? Anybody else gone through this? I'm also going to go off the citalopram eventually but the olanzapine is the main goal for right now. Thank you!
  16. Hello, I would like to ask you, how to prepare little doses from Zyprexa 5 mg Velotab. It weighs 16 mg, and my scale is to 1 mg. I am not so good in making liquid form We do not have 2,5 mg Zyprexa in the market. Thanks for advice..
  17. So starting feb 2020 I was put on 20 mg paroxetine and 40 mg adderall. Around may or June I had a mental break and was hospitalized and was put on 30 mg paroxetine and 15 mg olanzapine and when out also taking 40 mg adderall. In dec 2020 decided to just quit taking everything. Did not feel much but was also using alot of cannabis and dxm so it might of mask the withdrawal. Until feb 10th where I used dxm on more time then decided to stop everything. For a while I was fine but on march 17th 2021 I crashed trying to harm myself and ended up in ICU then inpatient for a week. They put me back on 10 mg olanzapine with 150mg× 2 trileptal. I was also on trazadone for sleep nightly. When I was out I took those for about a month until April 25th 2021 where I just wasnt feeling like myself so I tried to CT the olanzapine again. First 3 day was fine and I felt myself again but on the 4th day I had really bad anxiety that I tried to undure but only lasted till 3 pm or so before I took 5mg olanzapine but that didnt help so a few hours later I took 5 mg more. I did get to sleep that night but the restlessness and anxiety stayed with me. From that day I decided to just keep taking 5 mg instead of 10 mg. I also stopped taking the trazadone. Every morning or nearly 2 week I woke up to huge cortisol spike and for a while I couldnt sit still because it's too uncomfortable. So I kept pacing around the house. After 2 weeks on 5 mg things started to calm down a bit and I'm able to sit if I need to with less restlessness. Today is going into week 4 and I had a few day like yesterday with some bad anxiety for like a few hours but overall its tolerable. My question is when should I start tapering as I'm feeling okay, still alot of discomfort but tolerable.
  18. Hi all, I am happy to have found your site. About 14 years ago, after my first child I had bad anxiety/insomnia (didn't sleep for 5 weeks) when my baby developed feeding/health issues. I stopped nursing and stopped domperidone (sp?) cold turkey after 2 months use(not sure if domperidone, meant to increase milk supply, can have withdrawal). I was put on a regular AD (diagnosed with PPD) and had an immediate adverse reaction. Then I was put on an older more sedating antidepressant and was able to sleep. I gained weight on it and was not recommended to be pregnant while on it. After a couple years I tapered it wanting to have another baby, but then went off too fast at the end. I started it again at the last dose I was stable at but then developed hives. My doctor made me go CT from the lowered amount. I had slowly reducing insomnia and anxiety that never completely went away until pregnant with my second child (it was like the pregnancy made my body do a re-set) about a year after going off the AD. After my third child, about 5 years ago, there were some very stressful circumstances/events within a few months of giving birth and during one of these events I stopped sleeping for a few days and had some paranoia. I was diagnosed as PP psychosis and put on olanzapine – I think because it was felt I did not tolerate AD. But I wonder if they should have tried something else and for more short term since I was nursing full time and that was known. I was put on 10 mg. I stayed on that for 7 months then the doctor said I could go down to 5 mg for a couple months and then stop. I figured it was better to do a slower taper so was on 5 mg for 3 months and then went down to 2.5mg and slowly went down to less than .3 every few days. I have tried to come off 4 times, each time getting down to less than .3 before having to go back on at 5mg or 2.5mg. I would cut by 50% each taper - from Jan 2015 to June 2015 I reduced from about 5mg to .3 in about 6 months doing 50% cuts – didn’t know there was another way. This last time I went on 2.5 last June 2015 and stabilized and stayed there for a year before feeling it was time to come off - concerned about the risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, stroke, weight gain increasing, ect... I had not found your site yet and made a 50% cut down to 1.25 about July 3 2016. I have had withdrawal since then and wonder if I came down too quickly especially once reading about your 10% reduction guideline. Within 2 days of stopping I had insomnia, daytime anxiety(lessoned after a few days but now slowly increasing again), headache in eve (gone after a few days) and sensitivity to light and sound. I took some melatonin about a week in for a few days and that seemed to settle my sleep but now I am having insomnia again as of the last few days and last night I had anxiety as I tried to fall asleep. I started having diahrea(sp?) today. I try to walk every day, in the afternoon for about 30 minutes. Before finding your site I started taking at the beginning of July 2016 calcium magnesium then switched to magnesium bisglycinate 200 mg with supper, and in the morning I take vitamin D 1000 IU, Vitamin C Calcium Ascorbate 1000 mg, Omega-3, and B12. I was going to start taking a B complex but after reading here won’t. I am wondering if the B12 is ok or not as well as the vitamin D. I had a large glass of very concentrated ice tea (caffine) with supper yesterday which may have contributed to my bad sleep last night so I definitely won’t repeat that. I also plan to take some melatonin tonight if I don’t feel sleepy by midnight and keep taking it until I feel sleepy on my own. I am only taking .25 about of melatonin. My big question is do you think I should go back to 2.5 mg Olanzapine since it has been only less than 3 weeks and try a 10% taper once stable or should I try to ride it out longer and see if I improve and then do a 10 or 5 % taper once I am stable again (if that happens). The insomnia is what really gets me as it makes coping with everything worse. Is it called re-instating if you haven’t gone CD, but made too large of a cut? Thanks for any advice, herewego
  19. Hello guys, so glad I've found this site. This is my third attempt in withdrawing from antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. Today I decided to quit cold turkey from 10mg of olanzapine and 900mg of depakine. Risky I know, but I just can't stand the way they make me feel. Drugged up, emotionless zombie. I'm very scared of withdrawal but I hope this time I can make it through. Hope you're all well!
  20. Hello everyone, I am a long time lurker but decided to finally create an account. I've read about peoples experiences with Olanzapine withdrawal on many websites so I thought I would share my experience. I was on Olanzapine for 17 years due to a schizophrenia diagnoses, initially they put my on 5mg but quickly ramped that up to 40 mg. I was on 40mg for about 13 years. About 4 years ago I took the initiative to reduce my Olanzapine because my blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels, triglycerides levels and weight gain were out of control. I was sleeping 12 hours a day on average and had no energy. Back then I had no idea anti-psychotics could have withdrawal effects or that there was a 10% taper rule, I thought I would slowly reduce my dosage, if I became psychotic I would go back, if not i would continue to decrease. I went from 40mg down to 15mg over the course of about 2 years, doing 5mg drops at a time and I was fine the whole time. About 2 years ago when I got down to 10mg my problems began. The major problem was insomnia, I simply couldn't sleep, at all. I ended up having to go back to 15mg and spent a month on 1mg of Lorazepam just to sleep. I spent a few months back on 15mg. I decided to go slower this time and had my doctor prescribe the 2.5mg tablets which is the smallest dosage tablet, then started to decrease again, this time I dropped by 2.5mg every couple of months and doing this resulted in me getting down to 5mg, still sleeping and symptom free. But after 5mg all hell broke loose. I quickly dropped to 2.5mg and then made my first attempt to go to zero, about 3 days after quitting I was in bed suffering bad, no sleep, severe anxiety attacks, severe agitation, its the worst I've ever felt, I don't have the words to describe how awful it was, as much as I wanted to quit I couldn't take it, in a moment of desperation I took 5mg of Olanzapine and within about 3 hours I felt much better. That is when I started to research how to quit Olanzapine and came across the 10% tapering rule (and all the people suffering like I was). My problem is that I had no way to break up my medication by 10% of the previous dose. The best I could figure out how to do is cut my pills in quarters. I've spent the last 8 months dropping my dosage by a quarter pill every 4 weeks. This has proven beneficial compared to last time. When I got down to a 1/4 pill I split that in half so it was an 1/8 of a pill and spent 4 weeks on that. Then I decided to take the plunge and go to zero. I was more successful this time, while I still have some withdrawal effects I am not experiencing the torturous experience I had last time I dropped to zero. Once I went below 5mg my insomnia came back and got worse and worse the lower my dosage I went. I started reading up on sleep supplements and one by one tried them. I've tried Vit C, Vit D, Zinc, Jamieson Herbal Complex (Relax and Sleep), various dosages and forms of melatonin, Benadryl, Unisom (Doxylamine), various teas, GABA, l-theanine, l-arginine, 5-HTP, CBD, CalmAid and PureZzz's. I had some luck with Jamieson Herbal Complex but once I got down to less than 2.5mg of Olanzapine it became useless. I needed something stronger, I then switched to Benadryl and that put me to sleep but i had side effects, just felt weird the next day, stuffy nose, it wasn't good. I then gave Unisom a try and that worked with no side effect. I was using Unisom for about 4 months but it stopped working after I went to zero. The Benadryl and Unisom only put me to sleep for a few hours anyways, they where not a perfect solution. One thing I found about Benadryl and Unisom is they where very effective anxiolytics, about 70 minutes after taking either one my anxiety faded away. Desperate I started doing more reading on sleep aids and learned about the synergistic effect of combing different sleep aids. I've spent a long time experimenting with different combinations of different products. For anyone that is interested here is what I am taking, I fall asleep quickly and get about 3-6 hours a night, not great but much better than lying in bed with my eyes closed not sleeping at all. Keep in mind that everyone is different so this "recipe" probably won't work for everyone, but I'm sharing it here because I know how brutal the insomnia can be. I wait until I am tired, then half an hour before bed I take 100mg NOW 5-HTP 500mg NOW GABA 2 capsules of Jamieson Herbal Complex (Relax and Sleep). It contains Valerian, Hops, Passionflower and Catnip. Then right before I crawl into bed I take 5mg Vitafusion Melatonin gummies (I found the gummies work best because they dissolve in your mouth when you chew them and so you get a full hit of melatonin all at once, instead of a slowly dissolving tablet in your stomach). I also take 500mg of Vitamin C, 400 IU of Vitamin D and 12.5 mg of Zinc picolinate (Half a 25mg tablet) in the morning when I get up. I cut out all caffeine, no coffee, energy drinks, soda or anything else. I do enjoy hot beverages during the day so I made an exception for decaffeinated Early Grey tea (it has very little caffeine) which I find makes me feel good (relaxed and alert) during the day. I eat only healthy foods including a lot of pro and pre biotics. I exercise, usually just a long walk, everyday. For my anxiety I found the following combo helpful. In the morning I take 1 calmaid, 100mg NOW l-theanine and 10mg of CBD oil sublingually (with no THC in in). That keeps me feeling good throughout the day. I'm going into my 6th week Olanzapine free. My major problems are anxiety and insomnia but I've found supplements that help me. Things are not perfect but they are the best they have been. I'm hoping with time my brain heals and I will be able to sleep without sleep aids and that my anxiety will subside. I go for a blood test on Wednesday so we'll see what the results are. Since my initial drop of Olanzapine 4 years ago I've slowly lost 70 lbs, I'm 10 lbs away from my healthy BMI weight. Every once in a while I pop a Lorazepam for a full nights sleep, but that is rare cause I don't want to get hooked and benzodiazepines. Anyways that's my story. It's taken me 4 years to go from 40mg down to zero and the battle still isn't over. "When you're going through hell, keep going" - Winston Churchill Tip: If you are going to experiment with taking multiple sleep aids, first try one at a time to see if you tolerate it well. If you don't have any negative reactions you can start mixing them. If you try taking everything all at once and have a bad reaction you won't know what caused the bad reaction.
  21. Has anyone here taken zyprexa and healed after quitting the drug? What did you do to heal? How long did healing take?
  22. Xilus

    Xilus: Hello

    Taking Zyprexa. Been on other stuff. But never stayed on anything except Zyprexa.
  23. Hello... I was prescribed with 10mg of olanzapine for Paranoid Schizophrenia. I taked it for 7 mos. I talked to my psychiatrist about the negative effects and decided to decrease to 5mg. I'm currently taking it for 4 months and decided on my own to taper down. I cut the 5mg pill into 4. Hahahahahaha. Then taked the 3 pieces. I'm experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
  24. Hi, ive been on Zyprexa 5 mg since November 27 2018 for a very stressful period in my life when I was suffering from high anxiety that caused chronic insomnia and some suicidal ideation i was on it for roughly 3 weeks after going through a difficult cross-country move, I managed to get myself off the drug, cutting from 5 to 2.5 to 0 within 2 weeks. from December 27th through January 4th of this year, I was drug free, feeling and sleeping great. then I got hit with another wave of external stress regarding a job opportunity in California (where I had just moved from) after 3 days of insomnia, my shrink advised me to go back on the drug. Dumb mistake. ive been on the drug since January 7th and have probably developed a physical dependence by now i want off this damn thing and I want my life back. 10 weeks shouldn’t make withdrawal has horrifying as I’ve seen it be for some people here Im mainly concerned with the insomnia. I have read threads where some people claimed success using gabbapentin and benzos to get through the sleeplessness, though I would probably just opt for the former. if anybody can share Zyprexa discontinuation success stories, please share. hoping to start cutting my dose this week.
  25. 8/28/2019 I was put on 1.25mg Zyprexa for mild insomnia. I should’ve done my research!!!! 4 months later I start wondering about this drug and stop cold turkey for 14 days of pure hell. Day 14 I take a small amount of Zyprexa, it helps alleviate some of the god awful withdrawals, now almost 2 weeks after my reinstatement of the 1.25 mg I’m having moments of feeling better then moments of feeling awful again. Sleeping again, didn’t sleep for most of the 14 days I quit. I just don’t know what to do now. Do I stay on this amount and hope I return to my baseline prior to stopping CT? How long do I stay at this dose ? I WANT OFF THIS CRAP BAD! Each day I’m on it is another day I’m not tapering. I’m so lost and confused and this drug is making it worse. I can’t believe my GP put me on this! I had asked her for a healthier option to benedryl!!! And this is what she puts me on. Am I doomed forever ? I hear nothing good about coming off Zyprexa. I need help!
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