Krist: son's Zyprexa for insomnia

[Krist]

Hi Andy,

 

New to this site. Thanks for sharing your story.

 

I am mom to 17 year old who was hospitalized last year due to psychosis. He had gone 5 days without sleeping and we missed all the signs. He was put on Zyprexa at 15mg. After 5 months of outpatient treatment we had him completely weaned off. He went from the Zyprexa to Oxcarbazapine.

 

He eventually went off of that too - all within a 6 month period. Psychiatrist believed it was a one time episode due to lack of sleep.

 

A year later - to the day, he came to us to let us know he hasn't slept again. Melatonin and unisom did not work so we gave him the Oxcarbazapine. It also did not help. The Psychiatrist had told us if we were ever in the situation again, to give him the Zyprexa. We just did. It has been 3 days with two - 2 hour sleeping periods. He is terrified of this medication but he is finally sleeping.

 

We don't want this to be part of his routine as he could barely function on it. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks for any insight 

Edited June 19, 2017 by scallywag
split from a success story; added paragraph breaks for readability

[scallywag]

Krist -- Welcome to Surviving Antidepressants (SA) I've moved your post from andy's Success Story topic to a topic of your own in the Introductions Forum so that you can get answers to  questions about your son's situation.

 

I'm sorry that your son experienced sleep-deprivation psychosis last year and has traveled the psychopharmacy path. It's wonderful that you are so attentive to his condition and are working with him to find a way to deal with his sleep disruptions with minimal or no medication. That support will make a HUGE difference for him. 

 

Is your able and willing to post on the site himself? When we have questions about symptoms, it's best if we hear from him. So much can get lost in translation, so to speak. He could join as a member and you could both post in this thread.

 

A request to help us help you: Would you summarize your son's medication history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
  
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
  
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
  
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
  
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
  
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.
  
  

Until we get that information and any questions you have, please read:

Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know.

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?.

Tips for tapering off Zyprexa (olanzapine)

Tips to help sleep.

 

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

[Madeleine]

Also, I think it is important to figure out what is at the core of his sleeping problems.  Is he under a lot of stress, e.g. with exams? with relationships? with applying for college etc.? Is he anxious about something? Is he eating well? Does he drink a lot of caffeine late in the day? What are his sleep hygiene habits like?: Does he keep to a regular sleep schedule? Does he stay up late playing video games or being on his phone/electronic devices. (If so, this can really wind people up.)

 

Once he/you get to the bottom of why he is having sleep problems then he can take steps to address the things that are hindering his sleep and learn non-drug techniques for dealing with the sleep issue.  

[herewego]

I have been on olanzapine for a while. At the higher amounts I am a zombie, just out of it and sleep way too much. However I find once you are at the lower amounts it doesn't make you as out of it and you still sleep fairly well, if you don't come off too quickly. Because he has been at the high amount fairly short you may be able to get away to cutting it down more quickly until he notices his sleep isn't as good. Then I would hold until his sleep catches up, and continue to cut at a more normal slow schedule according to this site.