Posted by bleauberry on November 9, 2007, at 21:56:37
In reply to withdrawl from olanzapine, posted by yooper on November 8, 2007, at 23:34:14
I was on zyprexa even longer than you by a few years. I can relate to your story. It took me 6 months to get off. Same as you, I cut little tiny pieces off the tabs or half tabs. I stayed at each new dose for at least a week, sometimes two or three. And yes, the lousy sleep and daytime anxiety were really tough, along with lack of appetite and weight loss.
The final dose for me was about .25mg. I had sleep problems for a couple weeks after that, and day anxiety problems that went on for about 3 months. Sleep did get a lot better, as did anxiety. I think zyprexa is so powerful it is kind of addicting. Because here a year later I still think about it sometimes and would like that wonderful sleep from it, but the thought of coming off it again is just too much torture.
The only suggestion I can tell you is to keep doing what you are doing and keep whittling it down in as tiny chunks/pieces as you possibly can. I found staggering doses helped. For example, if I was on 2.5mg I would drop it to about 2.25mg for a night, then back to 25mg the next, then 2.25 the next, 2.5mg the next, then 2.25mg steady. After a week or two, then I would drop to about 2mg one night, then back to 2.25mg, then back to 2mg, and see-saw back and forth all the way down to zero. I don't know why that helped but it did. I think maybe it gave the brain more time to adjust to what was happening and to have breaks and rests along the way. And because the dose was always in movement and never steady, the brain had no time to settle into a particular pattern. Because of the impossibility to exact doses when cutting tiny chunks, the dosage was always in movement anyway regardless of what dose I was temporarily parked at.
The 3 months post zyprexa were hard. I used some natural help on an as needed basis. Things I found helpful for both anxiety and sleep were passionflower, valerian, or 5htp. I avoided them as much as possible, but when I really really needed something, they gave me what I needed to stay on my path. I would take maybe passionflower one evening at a social event. Then a couple nights later maybe valerian for sleep. Then a week later some 5htp powder (maybe 10mg) for a few days. And I tried GABA or glycine supplements a few times and found them amazingly calming and rapid, though I didn't like the way they depressed me. But if really needed to calm things down in a hurry, they worked. You can use any of these while still on zyprexa and they might help you get off quicker. The key was to keep focused on the goal of being zyprexa-free and that it was going to take a few months. Each day was a victory.
During my weaning process if I ran into difficulty, I would stay at whatever new dose I was on for a while, maybe a week or two or three. But I never would allow myself to go back to the higher dose I had come from, even though I was so tempted to.
About a week after my final dose I did break down and take another small dose one night. That seemed to give me enough relief to go on for another few days, at which point the agony I had previously been in did not return with the same vengeance.
Feelings of improvement came with each passing week, not each passing day. So you have to set your sites on a marathon and not sprint.
poster:bleauberry
thread:794032
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20070929/msgs/794211.html