![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 5 of 5. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by blueberry on November 3, 2005, at 3:54:42
Was on 5mg zyprexa for 5 years. Began weaning off it a month ago by using a knife to shave tiny amounts off the pill each night. I got from 5mg to 2.5 without any problems at all. But the final 2.5mg is a beast.
Tried 1.25mg for 4 days. The first 3 days were fine. The 4th day, serious withdrawals took me by complete surprise. Flu symptoms, nausea after eating, very sore joints, dizziness, druggedness, weakness, lethargy, worsened depression. Oh my.
Back up to 2.5mg for a while. I knew it would be hard, but it's harder than I thought. Not even sure I can get off it at all.
Posted by Declan on November 3, 2005, at 6:37:40
In reply to Weaning off zyprexa is aweful, posted by blueberry on November 3, 2005, at 3:54:42
Ah Blueberry, you must be patient. It takes as long as it takes. Just be consistant and I'm sure you'll be off it in no time. Should be this year. (I've spent 3 years getting from 1.25mg/d to 0.5mg/d methadone. You'll do better than that.)
Declan
Posted by SLS on November 4, 2005, at 8:41:16
In reply to Weaning off zyprexa is aweful, posted by blueberry on November 3, 2005, at 3:54:42
I have had success discontinuing both SRI antidepressants and benzodiazepines using what has come to be called (by me :-)) a flexible-dosing strategy. However, I don't know with certainty that it would work when attempting to discontinue Zyprexa.
Before describing this silly idea of mine, let me pass on to you another idea that has been contributed by others. You can try using diphenhydramine, hydroxyzine, or promethazine to mitigate the withdrawal symptoms. These drugs have strong antihistaminic and anticholinergic effects. They should help.
For me, I would experiment and try a flexible dosing strategy. In short, it involves taking very small doses of Zyprexa several times a day. Once you feel the withdrawal symptoms appear, you simply take a small dose as if you were taking aspirin for a headache - sort of a PRN. You are better off taking smaller and smaller doses rather than fewer and fewer. This will happen automatically. Optimally, you choose to take the minimum amount of Zyprexa that will allow you to go perhaps 6-8 hours without withdrawal symptoms. Then, once the symptoms reappear, you take your next dose. You don't have to be precise with measurement. Any difference in dose amount will simply change the time until your next withdrawal episode. Flexibility allows for this. When you reach the point that no further reduction in dose amount is possible; that dose that will not allow you to go 4 hours until withdrawal symptoms reappear, you can discontinue the drug completely at this point. I have managed to discontinue Effexor 300mg in less than two weeks this way - more than once. I've also used it for other SRI antidepressants and the benzodiazepines lorazepam and clonazepam. Others have had success with this method.
You can find better explanations of flexible-dosing in the archives. Zyprexa does have a longer and more variable half-life than Effexor. You might want to experiment with the inter-withdrawal dosing periods by using slightly higher doses. However, I don't think that allowing more than 12 hours before withdrawal symptoms reappear would be optimal. I think you should dose at least 3 times a day. NO GUARANTEES. It couldn't hurt, though. Whatever you do, try not to allow the withdrawal syndrome to persist for more than an hour. I think that by doing so, it intensifies the withdrawal symptoms and extends the withdrawal period. I believe that kindling might be involved with this phenomenon.
I would try the symptom management approach first using one of the three drugs mentioned. Then, if you still feel the need to progressively taper your dosage, I would recommend using a flexible-dosing strategy.
I didn't mean to write so much. Forget the archives. If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them here.
Please let me know how you do.
Good luck.
:-)
- Scott
Posted by blueberry on November 4, 2005, at 18:07:10
In reply to Re: Weaning off zyprexa is aweful » blueberry, posted by SLS on November 4, 2005, at 8:41:16
Hey SLS, that is a great strategy. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for me. What you described is actually a spin-off of what I have been doing already, except your method takes it a bit further. For example, I've been dosing 5mg in the evening for 5 years. To start weaning, I split it into 2.5mg in the evening and 2.5mg at lunch. I slowly cut pieces off the lunch dose until finally I didn't need it at all. All that remained was the 2.5mg evening dose.
With you suggested method, I could divide the 2.5mg dose into halves, thirds, or quarters, and spread them throughout the day as needed, instead of just shaving small amounts off the once nightly dose.
Cool idea. Thanks for taking the time. Much appreciated.
Posted by GeishaGirl on December 5, 2005, at 22:18:03
In reply to Re: Weaning off zyprexa is aweful » SLS, posted by blueberry on November 4, 2005, at 18:07:10
I've tapered off Zyprexa. I was on 20mg for about 4 years. It's a tough thing to do. I tapered off in 8 months, it would have been easier if I had gone slower. I went along with what my former shrink said. She didn't know any better, they aren't really trained for that sort of thing. Everything turned out fine.
Some things that helped me (besides talking with people a lot) was taking extra vitamin supplements, esp. Vitamins B6, B12 and C. Made sure that I ate well. I sometimes used herbal tinctures or homeopathy. I don't know if any of these would interact with the meds, best to check before taking anything.
Yoga and meditation were also helpful.
I'm going to post a book on this site that was very helpful for me in meds withdrawal. It is geared more towards complete withdrawal of meds (like going off all meds, as opposed to one), but would be helpful if going off one and staying on others. It's written by a radical psychiatrist.
I hope that things go well for you. You've gotten some good advice here :)
Take care,
Geisha Girl
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Withdrawal | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.