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Re: just started zyprexa

Posted by JohnL on October 14, 2000, at 5:04:07

In reply to Re: just started zyprexa , posted by Rapunzel on October 13, 2000, at 23:29:13

> > My MD started me on Zyprexa x5 days ago. I am also on Ativan daily as needed and also Wellbutrin 2x a day. I just came off Effexor and Seroquel following a suicidal incident. I am being treated for depression. I feel agitated and irritable then cry for no reason. Has anyone had this side effect w/Zyprexa? Has anyone had positive experiences w/this new drug?

Rapunzel,
I'm sorry you are having this hard time. In my experience nothing is more disheartening than feeling bad to begin with, and then feeling worse with a new medication trial.

Doctors are so different. Some will take you immediately off a medication when it has a bad reaction right away at the start. Others will say to give it time. I don't know what your doctor will say. Mine never allowed a trial to continue if the initial reactions were bad. To him it merely indicated that the medication was not the right one to target whatever the underlying problem is. Or it may be that for some reason your body just rejects the molecule of that medication. A poor match biochemically. Certainly you could adjust to the medication, given time, and things could smooth out. That might, or might not, happen.

In your shoes, I have tried three different strategies:
1) Stop the medication immediately, get back to the doctor, decide on some other medication instead.
2) Stop the medication for about a week, plus or minus, until you stabilize again. Then retry the medication a second time. If your next doctor appointment is a month away or so, then you have time to try this. Sometimes I've found the body is much more accepting of a medication the second time around. But, if you responded poorly again, then you would know for a fact the medication is at fault. The 'challenge' test. Challenge the medication through stop and go trials. If there's a consistent pattern, then there's no doubt.
3) Continue the medication hoping for it to smooth out. You could lower the dose right away to 2.5mg to help. Just cut the tablet as needed with a knife for custom dosing.

I believe each patient has a unique underlying chemistry. To target that chemistry, medications will either be inferior or superior. Superior ones are characterized by good response fairly rapidly and few side effects. Inferior ones are characterized by poor, or no, response, and take longer to work, if they work at all, and are often accompanied by intolerable side effects or worsening of mood. This is because they are not correcting the problem directly, but rather causing a domino effect of chain reactions that may or may not eventually influence the problem.

There is a ton of anecdotal evidence right now tha Zyprexa can work well in treating depression, either alone or as an add-on. It has been approved for treating manic-depression. But the fact that you feel so bad so quickly after starting it just hints to me that it is all wrong for your unique chemistry.
John


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