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Re: just started zyprexa and effexor for depresion

Posted by rapunzel on November 13, 2001, at 1:42:05

In reply to Re: just started zyprexa and effexor for depresion, posted by ttt on November 11, 2001, at 11:31:58

Sorry, I don't know about herbal sleep-aides, and I don't know first hand about anyone else's experience in weaning off slowly. According to medical literature on SSRI withdrawal, the way you avoid withdrawal symptoms is to wean off slowly. Rule of thumb is that the shorter the half-life of the med, the longer you take weaning off. If I remember correctly, zyprexa has a half-life of about 72 hrs, about the same as Paxil, which is well documented often to have difficult withdrawals. Some people are so sensitive to Paxil that they have to take MONTHS to wean off, and they have to do so one milligram at a time! Zyprexa and Paxil are not classified as the same sort of drugs, but my withdrawal symptoms from zyprexa were almost item for item the same as that of Paxil withdrawal, so I have drawn my own conclusions about the parallels between the two meds.
Considering that you have been off the zyprexa for two months, and zyprexa is SO bloody expensive, I don't know if going back on the med and then weaning off more slowly would still help you. I guess it depends on how desperate you are for sleep. I haven't heard about Trazadone being hard to get off of. I took one 50mg pill a night for about 2 months, and I think I stopped it cold turkey, (I don't remember my withdrawal schedule for that med) but I do know that I didn't have any side effects. At the time that I stopped the Trazadone, I was still taking a low dose of Celexa. I don't know if that kept me from having a withdrawal from the Trazadone. I didn't know until later that Trazadone is an SSRI. When it was prescribed, I thought it was just a sleeping pill. I wasn't in any shape to participate much in my own care and I just took what my doctor told me to take, no questions asked. When I started to feel better and had the energy to research my situation is when I found out that it is an SSRI. I then decided to stop all my meds. (I had never had any mental problems before this study, and I haven't had any since my recovery.) I am completely p-med free for over a year.
Everyone I know who has taken zyprexa was in the same study I was in, and we were only given 4 days to get off of it. Of the 17 people in the study, I was the only one to "bottom out" after the study. BTW, the study was to see the effects of zyprexa on an impulse control disorder, not a psychiatric disorder, so we were all quite surprised at my bad reaction. According to the study doc and Ely-Lilly, I am the ONLY person who has ever had a bad withdrawal from this drug. Well, I may have been the first, but I know I won't be the last. I am now looking for other withdrawal victims of this drug. I would be quite interested to know how much you were taking, how long you were given to get off this med, and all of your withdrawal symptoms and how long they have lasted.
Thanks in advance for your replies, and I hope you have gotten some sleep!
Rapunzel


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