Posted by ronaldo on October 20, 2006, at 12:50:40
In reply to Re: Seroquel for sleep - doesn't work » ronaldo, posted by ed_uk on October 19, 2006, at 15:33:10
> Hi Alan,
>
> >I wanted to come off Olanzapine and all that has happened is I have ended up on double the dose I was on before
>
> Do you think 7.5mg zopiclone might allow you to reduce your olanzapine back down to 5mg?
>
> Ed
Hello Ed,The Zopiclone is only a temporary measure. My GP prescribed 14 x 7.5 mg but I don't think he will give me any more, possibly a further 14 but no more after that. I think there is some NHS ruling that says no more than 28 to be prescribed at one time. So I prefer to stay off the Zopiclone if I can.
I have been thinking of trying a small amount of Seroquel, say 12.5 mg, with my Olanzapine (10 mg) and see if that improves my sleep, ie 900 mg Lithium, 10 mg Olanzapine, and 12.5 mg of Seroquel taken at about 9.30 pm. Perhaps the Seroquel will work better now that I am not so high. I think I will try it this Saturday night. Do you know if there are any drug interactions between Seroquel and Olanzapine?
I will keep the remainder of the Zopiclone in reserve for when I really need them. I have about 7 left. While I was high, ie before I went back on the Olanzapine, even 2 x 7.5 mg Zopiclone did not put me to sleep properly. I only got 5 hours of sleep out of it. Awake at 3.30 am but felt very drowsy in a pleasant way until getting up at 7.00 am.
On 10 mg of Olanzapine with my usual 900 mg of Lithium I get about six or seven hours sleep which is normally sufficient but I really need more than that at the moment to catch up on all the sleep I have lost over the past 7 weeks.
It would be really nice if a small amount of Seroquel added to the Olanzapine and Lithium would knock me out. With just the Olanzapine I don't fall asleep straight away and I wake up fairly early, about 5.45 am. I fall asleep about 11.00/11.30 pm.
It seems my sleeping problem has been caused by my going too high, rather than lack of sleep making me hyper-manic. It is very difficult for me to detect an elevation of my mood. I just think oh well I must be getting better. :-) I really miss my hypo-manic moods which is why I wanted to come off the Olanzapine in the first place.
...Alan
poster:ronaldo
thread:692010
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061020/msgs/696302.html