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Can zyprexa + lithium cocktail stop working?

Posted by stewie on January 28, 2012, at 23:06:27

I am one of 7 children. 3 of us have severe issues with mental illness. My brother, perhaps, has the most severe symptoms. Over 20 years ago he was labeled as schizo-affective. But he was lucky to find a good doctor who really put her heart and soul into him, and he learned to live pretty well with his illness. He has worked steadily and was always medication compliant, so until this year he had not seen the inside of a psych ward for nearly 20 years.
Dr. T had him on lithium and Haldol until zyprexa came out. My brother did incredibly well on zyprexa and lithium. Dr. T died over 5 years ago,but my brother was still OK.

In retrospect, my family and I noticed changes in his behavior which gave us pause as early as 2009, when he kept getting laid off from manufacturing jobs by companies who opened more and more factories in China. He tried another career, but it was a huge mistake. I know that he started messing around with his meds a bit during that brief period.
Early this year he experienced a lot of changes in his life -- not all bad. He has landed in hospitals very far from home twice in 9 months. He promises all of us that he has been taking his meds. I don't really believe him. I think he has been seduced by hypomania and early mania for the first time in many years. But could it be that zyprexa and lithium "poop out" the way SSRIs often do? If he makes it out of this latest situation alive, I wonder if it is worth discussing medication changes with him and with a doctor, if he were to allow any of us to help him in this way.

Sorry this was so long, but thoughts would be appreciated, and I guess I needed to get it off my chest with people who have "been there" and know the heartache.

Thanks very much...


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poster:stewie thread:1008693
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120120/msgs/1008693.html