Posted by blueberry on April 23, 2006, at 16:55:09 [reposted on April 24, 2006, at 19:41:17 | original URL]
In reply to olanzapine, posted by rachel1309 on April 23, 2006, at 15:51:45
Zyprexa withdrawals. Oh my. Yeah, I can tell you about that. I don't want to scare you. But I'll tell it like it was/is for me. I don't know if you are considering taking it, if you have been taking it, what dose, or how long.
I found 2.5mg zyprexa added to ongoing prozac was very helpful in a lot of ways, in terms of sleep, overall calm, boosted motivation, and improved cognitive function. I later went to 5mg.
The total time was 5 years.My doc wanted to withdraw me from all meds and see how I would do. Prozac went first. That was worse than I expected. Zyprexa was next. It took me 4 months to wean off of 5mg, by cutting little tiny chunks off the pill each night, and then increasing the size of the chunk I cut off about every week.
The first couple days after being completely off were not bad. I got cramps in my legs. But from then until now, 10 weeks later, here's what I have...
Startle response...any sudden normal sound scares me, makes me jump, startles me.
Insomnia...I could only sleep 2 to 3 hours for a while, but it improved to about 6 hours.
Anorexia...I just don't eat much. I went from 142 pounds and 132 pounds in 3 weeks and I am 6' tall.
Depression...it hit real bad between day 3 and day 6, and ever since has been pretty bad.
Anxiety...fierce. No words to describe it.
Waking up...first thing in the morning there is this unexplained fear, terror, paranoia that is absolutely frightening.
Cognition...I can't think as clearly and I forget things I never used to.
Tinnitus...I've always had a low grade ringing in my ears. Zyprexa quieted it down pretty well. Now it is quite loud and steady.I really feel like I need to go back on it, just to stop all this stuff. It's bad. My doc just started me on klonopin to ease the anxiety which it does, to get some sleep which it does, to ease the fear, which it doesn't, and maybe to help depression which it makes it worse.
The question is, did longterm zyprexa cause all this stuff, or is this a progression of my underlying condition that zyprexa was treating? I started with just plain ole depression 5 years ago. But now it is more like something schizoaffective.
On remedyfind.com I've seen plenty of people who got off zyprexa after short term and didn't complain of any problems. But longterm I think it is a different story. There was a guy here a few months ago who was cross tapering from zyprexa 10mg over to geodon. He had already been tapering zyprexa for 9 months.
Withdrawals from any med are not cool. I found zyprexa to be particularly frightening. And it still is 10 weeks after being completely off it. I'm at a crossroads and have to do something.
I'm not sure what your situation is, but my best most compassionate wishes go out to you.
poster:blueberry
thread:636680
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20060412/msgs/636681.html