tomtomtom: I am about to come off all medications - My story

[tomtomtom]

Hello, My name is Tom

 

As per my signature I have been on Olanzapine 5mg for 2 years and Paliperiodone trinza 300 mg for about 9 months.

 

 

My biggest concern with coming off olanzapine is the insomnia. Are there any success stories of coming off olanzapine. I would help with my motivation...

 

I plan to taper 10% a week of olanzapine of each dosage. I.e. 5mg .5,  4.5mg .45 etc etc

 

The doctors dont want to taper me off paliperiodone trinza. My next injection is due 7th of march and it should come out of my system in the coming weeks

 

Any advice is appreciated 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by FireflyFyte
Update title

[Gridley]

Welcome to SA, tomtomtom.  Thanks for completing your signature.  Could you please add the 300mg dosage you're taking of Paliperiodone to the signature?  Here's the link:  Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

 

Your plan to taper 10% per week is much faster--4X faster--than we recommend and you could be setting yourself up for some real withdrawal problems.  I understand your desire to get off the drug, but rushing a taper very often ends up taking much longer, what with taper failure and having to start over, than if you'd tapered safely and slowly.  We recommend tapering by no more than 10% of current dose every 4 weeks.  This link explains why:

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

This link is specifically about tapering Olanzapine, including how to get the nonstandard doses needed for a 10% every 4 week taper.

 

Tips for tapering off olanzapine (Zyprexa)

 

Here's an Olanzapine success story.

 

andy: Finally off zyprexa - Success stories: Recovery from …

 

We don't recommend a lot of supplements on SA, as many members report being sensitive to them due to our over-reactive nervous systems, but two supplements that we do recommend are magnesium (glycinate is a good form) and omega 3 (fish oil). Many people find these to be calming to the nervous system. 

 

Magnesium, nature's calcium channel blocker 

 

Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) 

 

Add in one at a time and at a low dose in case you do experience problems.

 

This is your introduction topic -- the place for you to ask questions, record symptoms, share your progress, and connect with other members of the SA community.  I hope you’ll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation.  I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but I am glad that you found us.

 

 

 

 

 

[FireflyFyte]

8 hours ago, tomtomtom said:

My biggest concern with coming off olanzapine is the insomnia. Are there any success stories of coming off olanzapine. I would help with my motivation...

 

I plan to taper 10% a week of olanzapine of each dosage. I.e. 5mg .5,  4.5mg .45 etc etc

 

If you want to avoid the insomnia while tapering off of Olanzapine would recommend tapering at a much slower rate. I am currently dropping 5% every two weeks and while I am early in my journey, have yet to experience any insomnia or other withdrawal symptoms.

 

I can appreciate waiting to go faster to get off of this medication but slow and steady is really the path to take.

[tomtomtom]

Hey can anyone link me any information about paliperidone? Like the olanzapine information

[FireflyFyte]

12 hours ago, tomtomtom said:

Hey can anyone link me any information about paliperidone? Like the olanzapine information

 

Here you go, Tom - Tips for tapering off Invega (paliperidone)

[littlebird]

Hello Tom! Welcome to SA.

 

On 2/13/2023 at 9:55 PM, tomtomtom said:

The doctors don't want to taper me off paliperiodone trinza. My next injection is due 7th of march and it should come out of my system in the coming weeks

 

I've found that some doctors react poorly to the words "taper off," perhaps it might seem to them like a symptom of mental illness to want to get off completely? Who knows. I've had better luck by saying, "It feels like too much/overkill, and I'd like to find a lower working dose," without going into the fact that I'd like to get off meds some day. 

 

On 2/13/2023 at 9:55 PM, tomtomtom said:

My biggest concern with coming off olanzapine is the insomnia. Are there any success stories of coming off olanzapine. I would help with my motivation...

 

I plan to taper 10% a week of olanzapine of each dosage. I.e. 5mg .5,  4.5mg .45 etc etc

 

I'm currently researching the antipsychotic I take as a sleep aid, and it seems like going very, very slowly might be a better way forward to avoid insomnia. Insomnia makes all mental illness worse. I've personally found in this med journey that holding for a while after each taper helps a lot. Like, spending weeks at the lower dose to allow my body and brain to adjust. Can't go too slow, it seems!

 

I've also been working on my "sleep hygiene" in preparation for tapering the sleep aid. I turn screens to "night mode" and try to avoid things that are activating, like reading the news or talking to certain folks, late at night. I try to stop all screens and just read at a certain point, which has become a sign to my brain, "It's time to wind down." Gotta take good care of the sleep! It helps so much with mental health to get a good night's sleep.

 

Whatever you do, please just pick one to lower at a time and take good care of yourself!

[tomtomtom]

Update: 1 week in to paliperiodone withdrawal. All is good so far. Just have uncontrolled body movements in the legs and eyes. Mainly at night. Feeling alot better with the akathisia. 

[tomtomtom]

Halfway into week 3 and I have minimal insomnia and random bouts of sadness every now and again. I hope this doesnt last long. Overall pretty optimistic. Is there anything i should know? 

[tomtomtom]

1st Cut is on Thursday. Im kind of scared. Im worried about the insomnia but some ppl go slow and have no insomnia.

 

 

Wish me the best I guess

Edited April 9, 2023 by hayduke
Merged with existing intro thread. Please keep to your one thread within Introductions.

[hayduke]

10%/week is way too fast to bank on.  Hardly anyone gets away with faster than 10%/month, and it's often less.

This is a challenging drug to withdraw from.

You will be ok if you use the feedback your body is giving you to adjust your taper schedule.  For instance, you might find that if you sleep less than 6hrs/night for three nights in a row, that you will hold until you are seeing 7-8 again.

What your body will accept in withdrawal, is what sets the safe rate of tapering you can sensibly take.

Remember, any reason to hold is a good one.

Edited April 9, 2023 by hayduke
Clarify after merging threads

[tomtomtom]

Hayduke, I look forward to your replies as you have lived experience with olanzapine. I will slow down my taper and take the teams/your advice

10% 4 weeks

[tomtomtom]

About to start my second cut of olanzapine. If this one goes well i plan to cut every 3 weeks. After about a week and a half i was fine with 1 day of imsomnia so yay

[tomtomtom]

Currently at 3.5 Mg. Its going well just feeling hot at night thats all. Am sleeping well. Hopes this continues

[tomtomtom]

Trying to Cut at 15% every 3 weeks since everything is going well.

 

[tomtomtom]

Having minor issues with akathisia. is gaba good for akathisia?
 

[tomtomtom]

so been a while. Things are going good. I am getting at 20% of my current Dosage. Currently at 1.5mg. Never thought i'd get here with so little issues. I really stressed about coming off last year.

 

 

I feel my alive and eating less. Not as dull. I just wondering how it will be coming off olanzapine at 0mg. I am confident that if i go from 0.1 to 0 that it will be fine. I do expect the 1st couple of months to be a bit meh but thats that really.

 

My Withdrawal symptoms from paliperidone have subsided quite a bit. Once 6months off olanzapine i will get a prolactin blood test. Things are looking up

[FireflyFyte]

1 hour ago, tomtomtom said:

so been a while. Things are going good. I am getting at 20% of my current Dosage. Currently at 1.5mg. Never thought i'd get here with so little issues. I really stressed about coming off last year.

 

Hi Tom,

 

Tapering can get more difficult the lower in dose you get so I would not recommend continuing drops of 20% and instead consider 5% drops every two weeks or 10% drops a month. You can read more at Why taper by 10% of my dose. 

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[tomtomtom]

decided to hold this time around

Was getting some twitching/akathisia 

 

I theorise that the weed a year or two i smoked caused my psychosis and that it caused me depersonalisation. 

 

Is there any info on this forum about depersonalisation? Was thinking of getting some emdr & some hypnotherapy to see how it helps me?

obviously going to see if I get an actual diagnosis. trying to get off caffeine atm but may hop back on then retry off olanzapine. 

 

overall trying to make my life better because like most people on this forum, who wants to go back? I learnt how to pray properly (christian) and have actually been getting what I have been praying for. Yeah... no way to really explain it but it makes me happy

if my timeline is correct and I can get off olanzapine about 2025-2026 if i can get off at 0.1. 

 

Looking optimistic so far currently at 1.5mg with compounding's of 1mg, 0.5mg and 0.1 mg. Will be asking for 0.05mg if the doctor would agree. Its going way better than I thought. Without the method of this forum I'd probably be suffering alot more.

 

me out 

 

[FireflyFyte]

10 hours ago, tomtomtom said:

Is there any info on this forum about depersonalisation?

 Our thread on this topic is at Derealization or Depersonalization (DR and DP).

 

[hayduke]

12 hours ago, tomtomtom said:

decided to hold this time around

Was getting some twitching/akathisia 

 

I theorise that the weed a year or two i smoked caused my psychosis and that it caused me depersonalisation. 

 

Is there any info on this forum about depersonalisation? Was thinking of getting some emdr & some hypnotherapy to see how it helps me?

obviously going to see if I get an actual diagnosis. trying to get off caffeine atm but may hop back on then retry off olanzapine. 

 

overall trying to make my life better because like most people on this forum, who wants to go back? I learnt how to pray properly (christian) and have actually been getting what I have been praying for. Yeah... no way to really explain it but it makes me happy

if my timeline is correct and I can get off olanzapine about 2025-2026 if i can get off at 0.1. 

 

Looking optimistic so far currently at 1.5mg with compounding's of 1mg, 0.5mg and 0.1 mg. Will be asking for 0.05mg if the doctor would agree. Its going way better than I thought. Without the method of this forum I'd probably be suffering alot more.

 

me out 

 

I would suggest getting off caffeine before or during tapering olanzapine.  As your dose of olanzapine lowers, its sedative effects will lessen and you will probably not want to be adding stimulants to the mix.

 

It can be quite hard to give up caffeine.  I cross tapered decaf with caffeinated for quite a few months and still fell asleep in the afternoons for a while.  It was worth giving up, though.  Weed may also be best avoided, especially high THC strains.  Along with alcohol.  It's worth noting that these drugs release dopamine which your body will be particularly sensitive to later in the taper, and afterwards.

 

EMDR did me a world of good.

[hayduke]

14 hours ago, tomtomtom said:

Looking optimistic so far currently at 1.5mg with compounding's of 1mg, 0.5mg and 0.1 mg. Will be asking for 0.05mg if the doctor would agree. Its going way better than I thought. Without the method of this forum I'd probably be suffering alot more.

 

Are you intending to step down at those dosages?  They are much larger than 10% cuts.  Please review the link to "Why taper by 10% of my dosage" in the response to your first post.