Zyprexahater: Olanzapine/Zyprexa Taper

[Zyprexahater]

Hi all! 
 

Before I get into my introduction, I’d like to commend you all, it’s inspiring to see you all stay so positive and consistent in your attempts to reduce/remove these drugs from your life. I’ve been eager to join this platform in attempts to begin my own journey!

 

Introduction 

I am a F(25) and got sick when I was 24. I was given these drugs due to a FEP. Naturally I am a sensitive/dramatic person so I failed to believe my FEP was actually as serious as stated. Although, I was hospitalized and told I would need to take the medication for a year in order to prevent relapse. 

Due to naivety and lack of knowledge and the huge levels of sedation the drugs brought me, I stopped them after 3 weeks. Besides I had stopped antibiotics before and never experienced any harm. I was fine for 5 months then I started experiencing extreme paranoia, related to my phone in which I went to the police station in order to report someone tracking my phone. The police sent me to the hospital and I was hospitalized for 4 days, in which I was reinstated 5mg of Olanzapine. I was then released and had cold turkeyed olanzapine again as before I was fine dir 6months and thought it would play out again. 12 days later I had what I call my first real episode of psychosis occurred. I was hospitalized again this time for 1 month. I have amnesia as to what happened in the hospital due to the cocktail I was put on and when I came around I was told I was a paranoid schizophrenic. All this happened within the space of 6 months. 
 

Reason for joining
I am trying to get assistance to begin my taper as I truly believe my cold turkeys caused my illness. I don’t think I was ill beforehand. I express concern about something I cared about in a manner I saw fit and then was diagnosed as schizophrenic. I didn’t do anything to extreme to receive such a diagnosis. 
So I am hoping to taper off this drug or Atleast reduce my dose as low as possible as I am on a high dose at the moment. 
 

Life post psychosis 

Many things have changed, in terms of my capability. I am not as intelligent as I was pre-Zyprexa and it’s very evident that the drug has affected my thinking in terms of coherency of thought, conversation and even managed to dampen all of my emotions. I don’t feel anything I am numb and it’s brought me from a super driven highly motivated individual to someone who geninuely does not care about anything. Also lost my sleep and can not sleep untill I take an olanzapine tablet which is also wearing off at the moment.
 

Current medication

I am currently on 7.5mg of olanzapine and 2.5mg of abilify. I am not great at maths or anything that has to be done systematically and I have read a lot of the threads already and I can’t seem to find out how to begin this journey of tapering: if anyone could explain it as if I was 6 years old that would be great as that’s the capacity I am working with at the moment. 
 

any help or replies or encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

 

Edited January 1 by FireflyFyte
Updated title

[FireflyFyte]

Hello,

 

Welcome to SA. Please summarize your drug history in your signature by following the instructions at How to Summarize Your Drug History in Your Signature. You may need to be on a computer to complete this.

 

Since you are on multiple medications, you are going to want to decide which drug to start with as we recommend only tapering one drug at a time. More information can be found at Taking multiple psych drugs? Which drug to taper first? Generally speaking, we recommend tapering the more activating drug which in your case would be the Abilify. You can read more about tapering Abilify specifically at Tips for tapering off Abilify (aripiprazole).

 

When you have decided which drug you would want to start tapering first, we encourage members to drop no more than 10% of the previous dose per month which is especially important for a person with a history of psychosis to try and not trigger another episode. You can read more at Why taper by 10% of my dosage? Keep in mind, some people need to make smaller drops so it's important to listen to your body as you are tapering.

Let us know your thoughts and how we can support you going forward.

 

Thanks,

 

Firefly

[Zyprexahater]

Hi Firefly!

Thanks I’ve added my signature, has there been any success of people who have CT before that managed to eventually come off? Doesn’t seem like it from reading the threads. Just looking for hope! 

[FireflyFyte]

3 minutes ago, Zyprexahater said:

has there been any success of people who have CT before that managed to eventually come off? Doesn’t seem like it from reading the threads. Just looking for hope! 

 

I would recommend checking out our Success Stories section for stories of people who have successfully tapered from their medication(s).

When wanting to taper after a CT, it is best to be stable on your medication for awhile before starting a slow, and careful, taper.

[KenA]

@Zyprexahater I healed after a CT off of everything. It just took time to heal. Hang in there, you will be ok!

[Zyprexahater]

Thanks @KenA for the encouragement! I hope that joining this group helps in my healing. I intend to use it as many do, as my taper journal, once I am ready to begin.

 

Also my final question for today is that while I am still on this drug does anyone have tips for maintaining/losing weight gained from Olanzapine? Again any information is appreciated.

[trina1981]

I have found that since my psych med withdrawal I find it impossible to lose weight. I couldn’t lose a pound until I started Keto, 30 gm net carbs a day. Still it took over 3 months to lose 10 pounds.

I have a question about healing. Did you see gradual changes or did you go along thinking that you may never be healed and then the healing came quickly? I don’t feel much difference in the last 20 months. It’s very discouraging. I feel like I’m waiting for my life to start.

[Zyprexahater]

Hi @trina1981 so glad to hear weightloss is possible despite being slow!! I am still on antipsychotics unfortunately so I am not a great help in providing information on how healing feels just yet

[Zyprexahater]

Hi all,

so I’m wondering if it was my cold turkey or my use of antipsychotics that has resulted in serious cognitive decline which I believe will affect my job soon and I’m so worried and upset about this as I truly enjoy my job but I’m not sure what is causing this brain fog, lack of creative thinking and lack of having an opinion on things. I’m so so tempted to start tapering my meds to understand the root of this issue but my recent CT was in May and I was advised by those on here to give it some time. Only thing about that is I’m not sure when is the right time to start? Maybe when my sleep returns? I’m not really sleeping long on 7.5mg which is concerning

[FireflyFyte]

59 minutes ago, Zyprexahater said:

Only thing about that is I’m not sure when is the right time to start? Maybe when my sleep returns? I’m not really sleeping long on 7.5mg which is concerning

 

How many hours of sleep are you getting?

Also, can you list the times that you take your medication daily?

[Zyprexahater]

1 hour ago, FireflyFyte said:

 

How many hours of sleep are you getting?

Also, can you list the times that you take your medication daily?

I am averaging 5-6 hours of disrupted sleep (waking up several times during the night). 
I struggle with consistency so I don’t have a set time of taking the medication but I’m trying to be more regimented. I’ve changed my times to 9am - Abilify 2.5mg and 7-7.15pm - Olanzapine 7.5mg

[Zyprexahater]

Hi! 
 

Coming to this thread for support again. I am planning on changing my medication to abilify and completely removing the olanzapine. I’m really scared about another psychotic episode does anyone have any advice on making the switch?

[FireflyFyte]

3 hours ago, Zyprexahater said:

Coming to this thread for support again. I am planning on changing my medication to abilify and completely removing the olanzapine. I’m really scared about another psychotic episode does anyone have any advice on making the switch?

 

We are a site dedicated to safely tapering off of psychiatric medication. If you want to discuss changing medications, we recommend that you speak to your doctor on that matter.

[Zyprexahater]

Hi All, 

Just thought I'd update my thread. So I am currently still on 7.5mg Olanzapine and 2.5mg for Abilify. I noticed this thread is really geared towards AD's more than AP's so I found a Facebook group that deals with Olanzapine taper specifically (If anyone is looking for additional resources). I have an appointment with my silly psychatrist next week who has diagnosed me with Schizophrenia due to my psychosis from Cold turkying Olanzapine. I do not have schizophrenia as I do not hear voices nor do I hallucinate. I do have slight delusions and intense paranoia but that's heightend due to the Olanzapine. Anyway I am going to discuss with her reducing my Olanzapine to 5mg then I will begin my taper once I have stabilized on 5mg. I  also have a dilema I am not sure whether it's best to taper or cross taper and stay on Abilify then later try and taper that. From the past 2 times I have tried to withdraw from olanzapine I didn't succeeed ( CT) so I am afraid a cross taper is similar to a CT as in I would have serious withdrawl symptoms. What does everyone think? Also sorry for the lack of activity, not really tapering yet but going to soon. I am also struggling with compliance due to how much I hate the drugs. Nothing too serious but just a miss here and there I am trying very hard to be compliant but as someone who never needed these drugs it is incredibly hard.

[Zyprexahater]

Hi All, 

Just an update for my thread and to keep track for myself. I have made the switch from Olanzapine 7.5mg to Abilify 10mg. The cross taper was smooth. I did an abrupt switch from Olanzapine to Abilify and experienced no side effects, which was unexpected. From all my research I was expecting atleast 2 weeks of withdrawls. Now I'll give brief updates on the headings below :

Side Effects

The side effects from Abilify are definitely more minimal than those of Olanzapine. Olanzapine, as most of you know, was highly sedative and prevented me from completing daily activities such as showering, excersising and getting up on time for work. Being on Abilify has remidiaited all this and has proved to be more activating in my case. I am yet to experience side effects yet but this is due to being on it for such a short amount of time. The sedation has defintely decreased and I am way more active and less tired. 

Sleep

Sleep is nuanced with this drug, I am sleeping however it is very light and not refreshing at all, I track my sleep using a FitBit and it proves daily that my sleep pattern and type has changed drastically. I am now spending much more time light sleeping and seem to be having difficulty achieving REM sleep. 

Tapering 

To be honest, tapering is and always has been the goal. However due to getting psychosis from Olanzapine, there has been this irrational fear of tapering any drug as i am not sure how to do it correctly. The use of these groups and also other online platforms has provided me with the theoretical knowledge I need, now to just put it into practice. As no one supports me tapering, my plan is to stabilise on this dose of Abilify for 6 months and then begin my taper.

[FireflyFyte]

On 2/18/2024 at 1:17 PM, Zyprexahater said:

However due to getting psychosis from Olanzapine, there has been this irrational fear of tapering any drug as i am not sure how to do it correctly. The use of these groups and also other online platforms has provided me with the theoretical knowledge I need, now to just put it into practice. As no one supports me tapering, my plan is to stabilise on this dose of Abilify for 6 months and then begin my taper.

 

Stabilizing for six months is a great idea especially with a history of psychosis. You will want to be stable and, when ready, taper slowly to avoid another episode.

[Zyprexahater]

Hi All,

As much as I am updating you guys, I am keeping my entries as a reminder to myself the journey of withdrawing from anti-psychotics.

Last we spoke I held on the Abilify to stabilize. So to update, I have initiated my Abilify taper and I feel more alive in doing so. I made a jump to 7.5 from 10mg 3 weeks ago and I am yet to experience withdrawls. I will say I notice my sleep is lighter however that is still due to my cold turkey from Olanzapine. I am very hopeful that I can withdraw from this drug as I don't really notice that I am on it except from the weight gain. It seems to sit well with me better than Olanzapine anyway. My question to any knowledgeable people is do they know if Abilify can be tapered using the water method? I don't live in an area that deals with compounding medicines nor is the liquid form available in my region. To make my more minute cuts I would need to have a liquid so I wonder if Abilify is eligible for this.

[FireflyFyte]

1 hour ago, Zyprexahater said:

My question to any knowledgeable people is do they know if Abilify can be tapered using the water method? I don't live in an area that deals with compounding medicines nor is the liquid form available in my region. To make my more minute cuts I would need to have a liquid so I wonder if Abilify is eligible for this.

 

In our thread for tapering off of Abilify, Tips for tapering off Abilify (aripiprazole), there is a section on dissolving the tablets in water.

[Zyprexahater]

Hi all, 

Just a quick update: I am on 5mg on Abilify at the moment and have shared my plans of eventually weaning off the drug completely but was told that I would have to stay on it for life. My question is has anyone who was told they would need to be on antipsychotics for life ever get off?

[FireflyFyte]

1 hour ago, Zyprexahater said:

My question is has anyone who was told they would need to be on antipsychotics for life ever get off?

 

What was the reason given for needing to be on them for life?

[Happy2Heal]

On 11/14/2024 at 6:40 AM, Zyprexahater said:

My question is has anyone who was told they would need to be on antipsychotics for life ever get off?

yes I was told that I would need drugs for life

at first it was anti psychotics,

later it was lithium plus anti psychotics, 

later still it was antidepressants

 

I'm off ALL medications of all kinds and am doing fine.

 

your results may vary.