Jump to content
SurvivingAntidepressants.org is temporarily closed to new registrations until 1 April ×

hayduke: coming off olanzapine / Zyprexa


hayduke

Recommended Posts

  • Moderator

Hold's been going fine.  I was almost ready to start the next cut last night, but entering week 4 with no coffee has been kicking my arse a bit!  Lethargy, muscle and headaches.  Negative covid result so the caffeine is the likely cause.  I'll just wait till that evens out a bit before the next cut.

 

The hemp frogurt works out pretty well.  I'll add magnesium L-threonate powder to the next batch too.  One convenient tasty dessert 🙂

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

Glad to hear the hold is going well. Sensible to wait till the side effects of the caffeine reduction even out. It is hard enough coping with the withdrawal symptoms of this drug without any added from other causes.

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Becoming increasingly functional on zero coffee after a month or so.  Not that I have any great problem with lounging around when my body calls for it, it's well underrated, but gotta keep the lights on in the rat race and all that.

 

Felt ready to cut in the last week and went to 0.59mg last night.

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator

The cut's gone well but last week had some serious external stressors so sitting tight on 0.59mg for now.

 

Lots of time out in nature, always marvellous

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Moderator

Various stresses in the air but I'm hardly alone in that this year.  More anger coming up at various things.  So I'm going to vent a bit 🙂

 

Years of ordeal, the seemingly endless dilemma of holding for comfort vs actively reducing the amount and knowing what it costs each week in what I won't get done, and the discomfort. 

Wanting to do more to help a biosphere entering crisis.  Anger at the greedy sociopaths cruelly gutting our civilisations. 

Having to work during this process, while making a reasonable facade of being professional or lose my independence. 

Not being able to find info on dosage related effects on my serotonin because the drug profiteers don't want people getting off these toxins. 

Still not being fully functional because of wd side effects, at work and home, and cursing the name of the quack who actively steered me away from the therapy I asked for long ago.  He told me to die early in suffering with my body disintegrating and my mind dulled.  I'm still aghast that he told me "Tardive dyskinesia is not that bad". 

There are things I still want to do in this life and he's stolen decades.  Lately I'm trying to set some things right that I was unable to manage while drugged.  But it's good to be getting back on track.

 

Finding it hard to go to yoga during covid, instead spending more time in nature to ground and relax, which is saving my bacon this month I think.

 

I'm coping though.  And I'm thankful for the many good things and people in my world, it blows my mind to look at everything I've had to go through and how that feels yet see many others do it so much tougher.  I dream of the world at large having more compassion and will to heal and I want to be here to see it.  "Indra's net".

 

Now at 0.546mg, felt pretty marginal yesterday 3-4 days into the cut, but juuust on the ok side and much better today.  Woke early and got a bunch of chores that had been piling up done, which feels really good.  Tired tonight but ok.  Two months since I had caffeine, still sluggish many mornings but mostly ok once I warm up.  Started taking CoQ10 again for a bit more energy.

 

My psychologist is pretty satisfied I can complete the taper safely.  I can't wait till I can just fall asleep in the evening and have a good night's sleep without having to get up and put the toxin in my body.

 

Hope everyone is doing ok, it's a bloody tough year.

 

Cheers,

Hayduke

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
On 9/24/2020 at 1:28 PM, hayduke said:

Years of ordeal, the seemingly endless dilemma of holding for comfort vs actively reducing the amount and knowing what it costs each week in what I won't get done, and the discomfort. 

Sorry you’re feeling so bad at the moment. It really is a brutal and relentless process which is made all the worse by how frustratingly long it takes to do it safely. And olanzapine is I think a particularly difficult drug to get off. But you have come a very long way and have done so by being patient and resilient. I consider you an inspiration for successfully getting as far as you have and I have no doubt you will be able to complete the taper successfully and get off the drug completely. I think the fear that being drug free won’t be possible also adds to the stress of the taper and this is made especially difficult when the data to be able to work out what is going on neurologically in terms of receptor binding profiles is not available. Knowing 

you’re past a certain receptor threshold can give you encouragement that maybe the worst is over.

 

On 9/24/2020 at 1:28 PM, hayduke said:

Still not being fully functional because of wd side effects, at work and home, and cursing the name of the quack who actively steered me away from the therapy I asked for long ago.  He told me to die early in suffering with my body disintegrating and my mind dulled.  I'm still aghast that he told me "Tardive dyskinesia is not that bad". 

There are things I still want to do in this life and he's stolen decades.  Lately I'm trying to set some things right that I was unable to manage while drugged.  But it's good to be getting back on track.

I agree with you about psychiatrists. They are all too keen to get you on drugs but not willing to help you resolve the issues that necessitated the drugs in the first place and certainly not willing to help you get off them. My psychiatrist helpfully said when I told him I wanted to get off the olanzapine that they come in 5mg tablets - you can probably split them in half! No mention of a taper schedule or even seemingly any knowledge that they come in 2.5mg sizes. This is despite evidence that actually people seem to do better functionally long term without drugs. I think their goal is to subdue you enough that you don’t complain and these drugs are certainly effective at subduing you.

I’m sorry you feel you have lost decades of your life to these drugs. You have to try to channel the anger in a positive way. It sounds like you are doing that and I’m sure you’ll have a great future once you are free from the drug and because of all you’ve been through I’m sure you will appreciate it all the more. 
Good luck with your continued tapering. I have faith you can do it and hopefully the worst is behind you now. 

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Thanks @BadMedicine

 

I was always told to suppress my anger in my family, which is obviously very unhealthy.  I can see how it emerged in the form that it did back then with my unaddressed trauma.  And yes the family and the quack going yes well he's shut up now, can he hold down a job despite sleeping 11-13 hrs/day, ok take these pills till you quietly die young, distrusting your perceptions more than anyone ought, believing you were born broken, stigmatised, obese and in distress, just over there in the corner will do fine thanks, and try not to mess up the carpet.

 

Thanks to working with the psychologists in recent years I'm ok expressing my anger now in ways that won't cause more harm, and I'm comfortable that it's not misdirected.  Once I was able to make sense of boundaries it became obvious to me when something is my problem and when it's someone else's.  I wish I'd had that clarity long ago.  It's so liberating - if it's my issue I can do something about it, and if not, well, it's not my issue 🙂

 

It's not that the past couple of decades have been a complete write off, I've learnt things I can use better now my frontal lobe is not so subdued, but really, I feel like I should've been where I am now in headspace 15-20 years ago.  But as always better late than never!

 

I especially resent the cog fog, fatigue, irritability and low mood that wds can bring while having to 'sing for my supper' in the rat race, especially when the big bosses have the knives out for shedding "workers".  Playing life on hard mode I suppose.

 

You're right though, I'm getting to the tail end of the taper and "are we there yet" is starting to come up more for me.  The log function of the curve is frustrating because it still looks like at least 2-3 years from here to find true baseline.  Even though 0.5mg of olanzapine is a small dose I still feel it's contributing to excess weight, and my metabolism has a lot of adapting to do.  I mean look at this, https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2010/10/zyprexa_and_fat.html - at what dosages do these hellish processes start reverting to normal human function?  I can intuit I'm part way through that, but intuition is all the info I have.  Note that even the blogger there is inferring things from reports that are not exactly made explicit in the studies themselves.

 

I'd also really like some data on what my serotonin receptors can expect in these dosage ranges.  Information on those two things would give me a bit of theory to bounce my experience of how fast I can sensibly taper off.

 

But yeah if I've learnt one thing from these excellent forums here, it's that it takes as long as it bloody takes!  And I'm not stopping here.

 

Cheers BM, hope you are keeping well.

 

Hayduke

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
  • Moderator

Found my way down to 0.5mg, was a bit of a cheeky extra cut but I'd just started holidays and a 5 day fast.  I felt a bit flat from the cut from 0.525 for a day or two in the following week, but without the stress and bother of work no biggie.  Then I checked my maths and realised I'd cut 18% in a month!  I had a simple weighting in my spreadsheet to defeat the asymptote so I would hit zero at some stage.  Too simple though, it was using a fixed %age of the base dose.  Heh.  This is why I don't share my spreadsheet!  I might have a play with some other weighting techniques.

 

Feeling pretty good after another week off, pity the chain gang resumes tomorrow.

 

Watching Another Country, where David Gulpilil explains simply and clearly how First Nations Australians' lives have been changed by white colonisation.  I can't help feeling theirs is the wiser culture, I'd recommend this film to anyone.

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

0.5mg is another great milestone on the way to being off this poison! I have read a lot of historical threads of people coming off olanzapine and the majority say the most difficult part was between 2.5 and 1mg. It may be that you have done the hardest bit and you can get away with bigger cuts now you’re down so low. But wise to be careful as you don’t want to derail all your hard work and patience.

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Cheers @BadMedicine

 

The 3rd & 4th cuts in this last set felt like the steeper taper I was doing from 5 to 2.5, and I could only tolerate that because I didn't have the pressures of work.  It was just too hard last time and I've gone slower.

 

I think that receptor crossover hump around 1.4 - 1.25 was probably the last big one.  I think it's mainly about serotonin now, the receptor occupancy curves are still quite steep here.  One grumpy day a couple of weeks ago I took 50mg 5-HTP and it didn't mess me up like it had on larger doses of olanzapine.  It seemed to buffer the cut without the usual edginess the next day.  I won't make it a habit though.

 

Going to hold an extra week or two at 0.5mg I think.  More crazy stress going on (some year eh!) and I'll just let it all settle for a bit. 

Hope you're going well with your hold there.

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
1 minute ago, hayduke said:

I think that receptor crossover hump around 1.4 - 1.25 was probably the last big one.  I think it's mainly about serotonin now, the receptor occupancy curves are still quite steep here.  One grumpy day a couple of weeks ago I took 50mg 5-HTP and it didn't mess me up like it had on larger doses of olanzapine.  It seemed to buffer the cut without the usual edginess the next day.  I won't make it a habit though.

 

What do you mean by receptor crossover hump? Are you saying olanzapine no longer effects dopamine receptors at these doses?

6.01.20 - 6.02.20: Seroquel/Quetiapine 25mg

7.02.20 - 13.02.20: Attempted CT ran into extreme rebound insomnia

13.02.20 - 04.07.20Reinstated and holding Seroquel/Quetiapine 13.5mg, 1mg Circadin 

Began Tapering of Seroquel

04.07.20 - Quetiapine 13mg 12.07.20 - Quetiapine 12.5mg 20.07.20 - Quetiapine 12mg 28.07.20 - Quetiapine 11.5mg

02.08.20 - Quetiapine 11.mg 06.08.20 - Quetiapine 10.5mg 10.08.20 - Quetiapine 10mg 15.08.20 Quetiapine 9.5mg

18.08.20 Quetiapine 9mg 23.08.20 Quetiapine 8.5 27.08.20 Quetiapine 8mg 31.08.20 Quetiapine 7.75mg 02.09.20 Quetiapine 7.5mg 06.09.20 Quetiapine 7.25mg 08.09.20 Quetiapine 7mg 12.09.20 Quetiapine 6.75mg 14.09.20 Quetiapine 6.5mg 19.09.20 Quetiapine 6.25mg 21.09.20 Quetiapine 6mg 24.09.20 Quetiapine 5.75mg 01.10.20 Quetiapine 5.5mg 03.10.20 Quetiapine 5.25mg 05.10.2020 Quetiapine 5mg 09.10.2020 Quetiapine 4.75mg 12.10.2020 Quetiapine 4.5mg 14.10.2020 Quetiapine 4.25mg 17.10.2020 Quetiapine 4mg 21.10.2020 Quetiapine 3.75mg 24.10.2020 Quetiapine 3.5mg 1.11.2020 Quetiapine 3 mg 7.11.2020 Quetiapine 2.5 mgs 13.11.2020 Quetiapine 2 mg 16.11.2020 Quetiapine 1.5 mg 20.11.2020 Quetiapine 1.25mg 23.11.2020 Quetiapine 1mg 26.12.2020 Quetiapine 0.75mg 16.01.2020 Quetiapine 0.5mg 17.02.2020 Quetiapine 0.25mg 17.03.2021 Quetiapine 0.125mg 9.04.2021 Quetiapine 0!!!

Link to comment
  • Moderator
15 minutes ago, senseless said:

 

What do you mean by receptor crossover hump? Are you saying olanzapine no longer effects dopamine receptors at these doses?

 

Hi Senseless.  It affects them less.  It's a question of its affinity for certain receptors, and how when its fave type is "full" (for the purposes of the analogy), it will then prefer filling its second fave and so on.  Much better explanation here

 

My scribblings from the best data I could find (which was s**thouse, frankly) suggests D2RO at 0.5mg is going to be around 10%.  Serotonin curves are quite a lot steeper here (data so poor I can't even sensibly generate a crude interpolation) and I think that's where most of the taper 'action' is taking place for me at this stage, till 0.

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator
On 10/20/2020 at 4:54 AM, BadMedicine said:

0.5mg is another great milestone on the way to being off this poison! I have read a lot of historical threads of people coming off olanzapine and the majority say the most difficult part was between 2.5 and 1mg. It may be that you have done the hardest bit and you can get away with bigger cuts now you’re down so low. But wise to be careful as you don’t want to derail all your hard work and patience.

 

Timely words @BadMedicine

 

I missed my 0.5mg dose tonight, just fell asleep.  (I can't wait till I can just do that again).

 

0115:  wake and look at the clock

0140:  turn on the lights and decide to read.  wide awake

0150:  realise I'd missed my dose.  i'm preparing it now.

 

I normally average 6-8 hrs sleep a night during my taper.  Usually the lower end after a cut and the higher end when holding.

 

Histamine component, maybe?  Doesn't matter which too much, but a useful peek suggesting this is still rather too high a dosage to 'jump off'.

 

Night all 🙂

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

@hayduke. Hope you got some sleep after taking the olanzapine. Reckon most likely histamine component leading to insomnia. It is a very potent histamine receptor antagonist as I’m sure you know. These drugs are so powerful aren’t they. I still remember taking my first dose of Mirtazapine also a potent histamine receptor antagonist. Knocked me right out!  Even though I take mirtazapine and olanzapine together I barely notice the sedating effect except if I try to lower the dose!

 

Unfortunately, seems there are no short cuts when it comes to getting off these drugs and dosages that are deemed inconsequential by the doctors are still having profound effects on our neurology. 
 

BM.

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment

Glad to see you´re still tapering successfully Hayduke, all the best to you!

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Thanks @Rrsfc, you too. 


@BadMedicine been getting 7-8 hours most nights so really can't complain there. 

 

I have been paying the price for that 18% cut over the previous month.  Definitely more anxious moments than usual, but every time able to ground and feel calm and ok before too long.  It's great to reinforce that pattern of knowing that even if you're scared and feeling off, you can meditate, top up on omega 3 and magnesium, relax in nature, talk to friends and you'll be right as rain before you know it.

 

It's been months since I've done yoga, cos of covid.  I hope a good option materialises soon.

 

There have been a couple of upheavals as well.  I was run ragged last week but got a good outcome for a wrong that was done against me many years ago, so the effort was worth it in the end.  The universe gave me my stuff back is probably the easiest way to put it. 

 

Also had a row with some family.  I got triggered over dinner, got angry, and kept getting policed instead of heard, and stood up and left.  Friends afterwards assured me I was fine, which was helpful.  When I cooled down I realised every word I said was true, and I had meant it.  So many of the problems they'd lumped on "black sheep" me are their own shadows they're scared of facing, and I suppose I drew the line.  They needed to hear it - I'd intended to do that in a more planned and civil way, but it's off my chest.  Taking some space from them.

 

The other thing to note is even through these stresses, since the EMDR I don't feel lost.  I can rely on my cognition and emotions to work as they ought.  It'll be ok.

 

So continuing to hold at 0.5, and managing it.  Yay for self care and "self parenting".  Will be at least another week or two before I start more cuts, and I should do some maths to plan those.

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

@hayduke. Glad that you have been able to manage the larger cut with self-care techniques and support from friends. Great skills to have in your armoury.
Well done as well for standing up for yourself with your family. It’s so easy to conform to what other people expect but it takes courage to go against the grain and be true to what you truly believe. Hopefully they will be able to see your point of view and it will result in better balanced relationships with them in the future when the dust settles. In the mean time it sounds like you have some great friends you can count on for support and encouragement. 

Hope your symptoms settle soon and you can carry on with your taper.

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Thanks @BadMedicine :-)

 

Going to hold for another week I reckon.  It's been gradually settling but with an ensuing 6 week hold, my ambitious extra cut hasn't saved me any time.  Found another approach to the asymptote but I reckon could still use more work.

 

Continues to be a stressful year, but I know that's true for everyone and I feel like I'm finding my way through it.

 

Back from the pub this afternoon via a walk on the beach and realising while I love tons of down time we're all a bit rusty socially!  The lack of it has probably been another factor in my lower mood lately, feeling much better this arvo.

 

Enjoy the weekend everyone!

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Gonna hang out for another week at 0.5mg I reckon.  Starting to feel more like wd-normal again, so I'll hang with that for a bit.

 

Saw my psychologist and we'll do some more EMDR, on the family stuff this time.

 

Things are ok on the whole.

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Posting this query over here

 

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Above link was moved to

 

Holding for another week.  Feeling wd normal now, wasn't planning an 8 week hold but hey, if that's how it works out you gotta listen to your body eh!

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

Glad to hear you are getting back to normality. It’s frustrating to have to hold longer than anticipated but if it contributes to the success of getting of the drug safely and completely then it is absolutely worth it.

 

sorry can’t help you with your joint pain. I hope someone else can give you some advice.

 

Sept 2018 - Nov 2018 200mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine. 

Nov 2018 - Jan 2018 200mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jan 2019 - mid Feb 2019 reduced sertraline from 200 - 50mg, 7.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Feb 2019- Jun 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 7.5mg olanzapine.

Jun 2019 - Oct 2019 30mg mirtazapine, 50mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine.

Oct 2019 - Nov 2019 37.gmg sertraline, 39mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine.

Nov 2019 -Dec 2019 25mg sertraline, 30mg mirtazapine, 5mg olanzapine. Jan 2020 18.75mg sertraline, 5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Feb 2020 0mg sertraline, 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May 2020 1.8mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Aug 2020 2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. Stabilised for 9 months @2.5mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine. May2021 started slow taper from olanzapine, 5% previous dose per month. Oct 2021 1.875mg olanzapine, 30mg mirtazapine.

Link to comment

You are doing really well, you're almost there. I think you're right about holding longer if you need to. I don't know anything about joint pain, sorry... 

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment

hello hayduke, just been reading your introduction, very interesting....you have experienced alot of the symptoms i have eg joint pain, hives caused by the heat, akathesia, the list goes on...anyway you provided a link to a document in it, but when i clicked on it, it said it was "FORBIDDEN" and so i couldnt read the article....just letting you know....cheers

Cipramil  40mg  1996 to Oct 2017 stopped cold turkey

Only on Zyprexa from now on :   10mg solid form 1998 to Oct 2017

7.5mg solid form  Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 5mg solid form  Oct 2019 to Apr 2020

3.75mg solid form Apr 2020 to May 2020 2.5mg solid form  May 2020 to Feb 2021 2.5mg solid 3/4 and 1/4 liquid w/ 5mls water 6th Feb 2021 to 2nd Apr 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid and 1/2 liquid w/10mls water 3rd Apr to 26th Jun 2021

 2.5mg dissolved in 25mls of water from 27th Jun 2021 to 22nd Oct 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid, 1/2 dissolved in 10mls of water from 23rd Oct 21 to 7th Feb 2022 water titrating from 7th Feb 2022 to 13 Aug 2022:  2.2425mg

 

 

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Thanks @morgana.  Web links do tend to vanish over time.  I can't edit posts so we're stuck with them.

 

Yeah the symptoms being on the drug, and coming off it are considerable.

 

The rash wasn't from the heat as such, it seems to have been from the histamine action of the drug.  Making my hay fever worse. 

 

Inability to tolerate hot weather persists but seems to be gradually improving.

 

There was some combination of weight gain and rheumatic (drug induced autoimmune) problem on my ankles that was threatening to cripple me.  It was particularly bad when I had to do a lot of cardio to try and get the weight off (which I did but I couldn't keep it off doing office work).  This drug would have had me in an early grave, and wretched at that, but once I got under 5mg that mostly abated. 

 

Diabetes is another one.  I've learnt to do multi day fasts a few times a year.  Those have reset my insulin response and blood sugar levels from pre-diabetic to normal a few times now.  Cholesterol I will need to deal with, I hope that will be under control next. 

 

I am planning a lot of cardio and some dieting over the next couple of years as it's time to get all this lard off.  It's not just how it looks but the risk of heart attacks etc.  The cost of what these drugs steal from your health is incredible - you can see why the prescribers and manufacturers don't own up to even half of what they cause with a barge pole.

 

I could go on but it's late 🙂

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

I am on a whole food plant based diet and I've seen improvements in my cholesterol. In my case at 2,5mg olanzapine the metabolic effects are not bad, I don't even gain any weight but at higher dosages it was awful. I follow Dr. Greger's (nutrition facts.org) guidelines, check it out. I have no doubt if you take care of yourself your health wil improve. Keep it up, you're doing really well! 

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment

hi hayduke, my joints hurt alot, they began when i reached 3.75mg zyprexa....i got tested for rhymatoid arthritus, but they couldnt find any inflammation...still in pain...as i do not eat meat or dairy....i was worried maybe my pain is from my diet....maybe not getting enough nutrients, i know i am not eating enough protein and calcium.so i brought some beef bone broth powder and had a mug of it yesterday arvo and had some fish last night....i feel even worse....i see a dietition at the moment, as i am worried i am not providing enough nuturents for my diet...such as calcium, iron, protein.....so i do not know if its diet or from the zyprexa as i stopped eating meat and dairy the same time i started reducing my zyprexa...and have had health problems ever since....so i dont know!  I do not have diabetes but i think thats because i have always done very physical work, so have usually kept the weight off, however since i havnt been working lately have put on 12kgs.  I had my cholesrol level checked about a year ago....i was eating alot of junk food and so it was quite high...i have improved it since than, so hopefully it gone done...Dr said it wasnt too far off having to take medication to lower it...i will need to get it checked again soon...

Cipramil  40mg  1996 to Oct 2017 stopped cold turkey

Only on Zyprexa from now on :   10mg solid form 1998 to Oct 2017

7.5mg solid form  Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 5mg solid form  Oct 2019 to Apr 2020

3.75mg solid form Apr 2020 to May 2020 2.5mg solid form  May 2020 to Feb 2021 2.5mg solid 3/4 and 1/4 liquid w/ 5mls water 6th Feb 2021 to 2nd Apr 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid and 1/2 liquid w/10mls water 3rd Apr to 26th Jun 2021

 2.5mg dissolved in 25mls of water from 27th Jun 2021 to 22nd Oct 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid, 1/2 dissolved in 10mls of water from 23rd Oct 21 to 7th Feb 2022 water titrating from 7th Feb 2022 to 13 Aug 2022:  2.2425mg

 

 

Link to comment

@morgana

You can check out if your diet is nutrient rich or poor on cronometer.com. It's free and it will give you an idea. Just register there what you eat over a month and then make the necessary adjustements to hit the recommended goals. Doing some blood work once in a while is also a good idea, I do it once a year and focus on vitamin D, iron, calcium, B12. I used cronometer it a lot when I was transitioning to a plant based diet. 

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment

yeah i have been on cronometer, and i found i was lacking in everything.....lucky i take a multi-vitiamin, for my weight i should be eating like 65gr of protein, but when i added it all up i was only getting 45gr, a can of beans really doesnt have that much protein, even using nutritional yeast and vegan pea protein powder in my oats every morning....as for calcuim, very little in coconut milk, soy milk causes sores on my face and weight gain...my diatian who is vegan, says the only supplement she takes is B12....i dont know how she does it..i am not a big eater and only eat basically twice a day with a arvo snack such as hummus , and crisps in the evening after dinner...

Cipramil  40mg  1996 to Oct 2017 stopped cold turkey

Only on Zyprexa from now on :   10mg solid form 1998 to Oct 2017

7.5mg solid form  Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 5mg solid form  Oct 2019 to Apr 2020

3.75mg solid form Apr 2020 to May 2020 2.5mg solid form  May 2020 to Feb 2021 2.5mg solid 3/4 and 1/4 liquid w/ 5mls water 6th Feb 2021 to 2nd Apr 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid and 1/2 liquid w/10mls water 3rd Apr to 26th Jun 2021

 2.5mg dissolved in 25mls of water from 27th Jun 2021 to 22nd Oct 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid, 1/2 dissolved in 10mls of water from 23rd Oct 21 to 7th Feb 2022 water titrating from 7th Feb 2022 to 13 Aug 2022:  2.2425mg

 

 

Link to comment
  • Moderator

One of many things the quack who put me on this stuff neglected to make clear was the need for routine blood tests to check what was going on in my body both before and during the drug consumption.  He also didn't care what side effects were appearing or what the drug was wrecking in my life, he just told me to keep taking it no matter what.  My health and well being was the lowest priority on his agenda.  I have the strong impression he was quite content for me to keep disintegrating physically and die quietly somewhere in some awful care home.  Then he could just shrug and go 'such a shame, genetics, chemical imbalance, tut tut' to my none-the-wiser but presumably upset parents.

 

Anyways @morgana definitely get a good thorough blood test from a GP (there should still be some OK ones around who will bulk bill) and see what you need to boost from there.  It will make a huge difference.

 

I found B12 shots were a real help, for instance.

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

@morgana

 

I'm sorry you're struggling, maybe your dietitian has a solution for your issues. I supplement with B12, vitamin D, iron and iodine, a multi-vitamin specific for vegans. It's not as easy as it seems to be vegan, I hope in time you figure it out. For calcium on a vegan diet I believe calcium set tofu is a good option, but if you have issues with soy... What's left I believe is almonds and some leafies but it's really hard to eat the amounts needed. I am not vegan, I eat cheese, meat and eggs occasionally, for calcium I drink fortified plant milk one time a day. I usually have normal calcium levels.

 

@hayduke

I understand your anger, I feel the same way, even though on my case olanzapine to control psychotic crisis is a valid option. The doctors talk like they know everything and we trust them blindly... I wasn't able to quit olanzapine because my current doctor wanted to try a "maintenance" treatment with 5mg olanzapine. I took it for more than a year this time (prior I made short length treatments with it and then wean) and now I can't get down from 2,5mg. But we have to understand we're not isolated cases, this happens all over the world to so many people. We have to be thankful for being able to open our eyes and still enjoy some happiness despite all the lost years. Negative emotions will turn toxic and make us worse, I try to think of the good I still have ahead of me. 

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment
  • Moderator
12 minutes ago, Rrsfc said:

@hayduke

I understand your anger, I feel the same way, even though on my case olanzapine to control psychotic crisis is a valid option. The doctors talk like they know everything and we trust them blindly... I wasn't able to quit olanzapine because my current doctor wanted to try a "maintenance" treatment with 5mg olanzapine. I took it for more than a year this time (prior I made short length treatments with it and then wean) and now I can't get down from 2,5mg. But we have to understand we're not isolated cases, this happens all over the world to so many people. We have to be thankful for being able to open our eyes and still enjoy some happiness despite all the lost years. Negative emotions will turn toxic and make us worse, I try to think of the good I still have ahead of me. 

 

Being consumed and obsessed with negative emotions is toxic and unhealthy, no argument here. 

 

Not facing the shadow and letting out the horrible bits, talking about them, exposing them to sunlight just guarantees they will fester under the surface and make even more trouble, coming up scattershot at the wrong times at the wrong people about the wrong things. 

 

The stories have to be told and heard.

 

Finding healthy outlets for anger is a big part of the healing journey.  It's quite distinct from dwelling on it.  You can't honestly pretend you don't feel it and you can't just squash it down, it's that social and/or family pattern that causes so much of this pain in the first place.  It's justified and you have to make sure it gets pointed in the right directions.  It might be the gym, or writing, or a punching bag or a video game.  Make it a creative exercise!

 

My psychologist tends to agree that what got labelled 'psychosis' at least in my case was basically my trauma from being abused resurfacing, 4 year old me expecting my parents to help with it, them getting scared and reacting negatively, me getting even more strident about needing them to make me feel better and fix it, as any 4 year old would.  If you read van der Kolk he talks about the left brain shutting down when the trauma comes up.  So no one knew what was going on or how to handle it well - so it's off to the quack and here we are.

 

You can make the case that the drug provides a period of stability if no one is literate in handling the trauma, I would've preferred opiates or benzos for a week or even month.  But that's so different to saying you have to take them for life no matter what.

 

I agree with you that it's important to see that it's happening to millions around the world and we haven't just been singled out as individuals.  It's a really important insight, because at least we're not lonely then.  But at the same time it's still exactly as personal as we first thought.  And that's true for each of those millions of people.

 

Working through the trauma requires letting it come up but managing it consciously, facing it, dealing with it, letting it go...all that good stuff.  It's not easy but how else ya gonna heal?  I'm sure I've mentioned it before but working with a clinical psychologist who is also a trauma expert is the way out for me. 

 

None of this gets in the way of enjoying a nice day, music, company, trees, the sand under my feet.  But you can't whitewash the shadow side.

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

I agree with you, I try to write when I feel angry, it helps. Or to rehearse in my mind what I would like to say to the psychiatrist... It took me a while to deal with my anger, it's still not gone away completely. I see it when I talk to the psychiatrist or about psychiatry 😅. You can of course express yourself here or wherever you find suitable. Seeing that I wasn't singled out, that we all suffer helped me. In my case there is no trauma I know of 🙄, It's not easy to pinpoint the causes of psychosis, but that's my journey. You have come a long way and should be proud of yourself for going through it all to heal... Hope you have a really blissful day, filled with happy moments. 🙂

2007 - 15mg olanzapine, mood stabilizer, benzo, quetiapine 2009 - aripiprazol, benzo, lamotrigine 100mg 2015 - olzp 15mg, zolpidem 2017 - trazodone 2 weeks, cold turkey, lamotrigine and zolpidem, olzp 15mg, mood stabilizer, benzo 2018 - olzp 5mg, Nov olzp 2,5mg down directly from 5mg no symptoms 2019 - olzp 2,5mg cold turkey Jan after 12 days reinstated, Nov taper cutting pills 14 days reinstated 2,5mg 2020 - failed liquid taper, reinstated 2,5mg, 2022 - liquid taper 2,5% reductions Jan, huge crisis in May up to 30mg, tapered, reached 2,5mg in Set - decided to stop tapering and remain at 2,5mg olanzapine indefinetely.

 

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Thanks @Rrsfc - yes the bumpy bits often come out here because day to day there aren't that many places to really bring it up.  And when I can I try not to dump too much on my friends - they are excellent and supportive and have their own stuff to deal with as well!

 

I didn't know what my root trauma was until we did the EMDR.  I just knew that something was wrong, and it was there.  I'd been pulling on the thread of 'why do I get self destructive' since my late teens.  Eventually I got there and it was the missing piece of the puzzle, and a surprise, but everything fell into place after that.  I tried nearly everything on the way - meditation, yoga, psychedelics, remedial massage and more...in the end it all helped, if not always right away.

 

Hope your day is really good too - thanks again :-)

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment
  • Moderator

Last night I was feeling ok to make the cut.  Now using recalculated steps for more like 10%/mo instead of the 18% the numbers had crept up to with my spreadsheet fudge.

 

Slept well enough the last couple of nights.  Heatwave here this weekend.  The aircon is making it quite comfortable, it's been running for 36 hours straight.  In the old place it would've been very hard to bear. 

 

I really hope the heat sensitivity from the drug will disappear at some stage.  That said I've never been very comfy above 35 degrees for long.  20-25 is still my comfort zone.  Yes I did go to the climate march!

 

My alcohol usage has been reducing a lot lately, I'm finding I feel fatigued when I have a bit now, way less than it used to take.  I think in the near future I'll have to park it next to the ganja and coffee in the 'maybe later' pile.  Very conscious of a wd sensitised nervous system and hoping that too settles more into normality before too many more years.

 

I got a 10ml pipette recently for the home stretch.  That gives me 0.1ml accuracy from the 50ml base amount instead of the more coarsely graded larger ones I've used till now.

 

Cheers

I am not a health professional - your actions are your own.  

Please do not seek tapering support via private message - "Any reason to hold is a good one"

My taper visualised as a graph   |   My intro thread

Backdrop:  2003 10mg olanzapine | 2004 2-3mg risperidone | end 2014 3wks aripiprazole

2015: olanzapine  10 -> 7½ -> 6⅔ -> 5mg  by crude pill cutter

2018:  Mar 5.00mg -> water titrated taper -> Aug2.5mg tablet and hold

Jan 2019 2.50mg water titration -> Jan 2020 1.214  -> Jan 2021 0.44 -> 2 Oct 0.205 ->3 Oct ZERO🥂

Jun 2023 💉150mg paliperidone "loading" depot shot, 100mg 1wk after Jul 100mg Aug-Dec 75mg/4wks

Jul 2023 2.50mg aripiprazole/day attempt to lower prolactin^

Jan-Feb 2024 cross taper off shots to 1mg risperidone

 

Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country did to you"  -- KMFDM

Link to comment

hi hayduke good to hear your doing well...i was just wondering i bought myself a 1 ml pipette for when i start tapering next year, why would you buy a 10ml pipette, and use 60ml base? when you are on such a small amount.....i was going to use 30ml base...and taper .25ml every 2 months is that too sharp and fast....any advice would be most appreciative.. also i hope you get some rain soon....wherever you are....i  got some rain yesterday and last night it was lovely......and didnt need the aircon on last night....which is good on the buget.......cheers morgana

Cipramil  40mg  1996 to Oct 2017 stopped cold turkey

Only on Zyprexa from now on :   10mg solid form 1998 to Oct 2017

7.5mg solid form  Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 5mg solid form  Oct 2019 to Apr 2020

3.75mg solid form Apr 2020 to May 2020 2.5mg solid form  May 2020 to Feb 2021 2.5mg solid 3/4 and 1/4 liquid w/ 5mls water 6th Feb 2021 to 2nd Apr 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid and 1/2 liquid w/10mls water 3rd Apr to 26th Jun 2021

 2.5mg dissolved in 25mls of water from 27th Jun 2021 to 22nd Oct 2021 2.5mg 1/2 solid, 1/2 dissolved in 10mls of water from 23rd Oct 21 to 7th Feb 2022 water titrating from 7th Feb 2022 to 13 Aug 2022:  2.2425mg

 

 

Link to comment

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use Privacy Policy