Venkat: tapering olanzapine / Zyprexa

[hayduke]

Spinach is a great natural source of magnesium.  Somehow getting these nutrients in natural food tends to upset ya bod way less than pills, tabs, powders etc

 

I'm a saag fan, pesto is another great option.  Salads too

 

Cheers

[Venkat]

Of late I have been taking spinach quite often hayduke. 

Will surely try the others which you have suggested. 

Thanks hayduke. 

[Venkat]

Update : Down to 3.75mg from 6.25mg of olanzapine in about 9 months. Reducing by 2.5 % of the previous dose every two weeks roughly.

 

Sleep is good, tolerable anxiety. 

 

Some adverse effects of olanzapine seems to have eased a bit . There is some free flow of thoughts, a bit of focus , some amount of mild emotions ,some improvement in memory , less fear while going to or thinking about work.

 

Still have a long way to go but at this point I thank the admin , mods and friends on SA for the guidance, support, hope,encouragement and companionship in this journey , with out whom I dread to think what would have become of me.

 

Tapering Sodium valproate alongside very gradually, though tapering two medications at a time is not recommended on SA but I have already been taking sodium valproate since 5yrs and I wish to reduce it .Currently on 650mg of sodium valproate. 

 

Realised that, realizing the positives is extremely helpful in having hope. Also realised not to rush while tapering,to allow time for neuroplasticity and minimize the withdrawal symptoms in the process. I had crashed miserably once while tapering olanzapine. Do not want that to happen at any cost if it can be avoided. 

 

Sometimes wonder why normal people, those not on any psychiatric medications, do not value their lives and lead a happy life. Wishing all those on psychiatric medications on this planet will one day or the other be drug free and lead a normal happy life.

 

Regards, venkat 

 

 

[hayduke]

That's great, hearing your taper is going smoothly @Venkat.  I agree, most of the time the taper should be in the background of your life, not a big noise blocking it :-)

[Venkat]

Thanks @hayduke

Sorry for the delay in responding, hadn't seen this post.

 

Will always remain indebted to you for your guidance , particularly in preparing the liquid preparations of olanzapine. I would have really struggled otherwise. 

 

Thanks again hayduke. 

 

Regards, venkat 

[BadMedicine]

Good news that your taper is going well Venkat. You have made significant progress. I am reducing at about the same rate as you. It feels very slow but it does make the withdrawal symptoms very manageable. Glad the adverse effects are reducing for you too. It is good motivation to keep going when you start to get positive effects. Wishing you well with your continued taper.

Regards, BM.

[Venkat]

Thank you so much @BadMedicine

 

It really doesn't matter if tapering is slow as long as we are able to tolerate the withdrawal symptoms and a bit free from the adverse effects of olanzapine so that one can function in day to day life.

I sincerely hope and pray that all those who are tapering their medications reach that point some time soon. It gives a lot of hope. 

 

Wishing you the very best. 

 

Regards, venkat 

[Venkat]

Had a window which lasted for about a week. Thought I was recovering completely. But the window started closing.

 

The disappointment was unbearable, was desperately trying to latch on to the window but to no avail. 

 

Back to reality , but with very very slight improvement in terms of adverse effects of olanzapine.

 

But that window did show me that my normal self is lurking somewhere inside and is not completely destroyed. 

 

Also did not long for any more windows, as it is extremely disappointing when it is closing , instead would prefer a recovery once and for all when the drug is reduced significantly enough. 

 

Regards, venkat 

 

 

 

[morgana]

hello @Venkat i know it feels unbearable and not fair, however i believe you are stronger than this drug and you have the persistence to keep going and never give up until you finally have this poison out of your system....i know its hard...but we are all supporting you and will not give up on you..as we are all going through the same thing and understand where your coming from.  I was reading someones post on here the other day and they said "what doesnt kill you, makes you stronger"....i laughed and said sooo true, i believe if we can get through all this we can get through anything....you are doing really well, they also say on here that the windows eventually get longer....hang in there, and dont give up however bad it makes you feel...we are still with you....cheers morgana

[Venkat]

Hi @morgana

 

Thank you so much for that encouraging 

post. That made a lot of difference. 

Yes we will only be getting stronger with time.

I Hope the quality of your sleep is improving. It is good that you are holding till you are steady.

 

Thanks once again morgana. 

 

Regards, venkat 

[hayduke]

Good days and bad days...can't pick em till you're having em :-)

[Venkat]

So true @hayduke

But I am seeing some change...withdrawal normal ? I am not sure. 

[hayduke]

Lots will change over your taper.  Often for the better.  Another reason to keep a comfortable pace.

 

It's oft-said, but worth bearing in mind:  "this too shall pass"

 

Cheers

[Venkat]

Thank you so much for your reassurance @hayduke.

I truly appreciate your wisdom. 

[NNhope]

Thought I drop by and follow your progress and ask you a few questions. 

Hey venkat are you using liquid taper and are you doing half solid half liquid? I'm thinking about starting my taper sometime soon.

[Venkat]

@NNhope

I swallow  a 2.5mg solid tablet of olanzapine whole. Then break the other 2.5mg tablet and put in 40ml water in a tumbler and make a suspension using a syringe. Then I withdraw the amount to be discarded into the syringe and drink the remaining water in the tumbler. 

 

Alternatively you can withdrawal the amount to be consumed into the syringe from the tumbler and push the content from the syringe right into your mouth.

 

As the tapering goes on slowly the adverse effects of olanzapine starts to ease .

 

You have a lot of support on SA make the best use of it.

 

 

Regards, venkat 

[NNhope]

How is your sleep, are you taking any other med for that?

 

I haven't started tapering yet but suddenly my sleep the last 2 days have been kind of broken. I haven't made any changes.

[Nicjk]

10 hours ago, NNhope said:

How is your sleep, are you taking any other med for that?

 

I haven't started tapering yet but suddenly my sleep the last 2 days have been kind of broken. I haven't made any changes.

Hi @NNhope, just wanted to add something that might interest you. I’ve been on a steady dose of 5mg Olanzapine for a year now. Sometimes all of a sudden I’ll start waking up between 2am and 4am for a couple of weeks and then my sleep sorts itself out again. My friend is also on Olanzapine (10mg) and she says that the same thing happens to her! We can’t work out why 

[Venkat]

@NNhope  i don't take any medications for sleep regularly.

 

But occasionally i do take 10mg of zolpidem which i wouldn't suggest as it might lead to dependency and will stop working after a few days and then the whole process of tapering zolpidem again. 

 

But I have been taking a spoon of fried poppy seeds powder in warm milk before going to bed. I am not sure if it is working but maybe as a placebo, I am getting good sleep. 

 

Hopefully with some time your sleep should be sorted out. Maybe engaging in activities that stimulate the parasympathetic system like restorative yoga in the evening maybe helpful. 

 

I too have a long way to go NNhope. 

We need to support each other till this drug is out of our system. 

 

Regards, venkat 

[NNhope]

@Nicjk,that is quite weird. Are you planning on tapering again? 

 

 

@Venkat,so tapering slowly has preserve your sleep, that is good to know. I just switch to half solid half liquid last night, so far so good. Sleep I think fine last night.

 

Yes we have to support each other. One day we will be off this drug. Just have to be patience and take it slow and steady.

 

[Nicjk]

6 hours ago, NNhope said:

@Nicjk,that is quite weird. Are you planning on tapering again? 

I am currently tapering off Diazepam so sadly can’t taper off Olanzapine for a while. I can’t wait to start tapering off it. I did switch to Olanzapine wafers about a week ago because when I do start reducing it I will be doing a daily liquid microtaper. I will use 300ml of water and cut the pill in half, put 2.5mg into the water and the other half in my mouth. I will then remove 1ml per day which equals 0.0083mg. I learnt this method from a friend that successfully came off Olanzapine this way. 

[NNhope]

@Nicjk, I see.

Also that's good news that there are people who can come off this drug. I'm gonna hold steady for a month or so to see how I feel then do a very slow taper. I rather succeed then rush it.

[Nicjk]

3 hours ago, NNhope said:

I'm gonna hold steady for a month or so to see how I feel then do a very slow taper. I rather succeed then rush it.

That is very wise of you! It doesn’t matter how long it takes - it matters that you get off it safely. Wishing you the best of luck! 

[NNhope]

On 7/23/2021 at 8:15 PM, Nicjk said:

That is very wise of you! It doesn’t matter how long it takes - it matters that you get off it safely. Wishing you the best of luck! 

Thank you, you as well!

[Nicjk]

Hi everyone,

 

A while back I asked if Olanzapine is evenly distributed throughout the tablets and someone posted a really useful article about the medication distribution and FDA pill requirements. Is anyone able to re-send the article to me? 

 

Thank you

[hayduke]

25 minutes ago, Nicjk said:

Hi everyone,

 

A while back I asked if Olanzapine is evenly distributed throughout the tablets and someone posted a really useful article about the medication distribution and FDA pill requirements. Is anyone able to re-send the article to me? 

 

Thank you

 Hi Nicjk.  Did you mean to post this over in the main olanzapine thread?  I think that's where those links were, too.

[Nicjk]

4 hours ago, hayduke said:

 Hi Nicjk.  Did you mean to post this over in the main olanzapine thread?  I think that's where those links were, too.

Oh yes I did. Thanks for letting me know @hayduke. I will post it there instead. Wishing you all the best! 

[hayduke]

Saw you mention your mother passed away in another thread, Venkat.

 

Condolences, that's hard.  I'm sure you'll feel it later, I don't think it's unusual to feel a bit numb for a while when someone close checks out.

 

Look after yourself eh

 

Hayduke

 

[Venkat]

Thank you so much @hayduke .

It was the same when my dad passed away 5yrs back. I was already on olanzapine then. Just blank...

[hayduke]

How are getting on Venkat?  Hope your friends and fam keeping you fed and comfy as you process this loss

[Venkat]

I am doing ok for now @hayduke.

 

Looks like I am somewhere between abnormalcy ( the olanzapine effect) and normalcy .

Able to focus a bit better at work.

 

Thanks Hayduke. 

[BadMedicine]

@Venkat. Good to see you getting some reprieve from the adverse effects of olanzapine. It’s a really good sign that things are going to get better and better for you the lower you go. Keep moving forward.

[Venkat]

Thank you @BadMedicine

[hayduke]

You doing alright there @Venkat?

[Venkat]

I am doing just ok @hayduke

Eagerly waiting for that state where there is good clarity of thought. 

Thank you hayduke. 

[hayduke]

Cool man.  I found things really started opening up around 2.5 and just get better from there (except for wd symptoms of course).

 

Slow and steady...looks like you're making excellent progress again after that difficult updose.