mommi: olanzapine / Zyprexa

[mommi]

Hello all, 

 

I am a new member here. I hope I am in right place to ask advice what to do next now.  

If you have time to read it and give advice- I thank you in advance!

 

It may be a little bit long, but I write all my history with  drug olanzapine now  (sorry for my bad english also! ) 

 

I got anxiety disorder from a long term illness in spring 2015 ( Borreliosis, different nerve pains, ear infection which caused tinnitus)  

Antidepressants did´n work. Only drug that took my anxiety down was olanzapine. I took that from May 2015 up to June 2016. ( 2,5 mg)  By then I have had cure for my illness and there were no symptoms to bring up anxiety.  Then got down from it at once, and I got back very bad tinnitus and also anxiety.

 

 Tinnitus subsided then slowly  but for anxiety I need to take olanzapine again ( 2,5 mg)  December 2016. Started to reduce it very-very slowly and was free of it by August 2017. 

 

Some time in Fall I hade bad back nerve pain and it lasted long time. Which brought up anxiety again. In January 2018  I started to take just 1 mg olanzapine again. I got rid of the pain slowly  ( got also inflammation treatment the same time ( 2. round). Within month  my back was ok again and I reduced olanzapine to 0 mg by April.  

 

Everything was grate with no anxiety up to November. 

I started to feel strong pain in the neck and in my ear  ( ear which got tinnitus from ear infection) ...In the of one week I felt again anxiety. I didnt want it to get worse, so I started to take  olanzapine 0,75 mg to help me to sleep and stay calm.  Now I got to know that I have facial nerve inflammation. The pain killers are working.

 

My question and problem is that last night I felt suddenly very strong pressure in my ears and throat and again loud tinnitus  I feel that it is olanzapine that can  cause it or my it be form  pain killers I am taking second round here ( iborofen).?   Should I continue with olanzapine or stop this 0,75 mg at once ( I have taken it one week) Or reduce it slowly. How slowly?  It seam to me that I take very very little dosages, but seams that it still can mess up something.

 

Thank you again in advance for giving advice what to do now. 

 

 

with kind regards, 

Mommi

 

[Kiasofia]

Welcome @mommi

It usually takes a month for the brain to adjust to taking a psychiatric drug, like olanzapine. After taking it for only one week it is usually ok to just stop taking it. However, to be on the safe side you can try reducing by 10%. Take that dose for a week. If that is not a problem you can continue reducing by 10% every few days. Learn about withdrawal symptoms so you know when to stop reducing/reduce slower.

What is withdrawal syndrome?

Dr. Joseph Glenmullen's withdrawal symptom checklist

 

Starting and stopping psychiatric drugs is bad for the central nervous system (CNS). Each time we start and stop it becomes more and more sensitized. The risk of a bad reaction to stopping or restarting the drug or starting other drugs or supplements increases. So be careful with starting anything new in the future. And try to learn non drug ways to deal with anxiety and sleep instead. You may find some useful ideas in our symptoms and self care section:

Symptoms and self care topics

 

So it’s easy for anyone reading your posts to get a quick overview of your situation we ask members to summarize their medication history in a signature following these instructions:

How to List Drug History in Signature

 

This is your Introductory topic, where you can ask questions and connect with other members.  We're glad you found your way here.

Please stay in touch and let us know how you are doing.