Notw: Researching coming off zyprexa (olanzapine)

[Notw]

Hi everyone, I'm pursuing tapering off zyprexa (olanzapine). I'm wondering how important the 10% decrease is? I'm on 2.5mg and it's the only one I'm on. I'm considering using a pill splitter to taper so I would decrease by an eighth (so 12.6%) each time. Here's what I was thinking and I was hoping you all could weigh in. This would obviously be super flexible too depending on how things go and I'm open to suggestions.

 

2.5mg (whole pill)

2.19mg (7/8) stay on 8 weeks

1.88mg (3/4) 8 weeks

1.57mg (5/8) 8 weeks

1.25mg (half) 8 weeks

.94mg (3/8) 8 weeks

.63mg (1/4) 8 weeks

.32mg (1/8) 8 weeks

0

 

I did find a psychiatrist who's willing to help me taper and I haven't asked about compounding it yet but that may be an option. As you can see from my history I went off it cold turkey years ago and didn't really have any problems (trouble sleeping for a few months but that evened out) but then had a psychotic break a year later which I'm realizing may have been akethesia. I'm just hoping to do this the right way this time, a way that helps me get the best outcome.

[Frogie]

Hi @NOTW

 

Welcome to SA. 

 

I'm glad you found a psychiatrist that is willing to help you taper off of Zyprexa. It's very difficult to find one that is willing to work with a patient. You are very lucky.

 

So, you have tapered down to 2.5 mg? How long did it take you to taper down?

 

We don't suggest going any faster than 10% a month.

 

Why taper by 10% of my dosage?

 

 

 

Also, we don't suggest using a pill cutter for tapering as the active ingredient of the tablet is not evenly distributed. We suggest using a scale and weighing your doses. I will give you some information on this.

 

 

This is your page where you will receive information, ask questions and meet member as yourself. We ask that each member only have one page so we can keep all your information in one place.

 

Please reach out to us with any questions you may have after you read the links provided. I'm glad you reached out to us.

[hayduke]

On 1/25/2022 at 1:23 AM, NOTW said:

I'm considering using a pill splitter to taper so I would decrease by an eighth (so 12.6%) each time.

 

Hi NOTW

Ultimately how fast you can taper safely comes down to how much time your body needs to process the reductions in the drug dosage.

A few people find they can do a bit over 10%/mo, but we don't recommend trying to increase until you know you can comfortably manage 10% as a starting point.  Many of us have to go more slowly, in fact.

A bigger problem with your draft plan is that these classes of drugs have a hyperbolic effect on our nervous systems' receptors, so rather than reducing 10% of the initial dose each month, you need to base each cut at 10% of the previous month's dose.  I started out with similar thinking to you, but before long always found the relatively larger cuts would reach a point where it was just overwhelming for my body to process.  Frogie's given you a link there on why 10%.  You can also have a look at my tapering graph in my signature here - following my body the whole way down, and a bit of trial and error, you can see a rough fit to a log curve.

I found using a pill cutter was uncomfortably inaccurate below 5mg.  You can weigh powder as Frogie has suggested.  I found making a liquid suspension worked best in my case.

 

Cheers

[Notw]

First of all, I love that I'm finally finding a community where I'm not dismissed and am asked really good questions.

 

So the taper down to 2.5mg was by the psychiatrist. I was on I think 15mg in the hospital and then the outpatient psychiatrist tapered me down but as I recall it was pretty quick and big jumps so from 15mg to 10mg to 7.5mg to 5mg and then the second time I was in the hospital I had to ask to be tapered down to 2.5mg because they were going to leave me on 5mg.

 

Could how fast they tapered me way back then affect withdraw now even though that was years ago?

 

Yea, I read on here that zyprexa is insoluble in water so you'd have to make a suspension but that sounds like a lot for me so I'm looking into weighing it if I can't get it compounded but we'll see, I may have to go the suspension route.

[ChessieCat]

Hello and welcome from me too.

 

2022 - Researching going off meds again but tapering and adding diet changes and supplementation

 

Q:  What do you mean by "supplementation"?

 

The only supplements which SA recommends are magnesium and omega 3 fish oil.  If you decide to try these, only try a small amount, one at a time, to see how you react to it.  Also, do not make any other changes at the same time, eg a drug reduction, otherwise if things worsen/improve you will not know what caused it.

 

Magnesium

Omega-3 Fish Oil

 

the-rule-of-3kis-keep-it-simple-keep-it-slow-keep-it-stable

 

There are many existing topics about various things on SA.  You can use the site search function or use an internet search engine and add site:survivingantidepressants.org to the search term.

[UserMan1775]

Everyone is different, your plan looks good but you may have to adjust as you put it lower.

 

I tapered off zyprexa in 2 weeks from 2.5mg to 0, and only had 1 week after of feeling weird then was fine (was also on prozac at the time), but looking back i got lucky and probably should have gone slower.

 

But it just shows everyone is diff, do what is best for you!

[hayduke]

On 1/26/2022 at 4:51 PM, Notw said:

Could how fast they tapered me way back then affect withdraw now even though that was years ago?

 

Your body would likely have processed those changes by now.  Still, with the time you've been on the drug, and that cold turkey - which you've done well to recover from - you can expect to be dealing with a sensitised nervous system now, during the taper, and for some time afterwards.  I would not be expecting a rapid path to zero.

After this many years, and all that, in your shoes when I was ready I would start with a single 10% cut, hold for at least four weeks, journal daily with symptoms, moods, supplements etc, everything relevant.  Then consider the next cut in light of the previous.

 

Since you report psychosis in the past, I would strongly recommend putting a contingency plan in place.  Brief supportive friends and family, and the health professionals you are comfortable working with, and work out what you will do beforehand should trouble arise during your withdrawals.  Just being prepared adds a lot of peace of mind.

If you find a 10% taper too much to deal with, there are gentler tapering options to try after stabilising again.  I found a gentler taper helped a lot.