alldaisy: Zyprexa withdrawal - severe insomnia and lack of appetite

[alldaisy]

Hi,

 

I need your help or advice here. I have been seeing a nurse-psychiatric for about 4 years, she is the one that put me medication, I have been on and off of different medication. Like three months ago I was taking invega 3mg and stable, she told me that she will reduce the dosage of medication and help me quit, I was gaining a lot of weight. On the follow appointment, when she supposedly will reduce me the dosage of invega, she added me a new medication, she told me to do the change, in resume, she never reduce me the dosage of invega, she increased the dosage to 6 mg (she knows that I cannot cut the pills), she increased the dosage of the new medication, venlafaxine (she refused to accept what she told me about help me to quit and just put me in the new medication). I cannot stop any of these drugs without her help, I cannot cut pills and I am in a dosage that I cannot stop alone. When I forgot a dosage of venlafaxine I got terrible headaches. I am overweight, I am crying writing here, never ever in my life I have been like this before. I do not know what to do, I eat healthy and I go to the gym. Can she forces me to stay on drugs? What I can do If I want to quit the medication? who can help me? Who can find a solution for this horrible nightmare that are psychotropic drugs?, this is abusive. 

[ChessieCat]

Hi Daisy,

 

I'm sorry for all the problems you are having at the moment.  Could you please update your signature with dates, drugs (what is new) and doses (what has increased)?

 

This is very important because we need to have clear and current information so that we can offer suggestions.

[JanCarol]

Daisy, I'm so sorry you are struggling. 

 

But if you continue to trust the doctors / nurse practitioners who put you on the drugs in the first place then I'm afraid I don't see any way out of this.

 

My father used to say, in order to get out of a hole, you must first stop digging it.

 

Please, stay on your drugs at current doses.  We do not recommend abrupt discontinuation of any psych drug.  

 

But - I am going to put some of your own words here which illustrate my point:

 

 

At this moment I am still taking invega, they are lowering the dosage, let's see if when they put me out of this I can lose all the weigh I have gained. I have been put also in a new medication venlafaxine. Reading in the forum I have found horror stories with this drug too. I read that is one of the worst drugs ever. How is possible that we all have been medicated with drugs that do us so much harm or cause us so many undesirable side effects? I am trying to understand all of this, and all my life for this last years and all the things that has happened to me. I am trying to accept this condemn like a necessary bad situation. But is hard for me sometimes. I eat because I have to do it, I never feel hungry or thirsty. I have gained all this weight. I do not have my menstrual cycle. I am unhappy person. I do not have a life or hope for a better future or situation. 

 

You blame the drugs, but do not connect them to your unhappiness, instead you accept this condemnation as a prison sentence.  What happened to you, that you feel you deserve to suffer?

 

 

Let's hope that the pharmaceutical industry could find a new medication some day, able to treat this illness with less side effects. Nothing else that we can do. 

 

There is much we can do.  We can take responsibility for our lives, our choices.  Every time you put a pill in your mouth, it is a choice.  Every time you go to the gym, it is a choice.  There are good choices and bad ones.  You need to take charge of your medical treatment, do your homework, and work on getting off the drugs.

 

If the nurse practitioner is doing this to you - then you need to find a new practitioner.  There has to be some choice.

 

 

 

Medication harmed my body. Then the same pharmaceutical that did the harm are the one that have to find the solution and fix me. Because the pharmaceutical companies do not play with human lives, they save human lives and cure diseases. That is my way of thinking. Do I am blind? Pharmaceutical companies live from the illness of others, that is true too in some cases or many cases. But no all the people working on the pharmaceutical companies are just money makers. 

 

Additionally, the pharmas do not care about us as individuals.  We are "consumers," part of the profit equation, and the only thing which motivates a corporation is share price and dividends to shareholders.  There is no other motivation.  There may be individuals within any company who are more altruistic, but they are swimming against the stream, and will likely not last long in the corporate environment.

 

 

I truly do not see the day when I will finally fell well. But nothing I can do about. I have to continue receiving my therapy and taking any meds that my doctor tell me to take. 

 

This is the most severe case of pharmaceutical spellbinding I have seen in awhile.  You are suffering, you know you are suffering, you blame the drugs, and yet trust the doctors (or nurse practitioners) who give them to you.

 

In order to get out of a hole, you must first stop digging it.

 

Look at the sky, and get a copy from your library:  Robert Whitaker, "Anatomy of an Epidemic."  Learn about the long term consequences of the drugs - not just the side effects, but the actual "therapeutic nature" of the drugs - and you will learn - the drugs take a crisis, and make it chronic and lifelong.  The drugs worsen the course of the illness.

 

But you know this, and still you go back with complaints, and accept whatever drugs you are given.  

 

Another nugget:  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.  

 

It's time to try something new.

 

 

What else we can do? Right? Just listen to each other sadness, distress and sorrows, And help in any way we can. 

 

We can learn about Non Drug Techniques for Coping with Emotional Symptoms we can track our symptoms:  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1779-rate-symptoms-daily-to-track-patterns-and-progress/

 

We can share our thoughts with each other, and learn what makes us better, and what makes us worse.

 

From here, it looks like you are choosing all the things:  stronger drugs, more drugs, changes in drugs - that in my experience, make people worse.

 

 

Who decide the treatment, the patient right?  If I am in my total faculties, and I am telling a doctor, I do not want that for me. Can he  or she force you to do the treatment he is ordering?

 

Correct!  That's the spirit!!!!

 

No, they cannot force you, but if you get sick enough, they can.  And do.

 

This is a forum for tapering, reducing, and coming off psychiatric drugs.  I question if you are in the right place.  There are many other forums where you can complain about your treatment and drugs and accept them as you are given, seeking the "right drug" or the "right treatment."  That is not in keeping with the purpose of this forum.

 

Please, if you choose to stay, read all of the links which have been provided for you.  Read the excellent "Anatomy of an Epidemic."  Feel free to ask questions about 10% tapering.  Consider this:

Six Mistakes I've Made In Withdrawal

 

Please update your signature, I cannot tell if your last doses were in 2015 or 2016.  What are you on now?

 

We'd love to help you, but you also need to help yourself.

 

I hope you see the sun today.

 

 

Medication harmed my body. Then the same pharmaceutical that did the harm are the one that have to find the solution and fix me. Because the pharmaceutical companies do not play with human lives, they save human lives and cure diseases. That is my way of thinking. Do I am blind? Pharmaceutical companies live from the illness of others, that is true too in some cases or many cases. But no all the people working on the pharmaceutical companies are just money makers. 

 

[alldaisy]

 

 

Thanks so much for reading and for your message JanCarol, I need your help, I am having a bad day. 

 

First, let me update you with my current situation. I am taking Invega 3 mg and Venlafaxine 150 mg. Last month after my last result, after noticing my cholesterol and triglycerides were sky rocket. That I have gained 40 pounds more, moving from size XS to size L, that I am accumulating a lot of fat around my waist and tummy my doctor decreased the dosage of invega from 6 mg to 3 mg. Today I had another appointment to check me in. I was thinking that she will reduce the dosage of invega again and put me out meds. I want to be med free, It is my will to be meds free. She does not want to help me with that. She told me that she can lose her license if she help me with that. That she can continue trying others medications or put me in a new one, but that is more expensive. I told her that I want to be out of meds, it is my decision, that I cannot do this alone. She refuse to help me. Both medications I am taking are slow release pills, I cannot cut it. I do not know what I am going to do. I am thinking to stop invega cold turkey and keep myself in the dosage of venlafaxine. Until my next appointment with her and see what happens. But what I can do? Can she force me for law to stay on meds? Who can help me to safety quick these medications. I cannot keep going to doctor and continue with this trial and error. I am feeling so alone in this. I am feeling like I am in a trap and I cannot escape. 

[alldaisy]

Three days ago I stopped taking invega 3mg. I am still taking effexor 150 mg. I have not notice any new medical issue or difference on me, I guess it could happen any time soon. I have lost 2 pounds. I will keep the dosage of effexor in 150 mg until my next doctor appointment. I will continue with my diet and exercises. I hope to lose some pound more in this month.

[ChessieCat]

Hi AllDaisy,

 

"Both medications I am taking are slow release pills, I cannot cut it."

 

Many members here are tapering Effexor.  It might not be as easy as just cutting or crushing a pill and weighing to get the dose or making a liquid that you need to taper but it is able to be done.

 

It will take some patience and determination from you, but if you want to get off the drug, and do it the way that SA's suggests, then you will need to find the way to achieve that.  The members and mods here can give you all the suggestions we know, but only you can take control of this and do it.  We can support you and answer any questions you have, but you are the only one who can do it.  We can't do it for you.

 

Read The Harm Reduction Guide - links at the bottom of this post.

 

I suggest you have a good read of this topic:  Tips for tapering off Effexor (venlafaxine)

 

Go to this link (a google search which gives links to members here tapering Effexor) and read members' topics of people who are tapering Effexor to find out how they are doing it.

 

Have a read of these topics.  I like what one member wrote about telling the doctor that they want to be on the lowest possible dose but really planning to get off the drug completely:

 

What should I expect from my doctor about withdrawal symptoms?

How do you talk to a doctor about tapering and withdrawal?

 

To be able to change things, you need to take back control.  The information and support here at SA can help you to do that.

 

We make choices.  You have a choice.  You can choose to let someone else tell you what drug/s and doses to take OR you can use what you have learned about how to taper carefully and slowly and get the dose you want and go slowly with the support of SA.

 

Here are the links to The Harm Reduction Guide by Will Hall.  Click on the link for the language you need.

 

Spanish – Castellano/Espanol (printer version)

German – Verfügbar Deutsch (printer version)

Greek – Ελληνική

Bosnian – Bosanskom

Croatian – Hrvatski (printer version)

Japanese – 日本で利用可能 (printer version)

Italian – Italiano (printer version)

French – Français (printer version)

Norwegian – Norsk

Czech – Čeština

English

Chinese

Thai

Russian

[Jimkhuynh]

Hi alldaisy,

 

Thank you for your post and update. I have the same insomnia problem. I was prescribed Zyprexa and I took it only for 3 weeks. I stopped taking Zyprexa cold turkey and I switched to Risperidone 1mg. Now, I have severe insomnia. I cannot fall asleep and I just lied in bed from night to morning. My insomnia been going on for 1 month. My questions for you. How many days, months, or years did it took you to sleep normal again? Did you have to take another drug after stopping the Zyprexa to help you sleep? I’m desperate for advice and help. I really appreciate your input. Thank you.

[Altostrata]

Hello, Jimkhuynh. Please start a topic for yourself in the Introductions forum so we can talk about your withdrawal symptoms.

[arwilliams]

So it appears your sleep came back after literally years?

 

I am beginning to think your story is just like mine.

[alldaisy]

Hi all, 
 

Wish you all are doing ok. It has been a long time since my last post. I was one year without medication and doing ok, until they harassed me and make up situations at work that made me cry a lot. I had to quite the job I truly loved and the results, they sent me to see my doctors again and put me back on medication. But I am in the process to get divorced. So I will lost my medical insurance. We have a great amount of debts, every time  I have to see my doctors, I have to pay for the visit, it is a money that represent a lot for us and will represent a lot for me after the divorce. I do not want alimony or any financial support from my husband. So I want to withdraw from the medication again and stop seeing the doctors. I can deal with all of this alone.  I do not see any difference now that I am on medication with the person I was when  I was not taking the medication. I am truly tired of what has become my life. Just living to pay medical bills, a lot of sadness, getting overweight, problems at home that no medication can cure or solve. 

 

If you are in my situation, what you will do? should I quite the medications (I am currently taking 3mg of Invega)? should I stop seeing the doctors? Do you know any person who is now doing ok without the need of any of these drugs?

[Altostrata]

Hello again, alldaisy.

 

I am sorry you are going through this very difficult time. You will need medical insurance, surely there's someone who can advise you how to get coverage after your divorce?

 

Who sent you to the doctor to go back on medication? Are you taking any other drugs? What times of day do you take them, at what dosages?

 

How long have you been taking 3mg Invega? What is its effect on you?

 

Any doctor can prescribe these drugs, it doesn't have to be an expensive psychiatrist. Can you talk to your primary care physician about getting your prescriptions?

 

[Hell]

Hi @alldaisy

How is your sleep now?