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Mental Health (Expert Forum)
zyprexa withdrawal
Answered by
Roger Gould, M.D. - Mental Health, Wellness
Questions posted in the Mental Health forum are being answered by Dr. Roger L. Gould, author of the Mastering Stress and Depression program and affiliated with the UCLA. Department of Psychiatry. Topics covered include anger, attention deficit disorder (ADD), bipolar disorder, dementia, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), learning disabilities, memory, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), panic, personality disorders, phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), schizophrenia, stress, transitions, and work problems.
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zyprexa withdrawal
by SandraG, Mar 09, 2005 12:00AM
I am currently suffering from zyprexa withdrawal. I have terrible insomnia. Does anyone have any advice? I am interested to hear from others who got off zyprexa successfully, to find out how they did it and how long it took to recover.
thanks!
thanks!
Doctor's Answer
by Roger Gould, M.D., Mar 14, 2005 12:00AM
, Mar 14, 2005 12:00AM
I hope others who have had the direct experience will respond, but the general guidelines are it seems to take two to three weeks of gradually coming back to yourself. What you have to be careful of is observing yourself too closely for when you do you tend to interpret the normal fluctuations as symptoms when in fact they are not symptoms, but rapidly changing states of mind that gradually become more integrated and less discrete.
-a feeling of slight pressure on my brain, as if there is sandpaper there
-my sleep cycle has been disrupted
-emotional blunting--can't feel any emotions except anxiety
alex
I have been on Zyprexa for five years, since I was almost 16. I gained a lot of weight, but it was very good because I was anorexic before and I finally had to accept a normal female body (taking zyprexa made me SO hungry that I finally realized I can't live without food anymore. I had reached that stage in Anorexia where the literal meaning of the word applied: I didn't feel any hunger anymore. I became kind of inhuman. When I became hungry again, my stomach actually felt like recovering! and I had the mental/emotional ability to do so, and to handle the feeling of "betraying myself" and identifying it as false. In my case it WAS the eating that gained me the pounds, not just ingesting the pill...I think that many people blame the pill without realizing that those times when we feel like eating the cupboards clean (and we do just that) is the reason for the weight gain...but then, it's such a powerful drug, it might actually mess with the thyroid? I don't know). That side-effect, with the combination of what it's supposed to do (lessen psychosis/delusions/anxiety), allowed me to calm down, come back to myself (for the first time!) and function. It DID take a while to get used to (a number of months for full-effect). Now, the very bad thing that I've done all throughout my years on Zyprexa was to decide to not take it anymore, on a whim. My mentality was: "okay, okay, now that I've acquired this wisdom about myself through the drug...I think that's enough, that's all I need to fly in this life...so...goodbye, Zyprexa!" And I was off, cold turkey. I would say I've done that about...6 times. But I always go back, because of the withdrawal+the realization that it has something in it that I NEED to function. Everytime I get off of it, I become a different person who is not someone I want to be. I recently got off for close to 2 months...until I got so sick I felt I was dying, I couldn't even function at work, it was embarrassing, I finally was shivering so bad and feeling hot-flashes+chills and dizziness and everything juuust-fffelllt-weeeiirrrd....I couldn't understand simple things, I was exhausted but I couldn't sleep, my heart was racing, my back hurt, I felt my chest was caving in and I couldn't breathe...and all my anxiety returned and I just went under so fast (felt like I did before I ever went on the med...but worse). Finally, I went into the bathroom and needed to vomit (I don't vomit easily, so it was the pinacle of unwellness for me) and then I decided I couldn't take it anymore so I nibbled off half a Zyprexa (2.5 for me) and within 5 minutes I stopped feeling so cold, and I was able to calm down, and my thoughts made sense again. It was interesting because my brothers and mom saw me shaking and gasping on the couch and not being okay with the slightest noise (I was convinced that everyone was trying to annoy me...I seriously turned into a mega-***** and was very interpersonally paranoid)then I went into my room...and fifteen minutes later I came out and completely normal again. Needless to say, they noticed the difference and were glad to have me back again. I felt shaky...but I'd just put myself through a lot of unnecessary pain for the past two months. I wanted to find out if I still needed it, and if I was well enough on my own natural chemical balance...and I found out that I was not. It's nothing shameful to need a little (perscribed) pill for our well-being. Zyprexa may not be the right med for everyone...but I think that anyone who takes any anti-psychotic medication and knows he/she needs (down in your heart