1 month off Olanzapine

Yeah,I was diagnosed with schizophrenia 17 years ago.

I work 2 jobs…

  1. Part time delivery driver
  2. Freelance computer technician

Yeah, I take 1.5mg clonazepam, 5mg Glycine and 200mg l-theanine before bed every night. In the morning I take 100mg of l-theanine, I find it has anxiolytic properties and keeps me relaxed throughout the day.

Life is definitely different after I developed schizophrenia, but it’s better now that I am on a new medication. I couldn’t work before when I was on Olanzapine, and some of my interests have come back, but like I said things are not the same as they use to be.

Intrusive thoughts yes…and it’s olanzapine that helps me most with it, that’s why I can’t quit medication. I could maybe switch to some other AP though.

I have racing thoughts, but olanzapine compresses my emotions. I wish I could feel more, but I guess at the same time you get more vulnerable when the emotions are working. If it wasn’t for the intrusive thoughts I would quit olanzapine though.

Yes, I can’t function off meds, I get racing thoughts, get paranoid, can’t sleep and go into psychosis.

Life is harder on meds than off if we had functioned normal, that’s for sure.

No, I don’t have kids, and no partner for a real long time. I have been struggling with my physical health as well, so I haven’t really been up to it. I hope it will change.

Thanks for the tip. Omega 3 works for me, but I can’t use inositol, bad reaction. L-theanine I tried, but I’m not sure if it does anything for me. Valerian root with lemon balm and hops seems to be good to deal with anxiety for me.

Good luck quitting, but do reconsider or talk to your doctor if you feel worse, or things get out of control. Life is not over because of the drugs, and if you find out you can’t quit now, that doesen’t mean it will be impossible to quit some time in the future.

I feel exactly same about meds as you wrote. What kind of intrusive thoughts do you get?You have totaly all symptoms as me just extra I have rapid mood swings when my mind is racing and Iam just crying they are the worst I take lithium orotate for it, but I did not find total cure. I really want to quit meds, because I felt like suicide a lot and I decided to try without meds. The worst are mornings on olanzapine. I hope to find something else. I hate how I totaly stopped to do sports. I love sports and since taking olanzapine I did only cycling and swimming. Since my illness started I first time started to feel jealous of people when they are healthy and they can have just normal life sleep naturaly and so on have kids, work, do sports. I wish all good to everybody just feel sorry for myself. Did your illness got better with time?Did you try other AP or not?They tried me on rispen and abilify, but it was not good for me. Have you heard of Raloxifene. I was reading they tried it on many women and it improved psychotic symptoms. I would give it a try only its hormone and I do not like hormones so much. I do also suffer more before and during periods. Do you have same?I mean if you are female. Pitty we do not live in the future Iam sure it will be treatable and not with antipsychotics.
Alena

I was writing with person who switched from olanzapine to lurasidone that is Latuda I think and he says its much better than olanzapine. I still find all antipsychotics I tried nasty meds. Sorry to be negative.

In my case Lurasidone(Latuda) is much better than Olanzapine, and at a much smaller dose relatively speaking. I was on 40mg of Olanzapine and am now on 60mg of Lurasidone, but I think I remember reading 60mg of Lurasidone is equivalent to about 10mg of Olanzapine, yet at 10mg of Olanzapine I became psychotic, yet now on Lurasidone I am stable.

But there are other people on this forum that had a bad experience with Lurasidone so my experience is just that, mine. I also tried abilify and that didn’t work. Then I tried haldol, that kept my psychosis at bay but the side effects were bad so I quit. You basically have to shop around until you find something that works without side effects, or side effects that are minimal or manageable.

I’ve had schizophrenia for 17 years, yet it was only a few years ago I stumbled across Lurasidone, it hadn’t even been invented when I was first diagnosed, so there is always hope that the future will bring about something that works better than anything you have tried or that is currently available.

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Its great you are stable. I will try without meds I will see how I go. For my psychosis 2.5mg Olanzapine was enough, but still I had huge mood swings. Not sure what to do about that. Mood stabilizators did not help. Taking supplement lithium orotate now helps a bit. Its so bad with mood swings I think of suicide when I have them. Side effects of olanzapine lack of motivation, sleepiness and tiredness make me to quit it. After trying rispen, quentiapine, abilify, mood stabilizators and antidepressant with horrible side effect Iam tired of experimenting. I think APs have horrible side effect always make person tired. I as well changed a lot of psychiatrists. I will see how I go I wish I found something that would keep me long term stable without bad side effects. I had very good life before my illness started. Its hard to accept my life now. I have it for3 years now. Before I was high performing at jobs, travelled World. Now Iam scared what job I will do. When I get mood swing I just cry. I did few jobs for few months full time and I quitted after few months I could not handle stress. Emotionaly Iam very weak. Now I know when I quit olanzapine I will feel psychotic, will have intrusive and racing thoughts and will have mood swings with crying. On other side I will have motivation and I will be able to do sports every day. Still I do not have answer how I will live long term in this condition. Iam scared of future. Sorry to write you all this, but Iam really happy that you are stable. There are many people out there too who are not stable. Iam 4th day quitting olanzapine I take quarter pill of 2.5mg I still sleep at night, but I wake up, but having more dreams. Not sure how it will go.
So how many hours a week do you work?I moved from Slovakia to Hungary and I as well do not take any dissability benefit. I am in new country with this condition. It makes me scared how I will live.
Alena

Finding the right job is difficult and takes some time. I only work part time. about 15ish hours per week. I am also on disability.

I hope I will find that right way in life. What do you do when you are not working?
Alena

Thanks. When I am not working I mostly watch TV or surf the Internet.

My parents are older now, in their 70’s so I have things I have to do around the house. Stuff like cut the grass in summer, snowblow the driveway in winter, cook my parents dinner, take out the garbage, do the grocery shopping, I drive my parents to all their doctors appointments. I’m a high functioning schizophrenic so it feels like I take care of them more than they take care of me, but they do help me out financially sometimes and let me live at home, but I pay rent.

Hi,
Sounds you are doing well. Iam happy for you that you are so positive. My biggest issue are big mood swings. I can not do much when I get mood swing. How old are you?Iam 39years old. So far reducing olanzapine I sleep in night. I take quarter pill and I wake up earlier as before. Iam as well more motivated. Only I feel more sensitive and emotional. Not sure what I do when Iam off meds.
Alena

Hi again. I’m a guy. It’s hard to explain what kind of intrusive thoughts I get. Lets just say that the mind gets out of control.

I think zyprexa is actually known to reduce both good and bad emotions, like you don’t feel the spikes, that might be why your doctor put you on them in the first place if you are experiencing mood swings. So considering that I would be very careful quitting. In theory you should get more mood swings off zyprexa than on. All antipsychotics are bad, and most that are put on them have tried to quit at some point, but it’s not easy. A lot of people who are diagnosed with mental illness need the medications to function, it’s the only option.

If I thought I could make it without meds I would quit today. But I know I need them. Maybe not forever, but at least for the time being.

Please take your medication again if your emotions get out of control. Taking antipsychotics is not the end of the world. And 2.5mg is the minimum operating dose of zyprexa. There are people on here that have taken like 30-40mg each day if you can imagine. Or you could ask your doctor for another medication. The main thing is that you stay stable.

Thanks, other than insomnia I a doing very well on Lurasidone now, it’s that new drug that made all the difference for me

I am 43 years old.

Well, for me going off meds isn’t an option, but after 17 years of having schizophreniaI finally found a med I am happy with.

Hello,
You survived so long with this illness. How you managed it its miracle. It will be 3 years since my illness started. Before I had nice life. I have still problem to accept it. Did you have it difficult to accept it?The problem is I have a lot of symptoms and mood swings. I find people who have halucinations and hear voices coping better as they often do not have mood symptoms. I have friend who has paranoid schizophrenia and he is very good on meds and he is very happy and positive about life. Because of my mood swings and racing thoughts I sometimes think of suicide. Iam reducing olanzapine. I feel ok, but I start to feel Iam more sensitive. People talk about something and I feel like crying. Iam originaly from Slovakia moved to my BF to Hungary and I do not have good psychiater. In Slovakia psychiater who was treating me before does not want to treat me any more. In Hungary I did not find anybody, but I got contact for few psychiatrists. I also wish I found good medicine, but Iam scared there is nothing for me. All antipsychotics have side effects. You are lucky you feel good now. I tried rispen, abilify, quentiapine from antipsychotics. From mood stabilizators I tried lamotrigine, valproic acid and I take natural lithium orotate. I as well tried some antidepressants. They did not help. Iam tired of trying meds. Still not sure what I will do and how I will live. In which country do you live?Do you have partner?Sorry for so many questions, but Iam interested to see how people with our condition live. Could you imagine to be father for example?

Yeah, it’s been a wild ride, but once I started taking Lurasidone (Latuda) things got much better.

Yes, the diagnosis sunk me into a deep depression until I came to terms with it, then my depression faded away.

I’m in Canada

Nope, I’m single, the vast majority of women I talk with lose interest after I tell them I have schizophrenia. Finding someone with this disease is hard. I haven’t given up but I have low expectations.

I work part time, I live a pretty good life, I am generally happy.

I can imagine it, but I don’t feel like I could afford it and give my kid(s) the life I feel like they deserve.

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Hello,
Thanks for reply.

How long did it take you to accept diagnosis?
Did it take you 20years to find right medicine?
Did you suffer before with other medicine?
You are living in beautiful country. I think you will find partner in the future. You just did not find right person yet. Maybe you should try online dating. Start to first meet person and tell about your diagnosis later on. I have neighbour who is on wheelchair living with parents and he found nice girl he is engaged now. I am so scared I will not find something to make me feel good I mean medicine. Did you change a lot of psychiatrists?I changed a lot and I can not find right person. Recently psychiatrist I went to before she did not want to take me back as I moved to different country, but it was just excuse. I find psychiatrists do not want to have difficult cases. I tried Abilify and had bad reaction to it and psychiatrist did not want to believe me and was pushing on me to take it. That is my experience. Now in Hungary one psychiatrist got angry too I was sick with medicine. Then another psychiatrist does not recommend much, but wanted me to try Vrylar that is cariprazine. I did not try it as people complain of insomnia and after olanzapine that is not good idea. Its really nice and motivating for me to read you are happy with your life. I want to be too.
Alena

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A long time, I didn’t really come to accept it for about 10 years, but once I did my depression lifted and I quit my antidepressant. When the pdoc told me I had schizophrenia it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I started transitioning from Olanzapine to Lurasidone a few years ago, so I guess you could say it took me about 15 years to find the right medication.

Yeah, I tried abilify and that didn’t work, I became psychotic. I tried haldol, that worked but gave me awful side effects, really bad restless leg syndrome and it made me really dizzy. I couldn’t stand still without feeling like I was going to fall over, even after I quit haldol the dizziness stuck around for months. I had pretty bad withdrawal symptoms from paxil and especially effexor.

Yeah, I like Canada. Well I did an experiment with online dating, I posted about on this website. It didn’t go well. I once waited a month to tell a woman I had schizophrenia and she got mad at me for leading her on and not being honest. If i tell them right away they lose interest. I don’t know what to do. It’s frustrating but I’ve come to the realization not to expect much.

Over the last 17 years I’ve had about 5 different psychiatrists. I’ve been with my current pdoc since 2018.

Yeah, things are not perfect but they are better than they have ever been since I was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I’m sure you can be happy too but it might take some experimentation with medications and time. It took me 15 years to find the right medication. Lurasidone hadn’t even been released when I was first diagnosed so you never know what the future holds.

Without olanzapine i relapse

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They started me off at 40mg which I think is insane. The recommended mas dose according to the manufacturer is 20mg.

When I was tapering off I was completely stable until I got down to about 10mg, then I started to become psychotic.

They should never have started me off on such a high dose. My doctor warned me the side effects were life threatening at that dose. I would have been fine at 15mg or 20mg. It makes me mad that they started me at such a a high dose sometimes when I think about it, but at the time I didn’t know anything about these meds so I trusted them.

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40 mg is too much.
But at least you learned more about medicines

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Hello,
It will be now 3 years and I still struggle to accept my mental illness. The worst is morning I wake up and realize its true I have this problems. I get anxiety in mornings. I wake up eat and take my supplements and then my anxiety dissapears. If I could solve my mood swings I think things would be better. Now decreasing olanzapine I feel more sensitive, but overaly ok. For me the hard things about acceptance is I do not feel well and then it affects my whole life carrier and so on. I used to be very happy, active and positive girl and I liked who I was that is hard to accept my new self. Would you recommend to me what may help?I think if I felt long term stable it would be better to accept my new life. Not sure what happends now with meds when I decrease olanzapine more. At the moment I visit my family in Slovakia and I feel better I can chat to people here. When Iam in Hungary I do not have any friends there, because I do not speak language and my mental state is worst. How did your schizophrenia started?I was meant to move to my BF in Hungary, I quitted job and suddenly I started to be scared to move. I got pannick attacks, anxiety, stopped sleeping, eating, then I had OCD I was scared I could be dangerous, then racing thoughts, mood swings and paranoia I was scared maybe somebody poison me when I started to have this problems. I was not possible to move to Hungary I had to go to live to my parents as I started to take different medicine. It was so horrible to loose my independance. I moved to Hungary later on, but I do not feel settled there. I kind of lost home where I would be settled and because Iam not mentaly stable I can not feel settled too. Do you have friends?I always had a lot of friends. Since my illness some people positively surprised me some dissapointed me. How do you get on well with family?Before I had good relationship, but when I moved to parents there were problems. I was oversensitive and had arguments. What supplements do you take and how much?

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