How fast to taper down?

Thanks for the info. The pills I’m taking are called Olanazpine Teva. I don’t think the pills are meant to be split, but you can just do it with a knife for example?

i used a pill splutter I bought from amazon.

You can use a knife but when I did that sometimes they would fly everywhere.

Are those the ones that go under your tongue?

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No, those are pills that you swallow with water.

Wow, that’s a long taper btw! What med are you on now? (if any)

I went slow, I spent about 4 years coming off 40mg of olanzapine, and I still have problems.

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Yeah, it has been a long taper but I was on a really high dose 40mg. I wrote about it today on this website here

Yeah, that’s what I had, tablets with water. And yeah, you can cut them into pieces. I highly recommend a pill splitter, you can buy one from amazon, its more accurate, but a knife will work too.

I had a hell of a time coming off olanzapine… Insomnia being my worst problem. I hope your attempt goes better than mine did.

I’m on 60mg of Lurasidone now, much better drug.

I’m also on 1.5mg of clonazepam for sleep.

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Thanks. On monday I will call a pharmacy and ask if these specific pills can safely be split, just to be sure, then I’ll start tapering off slowly.

Lets just hope your pharmacists knows, if they say no get a second opinion…

Read bullet point 3 under "General:

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My pdoc said Olanzapine doesn’t need to be tapered at all. I didn’t take his advice. I don’t always trust the professionals and experts. I’ll listen to what they have to say but I’ll also do my own research. They are only human and don’t know everything.

Yeah, I think that’s a healthy attitude to have!

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I was curious what “Teva” meant. “Teva” is just the company that makes “generic” olanzapine. It contains the same active ingredients as other manufacturers so its probably safe to cut in half. If you don’t want to cut your pills in half they come as small as 2.5mg pills. BUT you would have to jump to zero from that dose, that seems like a high dose to jump to zero from, but then again you may be fine.

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Are you tapering off of antipsychotics completely? And if so how many episodes have you had?

I just tapered down from 7.5 Olanzapine to 5 mg last week and had no real problems. Felt better and more alive each day as the medication was depleted from my system.

Not sure if I’m going off completely. I think I’m just tapering off slowly to see where my limit is, if I’m lucky I can taper off completely but not sure.

I’ve had multiple episodes. Don’t now how many, maybe 3 “big” ones.

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How many episodes have you had? I’ve had two and still hoping to come off in the future.

Feeling a lot better on 5mg compared to 7.5mg

Yeah, when I was at 5mg before I noticed that I had a bit more motivation and drive than on 7.5mg.

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Hopefully all goes well, definitely an improvement to live on a lower dose. Cognition is better, more emotional feeling, lost weight and even less constipated lol.

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Be careful @magz.
If you start having increased symptoms, please let your doctor know.
It’s not always easy to have insight into the symptoms if you start to relapse.
I know of two people who were able to stop meds completely with no relapses, but their psychosis’s were most likely due to meth abuse.
Good luck!

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Did they only have the one episode?

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I’m also tapering down on olanzapine. Started off at 15mg and currently I’m at 7.5mg. The next step for me is to go down to 5mg. My doctor didn’t seem to think it would be too difficult so I really hope he’s right.

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They both had rather profound psychosis’s, but were able to stop their meds after a few years of treatment.

One had both visual and auditory hallucinations and delusions/paranoia, the other only heard voices and the delusions and paranoia that accompany that phenomena.
I believe they were both given immediate treatment and were then med compliant, so they did not go off their meds till they had been completely stable for a few years. They both were instructed by their docs as how to taper off their meds.
My condition has proven over the years to most likely be a permanent. I have accepted my diagnosis and will most likely require some form of AP for the rest of my life.