Welcome to the wonderful world of olanzapine withdrawal insomnia and how no doctor will recognize it as a problem and there is no scientific literature on the topic. However, there is a Facebook group dedicated to it because others experience it. Do a google search for “Olanzapine withdrawal insomnia” and there are thousands of horror stories on many websites about people who can’t sleep after quitting olanzapine. Unless you’re lucky, your doctor will say Olanzapine doesn’t cause that problem so I suggest you don’t argue it with him. Instead, because insomnia is common among schizophrenics just play dumb and tell him you can’t sleep and need sleep meds. I’ve tried a whole bunch of meds to sleep and they where all useless. I’ve been on clonazepam for almost a year now, it’s the only thing that has worked for me.
It looks like you’re either gonna have to remain on olanzapine to sleep or find another medication to put you to sleep. That usually means a hypnotic or benzo. Both come with dependency issues so you will become a benzo junkie. Clonazepam is one of the best benzos for sleep.
There is a lurker on this forum that I speak with in private messages who can’t quit olanzapine without losing the ability to sleep and she is miserable. A lot of people are like her and I, and now you.
July 4th will be one year that I’ve been off olanzapine and I still can’t sleep properly. The first 6ish months after I quit olanzapine I couldn’t sleep AT ALL, not even for 1 minute. I had to start taking clonazepam to sleep. I take 1.5mg of clonazepam every night before bed. It’s the only way I can sleep. After a year off olanzapine I can fall to sleep, but at best I get 2-3 hours then I wake up, with clonazepam I’m getting 7 hours on average. It may take me another year or two to completely recover from olanzapine and be able to sleep normally without clonazepam if I’m lucky. When that happens I’ll have to suffer through benzo withdrawal.
Not everyone experiences this problem after quitting olanzapine but a lot of people do. It’s a nasty drug.
I’ve been documenting my experience over the last year in this thread…
I don’t envy what you’re about to experience, sorry you’re gonna have to go through this…