My son has just been diagnosed with schizophrenia

Medications
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My 23 years old son is diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is prescribed 20mg olanzapine and a monthly injection. He was discharged 3 days ago. My worries now are that the med is causing him headache and sleeping most of the time. I am also worried the side effect of the long term side effect of the med i. e. weight gain, diabetes and cholesterol. Anyone on olanzapine?

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Hi @elle26! I’d like to encourage you to join our forum for Family and Caregivers that can be found at:

While this is a peer support forum for people with schizophrenia and other closely related psychotic disorders, the Family forum is specifically for people like yourself, who have a loved one they are concerned about.

Also, please let your loved one know about this forum as they may find it helpful.

Best of luck,

Volunteer Moderator Treebeard

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Meds or not, SZ folk tend to sleep alot @elle26

:sleeping_bed::sleeping:

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I’ve had it for 5 years, and my symptoms got a lot less problematic at around the 3 year mark. It doesn’t happen for everybody but some people do make impressive partial recoveries. I haven’t been delusional for two years now, but I still hear and see things others don’t.

Best of luck, and yeah the family forum should help.

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Ok. Does it do good for his negative symptoms?

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No, all I can advise is to add an anti depressant to his regime.

BUT,

I’m not a psychiatrist, nor a doctor, so take my advice with a grain of salt.

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Olanzapine makes you tired. He needs to sleep a lot to feel rested and awake.

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I do really well on zyprexa. Your son is new to the meds and it takes time. It really does. First thing is recovering from positive symptoms. You worry about side effects and other things later. Getting to a good headspace is primary concern if new.

I’ve tried 3 antipsychotics and zyprexa is great for me. We are all different and that is the hard part. It really comes down to time and you need probably 1 month to 6 weeks to see the fuller picture.

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Thank you for your response, rogueone. I really appreciate it very much.

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I took zyprexa and it didn’t work for me so take this with a grain of salt. Zyprexa is the most likely medication to cause weight gain and diabetes. I am guessing if he is on zyprexa and a shot he is probably med resistant so for now it is probably best to stick with what is working for him. I take a combination of antipsychotics to stay stable as well. In the beginning he will sleep a lot from the meds and this may go away, as it did for me.

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Did he try other med before olanzapine? Most hospital like to give olanzapine as first choice because it is powerful for positive symptoms. If the headache doesn’t go away, he can try other med.

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I took olanzapine once when I lost so much weight that my psychiatrist became concerned. It did increase my appetite. I was soon off of it as it didn’t work for me (each person is different). For a while, though my headache clinic would prescribe it to me, with my psychiatrist’s consent, as a “migraine buster” because it can help with them. Once I developed tardive dyskinesia from my antipsychotics, however, I was no longer willing to risk taking an extra one, even for bad migraines.

If your son exercises and eats right, he can greatly minimize any weight gain. I’m not certain about the diabetes. These are all valid points to discuss with his doctor.

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Thank you for your response. I did ask his doctors abt the side effects. It seems that the doctor was more interested to reduce his symptoms. For them, the side effects are secondary matter. I am encouraging my son to do exercise and I am making sure he is eating a lot of vegetables and fruits.

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Im not sure. This is his first antiphyscotic med. I will ask the doctors when I see them on 18 dec, my son’s first appnt.

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I didnt like zyprexa much because i gained a lot of weight, i was tired and hungry. But someone i know loves it. He likes that it makes him sleepy before bed. All are different.

Let him talk about side effects and stand up for him if things arent okay and he cant express it. After stabilizing, sometimes a dose reduction is possible, so side effects are more bearable. Also depending on the cause other things might help next to meds…emdr, therapy, cbt, etc.

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