I’m considering changing my medication from olanzapine to Abilify. I don’t like the weight gain I have had. But I don’t like the insomnia I get from Abilify either. So what do you do?
My psdoc suggested that I should use seroquel/quetiapine instead of olanzapine. I would just do anything to get off olanzapine.
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I had terrible luck with Abilify and Seroquel, didn’t do much to control my symptoms. Olanzapine has been the best med I’ve tried so far, I’m willing to trade the weight gain for stability. That’s just my experience
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i tried quitting Olanzapine and going on Abilify years ago and Abilify didn’t work, I became psychotic.
I did ended up switching from Olanzapine to Lurasidone(Latuda) and that has worked out very well with respect to my psychosis, and I have no side effects from it.
All the side effects I’ve had from olanzapine have been reversed. I still have diabetes but my blood sugar levels are much much better.
But when I quit olanzapine I developed the worst insomnia and am on clonazepam for that. The insomnia hasn’t gotten better in the last 3 months and i can’t sleep at all without a sleeping pill. A lot of people on the internet complain about the same thing, but there are people that quit without any problems too.
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Might be worth trying abilify with just a tiny dose of seroquel for sleep. But speak with your dr. This is what was advised to me.
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Thank you. And for you with the insomnia, I’m sorry to hear that. How long did you use olanzapine and on what dosage? I should have never using it to begin with.
I used was on 40mg of olanzapine for about 15 years, then I started to taper down.
I had the least amount of luck with olanzapine. I did well on seroquel besides sleeping 12 hrs a day and getting pre-diabetic. Abilify seems to work wonders for me.
Tried abilify for 2 days 5mg. Sleeping was really difficult and caused weird anxiety that manifested in eating constantly: I usually eat 3 times a day and those two days on abilify I ate 8 times a day and i wanted to maaturbate like crazy, I remember jackibg off 5 times a day
i also had a hard time sleeping on abilify, and sleep is important for my wellbeing so I currently have Olanzapine and quetiapine. but as you said the weight gain is not fun, im trying to reverse the weight gain now. have you tried reagila? my doctor said its weight neutral
Olanzapine is notorious for weight gain. I had really bad weight gain on Olanzapine. I tried dieting, exercising, gym memberships, nothing worked for me unfortunately. It wasn’t until I switched meds that I began losing weight.
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yeah I gained a lot! im currently dieting and have actually lost almost 30 pounds so far but its a long road… 
That’s quite an achievement while being on olanzapine, congratulations!
At my heaviest I was 240lbs and it didn’t matter what I did I couldn’t lose weight.
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thank you! it hard and I slip up sometimes but its getting easier 
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You could try abilify, and then have Mirtazapine as an add-on to the abilify, Mirtazapine is good for sleep, or you could try a strong antihistamine like Phenergan (prescription drug) to get you to sleep. Danish psychiatrists knows about “Phenergan.”
But beware, Olanzapine is far more effective than Abilify. On the other hand, you don’t seem that delusional, so perhaps you could skip olanzapine without taking abilify?
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I tried Phenergan (Promethazine) for sleep 25-75mg and it didn’t work at all for me.
@Joker had some luck with it a while back
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I do believe that I can skip olanzapine if I get something for sleep, at least for a period, I don’t feel delusional. My problem is that my therapist and psychiatrist don’t agree and wont help. Not at the moment at least, but when I go on early retirement then I will be stable enough to quit.
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They would help me switch medication but not to quit it completely
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When I was last in the hospital the pdoc I was assigned gave me a choice between Haldol and Clozapine to replace Olanzapine but I didn’t want either. I ended up trying Haldol but it had bad side effects. I didn’t really get a long with her but I then got a new pdoc that I have been with ever since and he suggested Lurasidone which I was fine with trying and that has worked out great.
I’ve taken all 3 with no succes. I have had better results on Invega. Conclusion: I hate aps.