I’m reducing Olanzapine from 10 mg to 7.5 mg on Monday.
I’ve been having problems getting up in the morning for work and generally lack motivation.
Has anyone experienced such a reduction and does anyone think the lower dose will help with this?
The reduction is against the advice of the CPN, but she’s willing to make it. If I don’t improve soon I’m going to loose my job and home.
Maybe it might help… I was sleeping too much with amisulpride 300mg dose.So, my pdoc suggested to reduce it to 200 mg. Now, I sleep less
I am on Olanzapine 10mg and I also lack motivation.
Also, I do not like to do anything out of my daily routine, it gets me anxious.
I was on 20mg before but I did not notice any change. I hope this will be better for you.
this med really s*cks
I’m on 7.5mg olanzapine. My motivation is not great but I guess it’s better than when I was on a higher dose.
I use to be on 40mg of Olanzapine, and I slept a lot. Now I am on 2.5mg and I can’t sleep at all.
I’m trying to get off it but I have a hard time when I quit it, I have a whole bunch of weird withdrawal symptoms.
Are you going to be medication free if you get off of Olanzapine? And how many episodes have you had?
Olanzapine is a very sedating drug. I don’t think the side-effects will go away at 7.5mg, but they might improve. Maybe you need to consider trying a new AP.
Yeah you’re probably right. Going to give it another try and then see what my options are.
I take 15mg and have no problems.
Nope, I am on 60mg of Lurasidone(Latuda) as my main AP. The only reason I am on a small dose of Olanzapine is because of the withdrawal symptoms I experience when I go off it completely. At such a small dose it doesn’t have much of a therapeutic effect, however when I go off it completely I experience tachycardia, temperature sensitivity (makes taking a shower difficult) and a lot of anxiety, extreme insomnia and I just generally don’t feel well, but even when I go off it I don’t experience any psychotic symptoms, the Lurasidone has put all that in 100% complete remission.
Lurasidone seems to be a good medication. Do you know if it’s sedating, weight neutral or has sexual dysfunction as main side effects?
For me personally Lurasidone has no side effects at all, and it works 100%, I haven’t been psychotic since I started taking it, almost 2 years ago. It doesn’t sedate me, it hasn’t made me gain weight… as I slowly lower my olanzapine I have lost a lot of weight, and I have no sexual dysfunction.
That’s good, if I don’t see any improvement with the reduction then I’ll ask to give Latuda a try.
Latuda has some rules and restrictions though. Latuda has to be taken with Food, 300-400 calories if I remember, or thereabouts.
You also have to avoid grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice binds to an enzyme in the liver that processes Latuda, if you drink grapefruit juice it will bind with that liver enzyme and your Latuda won’t be metabolized properly, Latuda will then spike in your blood, and that could lead to side effects or death.
Apparently you have to avoid Cannabis and CBD too because they bind to the same enzyme in your liver…so there are some rules and restrictions but I’ve found it to be the best AP I have tried. I don’t like grapefruit juice anyways and I don’t smoke pot. I have tried CBD without any problems but the effects I get from CBD are negligible, most times I feel nothing, sometimes I feel a small burst in energy.
One other thing, a month or two after starting Latuda get a while blood cell count test. My results where fine but that is a known problem with some people.
This shows how meds effect people so differently
I take 800mg Amisulpride and I need another med to help me sleep!
You have positive or negative symptoms or both
I have negative symptoms and I feel super drowsy with amisulpride 300mg.
And now with reduced dose I stay up all night
I have pretty severe positive symptoms. Negatives are there, but I just press on through it and fight as much as I can - but it’s difficult and I have to put in more effort to do normal things that other people take for granted
Don’t stop trying
I never had positive symptoms… So, two of us are different.
If you don’t mind me asking - what’s your diagnosis?
Schizophrenia with negative and cognitive symptoms