an Olanzapine Tapering Experience

[dillydudeEL14]

I really don’t have any solid reasoning behind this but I’ve always been averse to taking antipsychotic drugs and ssri’s and shit like that. Just something g seems off about them.

[Chip (OP)]

I noticed that as I got older, the half life of the drug increases so I'm dosing as 2.5 mg every 2 days as i write this.

the main symptoms are insomnia, sweating, agitation (quite unpleasant) but I have boxes of the shit so I'm on no hurry.

Pregablin is yet again my mitigation tool as I haven't touched it in 2 weeks.

OLZ turned on me in higher doses and caused severe malaise - whole body RLS.

my goal is to have no dependencies at all.

[Hooman]

I noticed that as I got older, the half life of the drug increases...

It *does*? o_0

Is that your liver getting older and deteriorating or what, do you think?

What dose of OLZ were you on originally, and what for (if you don't mind me asking), and is the reason why you were first prescribed it rearing its head now that you're tapering off it?

It's ridiculous IMO - they hardly *ever* mention let alone talk about the (very) possible discontinuation symptoms that these nasty dirty drugs often cause (other than the original symptoms it was prescribed for possibly returning).

[Chip (OP)]

sure. at 38 I ended up on a psych ward due to a psychotic episode when I had a small habit on Methadone. it was not drug related as I wasn't using stimulants at that time (dexamphetamine+Methadone were my usual DOC).

my liver is fine as I have not used alcohol for my first 53 years - it's just as you age, things slow down - it's normal and that's why geriatrics are given tiny doses.

they don't mention it because they don't know just how addictive these drugs are after 10-15 years on it.

I started on 20 and dropped to 10 and now I want to be able to travel so it's so much easier to do so without carrying scripts.

yes, I went a bit nuts but you get that

there are no rebound symptoms as I am not manic or anything. it was a reaction to gambling and losing my house and partner but I regained an ever stronger relationship with her and bought an ever nicer house and place to live so life is sweet.

[Chip (OP)]

OK, so the deal with nasty shit is that you can have your dose - unlike opiates - and it will hold you for two days but you will suffer intractable insomnia and some most unpleasant agitation (not unlike opiate W/D's at the "thin edge of the wedge" for 4 nights.

I am down to 2.5 mg every 2 days and am ready to drop to 1.25 - that pill cutter I bought years ago has proved indispensable !

Oddly enough, I don't recommend Pregablin etc. for this stuff straight away -- stimulants actually mask the effect of this withdrawal due to the very high levels of dopamine that stimulants are notorious for.

THEN you can add Gabapentinoids and/or benzos.

Using one drug to offset the other - an all too familiar game to us. Yep, I have given this the "field" test but of course, you probably won't find anybody else documenting this or recommending it BUT my technique, dangerous as it may sound, actually works and if you have experienced this bizarre shitty withdrawal, this is by far the lesser of the evils.

But of course, not disliking stimulants is a requisite.

You know, it could just be an excuse for me to crank up the Meth intake - drugs are deceptive like that 

[MoeMentim]

went off olanzipine, lamictal and escitalopram 3 days ago.  pharm told me lamictal went up from $90 for 3 months to $440.  it ended up being a mistake that we figured out today but i was like fuck it, maybe with the ketamine treatments i'll be good.  after all it's kept the anxiety from over-drinking at bay, who knows.  what a total idiot move that was.  today was awful second only to opiate withdrawls.  (never had to withdrawl from benzos or alcohol).  been long enough since i did that that it felt at least equally as bad, different though.  took them about 45 minutes ago & pharmacist said i could expect fairly rapid relief.  i have 3 left over beers i'm trying to gulp down, hope to keep it at that.  i overdid it last night & that definitely made it worse.  i also stopped and bought some liquid "opms" kratom extract, the only headshop stuff i've found reliable & there's no way i could choke down the powder without hurling it back up immediately.  hopefully relief soon.

[Chip (OP)]

so much for that !

I was recently placed under a court-ordered community treatment program and now are legally bound for a single monthly dose of a whopping 405 mg IM OLZ shot in the arse ! 

the good thing is that I am tolerant to it so i can't feel it.

[Chip (OP)]

An update:

I have been sitting on 210 mg every 4 weeks by IM depot injection for over a few years now.

I don't feel the dose but I am stable so I might as well not rock the boat.

I was ultimately diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder^Wiki.