Hi
I have been on 2.5 mg of olanzapine for nearly 5 months. I want off it cos of weight gain. I am on other psychiatric meds. Can i just stop or do i need to taper ?
I think if you're on other meds (so can take anything) you can quit Olanzapine. You might need to do a short 2 week taper. If you're on no other meds though, it's hard.
If you wanna be safe tho, my formula is 2*how many months you've been on it. 5*2=10. 10 weeks of tapering would be advisable, you'd definitely be off it then.
Hi
How would i taper from 2.5 mg ?
Just drop to 1.25 for 10 weeks ?
You could disolve the tablets in a beaker, stir it, pour out the difference. You could reduce the dose daily. You might need a milkshake on top, that stuff's bitter.
Or you could also get a pill cutter and cut by 1/8th every week.
I find pill cutters can t really do more than cut small pills in half.
Did not know it was dissolvable in water.
Get one of these
oh I can't post images. If you Search "pill cutter"
they have a v that you can place a pill in and you can reliably orient the segments to cut smaller segments out of.
yeah also if you get the orodispersable versions of the pill you can dissolve them. If you've got a beaker with measuring guides you're sorted.
Sorry I got the formula mixed up. It's actually 2*years=months. Not weeks.
So you were on it for 5 months. = 5/12 year. So 2*5/12=10/12 Month.
That's 30 days * 5/6 = 25 days. Taper for 25 days. 3-4 weeks.
Tapering is pretty obvious to me, but no one does it. You wanna get up to how much dosage makes you feel good. Take it for a week. Then calculate how long you'll be reducing for. Reduce daily by the division of the dose to the reduction span.
I think i got that.....pretty complicated.
2.5mg over 25 days is 0.1mg a day.
So it would be better for me to do this rather than drop to 1.25 mg for 25 days. I would need to get my psych to prescribe dissolvable pills for that to work. She already thinks im bonkers for insistingon slow tapers. She tells me to do really fast tapers and i refuse......i learnt the hard way. Im on quite alot of meds atm but what to get the last in out first.
Yeah. Like the first 2 weeks you'd be sleeping fine, the last week you would be on less and less. Almost nothing. The last day you'd be on 0.1 mg. if you sleep fine on that dau its like you took nothing. Let us know how it goes. If at any point in the process you can't sleep, go back to last night's dose. You'll need another calculation (start another 25 days from that point) for how to get from that dose to zero. If it drags on, at least you'll be sleeping the whole time. GL.
*day
Sweet dreams.
Im on 45mg of mirtazapine so not sure if not sleeping will be a problem.
You could get off mirtazapine one day with this method. Olanzapine is powerful, so the same calculation will give you how long to taper mirtazapine for. Years * 2 = months.
I've gone to a compounding pharmacist who turned the Olanzapine into liquid - I used a syringe to get him to 0.10ml in the last 2 weeks. Unfortunately, 7 weeks after he stopped completely, he got some really bad withdrawal symptoms - all mentioned online - but the hospital he ended up in said he had relapsed and now he's back on it. Could not convince one Dr that he had no psychosis until the very first time he tried Seroquel - they said it was impossible. Let us know how you go.
Hello Sarah I was taking Olanzapine 5mg for over 10 years about five weeks ago I decided to investigate this drug and was horrified with what I found. Since being on this drug I have suffered a stroke which has caused me brain damage septic shock (I was very close to death and in intensive care for over 5 weeks) I have developed diabetes I have lost my mobility I cannot pass urine and have to cathetise All these symptons are the result of taking Olanzapine I am now suing medical profession for prescribing the drug. I am reducing to 2.5mg per day I have tried to reduce it to every other day but have very bad side effects This drug has made mentally and physically disabled and I am claiming attendance allowance at the higher rate Perhaps because you have only been on this medication for a relatively short time you may be able to take 2.5mg every other day and hopefully have less withdrawal symptons but you need to see your doctor for advice.. I am glad that you want to come of drug and urge any one else who is reading this to seriously consider with- drawing . (the withdrawal symptons I have at present are panic attacks stomach cramps. shallow breathing, sleepless nights. I feel a mental and physical wreck! Please keep in touch and let me know how you are getting on kind regards from Margaret
I am also on 2.5 mg of Olanzapine and also 100mg of Epilim
I teied to come off the Olanzapine cold turkey (because it was such a minimal dose) BUT it ws just too difficult .
Olanzapine is addictive and when you try to quit, you do get withdrawal symptoms.
For these reasons, my advice is to taper off gradually, preferably under medical supervision.
But please note that that is jsut MY advice: there are others on this forum who are way more experienced than I am.
Sorry that should have read 1000mg of Epilim