How to come off 2.5mg Olanzapine, taper or just quit

Treatment and medication
1

Hi,
I have been taking Olanzapine for 7 months. I was on a higher dose but have been on 2.5mg for around 2 months. I tried stopping but got more severe than normal brain zaps in the night and decided to start again on 2.5mg a few hours later.

My doctor doesn’t recommend I quit because he worries I may go into mania again but he has no other concerns about stopping Cold Turkey, because the dose is so low. But I feel like I should stop. However I am scared of doing it Cold Turkey.

The only possibility for me to taper off is to use the water soluble version of the drug, which my doctor subscribed to me, and use scales to take a lower and lower dose. Maybe starting 2.5mg, then maybe 2.4mg, 2.3mg and so on each day until I can quit.

Yesterday evening I started the journey.
I took a 5mg tablet (the smallest I can get of the water soluble version), and drank half of the solution. I feel good today, much better than normal, so I suspect that I probably took a little less than 2.5mg, possibly because the medicine doesn’t distribute evenly in the water. This scares me.

So here are my questions?
Is it dangerous to taper off slowly? Are there some side effects that can be dangerous? Is it maybe better to quit cold turkey from such a low dose?
I suspect my first water soluble dose yesterday was a bit lower than I planned, maybe 2mgs and am scared that there will be ** too much variety** in each dose. Is it a concern?

2

i think you are so wise to taper that slowly. i didn’t realize there was a liquid alternative and I will ask my provider if I can get the liquid when I’m ready to get off the med. I also am on 2.5. Tried once to go down and was successful at half the dose before going back to the original dose for symptom management. if your pharmacy has a small size syringe (1 ml) I would think you can taper as slow as you mentioned and feel confident that the dose is lower. stick with it. you can do it. slow withdrawal is the only way to go so you don’t go through awful withdrawal symptoms.

3

hei Barbara. There isn’t a liquid alternative. But it is possible to get water soluble tablets.

4

thanks for the reply Barbara. I hope my plan will work :slight_smile:

5

As far as i know, there are no terrible side effects in tapering olanzapine. Although when i do not take the medication i lack sleep for a few weeks. If i didnt severely overthink i would stop taking the drug because i feel better when i do not.