hi everyone. My doctor put me on Zyprexa to help me sleep, and did not warn me about withdrawal. I was only on 5 mg and only for about six months. The last month or two I was on 2.5 mg. I tapered for like a month to get off. Was great for a week. My mind was clear I didn’t realize how out of it it was making me, and also how kind of crazy in the head it was making me. But then after a week, the panic hit. This started around January 28. My initial symptoms were not just panic and massive amounts of anxiety, racing mind, rumination, panic over everything, but also sleeping issues, extreme nausea and vomiting and feeling like , I was not able to function. I run my own business so not functioning is not an option. I noticed when I drink alcohol, it made it worse so I stopped that also. I wasn’t a big drinker but I would have a glass or two several times a week.
over the next two months, I lived in hell. Week by week I could tell a slight improvement, but some days were better or worse than others. And I could definitely tell the first month was worse than the second month. I’m now just barely into my third month, and it seems like over the past week, my symptoms have gone back to being as bad as they were several weeks or a month ago. Maybe not as bad as the first few weeks but much worse than I’ve been over the past few weeks. This has been steady with some good days thrown in for about a week. I was also trying to taper off lorazepam and gave up doing that because it’s the one thing that stops the panic attacks.
I’ve been doing acupuncture and Hypnosis and exercising literally twice a day including doing yoga every morning. I just want to know if anyone else has gotten to the two month point and experienced a worsening of symptoms and how long this might last. I’d also like to know how long the overall withdrawal is expected to last. I know it’s gonna get better in time. I just want a realistic estimate. I’ve seen some studies that say I should be over it by now. Other stuff says 90 days but I can’t imagine in another three weeks. I’m gonna be all better. I just like some insight for anybody else who’s gone through this. I’d also like to know if there’s any supplement I want to take to reduce the dopamine sensitivity issue that apparently is caused by withdrawal. Any insight would be appreciated.