Has anyone tried Olanzapine for sleep?

I use olanzapine for sleep, not every night or it doesn't work as well and I don't want to have to slow taper off of it. Just wondering what anyone thinks about using it. I had been sleeping a bit better but then the morning chemical anxiety is back since this 2 month wave I've been in and the olanzapine if not taken every night can help me sleep a bit through it in the morning.

DO NOT DO IT! Please. The drs told me it would help me sleep. It didn’t. It just made me feel like my brain was in a cage.

 

Think about this logically please. How much sleep are u getting? This is no competition but I get 0-4 most nights. Would I take this ever again.... no chance.

 

Do some research on this drug and ask urself, would I like tardive dyskinesia, diabetes or a few hours less sleep? I know what I’d choose.

 

No one should be prescribed this unless they have psychosis or schizophrenia or perhaps bipolar. Drs are so irresponsible prescribing this to people not suffering with said conditions.

 

Do urself a favour and throw that shit in the bin.

 

 

Do urself a favour and throw that shit in the bin.

💩💩💩🚮🚮🚮 (emoticons added by me for emphasis)

 

 

What Shayna said. That stuff's an anti-psychotic, I was on it from psych doc, my smart NP who took over my psych care took me off. She didn't like me using it for an unnecessary off-label use. It's got so many side effects used long-term (weight gain, diabetes), and discontinuation syndrome because you need to wean off of it. It's nasty stuff, psych hospitals love it because it keeps the patients asleep. But you don't want to be using it as a sleep aid.

Holy moley, No!!!!! I mean yes. Zypexa, omg. I was on it quite a few years ago and gained a ton of weight. It messes with your metabolism. I developed diabetes. Eli Lilly (manufacturer) was sued for this little detail -- they "neglected" to tell docs to whom they pushed this drug  that it turned their patients into diabetics. It was  pushed to docs as part of the "5 at 5" program. Obscene. The brain trusts behind this program told docs that 5 mg of zyprexa at 5 p.m. would make patients sleep through the night. I can't  remember  if it made me sleep or not, but I do remember the diabetes (which I got rid of when I got rid of the evil z). Please, please don't do it. I know we're not supposed to be prescriptive/proscriptive on here but for heaven's sake look into this. There are so many other things you can take or do to get sleep.

 

Ai yi.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Katz

Love the emoticons lottie!

 

Slam dunk that shit in the bin actually. It made my dr\dp almost unsurvivable. And I was rxd for sleep!!!! Then they said well if that doesn’t work there’s stronger ones we can try. Holy shit! I dread where I would be right now if I had listened. Omg gives me ptsd just thinking about it. (And I do have ptsd btw)

 

Run is my advice. 

 

And Katz I think for the greater good I’m ok with prescriptive. This stuff is absolute poison.

 

 

Love the emoticons lottie!

 

 

 

Glad you liked them. I thought the piles of poo and the pics of a person discarding something in a trash bin were appropriate to add emphasis to your instructions.

 

My NP was like, this stuff is not good for you to take, stop taking it. You don't need it. She knows docs love it, she thinks it's used too much for the wrong reasons.

I think they’re very appropriate indeed. I was looking for a slam dunk emoticon but sadly there isn’t one. Maybe a bin that’s been set on fire, then wheeled out into the path of a oncoming traffic, then scraped up, put back into another bin then blown up by dynamite would be an even better option. But alas again there is no such emoji.

 

I’m so glad ur in the hands of someone knowledgeable how cares lottie. Unfortunately for me the team I had was clueless.

I don’t have as strong a reaction to taking meds as others on this board but there are better options for sleep.  I would leave Zyprexa to people with bipolar and schizophrenia.  I tried it many, many years ago and felt like I had a lobotomy.  The hunger was insatiable too.  I don’t think I took it more than two weeks. 

 

I know sleep is hard to come by during withdrawal and people are willing to try anything.  I would first see if melatonin helps.  If not, there are other options like hydroxizine or low dose mirtazapine. 

 

Antipsychotics do have a lot of bad side effects.  However, someone taking low doses for short-term use runs a very low risk of getting tardive dyskinesia.  The doses required for schizophrenia and bipolar are much higher than off-label uses.  Seroquel is often used at 50mg for people with depression and anxiety who have trouble sleeping.  People with schizophrenia start out with a dose of 30g and go higher.

 

I’m so glad ur in the hands of someone knowledgeable how cares lottie. Unfortunately for me the team I had was clueless.

 

 

I used to have the clueless ones, d@mn nearly C/T'd me with their bad advice on stopping Klonopin. It was my primary care doctor's care coordinator that connected me with my NP, they had just started psychiatry at that clinic, and I told her what happened, and she recommended the NP I now see.

Thank you everyone for your replies and concern. Wow! Some months back I went to the Coleman Institute for flumazenil treatments and the doctor there had prescribed olanzapine for me to sleep on occasion. I never took it every night. It actually did help me get some sleep. After the flumazenil I felt really good, by the third week all my horrendous symptoms were gone from my c/t withdrawal it had been a little over two and a half months from my last dose. I was sleeping about 5 hours a night and I didn't realize how good that was. After speaking with the doctor he recommended I take amitriptyline to help me get more sleep and I did. I was taking it and started getting some heart palpitations and other symptoms and felt like it wasn't good for me I took one last dose woke up the next day and was thrown right back into withdrawal. What a nightmare! That was eight months ago. I have not been able to pull out since. Recently I have been in a really bad wave for the last two months and the last couple of weeks my sleeping has really gotten bad and that's why I was thinking of trying the olanzapine again because I have some here. But I really appreciate all your input and advice. Thank you again!

djej, I agree:

 

The hunger was insatiable too.

 

Zyprexa turned me into a carb junkie. I couldn't keep cookies or crackers in the house. What a nasty drug!

 

 

Katz

 

 

 

No wonder it gives u diabetes.

After speaking with the doctor he recommended I take amitriptyline to help me get more sleep and I did. I was taking it and started getting some heart palpitations and other symptoms and felt like it wasn't good for me I took one last dose woke up the next day and was thrown right back into withdrawal. What a nightmare! That was eight months ago. I have not been able to pull out since.

 

There was a user here named pacenik that took amitriptyline for sleep and was thrown back into withdrawal. Her biggest problems were hyperacusis and tinnitus. I believe she also had one flumazenil treatment.

Why did pace leave?

Why did pace leave?

 

Pace never said, I only know that Pamster told me that pace submitted a ticket to delete her account.

 

This is from another thread.

 

 

Quote from: Paxia on March 02, 2021, 12:44:30 pm

 

I get why pace unfortunately left this site. They were very active in trying to educate with reputable scientific studies and because of that they were bullied constantly.  I guess that’s the go to when people feel threatened by intelligence.

 

 

I think Paxia hit it right on the nail. I agree with that statement. I wish pace had said something before leaving, but I understand why not. It just wasn't pace's style, pace was all about science and not about drama. 

Fair enough. A shame tho I hope she gets better, x

I’m on 5 mg Zyprexa for GAD and it helps my anxiety. I have gained weight but I’m on a medication called Metformin so that I don’t have to completely avoid carbs and sugar. It’s designed for diabetics but is commonly prescribed alongside anti psychotics for this very reason. I’ve tried to adjust my diet and drink more water and I already workout daily but trying to do more cardio. The belly fat is irritating and how hard I have to work to stay in shape but I tried going off it and my physiological anxiety was unbearable. The risk of TD at this dose are very low. It is a possible side effect of anti psychotics but more so with the older ones. I had it happen briefly when I was on Trillofon and it was pretty scary.

Fair enough. A shame tho I hope she gets better, x

 

Me too, Shayna, me too.    Maybe she'll return some day.

There are a ton of people that after quitting Olanzapine can never sleep again. Lookup Olanzapine withdrawal insomnia on the internet, there are thousands of horror stories. It may help people to sleep, but a lot of people, when they quit, can never sleep again naturally (This is the problem I am having). Some people quit and don't have a problem but there are way too many that do have a problem.

I second mirtazepine as an option. I have taken tiny doses for months, and it really helps. I stick to less than 2mg to avoid too many side-effects, and it gives me 2-3 extra hours.