Rx Drug for sleeping - Olanzapine, anyone tried it?

Hi buddies, I'm completely exhausted.

Just went to another psy yesterday. He prescribed me 5mg olanzapine instead of 100mg - 150mg quetiapine.

They're both antipsy.

Has anyone ever tried it for sleeping?

Is it more / less / as bad as quetiapine?

Any opinion is welcomed.

Yes, I tried both Seroquel and Zyprexa (brand names for Quetiapine and Olanzapine.

Seroquel worked well for about 5-7 days but I always felt drugged and hung over in the morning

Zyprexa didn't work as well for me and had the side effect of causing a major increase in hunger

I learned that drugs are just a dead end road as they all stopped working at some point

I decided to "tough" it out and use nothing.  It sucked big time, but eventually sleep returned on its own naturally

There was a point in my life when I was convinced I couldn't sleep without taking an Rx drug

It's now been just over 5 years since I took an Rx drug for sleep and I average 6-8 hours per night

I still get an off night of 3-4 hours of sleep about once every 3 or 4 months but I'm good with that

Plus you are still on a Benzo so you shouldn't expect your sleep to improve until you are completely off

Good luck!

Oh q dude don’t do it. They put me on olanzipine too and my brain felt like it was in a cage. Zero emotions. And it never helped me sleep. It can cause diabetes. Oregon katz will hopefully chime in here. She was also on it.

It’s going to lose potency like the others have in my opinion. I’m exhausted too but I’d rather never sleep again than go on that shit again x

Yes I don't like antipsy too.

Sometimes they still work, but during the day I feel week and with no motivation.

Unfortunately my tinnitus worsened and the only drugs that make it bearable in the night are benzos and antipsy.

My tapering failed buddies. I'm much worse than when I started.

I'm afraid of olanzapine 5mg. The only positive stuff doc said is that it's less evil than taking 150-200mg quetiapine.

I doubt my brain will ever heal. Life is unfair.

Switched from Quetiapine 150mg to Olanzapine 5mg since Saturday

5mg olanzapine + 150mg trazodone + 7.6mg zolpidem

First impressions: the combo doesn't work, I'm in the 3-3.5h range and it's usually broken sleep. But daily side effects are quite reduced.

I'm not a big fan of antipsy. At the moment this switch looks like a kind of dose reduction. I entered in "acceptance mode" and avoided updosing during the night. Acceptance is hard to practice when your sleep is so poor for such a long time, but it helps.

Hello,

all psychotropic drugs and neuroleptics cause habituation.

If you simply stop taking quetiapine without tapering off, you may experience new symptoms.

Many here in Germany have difficulties to stop Quetiapin at all.

I can only recommend that you do not simply stop taking it at such a high dose.

But that is up to you.

I wish you from my heart that it works.

Best regards

imo zyprexa is a terrible drug. It does produce extreme hunger. I ate every carb in my house. And it has the potential for producing metabolic syndrome -- the precursor to diabetes. I was so unlucky as to get the full monty of diabetes.

Eli Lilly, its manufacturer, was sued a number of years ago (and lost the case in court). It "neglected" (oops) through its reps to tell doctors about this metabolic syndrome danger.  Consequently, thousands of zyprexa users got diabetes.

Yet docs still aren't aware of its dangers . . . or choose to ignore them. They're still prescribing it . . .  you are the evidence. Did your doc warn you of the diabetes danger?

It also has the nasty rep of being prescribed for elders in nursing homes as the "5 at 5" drug. In other words, 5 mgs of zyprexa given at 5 pm will make the old folks sleep through the night.

Do  you really want to be taking a drug whose rep is so morally reprehensible? As well as posing a significant danger to your heath?

Did you bother to go read about it? Just Google it.

You say you're not a fan of "antipsy" drugs, but here you are, taking it.

I get that you're exhausted. I bet we were all exhausted at some point. Insomnia is about the worst s/x of benzo w/d from what I've observed. But there are plenty of other roads to go down in search of sleep. Most of us find a solution. And no, I don't believe that sleep just "comes back". In my experience, you have to lure it. But gently.

Anyhow, just my 2 1/2 cents' worth.

Best,

Katz

Hello,

and the zolpidem must also be taken out, it doesn't seem to help you anymore.

So I think the best solution for you is to switch to a longer benzodiazepine and then reduce it bit by bit. Very slowly.

I would like to help you, but why do you mix everything up?

Find a doctor, I know finding one is hard. Who knows about benzodiazepines and will adjust you to one. And you slowly go back down.

I don't know if it works, but it doesn't work with zolpidem either.

I know the desperation, but don't keep changing your meds, please!!!! 

Best regards

Yes olanzapine makes me hunger, more than mirtazapine and quetiapine. I'm drinking more water and checking my diet at the moment.

I went to a new psy and actually it's the only change he made in my prescription (switching from quetiapine 150-200mg to 5mg olanzapine). Actually my sleep didn't benefit from this change but I feel less zombified the day after. I'm not sure that olanzapine is better than quetiapine, more likely 5mg olanzapine is less than 150-200mg quetiapine. So it's like a dose cut.

Yes, doctor downplayed diabete risk or cardiotoxicity at such dosage for me. He also said cross over could be done immediately.

I don't know what to do.

How did you get off from olanzapine OregonKatz? Tapering? C/T?

Yes olanzapine makes me hunger, more than mirtazapine and quetiapine. I'm drinking more water and checking my diet at the moment.

 

I went to a new psy and actually it's the only change he made in my prescription (switching from quetiapine 150-200mg to 5mg olanzapine). Actually my sleep didn't benefit from this change but I feel less zombified the day after. I'm not sure that olanzapine is better than quetiapine, more likely 5mg olanzapine is less than 150-200mg quetiapine. So it's like a dose cut.

 

Yes, doctor downplayed diabete risk or cardiotoxicity at such dosage for me. He also said cross over could be done immediately.

 

I don't know what to do.

How did you get off from olanzapine OregonKatz? Tapering? C/T?

Did you tell the doctor about the zolpidem? And that it no longer works?

Falke, I don't  know how helpful this is:

Did you tell the doctor about the zolpidem? And that it no longer works?

Ditto your comments about longer-acting benzos.

He's asking about olanzapine. We can best help him by sticking to the subject.

Quar, I tapered off my 5 mgs of olanzapine at about 10 % every 2 weeks. I was cautious. But I'd been taking it for 3 years. As your time on the drug is short, you maybe be able to taper faster.

I really didn't like the drug -- it made me feel groggy in the mornings.

So  your doc wants to do a cross immediately? Hmm. If it were me, I sure wouldn't CT the olanzapine. Or any drug. Surviving Antidepressants has an entry on tapering olanzapine. It's here:

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/3743-tips-for-tapering-off-zyprexa-olanzapine/

My advice is to make your time on the drug as short as possible so you are not faced with a protracted taper.

Hope this helps,

Katz

 

 

So  your doc wants to do a cross immediately? Hmm. If it were me, I sure wouldn't CT the olanzapine. Or any drug. Surviving Antidepressants has an entry on tapering olanzapine. It's here:

 

https://www.survivingantidepressants.org/topic/3743-tips-for-tapering-off-zyprexa-olanzapine/

 

My advice is to make your time on the drug as short as possible so you are not faced with a protracted taper.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Katz

No. He told me to stop taking quetiapine 150-200mg (C/T) and start taking olanzapine 5mg. I'm following his prescription since last saturday night. So I'm off seroquel and on zyprexa since 5 days. On average I slept less but I felt less groggy. I found that 5mg olanzapine could be considered equal to 100mg quetiapine. Btw I'm a little bit scared by what I read about side effects. I'm not fat nor overweight but hunger is real. Even if I end up drinking more water, it's not pleasant. I read lots of bad stuff about zyprexa.

I wonder if moving from 150mg quetiapine could be considered as a 33% "cut" / tapering.

I jumped from 5mg to 2.5mg four days ago.

Some side effects like akathisia improved. Insomnia worsened a little bit but maybe there are more risks than benefits. I wonder if I could jump to zero next week. I'll be 14 days in total on olanzapine.

Actually I'm thinking about updosing zolpidem / benzo in case of severe insomnia. At least benzo don't have terrible effects on metabolism like olanzapine or antipsy. What do you think Katz?

Quarant, I think jumping to zero with your zyprexa would be fine. You've tapered sufficiently, I think. I did the same kind of taper and things were okay. It's a nasty drug that, yeah, also helped my akathesia, but the rotten side effects were truly awful.

So you're left with the problem of insomnia. Are you till on the same dosage of trazodone and zolpidem?  If I were you, I'd try to NOT increase the zolpidem. I did and quickly became tolerant to it.  At 10 mgs I called a stop to it. When I tapered off my valium I also tapered off my Ambien and replaced it with other things, all of which I'm sure you have heard of or tried, as have I over the years.

So . . . this may or may not be helpful to you . . . but I am having some insomnia myself right now and here is what has been working for me. Camomille tea just before bed, double strength. 100 mgs of CBD marijuana in an edible (I like to ease into sleep slowly). I am alternating the CBD weekly with half a unisom tab.

I really feel for you, Quarant. Insomnia is one hell of a problem. Sleep never did just come back for me long term . . . and when it does, it doesn't stick around. Others may be luckier than me, but I need to help it along.

I hope this has been helpful. So sorry for your dilemma.

Katz

Actually I take 7.6 max 8mg zolpidem, hit or miss.

It may happen I wake up even after 1h, btw almost at best I sleep 3.5 + some broken sleep.

I'm thinking about updosing for the second part of the night without olanzapine or just in case of zero perceived sleep.

I also got tinnitus during withdrawal, which is quite annoying when I'm in a silent room. Unless it improves (actually it worsened a little recently) I doubt I'll ever be benzo or drug free. I'm just looking for a combo with less side effect, hoping to get some stability. I think antipsy can't be part of the mix, maybe just quetiapine once in a while at 25-50mg but not regularly.

Did you experience daily fatigue while taking olanzapine?

Yes, zyprexa made me feel tired.

Here's a suggestion for your second part of the night problem. Given that zop really only keeps you asleep for a couple of hours, way back at the beginning of my taper, I used to use my gabapentin and whatever else (melatonin, some trazodone, hydroxyzine) I was taking to get me to sleep . . . and I saved my Ambien for when I woke up at 2 or 3. That combo seemed to work well. The Ambein kicked in and I slept 3-4 hours. I never felt groggy in the morning. Of course as I tapered down my Ambien it (obviously) worked less well and I had to look for different combos.

Just a thought for you for right now . . . how to get the most from your zop before you start tapering.

Best to you,

Katz

Thank you, Katz! That sounds like a fantastic suggestion. I will try to use the same method to "save up" on my Ambien by not using for sleep initiation.

How hard was the gabapentin taper for you? Did it truly work to get you to sleep?

Thanks, again!

The gabapentin taper was nothing like my benzo taper. I had headaches and felt dizzy and a bit spacey as I was tapering down, but I tapered relatively quickly so it wasn't prolonged. I'd say it's definitely do-able, but others find tapering it to be quite challenging. Yes indeed, it did put me to sleep. Melatonin etc. really did nothing.  Of course everyone's different and it may not work for you.

I just wanted to add that I, of course, no longer take Ambien or gabapentin for sleeping. I t still have a bit of insomnia and have started a while ago with a  1:1 dose of CBD and indica which works pretty well. Even more recently I have been taking 200 mgs of L-theanine at night about an hour before I want to be unconscious. That works best of everything I've tried.  Maybe give it a try instead of casting yourself into the arms of gabapenitin?

Best wishes,

Katz