HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Quit taking Zyprexa

Support Forums
>
Bipolar Disorder
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 6/20/2020 11:14 PM (GMT 0)
I've been bipolar for 30 plus years. I'm currently taking lithium 1,200 mg, latuda 40 mg, and doxepin 250 mg nightly. My psychiatrist put me on 5mg Zyprexa recently. I only lasted about 7 days because I felt extremely weird and brain dead among other things. I just stopped taking it cold turkey. How long will it take for the Zyprexa for leave the system? Thank you.

William
Posted 6/21/2020 12:49 AM (GMT 0)
As far as medicine going out of the system, psycheducation.org says, “Most medications have a half-life of about 24 hours…."

And, “If the medication has a half-life of 3 hours, then it will be close to gone in 12 to 15 hours after the last dose. But notice that half was gone in 3 hours, and by 6 hours you were down to a quarter of the original highest amount. The medication effects could be gone even though some medication is still in your blood.”

I quit taking some medicine one time, through a foul-up with my doctor, and it pretty much lost its effectiveness in one full day.

How were you doing on lithium, latuda and doxepin? Do you think that’s going to hold you if you stop the Zyprexa? Were you doing OK on those 3 medicines?

Webmd.com says latuda is an anti-psychotic, which also helps bipolar, and which you are already taking.

Webmd says, Zyprexa is an anti-psychotic which also helps treat bipolar.

I took an anti-psychotic one time, stelazine (sp? may have quit making it by now), and it made me want to move a lot. One side affect of Zyprexa is restlessness, says webmd.com, which is what I felt with stelazine anti-psychotic.

I felt weird on stelazine, also. What kind of effect is it having besides that?

When is your next appointment? You have to be careful going off of medicine without your doctor knowing about it.
Posted 6/21/2020 12:57 AM (GMT 0)
Since it low dose and only a week it will not be long.
But never cold turkey.....
Disrupts brain receptors. And it rough.

Meds like olanzapine are very saturating thus wirhdtawing is very tough. Did it....but i was on a big dose and for a while and weened under medical advice. HT
Posted 6/21/2020 1:27 AM (GMT 0)

theHTreturns... said...
Since it low dose and only a week it will not be long.
But never cold turkey.....
Disrupts brain receptors. And it rough.

Meds like olanzapine are very saturating thus wirhdtawing is very tough. Did it....but i was on a big dose and for a while and weened under medical advice. HT

How long did it take for the symptoms to subside when you withdrew from Zyprexa? Thank you.
Posted 6/21/2020 8:08 AM (GMT 0)
A few weeks for sure.
This is what is known as wash out. You low dose 1 week...i reckon a few days. HT
Posted 6/26/2020 8:39 PM (GMT 0)

theHTreturns... said...
A few weeks for sure.
This is what is known as wash out. You low dose 1 week...i reckon a few days. HT

It took me about 11 days for all the symptoms to disappear. I was in the hospital for 5 days taking Zyprexa at 5 mg.
After I got home and quit the Zyprexa, I got horrible delusions as though I was in hell forever; it was frightening!
After a few days after that, my psychiatrist phoned me and told me to take Zyprexa again, but at 2.5 mg. I was wondering if she wanted me dead or something? I told her that I would never take that drug again!
Posted 6/27/2020 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
So, you got off of the Zyprexa.

I guess you're still on the "lithium 1,200 mg, latuda 40 mg, and doxepin 250 mg nightly."

Did we decide why she put you on the Zyprexa?

Did you stay on the other 3 medicines?

Are you doing OK?
Posted 6/27/2020 2:23 AM (GMT 0)

Tim Tam said...
So, you got off of the Zyprexa.

I guess you're still on the "lithium 1,200 mg, latuda 40 mg, and doxepin 250 mg nightly."

Did we decide why she put you on the Zyprexa?

Did you stay on the other 3 medicines?

Are you doing OK?

Yes I'm still on the lithium 1,200 mg, latuda 40 mg, and doxepin 250 mg nightly. I'm doing okay, thanks.
I wasn't sleeping for days, and I was fearful. She said that is why she put me on Zyprexa.
Posted 6/27/2020 2:50 AM (GMT 0)
Your off. Good.
I mean the waah out is dependent on individuak circumstances dose how long takibg it other meds etc etc.
Drugs like olanzapine largactil and seroquel are powerful anti psychotics...and because they saturate the whole brain

A yr n a half it took to wean off 1200 mg of seroquel a day. Hell...and more hell.

Keep strong. HT
Posted 6/27/2020 3:50 AM (GMT 0)

theHTreturns... said...
Your off. Good.
I mean the waah out is dependent on individuak circumstances dose how long takibg it other meds etc etc.
Drugs like olanzapine largactil and seroquel are powerful anti psychotics...and because they saturate the whole brain

A yr n a half it took to wean off 1200 mg of seroquel a day. Hell...and more hell.

Keep strong. HT

A year and a half it took you to get off seroquel. You've certainly gone through hell and back. One of my customers just told me he takes seroquel. He's been on it for years I think he said. He drinks too. I rarely drink on my drugs; I might have the odd beer, but it's been over a year or so since I've had a drink. I don't need it. I used to throw up a lot anyway in my teenage years drinking.
Posted 6/27/2020 11:02 PM (GMT 0)
It's good you stayed on your other meds while you went off of the Zyprexa.

I predict you'd be in another world if you hadn't stayed on your other medicines.

You said, "I wasn't sleeping for days, and I was fearful. She said that is why she put me on Zyprexa."

As a bipolar who takes Lithium and Mirtazapine anti-depressant, I have trouble with sleep, also. But I don't want to keep taking more doctor medicines if I can help it.

So I try natural health food tablets for sleep, and what works for me is Melatonin. I'm on 4, 1 mg. tablets of Melatonin from the health food store, and it gets me to sleep. Sometimes, if I'm not sleeping good, I'll take 5. (I would start off with 1 or 2 of the 1 mg., and see how it goes.)

Sometimes if I'm waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and I've only had a few hours sleep, and I haven't been sleeping well, I can take one more Melatonin, because I'm thinking, the pills I took at 11 or 12 midnight, are wearing off.

So by taking that extra Melatonin at about 3 or 4 a.m., it'll be kicking in at about 5 a.m., whereas the other meds will be wearing off. Also, I take the Melatonin about 1 hour before I go to bed, and at bedtime, I'm groggy, which is what I want.

Someone on this forum said it can be taken 2-4 hours before bedtime, but I also don't want that to be wearing off at 3 or 4 in the a.m.

So you might consider that, before running to the psychiatrist and she loads you up with some more doctor medicine.

In addition to the Melatonin, I've also been taking my Mirtazapine anti-depressant one hour before bedtime. Mirtazapine causes muscle twitching and hunger. If I took it right when I went to bed, about an hour later, for about 5 years, my toes would start twitching (muscle spasms) and I would become so hungry I would have to get up and eat down the house.

It was the side effects of the Mirtazapine. So, after 5 years of that, I decided, why not take the Mirtazapine an hour before bedtime, also, along with the Melatonin, so the side affects occur before I get into bed, not keep me awake an hour later?

I just alert you to this in case you're having side affects of one or more of your medicines that you're taking at bedtime.
Posted 6/28/2020 12:29 AM (GMT 0)

Tim Tam said...
It's good you stayed on your other meds while you went off of the Zyprexa.

I predict you'd be in another world if you hadn't stayed on your other medicines.

You said, "I wasn't sleeping for days, and I was fearful. She said that is why she put me on Zyprexa."

As a bipolar who takes Lithium and Mirtazapine anti-depressant, I have trouble with sleep, also. But I don't want to keep taking more doctor medicines if I can help it.

So I try natural health food tablets for sleep, and what works for me is Melatonin. I'm on 4, 1 mg. tablets of Melatonin from the health food store, and it gets me to sleep. Sometimes, if I'm not sleeping good, I'll take 5. (I would start off with 1 or 2 of the 1 mg., and see how it goes.)

Sometimes if I'm waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and I've only had a few hours sleep, and I haven't been sleeping well, I can take one more Melatonin, because I'm thinking, the pills I took at 11 or 12 midnight, are wearing off.

So by taking that extra Melatonin at about 3 or 4 a.m., it'll be kicking in at about 5 a.m., whereas the other meds will be wearing off. Also, I take the Melatonin about 1 hour before I go to bed, and at bedtime, I'm groggy, which is what I want.

Someone on this forum said it can be taken 2-4 hours before bedtime, but I also don't want that to be wearing off at 3 or 4 in the a.m.

So you might consider that, before running to the psychiatrist and she loads you up with some more doctor medicine.

In addition to the Melatonin, I've also been taking my Mirtazapine anti-depressant one hour before bedtime. Mirtazapine causes muscle twitching and hunger. If I took it right when I went to bed, about an hour later, for about 5 years, my toes would start twitching (muscle spasms) and I would become so hungry I would have to get up and eat down the house.

It was the side effects of the Mirtazapine. So, after 5 years of that, I decided, why not take the Mirtazapine an hour before bedtime, also, along with the Melatonin, so the side affects occur before I get into bed, not keep me awake an hour later?

I just alert you to this in case you're having side affects of one or more of your medicines that you're taking at bedtime.

Thank you for the tip about Melatonin. You don't need a prescription for that, do you? As I mentioned, I've been taking 250 mg of Doxepin for sleep because over 20 something years ago I didn't sleep for over 6-7 days and I ended up in the psychiatric hospital, and the doctor gave me some Doxepin to knock me out.
Posted 6/28/2020 3:18 PM (GMT 0)
Hi William,

Hope you are not experiencing any side effects anymore.

I was on another tablet for a while for more than a year. I stopped cold turkey and I still experience side effects. It was a high dose for a prolong period so I guess that is why.

Take care,
UA
Posted 6/28/2020 4:13 PM (GMT 0)
Melatonin is from the health food store and no prescription is needed.

I've used it for years.
Posted 6/29/2020 1:56 PM (GMT 0)
It is hit or miss. (melatonin)
Yes mirtazapine munchies.
Every night!!!
It is what it is. HT

Hi UA. Goid to see ya posting.
Posted 6/29/2020 3:25 PM (GMT 0)
Hi UA!!!

Good to see you!!!

Hugs, Karen...
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply