Posted by bleauberry on April 12, 2010, at 17:41:25
In reply to Zyprexa Withdrawal, posted by morganator on April 9, 2010, at 18:14:28
I can definitely relate. 8 years on 5mg. It took me 3 months to totally wean off.
I cut pills in half. Then with their half-moon shapes it was easy to chop tiny pieces off the corners, slowly making the doses smaller and smaller over time. Steps down in dosage were probably in the 1/4 milligram range at the largest. Sometimes I would stay at a new lower dose for a while to stabilize, maybe go up a tiny bit because I went too fast, but the trend was smaller doses as much as tolerated without causing me to friek out in the ways you are describing. When I went too fast, I felt exactly the way you describe.
The last week I was doing literally crumbs. Felt good and stable. I had no idea that the withdrawal that hit about 3 days after the final crumbs would be so strong. It was the nervousness, unrealness, anxiety, butterflies.
After a week I did a few more crumbs for a couple days and then stopped again. Smoother this time.
But there were rough moments for sure that lasted as long as 3 months after the final dose. During those times I used natural things like Passionflower, Valerian, Skullcap, and a combo of gaba/glycine to weather those hours.
These drugs are powerful brain tinkering chemicals. The power they display during withdrawals, I only wish they had that same power in terms of healing. Difficult prolonged withdrawals with post-withdrawal complications seem to be almost expected. I wish the same could be said of how well they work.
In any case, slow weaning in tiny tiny steps makes it all smoother. Recruiting the aid of some temporary relief agents can help weather the roughest moments. I chose for myself to keep those natural agents rather than more drugs.
> I am trying to get off Zyprexa and having a hell of a time with it. I'm so anxious and my brain is locking up on me. I just don't think I can do this because I need to be able to perform at my job. This is a complete nightmare. I was able to get off it about 4 months ago successfully. The first few days were a bit rough but that passed and I felt o.k. shortly after. I guess I'm just going to have to split up my pills and taper very slowly. The only problem now is getting my father to pay for the prescription that is filled, or at least half of it. I don't even want to leave the house I'm so agitated. Ugh.
poster:bleauberry
thread:942867
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100406/msgs/943212.html