Posted by ronaldo on January 8, 2007, at 9:11:28
In reply to Zyprexa withdrawal rebound or addition of Abilify?, posted by kotsunega on January 8, 2007, at 4:46:43
Hello kotsunega,
I know what you are going through and I sympathize. I've been there myself. At present coming off 10 mg Zyprexa since 14/11/06. I am now down to 3.75 mg - half of a 7.5 mg tablet. I am about to go down to 2.5 mg. This is my second attempt to get off the Zyp in the last 19 weeks. Last time I successfully came down from 5 mg to Zero in just 4 weeks but the rebound insomnia was vicious and eventually I couldn't take it any more and I went back onto the Zyp at 10 mg. I was on zero Zyp for three weeks but the insomnia wouldn't let up. So this time I have undertaken a much slower and more gradual taper.
So far this taper the insomnia has not been too bad +/- 6 hours sleep a night. Last week Wed, Thurs, Fri I was awake at 3.30 am and could not go back to sleep. So Friday night I upped the dose from 3.75 to 5. I slept terrible Friday night but Sat night on the usual 3.75 I slept OK, 6 hours. Sun night, last night, on 3.75 I also slept 6 hours which is OK in my book.
Today I went to see my pdoc. He tried to tempt me onto sulpiride but I persuaded him to give me 5 mg diazepam to make me sleep. I will see how it goes.
How long have you taken to get from 20 mg down to 2.5 mg ? It seems you may have done this rather quickly. My guess is it should have taken you 6 to 8 weeks minimum, maybe more. If you come down too fast I think you can end up storing up more trouble for yourself in the future. The rebound insomnia can continue even though you are completely off the drug. In my case it continued for 3 weeks. I tried Seroquel and Zopiclone to get a decent nights sleep but neither would work. It may be worth it in the long run to go back to 5 mg for a few weeks just to stabilize if in fact you have come down too quickly. I don't want to discourage you though.
You are not alone with this rebound insomnia thing. I am fighting the same battle and so are others on this board.
I hope you get off Zyp successfully. I also have experienced mental dulling with Zyp. I have been taking it for nearly 4 years.
Good luck!
ronaldo
> OK, I'm attempting for the fourth time in about 5 years to get OFF the Zyprexa and replace it with Abilify.
>
> The first couple of times I tried this, it seemed the Abilify made me really agitated and dropping Zyprexa altogether, cold-turkey-like, caused heretofore unknown severe insomnia to develop.
>
> The third time wasn't as bad, but still some agitation, and I again just felt so lost without the Zyprexa to take me into the depths of slumber at night. So, I chickened out and went back to the Zyprexa in the end.
>
> This time, I'm determined to end this Zyprexa relationship. The drug has done me so much good, without very noticable side effects, except for an overall mental dulling that's been an annoyance and is the reason I want to move on to something less sedating, like Abilify, that is still effective in treating my severe bipolar 1 mania with its strong delusional component.
>
> Well, I've decreased the amount of Zyprexa I take each night, and I am now down to 2.5 mg from my original 20 mg. No agitation from the Abilify this time around, but insomnia has been increasing such that yesterday I restlessly slept from about 4:30 to 7:30 in the morning, felt fine all day with only that much sleep, and tonight, well, this morning now, I haven't had any sleep since yesterday morning -- and today is a workday. I hope I can hold it together for about another 12 hours from now.
>
> This does not feel like the mania that used to keep me up at night before Zyprexa. This just feels like I have no need for sleep but without that hyped-up pressing manic feeling, although now, as I write this, my eyes have the vaguest scratchy feeling to them.
>
> So, anyway, I gave up trying to sleep altogether and figure, heck, I've got to get tired sooner or later, and eventually I will sleep. It's just a question of when. I just don't want to trigger a manic episode by going sleepless in the first place. Hopefully, 15 mg of Abilify will lessen that possibility.
>
> So anyway, I have to wonder just how much this sleep pattern disruption stuff is some kind of Zyprexa withdrawal rebound. I am doing my very best not to give in and take a full dose of Zyprexa just to get a good night's sleep, but the darned stuff is so seductive to me that way. So, sooner or later, the effects of Zyprexa dependence have got to leave my system and return me to something approaching normal and at least a bit sleepy at night. I hope.
poster:ronaldo
thread:720360
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070107/msgs/720387.html