Posted by bleauberry on May 31, 2010, at 17:31:00
In reply to Zyprexa: Withdrawal help, posted by Huxley on May 30, 2010, at 22:10:43
I can sure relate. Zyprexa for 8 years at 5mg. Have been off it now for 3 years.
Like you, the most traumatic times were when ditching the last little crumbs of it.
What I found helpful. Take another crumb or so every other day, every third day, every fourth day, whatever, or whenever needed. Don't mark on the calendar a day when you will be done with it. Just set your sights on seeing how far you can get without it. When the going gets too rough, take your .3mg or .2mg or whatever. Don't take it again until you reach the point you just can't make it any longer without it. What I found was that the time between those emergency doses got longer and longer. Eventually I got a point where it was once a week.
I also used herbals to help cut the edge. Lemon balm, passionflower, skullcap, and valerian were helpful. Either alone or in experimental combinations, they allowed me to get through rough moments and go yet another day without zyprexa.
The total time for me to get from 5mg to zero and be able to survive without it was about 3 months. The total time after the last dose until it felt like my nervous system had reached a new place of stability without zyprexa, to where I no longer needed it any more, was about 3 months (after the last dose). In other words, the brain changes that antipsychotics do are quite profound and take the body some time to rebalance when they are withdrawn.
Be patient and don't be shy to employ some common inexpensive cheap herbals on an as needed basis. If you just can't stand it, take another tiny dose of zyprexa. Eventually you won't need it any more. You are just buying time for the brain to readjust.
Keep in mind, there is an outside chance that if the zyprexa was helping you a lot, you just might not be able to go without it. If a mere .3mg is all it takes to keep you in a decent state of control, geez, there is practically zero risk and zero toxicity in that small of a dose.
poster:bleauberry
thread:949587
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100524/msgs/949654.html