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Re: Zyprexa withdrawal

Posted by HopelessAgony on December 9, 2011, at 2:22:19

In reply to Re: Zyprexa withdrawal » HopelessAgony, posted by ed_uk2010 on December 7, 2011, at 14:00:33

> First of all, I'm really sorry for all that you've been through. I cannot even imagine how hard it must be for you right now. I hope you don't mind if I ask a few questions.

Thanks for the reply, I'll do my best to answer them.

> >I was treated for possible Lyme disease with antibiotics for some time it never really made a dramatic difference in my symptoms.
>
> Did you ever have any positive blood tests suggesting Lyme disease or did the doctors just give antibiotics based on the possibility that you might have it? Unfortunately, serological blood tests for Lyme disease are not always accurate. Have you received any blood tests for Lyme disease more recently?

I'm familiar with the problems of accurately diagnosing Lyme, and the "chronic Lyme" controversy. I did have one positive Western blot back in 2006 or 2007, I can't recall exactly, with several "bands" reactive. I saw a physician who specialized in people who didn't meet the CDC diagnostic criteria and treated long term, and was on antibiotics for about a year. I never really had dramatic improvement in my symptoms. I just recently had another set of testing done and I was completely non-reactive, and I feel worse now than pretty much any time in the past several years, so I sort of feel that it's unlikely to be Lyme at this point. And my current symptoms don't have the "feel" of my original symptoms. The current symptoms "feel" like medication withdrawal, not Lyme.

>
> >At some point along the line I ended up on 200 mg Seroquel.
>
> Was Seroquel prescribed for anxiety and insomnia? It sounds like you were doing quite well on Seroquel. Is that right? If so, why was Seroquel stopped and Zyprexa started?

It's sort of complicated. The whole reason I even ended up on antipsychotics in the first place was a misdiagnosis of acute benzodiazepine withdrawal. I was prescribed a certain class of antibiotic to try in treating the "Lyme", but unfortunately it somehow interfered with the metabolism of the large doses of benzodiazepines I was taking at the time, and sent me into acute withdrawal. I didn't know what was happening with the sudden symptoms I developed, and neither did the hospital, so Seroquel was one of the things I ended up on in their attempt to calm me down. Eventually we figured out that it was probably the antibiotic that triggered the symptoms, but by that point I had been on Serqouel a while, and it was decided to not rock the boat and continue on it. I think we switched to the Zyprexa at some point because I was experiencing a lot of orthostatic hypotension on the Seroquel. If I had known how difficult it would be to stop taking the drug I sure wouldn't have made such a switch!

>
> >By mid 2009 I could feel things deteriorating again. My sleep worsened, and I found it more and more difficult to maintain a normal sleep schedule.
>
> Did you always have these sleep problems on Zyprexa, or only several months down the line?
>

It took some time to develop. I think I started the Zyprexa in June of 2009, and the sleep disturbances had manifested by around September.


> >I chronically suffer from devastating neurological symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, the aforementioned agoraphobia, painful fasciculations and muscle spasms, and fatigue.
>
> Do you suffer from these symptoms even if you take the full 2.5mg dose?
>

It has been some time since I've been on a full 2.5 dose. The problem I've encountered is that after every "failed" attempt at tapering the medication, the withdrawal symptoms become more pronounced and are _not_ corrected by returning to the original full dose. I think there is some kind of tolerance issue going on similar to benzodiazepines where updosing often doesn't succeed in returning symptoms to baseline. That being said, things were much more manageable on a day to day basis when I was on the full 2.5 dose. The more horrible symptoms didn't manifest until I started attempting to significantly reduce from that. I don't really get relief from taking a single 2.5 dose, as it would take time to build up in my system, and I'm not willing to erase what progress I've made to experiment along those lines.

> >The neurologist basically referred me to another neurologist at another major local hospital to have MRIs.....
>
> I really think you do need further testing. Although you have had serious problems with withdrawal symptoms, your illness pre-dates the medication and was never diagnosed in the first place. If agoraphobia is a problem, you can take isolated doses of a benzodiazepine for anxiety without causing dependence.
>

I have done that on occasion to make it to doctors appointments, though I am still very sensitive to benzodiazepines. I actually get "mini-withdrawals" from taking a single dose of Ambien, for example. It bothers me that my original illness was never diagnosed, but I think it's unlikely at this point that anything conclusive will ever be discovered.

> >Something like Remeron or Trazodone, something with a similar receptor action profile as Zyprexa, that I might use to make things easier.
>
> If you do decide to try Remeron, I would suggest a very low dose initially. You could also consider a very low dose of Seroquel, eg. 25-50mg and then taper.
>
>

Thanks for the suggestion, I will consider that.
>


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poster:HopelessAgony thread:1004359
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20111208/msgs/1004530.html