Has anyone taken Olanzapine/Zyprexa for Anxiety?

[Mermaid16]

Hi! Just wanting to know if anyone has taken Olanzapine or Zyprexa for Anxiety? Any responses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Tracy

[Shazamataz]

Hi Tracy, I took this for a while. Just a low dose to help with sleep. Did nothing for me at all. It's one best to avoid if possible anyway as it has a lot of knock on effects with metabolism etc.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Tracy,

There is a sub board for that one above so you might get some advice off the old threads on there too.

There is a current success story by MrAndy on the Success Stories board. He was on 5mg for years and is now fully recovered. He's not on here now much but he has been a great support to the forum since I've been here.

There are a few other members around on it like gregcool, Nicola1980. They all seem to say at 5mg it makes you raid the cupboards but when they reduced it down, their weight gain went.

[Mermaid16]

Thanks heaps for your replies. Starting the taper off Sertraline tomorrow. Doing 25mg drop...the psych said not to do anything less. I'm putting my trust in this guy, so fingers crossed it isn't too brutal. He had stern words for me today. I was supposed up 7.5mg Mirt to 15mg, take 2mg of Valium and I only took .5mg and drop to 75mg of Sertraline instead of staying at 100mg. Said I'm not helping myself get better by not doing what he advises. The anxiety makes me worry about changing the doses (eg why I take so little Valium because I am scared of addiction), but I'm just going to go with him on this one because I'm not getting any better. Shaz is there any difference between olanzapine and serequel or do you find they had a similar effect?

[Shazamataz]

Heya,

Based on my experience (and remember everyone is different), I think the olanzipine MAY have helped a teeny bit but nothing particularly noticeable. I was on 2.5 for a couple of months but dropped it when I started Mirtazipine. Quetiapine seems to be faster acting and it made me feel a bit stoned about an hour after taking it. Being incredibly anxious I did not like this feeling. And it didn't help me sleep. That said I have a friend who takes it for sleep and says it works wonders.

Are you looking into these for sleep or anxiety?

[Mermaid16]

Hi Shaz. I had psych appoint today and I am going to do the 25mg cut off the sertraline starting tomorrow as it is no longer working. He said we will try (I think he said olanzapine, but he kind of mumbled). When I asked what the plan is, he said I will work out the medications, you concentrate on taking to right doses (because I get anxious with dosage changes, I usually don't do exactly what he says...well I kind of do, I just take longer). It has taken me a week to get from 7.5mg Mirt to 15mg, which delays the results a week, as such, because I miss a week of feeling the effect. If that makes sense. Anyhow, being a worrier, I immediately looked into that medication, even though I'm not exactly sure if that's what he said. Still plodding along. He tried to explain it to me like this, if you only ever ate child's sized meals you would always be hungry, your not taking the proper doses of what I am prescribing so your not getting any better.

[Shazamataz]

It's always east for them so say when they aren't the one experiencing the med changes! That said, he's right in that taking things slowly delays the whole process.

If it helps I just went straight in 30 mg or Mirt and didn't notice any nasty side effects like I had when trying the SSRIS. Just found it really hard to get going in the mornings. It also only seemed to help the anxiety for a spell and then it all came back really bad, hence the addition of venlafaxine.

I'd be cautious about taking mirtazipine AND olanzipine as they both give you the munchies and can make you put on weight.

Hopefully things will settle for you soon.

I'm definitely a bit better which is wonderful after the year I've had. Unfortunately I now need to come off the diazepam (only 2mg) which I've stayed on at Dr advice while changing other things. I'm well and truly tolerant to it by now so it's just there to avoid withdrawals.