One night last week it got to about 11pm and I thought i'd forgotten to take my nightly Zyprexa, so I took my usual dose (15mg), then went to bed at about midnight. I was half awake half asleep an hour later when I had a gag reflex; I thought I was going to be sick. At first I thought it was the big bowl of cherries I'd eaten, but my stomach wasn't sore. Then I actually was sick twice. I noticed my arms and legs were very heavy. Then I went to sleep.
I didn't waken till 3pm the next day! 13++ hours straight!!
I told my shrink about it a couple of days later and he said it was too much Zyprexa, not cherries. He told me to use a dosette box to avoid such things happening again. Now I know what 30mg of Zyprexa feels like: not in a hurry to do a repeat performanace. So I dragged out my old dosette box; the one the hospital gave me in 2003 when I had my longest hospitalisation ever. A time when, upon discharge I had the CAT team come and give me my meds twice a day: 8am and 8pm. They did that for a few weeks; I was too spacey to care for myself. I was living in a boarding house at that stage; grimy, expensive and dank. Another story for another time. Back to the dosette: it sort of feels a bit institutionalised to use it again, but I guess I don't mind using it for now.
Zyprexa (olanzapine) is not a popular drug; every person I know who's been on it has complained, mostly about weight gain, but here's a list of possible side-effects;
As with all neuroleptic drugs, olanzapine can cause tardive dyskinesia and rare, but life-threatening, neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
Other recognised side effects may include:
akathisia; inability to remain still (restlessness)[21]
dry mouth
dizziness
irritability
sedation
insomnia
constipation
urinary retention
orthostatic hypotension
weight gain
increased appetite
runny nose
impaired judgment, thinking, and motor skills
impaired spatial orientation
impaired responses to senses
seizures
trouble swallowing
dental problems and discoloration of teeth
missed periods
problems with keeping body temperature regulated
apathy, lack of emotion
Endocrine side effects have included hyperprolactinemia, hyperglycemia, and diabetes mellitus
Brain Shivers
Auditory Hallucinations.
I can't claim to have gone through many of these; my main ones are increased appetite, tiredness and dry mouth (I drink heaps of water and Pepsi Max, around 15 tall glasses a day). Oh and seizures; had my first of those in my sleep a couple of weeks ago. That made my doctor say to cut back to 1 1/2 tablets a day (7.5 mg dose; around 11mg a day) and to start taking magnesium capsules twice a day (apparently helps with muscle spasms).
I've had a rigid neck for quite a few years now; tends to 'turn' by itself to the right; it's a subtle turn, mostly bothers me when I try to fall asleep due to head lifting off the pillow. It started happening on the older anti-psychotics I used to take; Risperdal and Solian.
The 1st anti-psychotic I was on was the worst: Stellazine. You had to take Cogentin along with it to stop muscle cramps. One night my head wanted to spin off its axis a-la "The Exorcist"; it was quite terrifying.
All this in the name of cessation of paranoia and hearing voices; no wonder mental health patients are a downtrodden lot. I doubt very much whether the majority of the population would accept putting up with such side-effects if they were told they had to.
