Uses, Side Effects: Zyprexa for Schizophrenia Reviews

Generic Name: Zyprexa for Schizophrenia (olanzapine)

Zyprexa for Schizophrenia Reviews

"Zyprexa saved my life with schizophrenia. It cleared the utter chaos, despair, hallucinations, voices, bipolar mania, accelerated and disruptive thinking, unfocused mental confusion, flat out psychosis - in a matter of a day. I took 15 mg."

"I was on Zyprexa at 25mg (had psychosis) for a few months, literally, the worst months of my life. All I wanted to do was eat and sleep, so tired and foggy, and I had no motivation. So glad I ignored doctors and got off it as soon as I possibly could. If there was an option for zero, I would give that. This stuff is utter garbage."

"I take 10 mg of Zyprexa at night, and it makes me feel like I've been chemically lobotomized. Not to mention the irritability and being tired all the time. This medication made me sleep for 10 whole hours, and I still feel sleepy after waking up. Also, my motor skills have been cut in half, I keep stumbling over stuff like I'm drunk and having blurred vision all day. This medication is a mental handicap in a bottle. How in the world does this help with schizophrenia and depression? I would not recommend this medication to anybody. Eli Lilly should be ashamed of themselves."

"This drug saved my life. I had been on almost all atypical meds with no luck. Now I have been on 40 mg of Zyprexa for 10 years with no relapses, and have even managed to hold down a job. I gained 20 pounds and am now a type 2 diabetic, but it was worth it. My family and friends noticed rapid improvements within a week of starting Zyprexa. A little hint: when starting Zyprexa, ask your doctor to prescribe benztropine, it prevents many of the negative side effects of Zyprexa. I hope this review helps someone :-)"

"This medication killed my schizophrenia in two months. But I gained 20 pounds, which is okay considering I was a little underweight. The worst side effect was that my eyes would not move. Finally, a doctor told me to cut down my dosage from 10 mg to 5 mg, and this lowered the occurrence. When I lowered it to 2.5 mg, the side effect completely went away. Now I feel great, and the schizophrenia is still gone. I recommend Zyprexa, but the doctor has to be really careful with the dosage."

"I've been taking Zyprexa for just over a year now and have seen dramatic improvements in my life. I used to be incredibly paranoid of people, was hearing voices, and was delusional about my physical health. I'm on 20 mg of Zyprexa, and most of my symptoms have cleared. Some of them remain, but they're much more tolerable than they used to be. The only drawbacks I have noticed are weight gain and slowed reactions, but I'd rather live through those side effects than experience what I did before treatment."

"It has some initial side effects like feeling dizzy. But all in all, after more than 7 years, I totally like the drug. I have been on 5 mg for about 5 years now. I took 5 mg all through my pregnancy based on doctor's advice, and I gave birth to a healthy baby girl 2 years ago. I was also able to breastfeed because the drug was not found in my breast milk due to the low dosage I was using, according to the doctor's report."

"I feel very sleepy, very tired. I got a brain tumor. It might be a side effect of Zyprexa or hydrochlorothiazide, a water pill. Because of Zyprexa, I gained a lot of weight and got high blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol."

"I am probably the longest exisiting user of Zyprexa in the world. I have been on this medication for over 22 years, since I was 18. It has tremendous side effects on my body. I have experienced all the symptoms on the side effect lists in my life. The only beneficial things I get from using this drug and Citalopram as well are that I eat and sleep very well. The voices have not gone away but they have changed. I feel like I have been reincarnated. I don't look or feel the same as I do anymore. I can hardly recognise myself in my Facebook photos. I am still alive and 40 now, still living with my own family and doing my life as I please. I am on a Disability Pension, which I am grateful for as I have the correct illness to get this sort of payment to live on. I have been on and off in and out of hospital since first hearing voices. It's been extremely tough in my life. I just need peace of mind. Keep taking the medications as prescribed and don't cut and change it as I have done before."

"I was given 20 mg Zyprexa in the hospital. This drug is horrible. The side effects hit me hard: severe dizziness, dry mouth. Now down to 5 mg, I feel like my life is draining out of me with sweats, dizziness, trouble doing anything. It's not like I just dropped to 5 mg. I went 7 days at 20 mg, 7 days at 15 mg, 7 days at 10 mg, 7 days at 7.5 mg, and I'm currently on 5 mg a day, and I feel like screaming. I wish I had never been introduced to this med. Sorry."

"I take 7.5 mg a day for schizophrenia. I have only been on this medicine for 5 weeks, but it has helped me immensely with both negative and positive symptoms. I have gained weight, but it's a small price to pay for some peace of mind. Honestly, I couldn't be more grateful for this medicine."

"I started taking Zyprexa 10 mg in 1996 until 2017, which is when I began tapering due to health reasons. I am now down to 2.5 mg but have gained a lot of weight, pain in joints, inability to sleep well, anxiety for no reason, memory loss, inability to think, no motivation, crying for no reason, terrible pain in my arms, muscle cramps in my feet, pancreatitis, constant eating, lack of feelings and enjoyment. Extremely difficult to get off it, it ruined my life!"

"Zyprexa immediately helped me 16 years ago when my delusions started. (I was 25 then). After that first episode my doctor quit Zyprexa after 5 years of remission. But a year after, my delusions started again and again Zyprexa helped me. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia then. It has been 16 years now that I am on 5 mg and the only side effect is moderate weight gain. I tried Latuda just recently, but it was a nightmare. When I switched back to Zyprexa everything got back to normal. Of course I keep trying to eat healthy all these years. Honestly, Zyprexa and my doctor saved my life. Keep being positive every minute and every day!"

"For 5-6 years I have taken Zyprexa for schizo affective disorder . Weight gain isn't a problem if you lift weights 5x5 and eat lots of protein during the day and a casein shake at night. You might still gain weight but it'll be muscle as long as you cut out carbs and sugar while eating more protein than your body weight and a lot of fat that'll do it..."

"I've been on Zyprexa at 20mg for 8 months now. I have schizoaffective bipolar type. Before this I was on Seroquel 800mg and I was still having strong psychosis mainly paranoid delusions and I ended up losing my job. I was sleeping 12 hours a day on Seroquel and was getting ready to go back into the workforce so I wanted something less sedating so I asked my doctor about Zyprexa and we switched medications. I was worried about the weight gain but to my shock I started losing weight and after a few months of Zyprexa treatment I returned back to my 98lb self. This is because it does not increase my appetite. Overall my experience with Zyprexa has been very positive. My only complaint is that I still sleep 12 hours a day but the benefit I receive from the medication makes the sedation worth it. For the first time In my life I can hold down a job and life is looking up. I hope Zyprexa really does work for me in the long run and I'm not changing meds in a few years like I've done in the past"

"I am overall very pleased with Zyprexa for my Schitzo affective disorder. My son says he's never seen me so welI. I've been on this medication for about 8 months. I've gained about 25 kgs which I hate and I need about 10 hours sleep each night, but at least I am well. "

"Before I took Zyprexa, I was hallucinating due to lack of sleep and exhaustion. While I was hospitalized, I denied my medication and wouldn't take it, but as soon as I took Zyprexa and Remeron, my sleep got better. I stopped hallucinating and hearing things. Thanks to my medication, I haven't been hospitalized for psychosis since I've been given Zyprexa."

"I am currently on Zyprexa, and I have been using it for a year. My life completely changed. I have less fear, and I am more relaxed. The only thing, though, is I experienced fatigue whenever I woke up. But so far, the results were great! My doctor did a good job!"

"Got this medicine and was amazed at how I recovered. I wasn't paranoid, was relaxed, and loved life. Until I kept taking it for a couple of years and all the symptoms returned. I now am withdrawing, which is a nightmare."

"This drug has turned down the volume on a lot of my voices, which is great. I sleep better and take more naps during the day. I also notice my appetite increased, which is where I think people mean they gain weight on this med. I just exercise an hour a day. My mood is kinda flat-lined."

"I have schizophrenia. I was on 40mg of Zyprexa for 14 years, lots of side effects such as 70lbs weight gain, high cholesterol and triglycerides, diabetes, and it made me sleep like you wouldn't believe, 10-12 hours a night. But it did work well for my anxiety and psychosis. However, after 14 years it lost effectiveness. I started having hallucinations again. It took me 3 years of a slow taper to get off it and the withdrawals have still been a nightmare, all kinds of weird symptoms (which have all disappeared now) but the main problems remaining are anxiety and insomnia. I never had insomnia problems before or during the use of this medication. I've been off it for almost 2 months now and am still experiencing anxiety and insomnia. I was switched to Latuda which is a phenomenal medication, no side effects and total effectiveness for my schizophrenia."

"An amazing medication considering the earlier antiphsycotics available, I think its more expensive that could effect availability. I do suffer from shaky hands but its the only side effect noticed.I take 20mg at night, it doesn't make me sleepy, no weight gain or hangover effect. Don't increase the dose it doesn't help it just gives restless legs and I was informed a dangerous to increase"

"Was hospitalized after a psychotic break, prescribed Zyprexa 20mg. At first, the medicine was okay, my paranoia and schizophrenic thoughts went away. But after about two weeks, I started to notice the side effects. Weight gain was the most obvious, I gained 40 pounds in two months, and sleep-I was sleeping 9-12 hours a night. It was difficult to wake up in the morning. During the day, I felt unmotivated, and at work, I had no energy even after drinking an energy drink. Lowered my dose to 5mg, it didn't make a difference. After about 6 months, I had enough, decided to try another medication. Now I feel much better. Bottom line: Zyprexa was the worst med I've ever tried. If you want to try this med, beware, you will gain weight."

"Worked great for me. Not only did it control my perception of reality, it also takes away the strange emotional attachments that I was having. It made me go from sitting on the couch hidding, to working full time as an electrician, sometimes up to 10 hours a day, something I thought I would never be able to do again. There were only two problems. I was unmotivated, I didn't have any passion for life. I was just going through the motions. However this is much better that being psychotic and suicidal. In the 9 months I was on the medication, I gained almost 100 pounds. This happened even when I was eating the same amount as before I was medicated. Again, this is far better than being angry and paranoid."

"Like other drugs, zyprexa has different effects on different people. For me, the drug was a life ruining experience. When I was on it, (for a psychotic episode) I had severe side-effects, including sedation, emotional numbing and life threatening metabolic deterioration. With a psychiatrist's help, I cross-titrated from it to Latuda. However, I happened to be in the fraction of people that has severe repercussions from discontinuing Zyprexa. With withdrawal, I had severe insomnia, which half a year later, has only mildly improved. I have had to be on Ativan to get some sleep, and there are many testimonials to the same experience I've had -- Zyprexa can for an indefinite period of time disrupt sleep regulation. Because of this, it should not be tried unless newer antipsychotics with a more focused receptor profile have been attempted."

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