Danage

I was on Olanzapine, also known as Zyprexa, during my first psychotic episode and after. I was initially put on 5mg (how many fl ozs is that? I may be twenty but I use Imperial and not Metric measures) in September but I didn't take it until October. Due to the new (to me) symptom of thought invasion they upped it to 10mg, and when it still didn't stop they upped it to 20mg.

I was on 15mg in January (I think) and subsequently put down to 10mg.

I gained two stone on the Olanzapine, and in May I stopped taking it. I had had enough. I compromised and started taking 200mg of a new medication which doesn't cause weight gain, called Amisulpride. This didn't work, and I got thought invasion throughout June until Saturday 28th June when I had full blown visual, auditory and pain hallucinations.

The psychiatrist put me back on 10mg before I went on holiday, and I am still on it now.

Has anyone here tried this medication and not had weight gain?

Thank you for your replies in advance.

panthergirl

I have not taken Zyprexa but know others who have. Some have gained weight (as I have on Paxil and Lexapro).

I asked my doctor why people gain weight on SSRIs and she said it's due to the carb craving that these drugs produce in some people (others lose weight). I am now trying Lexapro again, but with Wellbutrin to curb those cravings if they arise. I am also going to be on a very low carb diet (no bad white food...sugar, flour, white rice, etc.) and see if it's better this time.

Maybe you can try this and see if it works for you?

Good luck to you. It's such a challenge for all of us to find the right balance of feeling good mentally and feeling good physically. For me, and this is probably a part of my mental illness, the two are forever intertwined.

Raveno

sounds right, I hate the restlessness anti-psychotics give you

I was prescribed them for people reading my minds (thought broadcasting) 10mg olanzapine

Danage

Thank you for your thoughts. I have asked to have the Zyprexa/Olanzapine changed to a different anti-psychotic, but it won't be for at least a week. I just ignore my hunger nowadays by doing something other that eating.

I am on 10mg, but I have it for visual and auditory hallucinations, hallucinations of pain and thought invasion. Sometimes I think other people can read my mind, but it isn't as often as others, including yourself. I just have to remember that this is the real world and my hallucinations and thought invasion are not real in one sense and the world around me is not what is wrong.

I used to think I came from a parallel universe, where history was different. It kind of reminds me of that American programme, Sliders. My life, and my hallucinated world, seems to revolve around religion, a big interest of mine, or at least the Western religions anyway.

The universe my hallucinations supposedly come from is little over a thousand years in the future, during an age of great peace. I now think, however, that my hallucinations, if they can be called that, and thought invasion, is the Holy Spirit telling me what is right and what is wrong, what is law and what is sin.

The Olanzapine keeps all the symptoms at bay though, unlike Amisulpride, and they both helped, and help, me get to sleep (I can't get to sleep without taking the medication). The fact that the Olanzapine keeps my symptons at bay suggests that my illness is real, however.