Zyprexa Destroyed Me

Hey. I was prescribed Zyprexa ( Olanzapine ) for 2 years against anxiety. Now its been more than 1 1/2 year since I last took it. I am still emotional blunt. Still tired and sedative. Still suffer from the cognitive impairment it gave me, most specifically it decreased my short term memory and kind of made me think slower. The best words to describe myself is like a Zombie and somewhat Lobotomized. My life is destroyed.

Im writing this partly to be heard, but also to see if anyone else experienced the same thing. I know from others forums and posts there are.

Also I'm writing to inform you of the studies pointing towards Zyprexa and other antipsychotic drugs being associated with BRAIN SHRINKAGE and other changes in brain structure.

Monkey studies: (brain shrink with 8-11 %, shrinkage most robust in frontal and parietal regions)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15756305
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17063154
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17945195

Human studie and article: ( antipsychotics associated with brain shrinkage in humans)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3476840/
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/healt ... .html?_r=0

Rat studie: ( Brain shrink with 6-8% within 8 weeks, rats given Olanzapine as young show cognitive impairment as adults)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21195390
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23437365

Summary of several of the findings in an article written by a British psychiatrist:
https://www.madinamerica.com/2013/06/an ... an-update/

I think as a patient you should be aware of the potential dangerousness of drugs like these.
This is DANGEROUS stuff. The most scariest thing is that 9 out of 10 doctors I've spoken to never heard about these findings. And they are the ones prescribing them. Scary.

Well,take care and be careful. You only have one life, one body and one brain. Do not destroy it.

M

Wrecked2 wrote: I was prescribed Zyprexa ( Olanzapine ) for 2 years against anxiety.

That's what happened to me , I was told it was "safe" and "non addictive" but when I stopped taking it due to finally recognizing it was giving me anhedonia (clinical word for unmotivated zombie watch same channel t.v all day and not care) I got nausea , insomnia from hell that kept me awake till a psychosis I never had before plus nausea and vomiting for weeks, I was sick for months and got dependent on the ativan then Clonopin I had to take for Zyprexa withdrawals.

The first time I got out of zombie land after the hell of initial withdrawal was when when my new psychiatrist gave me Concerta - Methylphenidate extended-release tablets, I actually felt like mowing the lawn, I did alright with that and the next visit Adderal IR 10s x 2 then 20s...

That might be the way out, maybe feeling fun and motivation from the stimulants jump starts the system that makes one motivated to feel it again ? I don't know what would have happened if just tried waiting it out.

The Ativan Clonopin did turn into a benzodiazepine dependence nightmare, If I had to do it again I would do Dexedrine IR to motivate and feel and Seroquel IR to deal with the come down, get hungry and needed sleep. I don't know If I could have done withdrawal without the benzos now that I think of it. Today, years later I only take a pill for sleep from time to time nothing else and I am alright.

It didn't destroy my whole life but I do know what hell is, I thought I was going to die during those withdrawals a few times, a feeling of fear like that microsecond when your leaning back in the chair and know your falling and cant stop it that comes on and won't let up but if you go puke on the back steps and pace around it might subside just a little if your lucky. Going to the E.R sick from this drug from hell and being told by the nurse the doc can write some more Zyprexa if "we ask him nicely" I will never forget that. Please sir can I have some more of the stuff that made me sick ?

I don't have the writing skills to fully describe the hell of it. Three more E.R visits and two trips up to psych getting of that stuff. Before psychiatry Zyprexa and all those pills I was never ever anywhere near a psychiatric hospital. "Don't worry its safe" F_ you.

Anhedonia is exactly what I suffer from( among much more ) since Zyprexa. I have not had any withdrawal symptoms at all. The fact is, i don't feel any difference at all since i quitted Zyprexa, i feel exactly like i still was on the drug. The doctor said " it could take some time for the drug to be out of your system maybe a week or so".Its now been one and a half year since i last took it, still no difference.

No clinical joy from anything. Music doesn't "feel" anything, playing games neither, watching movies, reading a book, meeting friends, sex drive zero. I have not had an emotional experience since Zyprexa. My brain is like dead in some way. Its clinical dopamine deficiency. Theese drugs take away the very life of you, what makes us Humans: creativity, emotions, passion,drive and so on. You become like a living dead,just empty.

What does these drugs exactly do? They block the neurotransmission by blocking the postsynaptic receptors. The neurotransmitter thats supposed to deliver information to the next braincell can't deliver it. That part of the brain can not be used. What happens with a muscle that is not used? It decreases in size,it shrinks.

In a simplified way, this is exactly what happens with your brain on antipsychotics. As Nancy Andreasen ( American neuroscientist) says "the prefrontal cortex doesn't get the input it needs and being shut down by drugs". This is probably what leads to brain shrinkage. And the areas that shrinks is probably the areas where the drug has effect, areas in first hand involving the dopaminergic systems, but also other neurotransmitter and brain systems.

Doctors i visit today say from the symptoms I'm explaining that it sounds like i have a "severe dopamine deficiency", but they don't know why i have it. I say its since Zyprexa, they wont admit it.

As you say Copy_cat I think if there is any way out, i think its by "opening up" what Zyprexa shut down. To kickstart the brain in some way. Probably in first hand with substances like Adderal or similar. What substance is the "best" would you say? Dexedrine?

Wrecked2 wrote: What substance is the "best" would you say? Dexedrine?

Ya , its the real thing. Dextroamphetamine is the dextrorotatory, or "right-handed", enantiomer of the amphetamine molecule.

Adderal’s history. The drug was invented as a diet pill called Obetrol in the 1960s. Shire bought the company that owned the rights to Obetrol—as well as the factory that produced it—in 1997 and then began promoting the drug as a treatment for attention-deficit disorder and named it Adderal.

Vyvance I found to be horrible, all they did was reformulate Dexedrine with this amino acid time release gimmic to get a new patent. The vyvance formula is flawed, it creates a peak that's too high and then a crash that goes on and on. The have made billions selling this inferior crap as new and improved. Your stuck on this crap until it decides to wear off like it or not. Feeling psychotic or not, you ain't done till its done, up to 14 hours, horrible.

Another possibilty would be focalin Dexmethylphenidate,the dextrorotatory enantiomer of Ritalin, the real thing no gimmicks.

I took adderal when I was combating zombie zyprexa damage, the new doc and many don't like writing Dexedrine. Adderal IR was good enough.

I hate Vyvance cause again if you feel a little bugged out 'psychotic' you are stuck for the duration of it's phoney long acting "improvements".

There is no advantage to XR versions unless your a pharma giant in need of a new patent.

Just watch out you don't become a tweeker on this stuff. The term was coined for the sleep deprivation meth addicts usually undergo. Some users would stay up for two weeks at a time so came the phrase 'two weekers' which eventually became tweeker.

Your informed consent: Amphetamine can trip the the phenomenon of craving "I like this need more at all costs" and from there you ruin you life, end up psychotic in the psych ward or dead.

The thing is where I live the prescription of those kind of dopamine stimulating drugs are very limited, because of the potential of addiction. I guess Concerta and Ritalin could be able to get fairly easy, the rest a bit more difficult.

Did you take any legal action regarding the anhedonia and zombielike state Zyprexa had gave you?

Sounds bad. I think I'm in this same ship, having rather naively used antipsychotics for a year at full dosage. Funny the things that happen when you trust authority and/or don't bother to find out absolutely everything on your own.

They even tell you anhedonia can be a symptom of schizophrenia, but I don't recall having issues with emotional deadness before using the drugs. You have to wonder if the effects of the drugs haven't again been confused with "an illness" in the literature or at least in the minds of the walking pez dispensers that are psychiatrists.

Wrecked2 wrote:The thing is where I live the prescription of those kind of dopamine stimulating drugs are very limited, because of the potential of addiction. I guess Concerta and Ritalin could be able to get fairly easy, the rest a bit more difficult.

Did you take any legal action regarding the anhedonia and zombielike state Zyprexa had gave you?

No, someone should start a class action.

A Shopkeeper was ordered To Pay $175,739 To Customer Who Slipped On Fruit http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/2 ... 06053.html

Mc Donalds hot coffee spill, 7 million .

But these pharma companies seem to be able to dish out as much pain as they want with as much lies and fraud as they want and get away with it. Then When the lawsuits roll in from the families of hurt and dead patients they simply use a small portion of windfall profits to settle out of court, admitting no guilt.









It's bull. They do not care. The right thing to do would be to say use Zyprexa as a last resort or try a safer drug first, not lie by omission "Don't introduce the issue".

I'm still damaged because of this drug. I think it's the absolute worst prescription that anyone can be on in the long term. Every day I am f'ing pissed off about it, and can't stop thinking about it. I weighed 221 pounds, and decided to run 5 miles in an hour, and when I weighed myself again a day later I was 225. I did not eat that much. It completely defies the laws of science and causes extremely screwed up reactions in your body. Like some sort of nuclear mutation. I have eaten and drank about 1 pound of food and drink in a day, and went to weigh myself before I go to sleep and I was literally 10 pounds heavier than when I woke up. That's not normal. And that phantom weight from my body not functioning right seems to stick. I've been wanting to get a job in fitness or something similar but this med has pretty much ruined my aspirations.

I cannot think of anything else until I reverse the damage done from this drug. My life is pretty much on hold until something changes. It sickens me that this poison has caused so many problems. It's been like building a great house to live in by hand, being excited about it, and then seeing it demolished and there's nothing you can do. I am not that patient where I can just sit for months and wait for these effects to go away. Getting off this medication was probably the hardest thing I've ever done, and to still suffer the side effects after being off is the worst possible thing that could have happened.

The problem with neuroleptics in general is that they are indeed a slow chemical lobotomy, since traditional lobotomys are considered midevil nowadays and no one does it they just give you a pill that does it stealthly.

And Tides, the reason it messes up your metabolism so bad is cause it affect 5 different neurotransmitters in the brain. Not just dopamine. Its amazing what zyprexa does and how it continues to stay on the market. Its black magik poison period.

It's bull. They do not care. The right thing to do would be to say use Zyprexa as a last resort or try a safer drug first, not lie by omission "Don't introduce the issue".

Yes. Antipsychotics in general should be considered as last alternative. And when studies showing
brain shrinkage, you may wonder if they should be used at all. I guess for schizophrenia and psychosis theres not much alternative. But when it comes to anxiety, depression and so on.. its crazy to use them for that.