Olanzapine for Schizophrenia User Reviews (Page 4)

• Lon...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 14, 2022

"Olanzapine has saved my life, and I'm now in recovery. I've been on Olanzapine for 6 months, and it's finally stopped the auditory and visual hallucinations. My thoughts are more organized, and I'm thinking more clearly. It took about 5 months to resolve all my psychosis symptoms and required dose adjustments. I'm now taking 25 mg, and it's been a total game changer."

• Can...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 26, 2021

Olanzapine "I was on Zyprexa for minor auditory hallucinations and sleep. I was on it for more than 5 months and gained 40 lbs! I was only on 5 mg, and for a few months, I was even advised to half my dose! This medication made me feel irritated, flat, and moving around was heavier than usual. I became paranoid and had delusions, but didn’t believe them. I just wanted to stay in bed or not leave the house. The voices told me unbelievable thoughts, and I worried a lot too. It did help me sleep. The voices did become more non-existent or lowered; however, at times I could still hear them lowered to an extent. The weight gain is not worth it! I used to be so active and weighed 125 before I started Zyprexa. Now I am 170 lbs! I need a new medication to help the auditory hallucinations that will not repeat my thoughts aloud or lower them. I tried Vraylar at 1.5 mg. The auditory hallucinations completely went away; however, the side effects sent me to the hospital. Please help!!!"

• Lee...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 14, 2019

Olanzapine "I’ve taken Rexulti, Abilify, Vraylar, Risperidone, and now trying Zyprexa. It’s been about a week, and the delusions/hallucinations are still extremely there, if not worse. This stuff makes me sleepy, I get a good night's rest. I'm going to take it a few more weeks to see if it overall works, a week probably isn’t long enough for a good trial period."

• Lol...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 2, 2024

Olanzapine "I started with 5mg for my psychosis/schizophrenia, and it helped immensely. But I'm still experiencing some auditory hallucinations, so I'm adjusting the dose to 10mg and possibly higher to see if it makes a difference. So yes, the hallucinations are more muted now, but I gained weight and feel unmotivated. That I can deal with, I am just watching what I eat now and walking."

• Dar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• September 6, 2018

"I have been on a 2.5 mg pill a day dosage for a while, and that was okay. I didn't expect that after 3 years of it working well, I would start experiencing brain fog, dizziness, slurred speech, excessive sweat, and in a downward spiral start losing control of my mind. I have been prescribed the 5 mg one, but I feel lightheaded all the time as if I'm gonna faint, and I couldn't stay awake more than 8 hours the first days because of it. The delusion I have is that I will die of brain cancer, every night I think of that before going to sleep. I wish I never got schizophrenia."

• nyl...
• September 30, 2015

"In a few months, I exactly doubled my weight-constant ravenous appetite. Started on 40 mg a day. But after 15 years of taking it and fighting confusion, appetite, and somnolence, even when I got it to 2.5 mg and lower, I still had the same objectionable side effects. Would have been better to take it short term (maybe 3 months) instead of years. VERY, VERY hard to taper off of it no matter how slowly you do it. I don't think I would ever take it again unless it was a life-or-death situation."

• Use...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 18, 2018

"Been on 25 mg of Zyprexa Zydis, 5 mg in the morning and 20 mg at night. It caused weight gain from 45 kg to 53 kg, tremor, and restlessness for me. I see a decrease in hallucinations but am still delusional."

• Ham...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• November 25, 2016

"My experience with this neuroleptic is actually a combination of olanzapine 25 mg with quetiapine 50 mg. My thoughts are definitely not as agitated, am not as angry as I used to be, sometimes, though, I feel false, looking at the world, but not really a part of it. I know, strange... I do not hear voices from my condition. I also take Dexedrine for adult ADHD. This drug combination forces you to bed within an hour or so, due to extreme fatigue. I've been taking these antipsychotics for over 2 years."

• KB ...
• September 7, 2017

"I am a social worker trying to help schizophrenic persons for the past over four years. Antipsychotics suitable and effective for one person may not be suitable for another. For instance, olanzapine may be suitable and effective for some and may not be suitable for others. Therefore, it is very important to closely observe the behavior of the person. I know of a couple of persons who have been taking olanzapine for at least over three years, and it is working perfectly fine without weight gain, and the blood reports are normal."

• Ala...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 24, 2020

"This drug, olanzapine, cured my delusions that I couldn't stand every day since I was mentally unstable. I was feeling guilty all the time for no good reason, it was weird to describe. I wasn't schizophrenic at all, but playing with meds like Lexapro, changing quantities constantly day after day was a really, really terrible mistake. After that, I fell into a guilt trip for something I did in the past that caused me to go crazy, it's like PTSD but so much worse. My heart was about to explode. It's like demons tell me just finish yourself, you're not a good person at all for doing this and that. After days of torture and delusions, I got on olanzapine. It made me calm, no intrusive thoughts anymore, no guilt anymore, but the downside effects of it: completely numb, no emotions at all, all my senses are decreased to some degree, no motivation, waking up confused and sad. I will give it a 7... sorry if my English is bad."

• Tra...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 5, 2021

"I was delusional before taking my first antipsychotic (Olanzapine). This drug made it all worse. I started to hear many voices in my head and other psychotic symptoms. It was like it was just too hard. It did nothing but worsen my psychosis. It may work for you, etc., etc. Everybody is different. It just made me feel so bad, and I took it for maybe 4 or 5 days and just couldn't take how it made me feel and also the demons and suspicions."

• bad...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 8, 2018

"I took Zyprexa. On the dose that was 10 mg, I felt like I could do what I wanted to. How wrong was I. I'd never get it done without fainting and whatever else. If your idea of recovering is getting a double chin and sleeping 15 hours a day, take it."

• Lia...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 12, 2021

"I was on olanzapine 5 mg for 3 months and have noticed no difference in my schizophrenia symptoms. I also gained 5.5 kg, and I am upset about it. I didn't understand why I put on so much weight until I read the reviews on this page. I also had numbed legs at night, which caused me great discomfort, so I cold turkey went off the pills and have been having insomnia since."

• Joc...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 19, 2021

Olanzapine "I was on Zyprexa for around 6 months, and when it did keep my psychosis at bay, I felt dull and unenergetic. I slept for 14 hours a day, and I didn't feel like doing anything. When I got out of the hospital, I was on 20 mgs of Zyprexa. On the process of going down to 5 mgs, I gained around 50 pounds. I'm now on Latuda 40 mgs in hopes of being more energetic and to lose the weight I have gained."

• dau...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 13, 2019

"My mother takes 5 mg of Olanzapine in the morning and 10 mg at night. When she isn't spitting out her pills, it seems that they don't make much difference. If she hasn't spit out her pill, she will take a nap after taking it. After a few hours, she'll be back to talking nonstop and nonsensically for the rest of the day. She seems high all the time. (She has no access to street drugs.) My mother has been on crazy meds for so long that I don't know that anything would work. Haloperidol makes her worse. A high dose of Valium that is supposed to sedate her for 24 hours only lasts for a few hours."

• Rol...
• April 26, 2021

"I was hospitalized after a psychotic episode. I was pressured by the hospital staff to take olanzapine, but I kept refusing. Then I seemed to have no choice, so I agreed to take it just so I could leave the hospital. I went home and took it, one at night. It seemed to take a few weeks to take full effect. When I was on it, it was okay, and it shut my brain down and put me to sleep at night. I got eight hours, and also just wanted to eat junk. But I decided to stop taking it because of the risk of weight gain. I stopped taking it cold turkey, and it was not good. I couldn’t sleep after stopping and haven’t been able to sleep properly for three years. Don’t bother taking it. If you do take it, I would say wean off of it slowly. If you want to come off of it."

• Jos...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 17, 2022

"Please don't use this medication, this is giving horrible side effects. Instead of solving one problem, we landed in so many problems. I used it for only 10 days. Side effects are more depression, suicidal thoughts on an hourly basis, the main one is akathisia, cannot sit in one place, no motivation to think or pay attention to normal activities. Everyone's system is different. Please, very clearly, stay away from this medication."

• shr...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 30, 2022

Olanzapine "This medication made my eyes hurt for some reason, and it just now went away 13 years later. To each their own. There actually wasn't too much else wrong with it. I slept well and stuff, except I gained 20 lbs per month. I would walk to the grocery store and purchase fruit from the local grocer and eat 40 dollars' worth of food in one night because I was so ravenous. This med sucks if it's your first med because after you see yourself gain so much so quickly, you distrust all the subsequent medications that are available. I absolutely had to have money for food. If you take this, the cravings were like pot munchies on steroids. After I ran out of food, it was like I wanted to punch the freakin' door to the refrigerator because I couldn't afford more food. I will say though it wasn't making me crave greasy foods, they were mostly healthy like blueberries, but I still gained 20 lbs. I had to get off it."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 10 years or more
• August 23, 2017

Olanzapine "Zyprexa doesn't work well with any antidepressants - be careful - but it can work used together with lithium, Depakote, or lamotrigine. The serotonin-guided antidepressants activate mania and rapid thinking and fuel anxiety. Drugs such as Lexapro - taken with antipsychotics - can be a nightmare. In mixed diagnostics such as schizoaffective, there are many bypasses and alternate routes - i.e., I take a minimum of Risperdal, which helps with an additional foundation for more centeredness and 'structure,' and keeps my head clearer on 1.5 mgs; and I also take 300 mgs Seroquel XR to act not only as a bipolar safe keeper but also as an antidepressant. If you're looking for Olanzapine with an antidepressant edge, try bipolar meds."

• Don...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• September 22, 2021

"This medicine gave me nightmares, palpitations, extreme anxiety, and chest pains. Gave me racing thoughts worse than before. I am not even schizophrenic, just traumatized from life events. I put on loads of weight as you want to eat like a pig and end up being a slob with poor concentration. This is an awful drug, it causes high blood pressure and diabetes. Do not take this if you value your life."

• spi...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 25, 2021

Olanzapine "I am not schizophrenic, but I do deal with psychosis due to BPD. This drug really helped with my psychosis, but it made me really depressed. I’m crying every day. I tried to switch to another medication, and the withdrawal was so bad that I had to go back. I’m hoping I can switch it to something like Abilify."

• bry...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 24, 2021

"I'm currently taking olanzapine. I was on clonazepam before, but now that I'm on olanzapine, it helped, but sometimes those thoughts come and go still. But when on clonazepam, I don't get the thoughts at all. I really suggest you talk to your doctor and make sure if that medicine is right for you."

• Cam...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 8, 2020

"Once you’re convinced you are no longer going back to the habit that put you on the med, then taper slowly. Watch, if you’re doing well, taper rapidly. You can break a 5 mg Olanzap tablet into four (get Olanza-5... Pharma Plus) and take 1.25 every night for a week. Go once every 2 days. Progress to 1.25 mg (1/4) once a week. Watch. Check name! Don’t get too excited being me. Feed your brain fruits. Eat good."

• mar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 2, 2018

"I had a crazy paranoia after having a 4th child. They said severe postnatal depression. I agreed. Something wasn't right. But meds took my paranoia in the next 3 days, which is wonderful, but as I was eating healthy, I started to munch on 2500 calories a day. I really recommend getting a substitute. I will ask the doctor tomorrow."

• Car...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 19, 2018

"I am a caregiver for a friend with schizophrenia. She refuses to take her meds because she says she doesn't need them. While hospitalized with her, Olanzapine tablets were crushed up, dissolved in water, and then placed in food or drink. The liquid dissolves into food, including pizza and coffee, without a trace and without changing the taste. This asset of this drug has made things so much easier. After about 6 weeks of 10 mg a day, she is so much easier to get along with and is no longer a consideration for a danger to herself or others. Highly recommended for those patients that have responded well to Olanzapine (Zyprexa) while in the hospital or previously."