I've been on it for a long time and I can honestly say that it's the glue that holds me together. I tried going off of it once and suffered greatly, despite the fact that I'm on several other drugs for BP. I'm only on 5 mg but it's enough to keep me very stable. I did gain weight on it in the beginning, but have lost it all and more besides. (That's because my husband passed away a couple of months ago and I lost my appetite, which hasn't returned.) But even if I hadn't been able to lose that weight, it would be worth it to me to stay on Zyprexa indefinitely.