I listened to the extreme symptoms someone in my former support group was going through to try to get off of Zyprexa (an AP). He has never had psychosis or mania and can’t understand why it was given to him. He has depression and anxiety.

I feel so bad for him. He can’t seem to get off of it no matter how slowly he tapers. He reduced the dose by a lot over the past year, but he hit a wall. His weight, cholesterol, and blood pressure are up since he started. He can’t sleep if he reduces his dose any further. He is afraid for his heart but he can’t sleep when he tries to reduce. He even has a pill slicer...He is angry about this. He now knows he never needed this drug, but he didn’t know.

I decided to quit Seroquel (an AP) before I can’t. I don’t really need it. I was only on a low dose for sleep, but now that I’ve seen how bad an AP can be to stop after years, it’s just too big of a sledgehammer for what it does.

I’ll keep it as PRN only, which is more appropriate in my case. I have no psychosis and lithium works well for me at a low dose. I don’t know why it was prescribed daily for me. I’ve been off of it a few months with no problems.

It caused me to gain weight and my blood sugar went up even at a low dose. It was given to me by 2 previous psychiatrists and the current one kept it on. Losing weight is like busting out concrete with a hand pick at my age. I am not happy...

If I needed it, I would take it, and I know it helps people. But in my case the risk and harm outweighed the benefit. I take other meds because I need them.

Back to the man I mentioned—I just can’t understand why the Zyprexa in his case. That is quite a cannon...his doc told him to stay on it even when it didn’t resolve his depression and anxiety.