Just when I thought I had it made.....

.....I had to go and take my pdoc literally and stop the Zyprexa totally. He wanted me to wean myself down because it's messing with my diabetes, but I decided to try a few nights off of it to see if I could manage.

Well, it's been a disaster---I can't sleep worth a damn, keep having disturbing dreams and waking up, and as soon as I clear the cobwebs out of my brain in the morning I'm all amped up and can't wait to get moving. Hello, hypomania!!! I'm just glad I waited till the long weekend to experiment, because with the lousy sleep I feel like a bomb has gone off in my head.

Tonight I'm gonna take the fargin' pill and SLEEP. Maybe then I'll be fit to go to work and make a contribution.....I can't believe this happened so fast. Two days off Zyprexa and I go all wacky, three days and I'm hypomanic---is that supposed to happen so quickly? WTF??!

OMG!!!!"Nurse" you better grab the bars with both hands and hold on! Take your pill and throw your hands in the air for that last big hill and yell "yeehaw!!!!) before you hit the sack. As for your experiment, well atleast your trying your own thing. Now you know what not to do. I've been sliding slowly in and out of anxiety and mania since Saturday. Think I'll take a sleep pill. I'm sure your brain will be refreshed in the morning. I usually "low-five" depression when my alarm goes off in the morning then run a monologe in my head all day til I get off work. After that it's a free for all which of my three poles wants to hook me for the evening. Good luck tomorrow.

hopefully a good night of sleep tonight will put you able to get to work. i hope it goes ok!

I remember I had to take Zyprexa when I was hospitalized in the summer before my freshman year and at the hospital I would fall asleep randomly like I had narcolepsy. A few months after I got out, I stopped taking it. I don't remember the effects of it had on me when I stopped, but the side effects of it scared me so I'm glad I'm off.
I hope everything goes well for you!

I think it could be reffered to as a rebound effect. With antipsychotics you can actually even have rebound psychosis when stopping them quickly. I've had that happen, and I read it happens a lot. So I am sure it could do the same with mania. When I would stop taking this when manic, I would be through the roof very quickly.

I think, and seriously this is just my opinion, Antipsychotics are major traquilizers right, so imo, they are just tranquilizing you from feeling it, not that it isn't still going on inside. Your are drugged out of being capable of racing thoughts, hyper activity ect. So it would make sense that if you stop taking it, and there is still stuff brewing inside it will very quickly be felt again. That's how these particular meds always felt to me anyways.

I hope you feel better soon!

did you just stop it all suddenly?

it sounds like you did....

did you?

heres what happens....(if you did)...don't know if you did...sounds like it

heres what happens....

imagine where you live....warm mild even....climate....bits of rain...bits of wind....chilly night now and then....cold morning ooooh!

got plenty of clothes...a heater an AC....

...OH dear....whats just happened?

who the madness idiot tied me to the belly of this jet fighter on the way to the south pole?

dunking my naked bum in South American volcanoes on the way?

anti psychotic suddenly gone ....

...equals sudden psychotic bash the mental hornets nest.

gotta wean off that...takes weeks...never done it myself

been stung on the mind bum!

That's a great description of it, Dubble! Yes, I did stop taking the Z cold turkey---I was on only 2.5 mg at bedtime, thought I could do it since it was such a tiny dose. WRONG!!

So I took 1.25 mg last night, slept better if not great, and today I'm less wired, if still pretty goal-directed. Tonight I'm taking the full 2.5 mg and to hell with it......I was really enjoying normality and I want more of it.

it's curious how wired and weird are just spelled mixed up...

glad you wind it down...

bipolar brain is hypersensitive....even little bits of this and that affect it

hope you be ok

I'm glad you're better. Those meds can be crazy. I hope you are able to get off of them and get your normal back.

I know the feeling I have been off of mine for a week and I am tired so bad. When I do fall asleep I don't sleep really well. I am up and down all night. I feel like crap. I have been off of them because I have been at my sister's for a week and they are at my mom's. I am too afraid to go to my mom's to get them because every time I am there it turns into a huge fight. I have been off my meds because of it. I need my lamitical because my anxiety is kicking my ***. I am having the worst possible week.

BipolaRNurse,
I'm just wondering how you are doing with the Zyprexa issue. I know I feel the same way about my Geodon. It has done incredible things for my mania and the obsessions I get with it. One of the great things with the atypical antipsychotics is for some people it works wonders controlling the mania. Recently though it has caused an increase in my glucose and cholesterol so I may have to discontinue mine as well, and let me tell you I am dreading it. I don't want to be nosy, but have they discussed with you something to replace it? So far my research says all atypical antipsychotics can increase glucose and diabetes runs in my family. Guess what I really wanted to say is, I completely understand your feelings about the Zyprexa and wish you the best.

a

Yes, my pdoc has mentioned Geodon a couple of times, so I'm thinking that's what he may put me on rather than have me continue with the Z. It's weird, how I seem to need ALL of the meds---my 4-legged stool, as it were---to keep things under control, when until this last winter I'd barely even heard of 'em all. We tried getting rid of Celexa, with near-disastrous results, so I went back on that; now I've tried going off Zyprexa with a similar outcome. (We haven't even talked about going off the Ativan or the Lamictal, LOL)