[Miracle1986]

Is anyone on or has anyone taken Zyprexa for Bipolar? what were your experiences? I just started it 5mg twice a day.
So far it just makes me really drowsy which is fine at night, but it sucks during the day.

[kaliope]

after 3 days I thought it was the greatest med on earth, everything was so clear, but then after a couple weeks I started peeing pink, I was losing my words...as in I would be talking an the words wouldn't come to me...bad when I teach and then finally it messed with my depth perception and I nearly fell down a flight of stairs so I quit taking it.

I am the queen of the contact your doctor immediately side effects, highly sensitive to meds so these are the usual side effects.

[LiteraryLark]

I've used zyprexa since I've had my episode. The dose has come down from 25 mg to 5mg and now it's going up and down frequently with my moods.

I've gained some weight, but my doctor thinks it's because I don't exercise.

[BipolaRNurse]

I loved what Zyprexa did to bring me down off a manic episode and maintain my sanity, but it put about 25 lbs. on me in a matter of weeks and made my blood sugars go completely ape-****. (I was diabetic before I went on Z, so it wasn't unusual for me to have high sugars, but they went totally out of control when I was on it.) So I had to come off of it.....a few months later it became apparent that I don't do well off antipsychotics, and I was put on another one.

[lawrenman]

I took it for about 9 months. It was highly effective with reducing mania. Just after a few days with it I felt somewhat normal although I was still highly sensitive. It took away most of my delusions and paranoia.

I have not researched how Zyprexa actually works but my best guess is that it slows you down. It slowed my metabolism as well as my mind. It stops racing thoughts. But this slow down comes at a price. Most notably it may slow you down so much that you find it hard to get up in the mornings and sleep more than normal. It probably also results in lower blood pressure and more calming nature. You may also feel restless...in that your body can't control its movements. This goes away in most cases after getting off the medication.

Overall there is probably no more effective way to control mania. However the cost is that it slows a lot of functions in your body/mind down. It probably helped cause a blood clot I developed in my leg.

To me its not a good long-term medication. Unless the mania is constant and overwhelming. But for fixing a mania episode it probably is one of the best medications available.

It worked well for my symptoms, but I gained 15 pounds in less than two weeks, so my pdoc took me off of it.

[lateralminds]

Zyprexa is the brand... Olanzapine is the drug.

I took it for 12 years, pioneered it

nothing to laugh about afterwards, it became so addictive that a few days without it psychosis was great, and histamine reactions were through the roof.

problem is with this drug is this, at that duration the toxins will build up and thin the lining of your stomach, and give you bowel problems.

since I have been off it, now for a year +, my histamine levels are still messed and I scratch like crazy every other day until I take antihistamine drugs.

This drug will make you extremely passive, however the plus side of this drug is too pull you out of a manic state quickly and it does that.

It slows down brain function, hence less the racing though however feeling stupid and kicking yourself later is really not cool.

I'm digging "Quetipine" aka |Seroquel and Lithium right now... lithium relaxes the mind, and Seroquel at night makes you sleep like a baby and that's when your up thinking right?

rest is the most important thing for bipolar disorder... activating the mind too much makes you go manic or depressed.

transfer to body, workout!!!

It's a pretty good long-term solution for me since I can't eat nearly enough when I'm not on meds and Zyprexa places me somewhere on the lower end of the normal weight range (at least 10mg did, will have to see about 5mg). It also helps a lot with my not so serious psychotic and psychotic-ish symptoms and my IMHO way too serious hypomania. And it seriously reduces my agitation (bodily and mental). The downside is that is drains me of the little energy I have, so I want to replace it with a different AP or anti-manic.

[Dylanzmama]

Argh. I spent 2 1/2 months in a MH with a severe psychotic/manic episode. All they did was give me handfuls of lithium. I was still delusional when I came home and my new pdoc put me on zyprexa. Pretty soon I called my husband at work and said, " honey, I think I've been delusional..." He cried