Posted by bleauberry on June 27, 2011, at 18:14:49
In reply to Zyprexa - Reluctant to Take, posted by jerseygal1 on June 27, 2011, at 9:36:23
I was on zyprexa for 8 years and I give it high marks. Most psych drugs I give a thumbs down. I took 5mg in combination with 20mg prozac and 300mg adrafinil (similar to modafinil). The only negatives I see with zyprexa are:
1. Try to keep the dose at 5mg for minimal risk of any longterm antipsychotic side effects. 10mg max.
2. Dump the remeron. Zyprexa does a lot of the same as what remeron does, only better, and more extra stuff as well. You already know remeron isn't a good med for you because if it was you would be feeling better than you do. Zyprexa will replace everything it does and a lot more. Probably one of the worst mistakes I've seen people do here over the years is continue to pile one losing med on top of another, hoping that somehow the most recent addition will magically spark all the others to somehow suddenly work great. Sorry, that doesn't happen hardly at all, very rare. Instead people end up on a cocktail of maybe 4 to 6 meds and they feel like crap. I can feel like crap on 2 or 3 meds, I don't need more than that to do it. Anyway, that is a hard road to back out of once you are there. It's like a dead end alley. When you see the entrance, avoid it, go a different way. In this case that means do not add yet another drug without first removing one of the others. I happen to think remeron is the weakest thing in your cocktail.
3. Think stimulants. That might be the missing link. If there is anything that can spark the other meds to life, it is one of the stimulants. Modafinil, adrafinil, or ritalin.
4. Weight gain is common with zyprexa. If that is a problem for you, then you will have to change the things you eat in order to manage that.I see zyprexa as a better med than most in the psychiatric toolbox. I think its positives far outweigh the negatives. In terms of the negatives, those things can be managed effectively. I believe whether a med takes someone over with crazy stuff such as weight gain or not, is more the result of the whether the person is a good custodian of the body or not.
Zyprexa is one of the best. This from someone who is very sensitive to drugs and not particularly a fan of them. If I can take it, especially for as long as I did, anybody can. It helped me a good deal while countless other meds didn't. I think the combo with prozac was important, and in your case the similar companion is pristiq. Ditch the remeron, it screws up the whole recipe. Add a low dose stimulant instead. As for the anxiety stuff, much of it could rapidly disappear on zyprexa, making it possible to wean off the benzos which are probably working against you in terms of mood improvement. Zyprexa is also good at taming the jitters of stimulants.
If your doctor isn't cooperative on the stimulant thing, then:
1. Get another doctor OR...
2. Ask for notriptyline first choice, desipramine second choice. While your doctor probably thinks you are on an SNRI, you really aren't. Effexor/Pristiq serotonin to norepinephrine ratio is 30:1. Almost completely serotonin, 97%. To make a true snri, which I whole heartedly endorse, add a TCA to the pristiq. Or a stimulant.
poster:bleauberry
thread:989562
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110619/msgs/989593.html