Quote:
Originally Posted by SorenVC
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Someone on drugs.com said that Olanzapine is the same as Xanax, just a sedative.
https://www.drugs.com/comments/olanzapine/
This is the only website on the internet where people can give reviews to their medication.
I'm not a fan of psych meds but I am addicted to Olanzapine and have to take them for life. I tried to quit it last time went 10 days without sleep, went to the doctor and cried really hard and he sent me to a mental hospital for the second time in my life, and here I am, back with 10 miligrams of Olanzapine. |
It’s tough, because we wouldn’t know whether your insomnia without it is just a withdrawal symptom, because some psych meds when stopped, especially suddenly and not tapered down, can cause (usually psychological) withdrawal symptoms. It’s different than being “addicted” though, not like people get addicted to alcohol or street drugs. That is because you don’t have the other characteristics of an addict such as a desire to continue taking greater quantities, a major negative impact on your health/finances/social life caused by the drug that you are ignoring. Those are the characteristics of “addiction”. For you it is just moreso that your body and brain are temporarily dependent on the drug, meaning without it, you have some withdrawal. Actual addiction is more than that, it means the person is damaging other areas of their life due to the drug
But again we don’t know whether your insomnia is just withdrawal or due to some other mental or physical condition
I’ll mention my experience in seeing olanzapine (zyprexa is the brand name): normally years ago I only tended to see it with adults with Serious Mental Illness (just means that for them their symptoms are more severe) status. Usually with a psychotic disorder diagnosis like schizophrenia. Without the medication, they would be hallucinating, delusional, etc
More recently I have been seeing a LOT more olanzapine, the last client I saw today was on it, and so have about 3 other clients I have seen this month. In each of those circumstances, these were clients who had a developmental disability. I’m assuming (and this is only a guess as I’m not a doctor or their doctor) the olanzapine was being used to treat emotional disregulation leading to extreme behaviors, basically acting out too much
It does seem to have some sedative properties, but it is not categorized as one