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Zyprexa Basics Zyprexa Side Effects How Zyprexa Works & Compares with Other Meds Comments Where to Buy Zyprexa / Ratings
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Zyprexa's Dosage and How to Take Zyprexa: For bipolar mania Lilly recommends starting at 10-15mg of Zyprexa once a day. If no improvement is seen go up to by 5mg a day to a maximum of 20mg a day. All I can say is, unless you're seriously flipped out that is way too high to start. Sure, if you're in a hospital or otherwise getting some kind of 24/7 care and barely know where you are, then start at 10mg of Zyprexa a day. But if you got yourself to the doctor, you know what day of the week it is and you haven't maxed out your credit cards, I suggest starting at 2.5mg of Zyprexa a day. Especially if you're taking other meds to treat the bipolar disorder. I'm really not a big fan of antipsychotics as monotherapy for bipolar disorder. Unless you're unable to tolerate any anticonvulsant, I think Zyprexa (olanzapine) and the other atypicals are best reserved as crisis meds and as add-ons. While there are people for whom Zyprexa (olanzapine) will be the medication to treat their bipolar disorder in the long run. But the main reason these meds are getting a big push to treat bipolar disorder right now is just to pad the pharmaceutical companies' bottom lines. Lithium and anticonvulsants are less expensive and, except for lithium's issues with hypothyrodism, have fewer long-term issues.
For schizophrenia the recommended dosage starts with 5-10mg of Zyprexa a day with a target dosage of 10mg a day. You can go up to 15mg of Zyprexa a day after a week, but the clinical trials show that 10mg a day is the usual effective maintenance dosage. I don't know squat about schizophrenia, so I'm not going to argue with them.
For panic / anxiety - 2.5mg of Zyprexa a night should do it. but this is something you and your doctor will really have to work out. There just isn't enough published literature on its use for panic and anxiety, unfortunately.
I suggest an annual or semi-annual liver function panel, depending on the dosage, just to make sure your liver is always OK and to catch any major problems before they get out of hand.
How Long Zyprexa Takes to Work: Fast. Really fast. You should start feeling better the next day. OK, the next day "better" could be relative in that you may not give a rat's ass about anything at all, and that might be just too weird. But within a week, sometimes two, the zombie effect goes away and you have really calmed the hell down and can think straight. Unless you have a really nasty reaction to this med, there isn't a better drug on the US market for getting your head straight and letting you think clearly about things. You may not be able to get out of bed for most of the day, but if things were bad enough that you needed Zyprexa (olanzapine), then you need that bed rest, and don't let anyone else, especially yourself, try to convince you otherwise. So take some sick leave and start considering your treatment options. There are plenty of other meds out there for whatever you might have.
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How to Stop Taking Zyprexa: Your doctor should be recommending that you reduce your dosage of Zyprexa by 5mg a day every six days if you need to discontinue Zyprexa. Making it a week is just easier to remember. For more information, please see the page on how to safely stop taking these crazy meds. You can stop cold turkey if it's an emergency, but I wouldn't recommend doing that without a doctor's supervision. The major problem with stopping antipsychotics is a sudden return of your symptoms.
So if you're at 15mg a day you take 10mg a day next week, 5mg a day the week after that and then you're done.
If you've worked your way up to a particular dosage, it's usually best to spend this many days at the next lowest dosage before going down the next lowest dosage before that and so forth. This is the least sucky way to avoid problems when stopping any psychiatric medication. Presuming you have the option of slowly tapering off them.
Average Time it Takes for Zyprexa to Clear Out of Your System: An average of six days to get clean of Zyprexa.
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If you still have unanswered questions about this or other medications,
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Another problem is that you may not get a response even if I wanted to send you
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Dead tree references:
Essential Psychopharmacology Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph. D. © 2000. Published by Cambridge University Press
Essential Psychopharmacology of Antipsychotics and Mood Stabilizers Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph. D. © 2002. Published by Cambridge University Press
Essential Psychopharmacology of Depression and Bipolar Disorder Stephen M. Stahl, M.D., Ph. D. © 2001. Published by Cambridge University Press
A Primer of Drug Action Robert M. Julien, M.D., Ph. D. © 2001. We use the Ninth Edition. Sometimes that comes up on an Amazon search, usually it doesn't. Published by Worth Publishers
Physicians' Desk Reference Editions 53 & 56 Maria Deutsch & Anu Gupta, Drug Information Specialists, et al. © 1999, 2002. Published by Medical Economics Company.
Instant Psychopharmacology 2nd Edition Ronald J. Diamond M.D. © 2002. Published by W.W. Norton
The Complete Guide to Psychiatric Drugs Edward Drummond, M.D. © 2000. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Mosby's 2004 Drug Guide David Nissen PharmD, Editor.© 2004. An imprint of Elsevier. The edition we're using isn't listed on Amazon.
End of books used for this article.
Created Friday, October 08, 2004
Last updated Monday, May 24, 2010
Copyright © 2003 - 2008 Jerod Poore. All rights reserved.
Almost all of the material on this site is copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 Jerod Poore. Except, of course, the PI sheets, those are the property of the drug companies who developed the drugs the sheets are about. And any documents that are written by other people which may be posted to this site will remain the property of the original authors. You cannot reproduce this page or any other material on this site outside of the boundaries of fair use copying without the express permission of the copyright holder. That's usually me, so just ask first. That means if want to print out a few pages to take to your doctor, therapist, counselor, support group, non-understanding family members or something like that - then that's OK to just do. Go for it! Please. As long as you include this copyright notice and the following disclaimer, I'm cool with it.
All rights reserved. No warranty is expressed or implied in this information. Consult one or more doctors and pharmacists before taking, or changing how you take any neurological and/or psychiatric medication. Your mileage may vary. What happened to us won't necessarily happen to you. Nobody on this site is a doctor, therapist, or a pharmacist. We don't portray them either here or on TV. Only doctors can diagnose and treat an illness. Some doctors tend to get pissed off by patients who know too much about medications, so tread lightly when and where appropriate. Diagnosing yourself from a website is like defending yourself in court, you suddenly have a fool for a doctor. Don't be a cyberchondriac, thinking you have every disease you see a website about, or that you'll get every side effect from every medication. Self-prescribing is just as dangerous. All information on this site has been obtained through personal experience, the experiences of my friends, the experiences of people reported on online support groups, and from sources that are referenced throughout the site. Know your sources! As such the information presented here is not a substitute for real medical advice from your real doctor, just a compliment to it. No neurologists, psychiatrists, therapists or pharmacists were harmed in the production of this website. All brand names of the drugs listed in this site are the trademarks of the companies listed after them in the pages about the drugs, even though those companies may or may not have been acquired by other companies who may or may not be listed in this site by the time you read this. Always read the PI sheet that comes with your medications and never ever throw them away. If you didn't get a PI sheet, demand one. Loudly. Crazy Meds is not responsible for the content of sites we provide links to. We like them, or they're paid advertisements, or they're something you should read to make an informed decision about a particular med. Sometimes they're more than one of those things. But what's on those sites is their business, not ours. Very little information about visitors to this site is collected or saved. And from time to time I do look at search terms used to find it in an effort to make the information I present more relevant. Use only as directed. Void where prohibited.
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