Olanzapine as a mood stabaliser

[Beetzart]

Hi all,

Been taking Olanzapine for over 15 months and now mainly been on 2.5mg until recently. Since the docs have realised I have had recurrent mood swings they have increased the dosage in 2.5mg incruments to 10mg. This dose really knocks me out for the count but in morning I wake up early and full of life. I didn't expect this at a higher dose.

I am just wondering how people have found this drug with regards to being a MS. I find I still get very depressed and suicidal on it.

Any advice gratefully recieved.

Beetzart

[Silver]

It is a good mood stabilizer (although that's a vaguely defined term) and 10mg isn't a very high dose - you have room to go up, if needed.

I suspect your experience is pretty common: you feel less draggy at the higher dose because it's starting to actually hit the systems it needs to hit. It has to get up to that dose to cover those systems.

The sedation doesn't go away at the lower doses, but the other helpful mood effects don't kick in until the higher doses. 10mg is kind of the beginning effective range for a lot of adults.

Zyprexa's often not enough unto itself - an antiepileptic and/or lithium are also standard care, with lithium continuing to have the best evidence (and it's still the only drug, other than clozapine, with evidence showing it reduces suicidal behavior.) But Zyprexa is very fast acting, and it's often one of the first drugs started for that reason. Of the antipsychotics, it's probably the best-supported choice.

Also, if you're a smoker, you will likely need a significantly higher dose - smoking makes your body clear Zyprexa much more quickly.

Good to hear it's working (sort of working, anyway.)