How To Wean Off Olanzapine?

Posted on Fri, 5 Aug 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 5 Aug 2016 Answered on

Sat, 3 Sep 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi Mr.

My name is XXXX and i am from iceland and i live in iceland.

I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia around 3 and a half years ago.

and i've been on Olanzapine since then.

i've been lowering my dose because my plan is to get under full (100%) dose of this drug. and then in the end quit the drug completely.

i've been in alot of contact with Dr. XXXXXXX Solanki here on this website.

but i very much want your assistance too. since i want to quit this drug extra safely.

i need to wait too long for psychiatrist assistance in iceland. that is why i am looking to you.

reason why i want to have two psychiatrists assisting me is because i need to do this extra safe because then my personal-freedom-certificate is alot more likely to stay in my hands, and then they cant force me to stay inside a mental hospital.

so my question is:

are you willing to be my treating doctor ? i am seeking to get psychiatrist-approved-permission to take action in reducing my Olanzapine (Zyprexa) dose further. and i also need some information regarding this reduction.

i am currently on 5 mg Zyprexa pill per day.

if you are willing to be my treating psychiatrist, do you need some more information from me or about me ?

i now have my personal-freedom-certificate and i have been out of mental hospital for around 18 months now. i have been working on reducing my Zyprexa dose for around 2 years now.

i have been on 5 mg of Zyprexa per day for around 35 days now and im thinking of lowering my dose by 1,25 mg pretty soon. then i would be on 3,75 mg of Zyprexa per day.

Thanks so much for reading this.

i wish you a very good day :)

Answered by Dr. Alexander H. Sheppe (10 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Private Consultation

Detailed Answer:
Hello, and thank you so much for using my private direct service. I now consider you a private patient, and will do everything I can to be of service to you.

I would be happy to be your primary treating psychiatrist on this website. I am unable to prescribe medication, because this is illegal in the United States without directly examining you in-person. However, I can provide advice about Zyprexa and discuss with you the risks and benefits of continuing it versus decreasing the dose.

Schizophrenia is a chronic illness that requires lifelong medication management to keep you out of a mental hospital. Zyprexa is an excellent medication to keep you healthy. I am curious as to why you want to decrease it when it has done such a good job of keeping you out of the hospital for so long -- it doesn't quite make sense to me that you would want to stop it. You are on a low dose, which is an appropriate maintenance dose for your condition. Perhaps you can educate me on why you would want to decrease it.

Dr. Sheppe

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Arnab Banerjee