Question: It is now day 4 of being on Zyprexa, the PA told me to start out small, so I took a pill cutter a d cut it up into 4 pieces, but it crumbled, so I think I took about 3.75 mgs along with my nightly 1.5 mgs of klonopin that I have been on since 1995, I have been completely stable since 1995 but this drug , it is listed as an anti psychotic bipolar medicine which I am not, I am experiencing a deep depression and I need sleep, but I can't get into see a psychiatrist until January 19th and that is too long to wait..do you think this zyprexa should be stopped, it helped me sleep the first nite, but as I increased the dose, I can't move my legs very well and my hands don't work and my muscles seem to be super tight, especially as evening sets in...should I stop taking this awful medicine? It has given me back my appetite, but it is not helping me get the sleep I desperately need...do you think I need a more sedative anti-depressants? I have been unable to sleep since October 7th...so it's been a month now...all the zyprexa does is put me in a drug induced coma, and I am terrified of addiction...I'm a grandmother of two small children who needs me to function, and my husband and children (grown adults) don't know what to do...and I don't either, I have been living a nightmare since October...any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for agreeing with me, my daughter wants me to continue with the zyprexa but I know my body and my muscles were getting rigid, and I know that is a bad sign, plus sleeping til 1:30 in the afternoon, I am happy to say I slept til 9 am this morning with just the klonopin @bedtime 1.5 mgs and 1/2 of Lunesta...1.5 mgs. My question now is how do I convince my dr that maybe I just need a sleeping pill and not these coma inducing drugs? What do I have to say to make them believe me? They just keep telling me I am in denial, but I fully believe I need an anti-depressants for a while, fall and winter always give me the blues, but I am not psychotic or bipolar. I see my PCP on Monday and I am not sure what to say to her. I was able to tolerate Wellbutrin in 2009, but she didn't want to give me that, I just want to feel normal again, and like I said I'm 55 years old and this has been hard on me, as I am getting older and the psychiatrist told me I should titrate off the klonopin as it can cause early onset Alzheimer's or dementia, which both terrify me..is there anything that could replace the klonopin that I have been on for 22 years?

I was on 4mgs back in 1995 for about 7 days, but got down to 2 mgs after released from hospital...I begged my psychiatrist to take me off of it but he said I needed it to remain calm and get some sleep, I never thought much about it until I found out it was a benzodiazepine and very addictive, so I asked to go into rehab to get off of it in 2008, he told me I wasn't addicted to it if my body needed it...so I titrated myself down to 1.5 mgs and have been on this since then, but I can't seem to get below it? So you think remeron would be a better Rx to take than the klonopin? How long would it take to get off the klonopin without having seizures? I don't want to get dementia.....the thought terrifies me..

Okay, thanks for your help, I finally got into a psychiatrist and she did put me on 30 mgs of remeron, and the first nite I took it, I slept fine, but last night, I was awake after just an hour and a half, my appetite is a bit better, but I need sleep, I called at sunrise and she is supposed to call me back. I felt good yesterday but got shaky and my heart started beating really fast around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, so I laid down for awhile, and that feeling abated...do you think I need a higher dose of remeron? I am 5'6" and weigh 69 kgs.

I slept last night for the second time in four days, yes the shaking has subsided some and my doctor never called me back, so she did not up the dose and has not returned my call...my daughter did some research and said the zyprexa might still be having an effect on my inability to sleep...so last night I got some good sleep, finally, I am grateful for your concise answers. Now I am just waiting to feel better, as I am weary of winter coming on but am still too weak to venture out. So you think in a couple more days my depression will lift? I told them how long I had been on the klonopin and they said they would wean me off of it as soon as my depression lifts...and slowly like you said, 1/4 mg at a time..thank you so much.

I slept for the third consecutive night but awoke and got up and it felt as if my hands were clinched, but they weren't, I was home alone and called my sister and she came out to stay with me, and we read the insert of drug reactions/side effects and I seemed to not have ability to coordinate my movements, it was terrifying, so I called my doctor and she said to take 15mgs and see if that stops this side effect. I am terrified of the side effects of these medications, is there any others that might help me sleep and eat and not have these side effects?