anyone on olanzapine? - Mental Health Message Board

peace99 · 03-18-2009, 09:50 AM

Hi

My son has bad OCD, the pure O kind (meaning more of thoughts). He was on 80mg prozac and 0.5mg risperal. But it didn't help him.

Now the doctor wants to replace the 0.5mg risperdal with 2.5mg olanzapine.

I heard that olanzapine makes people obese. Anyone taking it and your views on it?

Thanks

peace99 · 03-18-2009, 10:28 AM

another name for it is zyprexa

irishwriter · 03-20-2009, 03:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peace99

Hi

My son has bad OCD, the pure O kind (meaning more of thoughts). He was on 80mg prozac and 0.5mg risperal. But it didn't help him.

Now the doctor wants to replace the 0.5mg risperdal with 2.5mg olanzapine.

I heard that olanzapine makes people obese. Anyone taking it and your views on it?

Thanks

yes, it caused weight gain even on good diet and exercise plan which i always hve anyway. also made me v. tired.

light the world · 03-20-2009, 01:20 PM

I took it for my psychosis a long time ago. Didn't work at all for me. Just made me gain weight and made me tired. Didn't so much mind the fact that it made me tired saying that I had insomnia at the time. My younger brother was on this and it actually worked for him though. He was on 5mg of it I think. Personally I'd avoid olanzapine if you can just because it can make you gain weight. Trust me even on a healthy diet and exercise it will still make the person gain weight. Its the worst out of the atypical meds.I'm sorry I don't know anything about treating OCD so I couldn't offer any other tips in treating it but I'd say just do what you think is best for your son.

Ruhia · 05-06-2009, 09:14 AM

Olanzapine does have the know side effect of increasing appetite HOWEVER every medication will work for everyone in a slightly different way, there is no guarantee that you child will gain weight but there is no guarantee that he won't.
I have a suggestion. Trail it for three to four months. but that time it would have had time to seriously kick in when it comes to his OCD and you can see if he's gaining weight.
Then make a judgement. Are the benefits outweighing the side effects? Bear in mind that you as a parent have a lot of control over his diet and that if he is gaining weight a few adjustments, a consult with a dietician and the whole family setting an example by putting exercise into your day (e.g. a daily family walk with the dog etc, the kids will moan and groan but they will get used to it). Look at how much it is improving his obsessive behaviour/thoughts. I have seen people taking olanzapine for OCD and for some people it was the only drug that worked, and it worked really really well. In my opinion when it comes to things like this its worth trialling all your options, if you don't like it/ its not working you can always try something else. But its worth taking the time to trial it so that you can find the very best combo of meds and lifestyle to really help your son.
Good luck.