Wtf!! My Dr Should Have Told Me He Was Putting Me On An Antipsychotic!!

[trying to heal]

ok so yes i have not been doing very well lately and have chronic insomnia due to cPTSD and the medication i was on was working adequately for insomnia but not working so well on my moods. He discussed putting me on a new drug that would cover both insomnia and spiralling mood.

Ive been on it (olanzapine) now for 4 days and it is rubbish for my insomnia and I haven't noticed any difference in moods. ( yes i do know most drugs take weeks to get to therapeutic level).

Thought i would do a little research on it and turns out it is an anti-psychotic and for use with BPD and schizophrenia. I dont have either of those. I feel like he should have told me before he did that. Now i feel anxious and hurt all over again.

I am going in to hospital most likely next week so i guess they will review medications there again anyway.

 

[7Cs]

ok so yes i have not been doing very well lately and have chronic insomnia due to cPTSD and the medica...

Which anti-psychotic is it?
I was on risperdal for my sleep issues and because of irritability/ anger. I wasn't violent or psychotic.

It really helped with sleep.

 

[Silver.]

There are no medications specifically to treat PTSD, only medications that can help with some of the symptoms that arise. When I look up Olanzapine, it says is a thienobenzodiazepine, it acts in the way of klonopin, which is a benzodiazepine that is used to treat panic and anxiety. I used to take klonopin at bedtime, which helped with chronic insomnia that I have had for 24 years.
A lot of medications are used off label, meaning that they work for other symptoms/disorders than the original intent. I wouldn't be too worried about it's original intent, as long as you are tolerating it, it's worth giving it a fair try.
It also might be good to see if you can get a sleep specialist to help you evaluate your sleeping habits and see if anything else could be done about the insomnia.

 

[FauxLiz]

@Cydavies, I understand your hurt and anxiety about being put on a medication in this class. I have neither BPD nor schizophrenia but I had for about 9 months two doctors (my neurologist and my psychiatrist) advocating that I try Lithium. In my case my depression was spiraling down and I have two neuro conditions Chiari Malformation and Intractable Migraine and this med was suggested to help with both conditions.

I finally agreed to try this medication around Oct of 2016, I have struggled with accepting being on an anti-psychotic as I was concerned about how my insurance company and doctors would interpret my mental health. Again this is just my experience but Lithium has made an unprecedented improvement to my mood. Unfortunately it does not help my migraines as they continue 20-25 days a month with relentless pain but I will stick with it. I can't say that the olanzapine will work but I would give it a shot.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

Different meds can help other things even if they're antipsychotics. I take a drug used for schizophrenia but at a lower dose and I use it to help with anxiety. It works really well. So just because one medication happens to be in a group, it can help with other things. It's like taking prazosin for nightmares. Prazosin is a medication to help with blood pressure, but they did research and figured out that it's really effective at helping patients with PTSD with nightmares. I agree that your doctor should have explained the medication better, but just wanted to let you know that some medications are labeled one thing can help other things as well.

 

[Deleted member 30036]

I understand where you are coming from as i am a very bad insomniac in saying that its common practice for people who suffer bad insomnia purely because they are generally very sleep inducing medications if your having a real hard time and cant sleep ask for a tablet called Lunesta *Eszopiclone* it works well in the short-term so you can atleast get some form of sleep

 

[Friday]

The way medications are classed isn't actually by what they're best used for, but politically, what drugs does the company who developed it already have on the market?

DrugCompanyA already has a best selling antidepressant? Develops an even better antidepressant? Do they get it labeled as an antidepressant? Nope! They look at what else it works for, and label it under that. Antipsychotic, antianxiety, etc. Even if it's only a mediocre antipsychotic, or lousy antianxiety. Because, no matter what, it makes them more money to do so. The viagras of the world are extremely rare. (Where it makes them more money to have a drug relabeled. Viagra was originally a heart med.)

Then docs talk amongst themselves and start using it "off-label".

It costs hundreds of millions, even billions, to develop a new drug. From R&D to the approval & labeling process. It's all politics. Which is part of why -especially stateside- it's important not to get Rx'd by a GP, but a psychiatrist. Who is a part to "talking amongst themselves" & pays attention to all the politicking in the psych med world. All the drug updates, recalls, studies, and chatter surrounding hundreds of drugs.

Essentially? ANY psych med, can be used for any disorder. Ignore the label, and pay attention to the results.

 

[Fiadh]

Antipsychotic are used for soooo many different conditions, off label especially. They can be extremely useful, for example in Tourette's for tic reduction or anxiety/agitation, even extreme hiccups. However so many people have a reaction like yours to the term 'antipsychotic'. As if..' how dare you suggest I'm psychotic'. Instead if you were told it was a dopamine antagonist, you might have a different reaction, research it with more curiosity and see how or why it was prescribed for your set of symptoms.

 

[whiteraven]

I totally get why you're upset about this. I was so freaked out when my psychiatrist approached me about this a few years back. He tried me on both Zyprexa (Olanzapine) and Abilify. Both are atypical antipsychotics and commonly used (usually in conjunction with an antidepressant but sometimes alone) for mood disorders and can be sedating, so might also help with sleep. The zyprexa didn't help me, but Abilify is the only thing that's helped me (I can't take it, though, because I can't afford it). It took me awhile to try them, because I didn't want to be on anything called an "antipsychotic," but I'm really glad I did.

 

[trying to heal]

Antipsychotic are used for soooo many different conditions, off label especially. They can be extremely...

I'm not in any way saying "how dare you say im psychotic" ... I have a background in mental health and know why they are prescribed for different conditions. It was more I felt I should have been informed about it rather than just not given any information about what drug it was.

It was partially my fault as I normally do my research but I have not been in the right frame of mind to do that recently.

 

[Fiadh]

@Cydavies not saying you did think that but some people do have that thought due to the name given to them. It's the same when antidepressants are used for pain relief purposes, some people think that they are being lied to, that the doctor thinks they are psychotic/depressed. But you're right your doctor should have been straight with you, but maybe wasn't because of reactions they have had in the past and when they feel it could be beneficial to some people. Sorry if I caused any offence, the doctor should have been clear with you and explained what drug it was and why.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Thought i would do a little research on it and turns out it is an anti-psychotic and for use with BPD and schizophrenia. I dont have either of those. I feel like he should have told me before he did that. Now i feel anxious and hurt all over again.

I take an anti-psycotic, Seriquel XR, and am not psycotic. I take it for anxiety and mood stabilty. Abilify is an anti-psycotic but in lower doses it is being advertised as being for depression to take along with an anti-depressant.

Anti-psycotics in low doses are great for a large number of things. Depression, anxiety, mood instabilties, insominia, bipolar, BPD, and an array of other things. Not sure about this one med but in just in general.