How to overcome the side effects of Olanzapine tablets?

Question

Hello doctor,

My friend was extremely stressed at work and started telling things that never happened and was very delusional. We took her to a psychologist, who referred her to a psychiatrist. He told us she was in a state of psychosis due to stress and prescribed Oleanz 5 mg tablet for two days. But after taking medicine, she used to scream and cry sometimes and try to run out of the house; we were very worried. After two days doctor decreased the dosage to 2.5 mg, and she became calm but did not talk much and says she cant see properly and can not hear she is scared and her speech is also not clear like she is forming the words with difficulty. Are these symptoms normal, or has the dose been too much?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

From your description, it looks like your friend has developed stress induced acute psychotic episodes.

Olanzapine is an effective medication in this situation. 2.5 mg daily is a small dose only; it is not too much ( usual dose can go up to 10 to 20 mg daily). Encourage and support your friend to take her medication daily.

Since she is reporting some symptoms like not able to see properly, can not hear, unclear speech, it is advisable to get her reviewed by a psychiatrist to assess whether they are part of her illness thoughts or whether she is experiencing any side effects to her medication. Following an assessment, psychiatrist can adjust the dose accordingly.

Your friend will need support from her family & friends until she gets recovers from this stressful episode. She will start responding to medicine soon but it may take a few weeks before she feels well enough. Encourage her to take adequate rest and sleep well.