Dear Dr Phelps,
Please can you help me.

I would like to know whether or not the benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms that I have seen discussed on various internet sites, may apply to the "antipsychotic" drug olanzapine?  I found out that olanzapine belongs to the thienobenzodiazepine class, and has chemical designation:

2-methyl-4-(4-methyl-1-piperazinyl)-l OH-thieno[2,3-b] [1,5] benzodiazepine

I am sorry to trouble you about this, but I have tried searching for information on olanzapine withdrawal on the internet, and have been unable to find anything.

Many Thanks,

Jon

Dear Jon -- 
I'll confess my chemistry classes are too far in the past for me to comment on the structures, as to whether there is a relationship between benzodiazepines (e.g. Valium, Librium, Xanax, Klonopin -- for other readers) and Zyprexa beyond the similarity in their chemical names.  I can tell you that they act very differently in most respects, except that both can exert a strong calming action.  Further, I'm not aware of any reports of "withdrawal" from Zyprexa (we do see that with serotonergic antidepressants, as you may know, though not the dangerous withdrawal one can see coming off benzodiazepines); nor have I seen anything like that in my practice.  

Dr. Phelps


Published July, 2001