Rose,  We experienced a similar effect when we started my MIL on
Zyprexa.  I think she must have been further along than your mother
is/was-because she had long lost any interest in the news, TV programs,
and couldn't follow any reading.  What she was doing was arguing a lot
because many basic routines were not making sense to her any longer.
Our biggest battle was keeping her up till 8:30 at night; but anything
that required me to tell her what to do or what was next was met with
resistance.  As the words/explanations made little sense to her-she
became fairly defensive and I learned not to rile her and just go with
the flow.  My feeling after the Zyprexa was started was that she still
felt that resistance, but the manifestation was blunted-to the point
that she couldn't keep track of the thought long enough to mount a
rebuttal.  It certainly made distraction and redirection possible and
her management MUCH easier most of the time.  Sadly, the disease
continues to progress and the Zyprexa was able to be tapered after we
placed her in a dementia-specific ALF because the environment was so
controlled.  She was on it for about 18 months total-and it was a
godsend.  I did notice a more shuffling, stooped gait after about 6
months (I'm a physical therapist and am tuned into that kind of thing),
but it didn't impact her function and pretty much resolved when the drug
was stopped. Fortunately, she really has had relatively mild behavior
problems in the big scheme of things; for which we are grateful.

Beth

Hi Rose
I just wanted to say I was on zyprexa for four years and it did not have
this effect on me.  I really felt it was doing me good.

Then the new info came out that it causes diabetes etc so my doc took me
off of it cause my insurance refused to pay for it...I am now taking
seroquel which works quite as well and is cheaper.

Dont know if this would apply to your mom as I was prescribed it for
bipolar disorder and anxiety.

Try asking doc for another script if you feel this is affecting her
so...JMO

I am supposed to take zyprexa 10 mgs to help cope with
dysphoria(anxiety,irritability,busy mind etc) but struggle to do so because
it makes me feel zombified.It is certainly hard to think straight when you
are walking around like a 'tit in the trance'.However  with an illness like
schizophrenia intellectual functioning has been found to be compromised in
first admission patients who have not been previously put on anti psychotics
which does point to zyprexa and other anti psychotics not being primarily
responsible for their intellectual functioning problems .
Indeed i personally know several people with
bipolar/schizoaffective/schizophrenia who have not experienced the
zombifying effect i have on zyprexa who say that it has really helped them
cognitively.
My wife takes 10 mgs zyprexa orodispersible and it doesn't have anything
like the 'zombifying' effect on her that it does on me.

I personally found Seroquel to be a lot worse than Zyprexa.

Don't belive to coincidences. Zyprexa made me dumb for quite a lot.
If your mother stops taking it and her situation goes worse, don't
worry.
It's not her disease it's Zyprexa. The days that will be required to
go back to her usual state depend on how many pills she had swallowed.
Insomnia could be a problem, even worse than before.
I'm glad to make you know what nobody made me know.

Good Luck

My mother-in-law was on a "low dose" of Zyprexa for a few
weeks.  Her intellectual functioning went way down, her
gait changed (hadn't thought about that until Beth mentioned
it), and she spent most of each day nodding off.  We took
her off it.

    Alan