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My psychiatrist prescribed Zyprexa for my bipolar illness. I noticed that I was hungry all the time. I was gaining weight rapidly. When I confronted my psychiatrist about the weight-gain and my fear of getting diabetes, he dismissed my qualms. “You just have to have willpower,” he told me.
Well, willpower doesn’t help if your mouth waters at food you never previously dreamed of eating. I bought vats of rice pudding and devoured it, then felt ashamed that I didn’t have “willpower.” Finally, I convinced my doctor that Zyprexa had severe side-effects.Sometimes, the patient has to do research on the drug. Then you are an active advocate for yourself.
Many mental health consumers enhance their quality of life with psychoactive medications, especially in conjunction with talking therapy. But what burns me up is evidence that pharmaceutical companies are getting rich off our suffering without giving us the facts.
The December 17, 2006 New York Times devoted an article to Zyprexa marketing, one of the newer atypical antipsychotic drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar illness. There has long been a suspected link between Zyprexa and diabetes, but Eli Lilly played that down. However, a lawyer representing plaintiffs who were forced to take the drug under an Alaskan version of Kendra’s Law released internal Lilly documents that showed the company had known of this connection between Zyprexa and diabetes since its introduction in 1996. Zyprexa is by far Eli Lilly’s best-selling product with $4.2 billion in sales in 2005—30% of its overall revenue. It is the country’s sixth largest drug company.
“Olanzapine (Zyprexa)-associated weight gain and possible hyperglycemia is a major threat to the long-term success of this critically important molecule,” wrote Dr. Alan Breier, the chief scientist on the Zyprexa program at Eli Lilly. Hyperglycemia is high blood sugar, which can lead to diabetes. A high percentage of patients taking Zyprexa gain weight. Lilly’s own data shows that 30 percent of patients taking Zyprexa gain 22 pounds or more after a year on the drug and some report gaining 100 pounds or more.
“When someone gains weight, they need more insulin, they become more insulin-resistant,” said Dr. Joel Zorszein, the director of the clinical diabetes center of Montefiore Medical Center, when asked about Zyprexa.
Diabetes II, associated with high blood sugar and weight gain, can be a life-threatening chronic illness. It is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every major part of the body. If left untreated, it contributes to blindness, heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations and nerve damage. Diabetes can be managed through diet, exercise, checking blood sugar, and monitoring with a doctor. But many people go undiagnosed.
Still, Zyprexa can be an effective medication for acutely psychotic patients and those considering suicide, because it works faster than other medicines. Still, patients need to know the facts. Drug companies have a legal responsibility to tell the public about the most serious side-effects of their medications, not hold back because it will affect sales.