chronic akathisia

I developed severe akathisia after taking Seroquel, Risperdal and Prozac- we are not sure of which one was the offender- docs think most likely  it was the risperdal however prozac was initiated around the same time.  I was on seroquel many years without any difficulty.  The seroquel and risperdal were given for sleeping problems and the prozac for anxiety.  Anyhow, about 4 months after the addition of the Risperdal I started feeling extremly restless and like I was having constant abdominal spasms.  I stopped all 3 of the meds and have been off of them 2 months now.  I saw a neurologist who specializes in movement disorders and she is not sure if I have akathisia or dyskinisia, based on the strange location of the symptom.  She started me on Xanax and I am up to 2 mg a day- with still lots of suffering.   When I first started the xanax and got off all of the meds above I started to feel significantly better- it was there but still manageable and then about 2-3 weeks later I started feeling even worse again.  The only thing i can think of that may be contributing to feeling worse is the addition of Rozerem for sleep- which I started about 2 weeks after the xanax.  I did research and don't find akathisia associated with it but i do see it can increase restlessness and anxiety. Im thinking I should get off of the rozerem and see how i feel, but then I am back to not sleeping.  I am getting more depressed and hopeless that this will never go away. Every other med the doctors talk about putting me on for sleep or depression also carries with it the risk of akathisia or dyskinisia.  The neurologist mentioned klonipin (klonopin) as an option to try if the xanax was not effective.  The psychiatrist mentioned propranalol but i have very mild asthma and my pulmonary doctor was wary about that.  Have you ever seen Rozerem exasperate akathisia? And do you have any other suggests on how I can deal with this horrible feeling.  I am also taking vit. E, 200 IU day, vit B6 and B12.

[DarksideOftheMoon]

I have akatheisia too, and I was on Propranolol, and it got a lot better but its still there. I still have it.. I take Lithium and Zoloft. I guess its classified as Chronic and accute and accute being it goes away in less that 6 months... well I had it for more. I got it from my Zyprexa and now if I have to live with it for the rest of my life.. Im going to have a crappy life, because I'm only 18.

[ILADVOCATE]

  Akathesia is a temporary movement disorder that can be caused by some medications. Tardive dyskinesia is a long term movement disorder that appears similar but is long term. Tardive akathesia is one variant of tardive dyskinesia. I have tardive dyskinesia in advanced form. However it is treatable and there are an increasing number of options, some in clinical study but FDA approved and could be prescribed off label if standard treatment options don't work. A neurologist who is a movement disorders specialist would understand this in full and it would be essential to obtain a referral. Two websites that would be of help are "patient education tardive dyskinesia" (note as the website itself says "some of these medications are medically necessary") and the emedecine website on tardive dyskinesia which you could discuss with a movement disorders specialist. The medications I was tried on in standard use were Miraplex, Aricept, Bachlophen and Requip and Xenazine was considered as were Botox injections depending on the extent of the spasmic activity. I was then tried on more experimental medications such as Zofran (which is an approved medication in clinical study for tardive) and the nature remedy rhodiola (which can be taken under the supervision of a neurologist). Right now the only antipsychotic that won't "mask while worsen" tardive dyskinesia is Clozaril but there are antipsychotics in clinical study which will not cause tardive dyskinesia so there is much research in that area. Its a matter of seeing the appropriate specialist whom you could discuss this information with and they could provide an appropriate clinical determination.