[Wanderlust90]

How do you tell the difference between akasthesia & a "mixed" episode? Can ADs cause akasthesia?

[Nammu]

AD's certainly caused me lots of problems including akathesis.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I've had akathesia from at least one AD and it led to a concurrent mixed episode so that nothing would calm me down. At one point I was on 900 mg of Seroquel, 10 mg of Zyprexa, 4 mg of Klonopin (throughout the day), some dose of valium, some dose of hydroxyzine and my regular mood stabilizers and none of that was getting me any sleep, much less slowing me down at all. I wound up IP for a week. But that was a weird thing where the akathesia happened either from something given during surgery or from a chicken pox vaccine (I never had it) and could have been caused by 2 or 3 meds for all we knew. And my psych meds were messed up in the hospital which added to the mixed episode. And to make it even more fun it was gyn surgery and they messed with my ovaries so there was hormonal stuff adding to it. Still, not my favorite part of my life.

I hope you get it worked out. Neither of those are pleasant.

[Wanderlust90]

i just want the agitation to end. I want to feel relaxed without being completely apathetic.

I had this feeling before ADs, when commencing an AD, when on an AD & now when stopping one. I'm not sure if it's the meds or condition?

[Wanderlust90]

I should clarify that I mean I experienced these feelings intermittently, not continually. But do any others have similar experiences?

[BeyondtheRainbow]

If it is intermittant I would think it would be more likely to be mixed than akathesia, just based on my rounds of akathesia. One of the worst parts of akathesia for me has been that it never lets up. Not when I need to sleep, not when I need to eat (so I have trouble eating because it is impossible to sit still), not when I need to drive and not fidget horribly, etc. Maybe it can be different but that's my experience. Mixed episodes can sometimes feel like they improve and get worse for me when really I am just getting a bit more hypomanic for a while and then bouncing back to dysphoria. I don't often feel improvement while mixed that is brief but it has happened for brief periods before.

[Wanderlust90]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

If it is intermittant I would think it would be more likely to be mixed than akathesia, just based on my rounds of akathesia. One of the worst parts of akathesia for me has been that it never lets up. Not when I need to sleep, not when I need to eat (so I have trouble eating because it is impossible to sit still), not when I need to drive and not fidget horribly, etc. Maybe it can be different but that's my experience. Mixed episodes can sometimes feel like they improve and get worse for me when really I am just getting a bit more hypomanic for a while and then bouncing back to dysphoria. I don't often feel improvement while mixed that is brief but it has happened for brief periods before.

Thank you, my biggest problem is questioning the pdocs. You've helped to clear up a little bit of fuzzy ground for me.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

I hope you get answers and feel better soon.