haldol and restlessness

Haldol is making me so restless I can't stand it! I'm okay as long as I'm not doing something that requires sitting, like reading. I called my pdoc and she upped my cogentin to 3mg a day, but so far it's not working all of the way. It takes the edge off, but that's it.

It's driving me nuts! Other than the restlessness I like haldol. It's the only AP I've been on that doesn't make me pass out thirty minutes after taking it.

Advice?

I don't know what to do.

That's how I was on latuda. 3 mgs of congentin wouldn't take away the restlessness. You're handling it better than me. I couldn't stand it! I just quit taking latuda. But proponanol can help too and benadryl....good luck!

Gabapentin can help akathesia when combined with cogentin but at a higher dose than you are on. I think I was on 1800mg when I used it that way and I may have been on more when I started it in the hospital and then came down after a day b/c I was slurring my speech and wobbling around.

Might be worth asking about though since you are already on it.

Thanks to both of you!

If this persists I think I'm going to have to go off it, which would be unfortunate. I'm running out of options here! I guess I would just ask if I can go on seroquel again.

I'll ask about the gabapentin. I was going to ask her for a dose increase anyway.

Does anyone know if the restless feeling will go away after awhile?

For me on the latuda it didn't. I would have days where it was less and be like, yay! Then the next day it would be horrible again. I would first start sweating then I would have to move. If I stood still I would feel like I was gonna fall through the floor. I would get this feeling like something really bad was going to happen, impending doom. My therapist talked to their on call pdoc and he said it sounded like I was having a panic attack as well as akathisia. He recommended I go off it.

Have you tried latuda? Bc it works for a lot of ppl...

I've had it on a few meds that were stopped because of it although I think there were other big issues going on with the ones that were stopped. Once I had surgery and was given something while under that caused really bad akathesia. At first I thought it was mania and we tried everything imaginabe to sedate it away (800 mgs of Seroquel plus 10 of Zyprexa plus benzos plus hydroxyzine plus who knows what all) and nothing helped, even after my pdoc realized I wasn't describing mania.

Even though the drug was long out of my system the akathesia continued and about 3 weeks post-op I was IP to get it controlled. It took a few days for them to start the treatment (weekend, my dr was off I think, don't remember) and I was so agitated that I had a 1:1 aide for one day. But when they put me on high dose gabapentin plus cogentin I started slowing down in a few hours and sat through a group about 6 hours later without leaving to pace, standing in the back bouncing on my tiptoes or sitting in a desk chair rocking side to side.

So meds can dramatically help. I know that my hospital uses propanolol with cogentin as the first line of treatment usually but I couldn't have propanolol at all, much less in a higher dose, because I have a low blood pressure normally, so I got gabapentin with the cogentin.

I guess the answer then is it depends. If I hadn't gone IP I don't know what would have happened but the IP treatment protocol was simple enough, just a lot of meds added all at once.

That does sound horrible! I don't have it quite that bad. Just this inner restless feeling where I can't sit for very long.

I haven't tried latuda because it's too expensive, even with insurance and that savings card (ninety dollars a month! Not happening). But a lot of doctors have wanted to put me on it!

Akathesia is such an uncomfortable experience! I got it really bad when I was on abilify, like worse than it is this time. I had to go off of it because of that.

I'm happy everything worked out in your situation!

Man your insurance really has you in a bind like somebody else on here. Hmmm...trying to think of what's went generic. Have you tried risperdal? It really works for me but I crave carbs like crazy. I'll make banana bread, fresh baked bread, and potato soup and it will all be gone in like 3 days, lol. My son will be eating it too but not as much as me. Carbs, carbs, carbs lol.

But maybe that would work?

Just so you guys know the high dose of neurontin will have the slurred speech ect side effects but thy end up going away. At my highest I was at 3600.it helps to start slow and build up but either way those effects don't last forever

rose - Risperdal is actually the only generic atypical I haven't tried! I don't want to go on it because I'm scared of weight gain or that it's going to make me lactate. I'll probably end up trying it anyway though.

I loved risperdal. I had the "this doesn't happen" side effect of doubling my blood pressure so I had to stop but I felt bettter in just a few days of the starting dose. The only weight I gained was fluid b/c of my blood pressure (I was only on it about 3 weeks though but I didn't have that constant hungry thing like Seroquel). I tried it again twice to be sure it was the problem and even then I tried to talk my pdoc into trying it again this year just because I know it works even if the blood pressure thing is a problem.

I took Haldol numerous years ago.. Cogentin only helped so much so we dropped my Haldol to every other day .. Then even to every 3rd day ..

If you factor in the Half life of most psych meds .. This is a good option ... Ask your Pdoc about it.

Im sorry your suffering with this..