[Moose72]

Lots of muscle twitching today. Only med change has been reducing zyprexa to 7.5 (again) for the second day. What else could cause that- coffee? It's been happening all day. Even as I type this.

[Faltering]

Hm, I'd see if it continues. If it does, then maybe the med change is playing a role. It could be the coffee or anxiety. I get twitchy from those sometimes.

[Wild Coyote]

The twitching may come from Zyprexa decrease.
Time will tell.
Keep watch and call pdoc if it gets to be too much.


WC

[still_crazy]

I don't want to scare you, but there is "withdrawal-emergent tardive dyskinesia." See, antipsychotics cause TD and they also mask it. That's why increasing the dose of an antipsychotic makes TD symptoms less obvious, for a while; the tranquilizer suppresses the TD (for a lil bit...then it gets worse...).

In cases where it is, in fact, bona fide withdrawal emergent TD, the symptoms often get better over time. Having said that, zyprexa has a low rate of TD compared to many other tranquilizers, so that may not even be it.

I always twitch, meds or not. I think it's from my nerves. a nervous tick of sorts. Caffeine can make it worse for me.

[hahayeahtotallylol]

I have a lot of twitches i do too, mostly to stimulate myself when non-mobile.

Seroquel gave me a 100% involuntary lip twitch, though.

[Sad Mermaid]

I second the suspicion of the dreaded TD and recommend that you report it to the pdoc immediately.

[Moose72]

So you get TD from coming OFF zyprexa?

[still_crazy]

---if--- its withdrawal-emergent dysinesia, then the deal is that you had/have TD, but the zyprexa was suppressing it. Taper off the zyprexa, then the movements show thru.

[Moose72]

So usually you stop a med that is causing TD. What do you do when coming OFF a drug causes it?!

[Sad Mermaid]

Unfortunately there is no good answer to it. I am predisposed to TD because I experience acute neurological side effects to psych drugs, and I had an episode of an acute dyskenisia and since then have been reading up on it, and nothing is promising or reassuring. Please report this to the pdoc and update us when you hear back.

[still_crazy]

me again. --IF-- its TD, you have limited options w/ the prescription drugs. There are a couple "dopamine depletors" that can control the movements, there's clonazepam, and there's...switching to another atypical and hoping for the best. :-(

I do Orthomolecular with my tranquilizer (30mgs Abilify) to prevent TD. The core of the line up is high dose vitamin c, b-complex, niacinamide, natural form E (w/ mixed tocopherols).

The Orthomolecular people claim that people with TD--especially TD that hasn't been going on for too long--sometimes have success in reducing or eliminating the TD with similar vitamin cocktails. There's a little bit of research on using very, very high dose b6 to control TD, with some good results.

Other than that...I dunno. I think reserpine is sometimes used, and it can also be used for psychosis. Unfortunately, it has a reputation for causing depression.