Latuda and restlessness

I've noticed since I've been on latuda that my fidgeting habit (which has been gone for years) has returned. I l constantly jiggling my leg, tapping my foot, or rocking in my seat. I can't sit still anymore. And I do it without even realizing that I'm doing it. My sister in law pointed it out to me on Saturday.

And there seems to be an "inner" restlessness too. I am constantly bored. Like I just want to be doing something but I don't know what. I'm even bored while driving. I actually don't do much. I work and then go home and try to nap for an hour but never can, and then I get my son and make him dinner and then that's the extent of my evening. Maybe that's why I'm so intensely bored.

I'm also having trouble sleeping. Not every night but often enough that it's annoying. When I was on 80mg I was acutely anxious, like sick to my stomach anxious every minute of every day. That has subsided since dropping back down to 60mg.

Has anyone had this with latuda? The fidgeting isn't annoying to me, although I'm sure it makes me look a little crazy. But the boredom is horrible. I'm thinking of going to the craft store and getting some yarn and taking up loom knitting again. I quit because I found it pointless but I'll make a few hats and scarves if it will keep me busy.

I have a script for cogentin that I never filled but it's probably expired now, it's two months old. I have a pnurse appt on August 10 where I will mention all of this. I don't know if cogentin would help with the inner restlessness.

The only other thing is I've been getting flashes of nausea a couple hours after taking the latuda. This didn't happen with the samples but I wonder if the pharmacy has a version with a different ingredient in it that's making me sick. It's not terrible but again, annoying.

Your cogentin script should be fine. If it's not a controlled substance I think you get a year to fill them. Not sure on that but I know I've filled things several months after they were written.

You might still be ok to fill the congentin Rx. I think my pharmacy said like 6 months.

What time do you take Latuda? I have to take it at bedtime and get to sleep within an hour or so, or I do get restless. I get what feels like restless leg syndrome in my calves. End up tossing and turning and getting up an pacing. It's horrible. If I get to sleep I'm fine though.

The pharmacy version of Latuda is exactly the same as the samples. Since it's still name brand it all comes from the same place. Once it goes generic there will be a chance for differences, but as of now it's all the same.

I tried Latuda for 2 weeks. During the second week, I stared fidgeting and getting anxious. The anxiety got really bad; I wanted to get up, leave the room, leave the building, crawl out of my skin... I will never say someone "just has anxiety" ever again. I did not walk a mile in their shoes; I could not stand more than maybe a quarter mile. I have had anxiety; I did drugs in my younger days had the paranoia about being detected, I have paced while one of my kids was in surgery and had lots of other experiences I would describe as high anxiety. It was nothing like this. Wherever I was, I wanted to be out of there. Needless to say, I stopped taking Latuda...

I got horrific restlessness, I wanted to crawl out of my skin. The fidgeting wasn't to bad but the inner feeling was awful. I persevered with it for a while but in the end had to stop taking it because it was awful. I tried something to help with the restlessness and it helped a little, you might find something that works but for me latuda was horrible

I don't know. My only other option is vraylar and no one knows too much about that drug. I wish I could have stayed on invega. I didn't want to do this whole med merry go round again. But I have to be stable. I'm hoping to start my master's in social work in the spring. I'm hoping to build a whole new career. I don't want bipolar to take me down.

At least my mood is still mostly stable. Only slight depression and it could be situational. No hypomania. I'd say maybe I don't need meds but I know that's not true. It worked for six years and then it was hell figuring out the right meds again. I have no doubt my symptoms will come back if I'm not medicated.

hi. my big problem with this sort of thing is that tranquilizers=long term treatment (usually...), so there's the potential for tardive syndromes, including the hellish (but rarely mentioned...) tardive akathisia.

personally, id try the vraylar (I probably spelled that wrong) and see if that could help. is that the cleaned up, new and improved Abilify? D2 partial agonists have their own set of problems--akathisia being a big one, it seems--but if it was me, I'd personally want to switch to a tranquilizer that didn't cause these sorts of problems, just because of the potential for long term, sometimes irreversible, problems.

I agree with you about akathisia rarely being mentioned by pdocs. It's my concern there's not enough "informed consent" for the clients when tranquilizers are prescribed. I am also concerned about the overuse of tranquilizers, putting more people at risk.

Which type of tranquilizers do not have the potential for causing tardive syndromes?

Thank you!

WC

hi. all of them --can-- cause tardive syndromes. my problem is that now docs prescribe like its the 60s or something. an upper for this, a tranquilizer for that...it'll be great, kiddo! yeah, no.

akathisia sometimes goes away. obviously, it can also be suppressed w/ additional drugs. ive read stories of people who developed tardive akathisia on the 'atypicals,' and its...horrible. i mean, tardive dyskinesia is rough enough, tardive akathisia is non-stop, inner torment. some doctors apparently use opiates and/ or benzodiazepines which...makes life more bearable, im sure, but doesn't do a whole lot to fix anything.

i read one case report on tardive akathisia from abilify that responded to...remeron, i think. i forget the reasoning behind all that, but it worked.

i dunno. at this point, im doing the orthomolecular thing w/ the tranquilizer (abilify, in my case) and im doing much better than before the vitamins. no eps, no td, no akathisia, minimal drug induced dysphoria and cognitive problems, etc.

I have recently discontinued Latuda and my anxiety has dropped significantly.
I had eventually become very anxious after a few months on Latuda and my pdoc and I could not figure out why. Overwhelming anxiety about everything. It was the Latuda.

I hope you find the meds which work best for you... pronto.


WC

You always mention your orthomolecular/vitamin approach, but I don't recall hearing anything other than a super-B you take. Care to share with the group what you take to guard against the side effects?

I take a multi and a super-B complex, but that's it for vitamins. Amino acids, now that's another story. They've been helping me a ton.

Tardive dyskinesia, though still a "movement disorder" is not the same as akathisia. If you like the drug generally it's worth adding Cogentin. When I was on with Abilify I had extreme akathisia. The cogentin worked, but caused too many side effects. Now, with Latuda, I take propranolol and have no problems at all.

i take: 20 grams vitamin c (they're 1 gram, time release tablets; 10 in the AM, 10 again PM), 1,000 IU natural form vitamin E w/ mixed tocopherols, 2 b-100 complex tablets AM and again PM (these are also time release), 3 grams time release niacinamide (B3) AM and PM; 10,000mcg biotin (pure vanity...it works!); and a number of "add ons" to the more traditional Orthomolecular line up (astaxanthin, lycopene, natural form beta carotene, green tea extract, grape seed extract, soy isoflavones, etc.).

The B3 (I prefer niacinamide, some take niacin, others take a mix of different forms) helps anxiety in a benzodiazepine-ish sort of way, plus it may have a number of health benefits. Orthomolecular people use cocktails similar to mine to help people with established cases of TD, with some reports of success over the long haul.

I doubt most people would want or need to take doses as high as mine. To be fair, I'm diagnosed with "obsessive traits," and I think that comes out in my vitamin protocol. Having said that...I have 0 EPS, 0 TD, my psychiatric symptoms are much better controlled, etc....so, I do think the "alternative" health people are on to something.

I'm with you on the alternative philosophy holding some water. Since I've been taking amino acids, I haven't been depressed once. Granted I'm still taking my meds, but I'm considering reducing one of them and seeing how things go.

I was on a high dose of Latuda and developed a severe tremor from it, but didn't really experience the akathsia. Although, I did start picking at my cuticles while on Latuda and even though I am no longer on it I am still struggling with the skin-picking, which is still really bad. Akathisia is absolutely miserable; no one can live like that. Although Cogentin didn't do anything to help my tremor, I think you should try it - maybe it will help your agitation.

I wish I had some great advice for you. All I can think of is to give the Cogentin a try or try a different AP.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akathisia

I had bad restlessness with Latuda until it was reduced to 20mg. Now it's gone. I still have some TD with my mouth, though it's more noticeable when I'm anxious. I'll deal with it before switching to another drug.

Sigh....I guess I'll fill the cogentin script and see what happens. That's what my nurse is gonna ask me when I see her on the tenth anyway.

But I feel like what's the point of being on this med if it can't be raised in the future should I encounter mood problems? I need flexibility.

Maybe I should get off my *** and go to the gym to help get this energy out.

I'm only on 20 mg of Latuda. I haven't noticed any marked boredom. I've felt a little anxious but Latuda stopped the music and voices so it's a fair trade-off for me.
Other than that, I don't notice I'm on anything.

I used to get horrific, torture-like full body akathisia on Seroquel.

I am now using it again, 8 years later, but with Atarax (a strong antihistamine). At first I would wake up from jerky knee shakes, but it went away. I take 25 mg of Atarax at bedtime, together with Seroquel. Atarax is a very benign med and I would try it first.

Beta blockers (atenolol, propranolol) gave me dangerously low blood pressure, so they are out for me. I have not tried Cogentin for akathisia.

Tardive akathisia sounds super scary...

Any type of akathisia scares me. Without propranolol, cogentin, librium, and I'm pretty sure gabapentin I get horrible akathisia on haldol. I still get it mildly in all honesty, but it feels more like an internal uneasiness instead of an internal restlessness. I worry now I'll get that even after I go off of haldol! (If I ever go off of it anyway.)