[flowerpetal42]

does anyone else suffer with this and did it go away all I get from psychiatrist is hope it will go away...

[hamster-bamster]

If you have akathisia, it is very unlikely that it will go away on its own, although there have been cases.

Usually, akathisia means one of the three:

- take "antidote" drugs alongside the drug that is causing it
- reduce the dosage of the drug that is causing it
- go off the offending drug.

I had akathisia and can only compare it with torture, as I can imagine torture, and I am not the only person on here to have made this comparison.

You need to act. There are side effects that self-resolve, usually - GI upset is one - and others that do not. Akathisia, usually, is of the latter kind.

[flowerpetal42]

this is plain torture when you want to relax ... ty for the info

[cool09]

My, God. That's the worst thing I ever experienced (on several different meds: Haldol, Loxitane). It's difficult to describe. When your arm or leg muscles are still for a millisecond you get this sensation where the only thing that partially alleviates it (for another millisecond) is to move and shake it. And it is continuous and goes on for hrs and hrs. Most nights in the hospital I could not get to bed until 4-6AM after I was completely spent.

I thought cogentin was supposed to help? Don't think it ever really helped me.

[buttrfli42481]

I had it when I started Abilify. I am now at 30mgs and don't have it. However I have RLS and take Requip for that, which my pdoc says can help with the akathia. I understand your frustration in not being able to get rest. It really does suck. The cogentin worked for me at the lower dose, and since being prescribed the requip, my pdoc took me off the cogentin. Trying to limit the number of meds I am on.

[flowerpetal42]

I got it only when I hit the 10 mgs and did not have it before that when I started abilify and was on it for 6 months.

[amandalouise]

Originally Posted by flowerpetal42

does anyone else suffer with this and did it go away all I get from psychiatrist is hope it will go away...

yes I get it often. where I grew up its called shes got the wandering legs/mind.

my treatment providers call it restless leg syndrome.. and for pregnant folks its called nesting...its from feeling the need/urge to constantly be moving around..

with me it comes with many different things like medications, lack of sleep, poor diet, not enough exercise, stress....

when it happens I first try the exercise and diet problem..if adjusting my activity and diet doesnt settle things down I sit down and figure out how much sleep I have been getting..if that doesnt settle things down I call my treatment providers. we make adjustments to my medications and I adjust my work.

usually one or a combo of those things solves the problem for me.

cogentin (sp?) takes care of it! awful side effect.

It is horrible. I agree with Hamster-Bamster, receiving a reduced dosage of the offending drug or changing to another that does not cause this condition. Best of luck to you.

[-jimi-]

I assume it is from a med. I have had akathisia going away on SSRIs and once on a very low dosage of an antipsychotic. On a larger dosage of antipsychotic, I don't think it goes away. And it should be handled with care. Most people do not know there is a thing called tardive akathisia. It is when the akathisia is forever even without the med. It is rarely mentioned since tardive dyskinesia is so much more common.

Akathisia from meds are not related to restless legs and does not respond to diet. It responds to changing your meds, with a doctor.

[eskielover]

I had the parkinson's like side effect from 2 similar meds I was on....didn't know it at the time & thought I was really sick...I couldn't even use my hands to feed myself & couldn't even walk myself into the bathroom. I was taking a med for my migraine nausea & then a med my pdoc put me on before I had the neck fusion to calm me down. ER caught the one medication & stopped but it didn't go away...went back to my neurologist & he caught the other medication....it took months before I was normal again...but thankfully it wasn't a permanent side effect. I know how scary that side effect was....can't imagine staying on a med with those bad side effects & they having to take another medication to cover up the side effect.

There is just something wrong with that picture IMO.