Akathisia from Seroquel??

Hello,

I have been taking Seroquel for four nights so far. About an hour after I take it, I start to get insanely restless, it wakes me up, and I have to get out of bed because I cannot sit still at all. Cannot sit still for more than a couple of minutes before I have to get back up again. I believe it is Akathisia just based on what I've read regarding it. The restlessness is super unbearable, but Seroquel has finally made me start to feel better in regards to my depression and anxiety so I do not want to stop taking it if it can be avoided. I was just wondering if anyone has had a similar reaction, and how you pushed through it if you did. It's very bothersome, thanks.

So I have been taking Seroquel for many years. It's a wonder drug for my anxiety insomnia. I would get so worried about not getting a good night sleep that I made myself more anxious.

My advice would be to take it a little earlier than you are now. So if you're taking it right as you get into bed, try taking it 30 or 45 minutes earlier while you're still moving around getting ready for bed. That way it's getting into your system and quieting things down nicely so you can fall asleep quicker. Hope this helps.

Thank you. So what you're thinking if I take it earlier, I can hopefully stay asleep when the restlessness kicks in? I do take all my medication about 30 minutes before I plan to be in bed, but I can definitely try taking it before I typically do.

100mg is an awfully small dosage to cause akathesia.

hi. you're young. younger people are more sensitive to psych drugs in general, especially the tranquilizers. i got intense adverse effects from a similar dose of seroquel when i was your age. its also your 1st major episode, right? 1st episode people/patients tend to do well with lower doses, and they're also more prone to adverse effects.

maybe a different tranquilizer? abilify comes to mind. its generally non-sedating, less weight gain than many other 'atypical' tranquilizers, good tolerability for a lot of people.

lithium is still sometimes used in psychotic depression. i wouldn't be gung-ho about lithium, but it -might- be a viable option, if you don't do well on tranquilizers.

hope this helps.

oh...i see you're also on risperidone. sorry, i didn't see that earlier. taking 2+ tranquilizers at the same time can often lead to an increase in adverse effects. sometimes its necessary, but...personally, I like to take just 1 tranquilizer most days. when i get extra agitated, i have low dose risperidone i can take at night, but that's rare.

sometimes, depression w/ lots of agitation, psychosis, etc. can be treated with just seroquel, by itself. i think that requires a couple hundred mgs per day, though, and it carries certain risks, over the long haul.

i hope you and your doctor can find a good solution. akathisia can be suppressed w/ some sedatives, benzodiazepines, propranolol. now and then, people develop chronic akathisia, which...does not sound fun. at all (its rare).

100 mg was my starting dosage, I didn't move up to 100 slowly. I'm pretty sure adding something that high into your body without increasing dose would cause side effects.

This is my second depressive episode. My first one was three years ago when I was 15. I didn't have an anxiety disorder back then, but I have that now so that's the main difference between then and now.

Yeah my Psychiatrist wants to take me off Risperdal in a few weeks when I meet with her again. I think it could be a mixture of the Risperdal and Seroquel that is messing with my body. I feel like it's helped my depression out greatly, but the restlessness is very unbearable. I guess the benzodiazepines would be a good option to discuss with the Psychiatrist, since I would only be taking it when I get super restless, it would be difficult to get addicted. Thank you for the replies!

I had intense restlessness from risperidone so it could be that seroquel is unmasking that. On the other hand I felt terrible on seroquel. Everyone reacts to meds differently. You could try taking the meds offset in time and see if that makes a difference.

Right now I'm taking the Seroquel 30 minutes before I take Risperidone and Remeron. My Psychiatrist has now told me to move down to 1 mg of Risperidone to see if that helps me. She wants to take me off Risperidone anyway so I guess this is just the start to me coming off it. Hopefully the lowered dosage helps me.

What you describe sounds like textbook akathisia. It's miserable. I had it with Abilify and with Latuda but not with Seroquel. 3mg Cogentin took care of it with Abilify but caused me blurred vision. With Latuda I take 80mg propranolol (Inderal) and it has disappeared entirely. It's well worth it to me to add a relatively mild drug so I can continue with Latuda.

Did lowering Risperidone help?

Right now I am having withdrawal side effects from the decreased Risperidone. My Psychiatrist claimed she hasn't seen withdrawal from Risperidone, though I am experiencing it. I now how to take 50mg Seroquel in the morning, and 100mg at night to try and combat my anxiety that has been increased due to the Risperidone withdrawal.

I've only had the bad restless a few times since my Risperidone was cut back.

Update: I am not sure why I am surprsied that the restlessness came back when I was increased to 150mg. I can't stand this ugh!!!!!!!

I had akathisia the other night from taking a higher dose of my one psych med without working up to it gradually. I think it's one of the worst things to experience. I'ld rather be sick with the flu, or have a bad hangover. I happened to have the muscle relaxer, baclofen, on hand. So I took 3 of those for a total dose of 30 mg. Pretty soon I was asleep. My psych med is amitriptyline, an old fashioned, tricyclic antidepressant. I doubled up on my usual dose of 50 mg to take 100 mg. Neither of those are huge doses, but I seem to get akathesia pretty easily. People differ in their susceptibilities.

I think I've read that benzos can help relieve akathesia. I believe opiates can also. (Baclofen is considered to work similar to a benzo.) Alcohol doesn't help. That I found out. I consider akathisia a hellish experience. It's torture. I've had it several times. It is no exaggeration to say that it could make you want to throw yourself off a cliff. I think every resident doctor becoming a psychiatrist should be made to experience it once.

Had I divided the 100 mg into two doses 10 hours apart, I wouldn't have gotten the akathisia. So you might want to do that with some of your meds, Dowdy. You mentioned three meds that can all cause akathisia. The effects of those meds can be cumulative.

With benzos (klonopin is a benzo.) it works in reverse. The benzo doesn't give you akathisia, but abruptly stopping the benzo sure can. This happened to me a few times when I was taking Librium. I was only taking 20 mg a day. Sometimes when I ran out, I wouldn't bother to refill it. At first I'ld be fine. Then in about 10 days, I'ld get akathisia. I'ld try getting in and out of a hot bath. Nothing helped.

I've had "restless leg syndrome" from being severely anemic. Some researchers consider RLS to be a form of akathisis - "focal akathisia." They seemed pretty much the same thing to me. The RLS I experienced was a bit milder. The hot bath did help. I got to where I was sleeping in the bath tub.

Try always "titrating up" gradually on psych meds - increasing the dose gradually over a period of days, if not weeks.

Cold medicines can also cause akathesia, especially if you exceed the recommended dosage. (I did that twice in my life. Never will again.) From what I read, it's the antihistamine that does it.

I think that everyone who takes meds that can potentially cause akathisia should have an emergency med on hand that can quell the akathisia. Benzos are what can help, from what I read.

Akathisia is definitely one of the worst things I have experienced. It is so irritating. I feel like I could explode, or need to tear off my skin. I am meeting with my Psychiatrist on Thursday so I am hoping that she prescribes a benzo for it, as well as for panic attacks. Thanks