Posted by noa on April 24, 2003, at 5:51:30
In reply to Mirapex--RLS vs. Akathisia? (help!), posted by MB on April 23, 2003, at 23:52:02
This is interesting. I did not have restless legs until I started taking SSRIs and then Effexor. I really don't know if the dx is RLS or akathisia, so your post really interests me.
AD meds cause me to have, when at rest, especially in bed before falling asleep, both myoclonus--invluntary muscle jerks (sometimes my arm would shoot straight up out of the bed!) and "RLS" (I put it in quotations because from your post I am not sure it really is RLS now) which feels to me like an extremely-hard-to-supress urge to move my legs around, kick etc. It is very distressing and prevents sleep completely.
I now take Serzone in addition to Effexor, both for added AD effect, but also to counter the myoclonus and restlessness. It works for the myoclonus, except for a very infrequent minor occurance or two. But it doesn't do much for the feeling of restlessness or the restless legs. So I also take a benzo, and the combo usually works. But I still have the akathisia sometimes, mostly in the day time. Not too bad, just some leg bouncing and fidgetiness. Like right now, I feel the internal sense of restelssness, and I am fidgeting and bouncing my leg as I type. SOmetimes I think it might be when I am not fully alert that my restlessness is worse--like now, since I've just woken up recently and am still yawning. I take adderall xr, but it hasn't kicked in yet.
I have wondered whether to try mirapex. I had taken klonopin, but switched to ativan because the klonopin was lasting too long, making it difficult to get up in the morning.
Thank you for the links--I will read them soon. Thanks for starting this discussion.
poster:noa
thread:221899
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030423/msgs/221931.html