Posted by MB on June 27, 2003, at 13:18:06
In reply to Re: Why dopaminergic for RLS but not for akathisia?, posted by noa on June 26, 2003, at 21:43:12
> You've posed some great questions, and I look forward to reading responses, too.
>
> Sometimes my akithisia/drug induced restless legs is extremely uncomfortable. I had not thought of it as pain, but I also have muscle aches from the meds and had thought of the akithisa and the muscle pain as separate items. But now I wonder.
I've never had "pain" with my RLS/akathisia, but sometimes it's worse than pain. I guess the feeling is percieved differently by different people (tingling, crawling, stretching, burning, etc.). Mine happens to feel like ITCHING! I can't bear it. Have you ever had an itch you can't scratch that keeps getting worse? Imagine that under the skin, down deep into the muscles...and the only way to "sctatch the itch" is to move the muscles, wiggle the leg, etc. When I say it's sometimes worse than pain, I'm not exagerating. I've punched my thighs and buttocks with my fist until I bruised just because the severe pain was better than that creeping itch.I've read that antihistamines can exacerbate RLS. When I was about four years old, I had a cold, and my dad gave me an antihistamine. I remember thinking I was going to lose my mind. I started screaming and hitting myself and crying and writhing on the floor. Actually I did lose my mind. I didn't know what was going on, and I was afraid it would last forever. I had never felt someting so horrible. And the *RAGE* associated with it was frightening. I've never felt such pure, blind rage. I haven't had an episode that severe since then, but SSRIs induce the same feeling, just on a lesser scale. Here's my point (yes, there is one): I've read that Benadryl has actually been used successfully to alleviate neuraleptic induced akathisia. I find this strange, because Benadryl (besides knocking me out for 48 hours) makes me wiggle like a worm.
MB
poster:MB
thread:237227
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030624/msgs/237525.html