Posted by Ritch on December 3, 2004, at 13:36:11
In reply to EPS from SSRI or other Antidepressants?, posted by Mr.Scott on December 2, 2004, at 23:52:38
The only two symptoms that I clearly think are EPS which I get from SSRI's are lower back dystonia and tongue pressing up on the roof of my mouth. The lower back thing I only notice when I am sitting in a car seat and my lower back muscles involuntarily twist to one side and stay there. I notice it and force myself to sit still and relax them, but after a while I notice it again. It's similar to the dystonic muscle thing I got from Haldol once. The Haldol thing was far worse-I couldn't stand up at all for about 24 hrs. The tongue thing is very similar to what happened to me with Stelazine. OF course the Stelazine thing was far worse (I couldn't talk clearly), and I had a severe neck dystonia along with it.
Paxil was the worst SSRI in this regard (4mg liquid one time-and that was it for me!). Celexa tends to do the lower back thing worse than the others. Effexor seems to be the worst for neck rigidity. Cymbalta and Zoloft were the worst for akathisia and restless legs.
I think it suppresses dopamine just enough to uncover the symptoms. I've always been sensitive to EPS. The only two AP's I could take was low dose thioridazine and thorazine. Too bad I took the thioridazine for several years. I guess I'm just dopamine compromised and suppressing it in the slightest makes the symptoms show. As far as the mechanism that SSRI lowers DA goes.. I'd like to know too. I thought it was 5-HT receptor *agonism*, right? Maybe what is needed is a selective 5-HT receptor agonist (that doesn't target the ones causing mild EPS sx)??
poster:Ritch
thread:423636
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041201/msgs/423957.html