Posted by ed_uk on February 18, 2005, at 13:41:21
In reply to Re: Akathisia, is this it?, posted by NealMcCoy on February 18, 2005, at 13:00:47
Hi Neal!
Sorry about all the questions. I didn't want to make any suggestions before I knew more about you because otherwise I'd give bad advice :-)
What does your psychiatrist say about the akathisia-like symptoms? Did s/he diagnose akathisia and prescribe propranolol?
Did the akathisia-like symptoms start when you stopped the Valium completely or did you suffer akathisia while reducing the dose? Did the bad withdrawal symtoms start when you reached a particular dose eg. 1mg/day.
Do you have any other withdrawal symptoms at the moment?
What dose/regimen of propranolol are you on? Is it causing any side effects?
When you were on 10mg/day Valium, how may times a day did you take the drug? eg. 10mg once daily, 5mg twice daily etc.
>Did you have any side effects while you were taking the benzo?
-Yes. Increased anxiety, headache, muscle tension, blood sugar problems.Did you suffer anxiety all the time or only when the effect of your last dose of Valium was wearing off?
Would you like to try a different medication to treat your akathisia?
How do you feel about going back on a low dose of Valium and tapering more gradually using Valium syrup and an oral syringe?
Do your current symptoms feel exactly like the symptoms you felt when you started Paxil? Are there any differences?
You don't live in the UK by any chance do you?
Here is a little definition of akathisia.....'Akathisia manifests as pacing and a total inability to sit still. If forced to sit still the person experiences extreme anxiety and agitation. In bad cases the anxiety and agitation may get worse even while the person is moving. Akathisia is dangerous in that it couples an extremely unpleasant experience with an intense urge to act, possibly leading to suicide attempts.
Akathisia is a common extrapyramidal side-effect of antipsychotic (aka neuroleptic) drugs. Akathisia usually responds well to drugs commonly used to control extrapyramidal side-effects.
Akathisia can, more rarely, be caused by anti-depressants or occur spontaneously.'
Ed.
poster:ed_uk
thread:459703
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050217/msgs/459968.html