Posted by mindevolution on November 29, 2006, at 3:50:43
In reply to Questions about TA treatments, posted by fenix on November 19, 2006, at 14:20:16
> Hi, I haven't posted in a long time.
>
> Anyway, it is going to be about almost a year that I have been taking Diazepam (20mg) a day for treatment of Tardive Akathisia. It did reduce the symptoms a bit but I am thinking of other ideas now. (If you search for some of my previous posts you can read about my case.)
>
> I have heard about Clozapine, for instance, as a treatment for Tardive cases, however, it is an antipsychotic medicine, the same kind of medicine that caused me to get TA. I have a few questions regarding the uses of antipsychotics as a treatment option:
>
> 1) Why would the same kind of medicine that caused me to get an illness treat the same illness?
>
> 2) If something like Clozapine for example is effective, must one stay on it indefinitely or only for as long as it is necessary to have a significant remedial effect? The same question goes for other drugs like Reserpine.
>
> 3) Is there anyone here who has been diagnosed with a form of Akathisia and been treated with opiates? I am guessing that they won't cure the illness but at least minimize the pain.
>
> Also, as it stands, I have been suffering from this illness for around 3 years now I think.stay away from clozapine unless you are schizo and need an antipsychotic that doesn't cause akathisia. why make your situation worse than it need be?
I got akathisia from one dose of solian. it got worse from then on. 3 months later i was sleeping 3 hours a week and suicidal, I mean almost shoving a knife into my heart.
I tried cogentin it made everything worse, my eyes burned, hallucinations, confusion, pain in my lymph nodes and genitals. stay away from anticholinergics like benedryl, cogentin, biperiden, etc. amantadine is the best option if you run out of other alternatives. stay away from the strongly anticholinergic TCAs too, although a lot have used Mianserin for relief from akathisia except i think it has less of an anticholinergic effect than most TCAs.
so what are your options then?
I found that a couple of 25mg tablets of luvox gave my tachycardia and made me walk like a spaz so i stopped it, but 3 days after I started, I started sleeping and the akathisia went away for 3 months. So try a low dose of this if you can tolerate it, it may work for you too.
Now I use tamazepam, and have mirtazapine in case it gets suicidal bad again. I would only take 7.5-15mg, very low dose, as I am extremely sensitive, and don't want to put on 20kg.
A lot of people have good responses with clonidine although I haven't tried it yet myself.
Now if these fail, as the dopamine blockade caused the akathisia, maybe a dopamine agonist may correct the problem? taking a very low dose of Bromocriptine (less SE than the really strong Pergolide) may do the trick. Worth a try if nothing else works.
Also you could try levodopa, although careful of dyskinesias.
Opiates or tramadol (opiate + serotonin) sound like pleasant options to try as well.
Good luck
Akathisia is hell, respect.
poster:mindevolution
thread:705256
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20061123/msgs/708509.html