Posted by Sandra62 on March 10, 2007, at 19:11:16
In reply to Re: HELP! REALLY struggling any advice?? » Racer, posted by Sandra62 on March 10, 2007, at 15:33:04
Thank you chiron for your response. I had to look up what akathesia was.
www.depression.about.com states: Definition: Akathesia is a common side effect associated with the use of anti-psychotic medications (neuroleptics). It is characterized by excessive, usually repetitive, movements such as pacing, foot tapping and rocking. It is often described as a 'feeling that you are going to come out of your own skin" if you don't move.
This sounds like you are right on target with what I'm feeling! Now when you said you took Xanax to get through it did you end up staying on the Seroquel? What was your dosage? What is your diagnosis?
Anyways, my PDOC called. She had done some research and could not find anything that stated that Seroquel can actually cause anxiety when that it is supposed to actually help in that area. I beg to differ because in my own research I've found the above under akathesia, and also a site that said if you experience mood changes such as depression or anxiety when taking Seroquel to contact your doctor immediately. So there has to be others that have had this seemingly paradoxical reaction.
My PDCOC wrote to the pharmaceutical company to inquire about this side-effect and they said they would respond in 24 hours. So she gave me the choice to either take the 300 mg tonight (not to raise the dosage as previously mentioned) and see how I felt tomorrow and to call her, or to stop cold turkey (she said that is okay having only taken 300 mg for 11 days) and return to 10 mg of Zyprexa for a month or so and then to drop back to 5 mg in hopes of advoiding the side-effect she didn't like of muscle rigidity.
So now I have to make a choice. Do I try to stick it out with the Seroquel and hope that it gets better, or run away run away back into the arms of Zyprexa the med that really made me feel better, despite the absolutely annoying weight gain and muscle rigidity.
One thing she is going to have me do is a complete med 'wash out' as soon as I return from a trip in May. She wants to observe me closely so I have to be in the country a phone call away, and will wean me off of everything I'm on except we'll keep the benzo and see exactly what symptoms I present with. She is still not sure I'm Bipolar I or II and she may even be considering that I'm not Bipolar at all as I came to her with that diagnosis from another PDOC and she went with it.
Anyways back to the problem at hand. Do I take the Seroquel tonight or do I switch to Zyprexa. Any votes?
poster:Sandra62
thread:739876
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070308/msgs/739989.html