Posted by LostBoyinNC1 on September 1, 2002, at 17:55:17
In reply to Re: action_jackson, posted by action_jackson on August 30, 2002, at 2:18:46
> Hi Denise -
>
> > Chad,
> >
> > I'm curious did you used to go by the id of "Old School"?
>
> Nope - but I know about him. I was posting mostly between Nov 2001 and Mar 2002. I trialed low dose amisulpride in Jan 2002, which ended after termination with tardive movements.
>
> My time on the board then overlapped "Old School" - who preceded me by a couple months in developing a tardive movement disorder from "risperidone" (Risperdal). Risperdal is increasingly recognized as being fairly prone to produce tardive movement disorder. So I did read some of his posts after my problem began - and it sounded to me like his Dr, like mine - negligently failed to inform of risk. And like myself - "Old School" had NO diagnosis consistent with use of these dangerous A/P's. Unfortunately it will take a great many people being hit with chronic movement disorders before these dangerous drugs are prescribed more appropriately by Dr's - who so far bear little burden for there errors in this area (prescribing "atypicals" seems so far to tend to get them off the hook in terms of negligent rx's).Hey dude, how are you doing? I just want to correct a few details here. I was diagnosed with EPS from low dose Seroquel (50 mg) last fall, not Risperdal. I was never diagnosed with TD or anything that bad. I continued having problems with mild, residual EPS up until this past summer. Amantadine helped it a lot and this MAOI Parnate I switched to recently seems to have really helped the EPS, all MAOIs are potently dopaminergic.
My EPS symptoms included the following:
1) "numb tongue"
2) tightness feeling on the back of my head and neck
3) generally tight, mildly contracted muscles pretty much everywhere, thighs, upper arms, etc.
4) small muscle pops and twitches, particularly at night for an hour or two after I took my Seroquel dose.
5) loss of muscle tone
6) Worsened depression, the Seroquel interferes with the antidepressant effect I get from ADs. Ive found all atypical anti-psychotics "block" the antidepressant effect I was getting from the AD I was originally on.
By the end of the month on 50 mg Seroquel I began having the additional problems:
1) tightness in the throat, mild difficulty swallowing
2) Extreme muscle weakness, right side became weak. My right grip became weak. I developed mild dropfoot on my right leg/foot.
3) Affective flattening, like my mood became very very flat. Ive found all atypicals flatten me out a lot.
4) Muscle stiffness, muscles felt mildly contracted ALL the time.
After I went off the Seroquel, the above symptoms "rebounded" or became worse than on the Seroquel. This is when I was formally dxed with EPS. My Pdoc gave me a manual muscle test, where he moved my arms around at the elbow joint and my right arm was stiff and ratchety feeling, while my left arm was loose and totally normal feeling. He told me EPS oftentimes hits you worse on one side. In my case, it hit me on my dominant (right) side.
I also even developed mild problems walking for a short period. My walking gait became very stiff. I found Amantadine got rid of that problem fast and it hasnt really come back.
I was advised by both my family doctor and my psychiatrist to immediately get off the Seroquel which I did.
I used OTC benadryl for a long time afterwards. I found that after I took 50 mg benadryl, Id get tremendous amounts of muscle pops and twitches. Id just sit there and "twitch, twitch, pop, pop." Amantadine helped to shut that down alot.
People who must continue taking anti-psychotics despite EPS type symptoms usually are advised to coadminister an anti-cholinergic drug like Cogentinor Artane. I didnt even know that until this past fall. ECT can also help neuroleptic induced movement disorders.
In fact there is an article in the August issue of "Psychiatric Times" about ECT for neurological conditions. ECT can be used for parkinsons disease and is quite effective for that, supposedly. ECT is very dopaminergic and loosens up tight, contracted muscles. Thus anyone with severe EPS or neuroleptic induced movement disorders might well consider a session of bilateral or bifrontal ECT to "juice" their muscles and loosen up. Gets the dopamine flowing good again, while simultaneously combatting psychosis.
And it wasnt even my psychiatrist who suggested ECT to me, after I developed EPS. It was my family doctor, who told me that ECT can help BOTH depression and neuroleptic induced movement problems.
LostBoyinNC
poster:LostBoyinNC1
thread:117524
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020829/msgs/118448.html