Posted by med_empowered on November 17, 2005, at 6:33:56
In reply to involuntary elvis sneer!, posted by xbunny on November 16, 2005, at 9:18:52
hi! you're on some old-school antipsychotics, correct? If so...it could be *very* early Tardive Dyskinesia. I'd talk to a doc about it pronto. Have you tried any of the atypicals? I know they have their own side effects--particularly all the metabolic stuff--but the TD risk is a good bit lower than with the older medications, so that's a definite selling point. I don't know what's available in the US, but Abilify is pretty good stuff, I think..its not sedating, but it does control schizophrenia and bipolar pretty well, and the TD risk seems minimal (the weight gain risk is also very small, and there don't seem to be too many blood sugar problems).
If Abilify isn't your bag, you could try Zyprexa (possibly plus Metformin, to prevent weight gain), Seroquel, or Risperdal (Risperdal is kind of like the old-school drugs, so it might be right up your alley if you respond well to the old drugs). Among the old drugs, molindone **seems** to have a pretty low rate of TD; it also seems to have some mood-brightening effects, and some people lose weight on it. Reducing your antipsychotic dosage and adding a mood stabilizer (depkote, tegretol, trileptal..you should probably avoid lithium) and/or a benzo (ativan and klonopin/rivotril are pretty popular) could be helfpul. If you must keep your current regimine as-is, you might want to consider vitamin supplementation, since TD **might** be caused, at least in part, by "oxidative stress" caused by free radicals in the brain; upping your antioxidant intake **might** help.
If I recall correctly, researchers in England recently developed some sort of "shake" that has vitamins and amino acids and other good stuff in it that reduces side effects of antipsychotic mediction...maybe something like that could help? You could google it and bring it up with your shrink. Also, check gnc.com and other places online...they have checklists that offer suggestions for what supplements to add to certain medications...that could prove useful.
Personally, when I was on antipsychotics I always took a C+E combo pill 2X daily, plus a multivitamin and selenium..the supplements were really cheap, and I think they may have helped some.
Good luck...don't worry too much, but please do contact your doctor or nurse promptly, and make sure they understand the urgency of the situation. Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:579276
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051112/msgs/579552.html