I can't sleep because of akathisia!

I’m going crazy with this. I can’t lie still. My legs have their own life. The restlessness is bad. I’ve lied in bed for three hours and I’m still not asleep.

Is there anything I can do about this??

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Thers akathisia meds but I got rid of akathisia by changing my ap.

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Is that akathisia or restless leg syndrome?

I had something similar on haldol, restless leg syndrome. I had an overwhelming urge to jerk my legs, I would kick my legs and it would give me a few seconds of relief then I would have an overwhelming urge to kick my legs again. But it only happened when I was lying down trying to sleep, if i got up and walked around or sat in a chair the urge to move my legs went away. Sometimes I would get up from bed, walk around or watch TV, then go back to bed and was able to fall to sleep. But it became such a problem I quit haldol.

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If it is restless leg syndrome gabapentin is sometimes used to alleviate it, but it is a prescription drug. I don’t know any over the counter solutions you can try right now to alleviate it.

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I frequently have the same symptoms. I believe it is from a med or two.

I’ll have those symptoms for five nights in a row, and then I won’t have it again for another four weeks. I don’t get it.

I can quiet those symptoms down with two different strategies. That is, I can either take a benzo, or I can take an antiparkinsonism drug such as Cogentn. Both work great for me.

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I’ve been prescribed both cogentin and benztropine but neither helps a lot. What helped was reducing my AP dose incrementally until it stopped.

Try Benadryl for akathesia if you have some available.

It works pretty well, as it has sedating properties.

It’s not a permanent fix, but taking it every once in a while helps.

Of course, check with a medical professional first :sunny:

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We need to be careful and determine exactly what his problem is. the OP complained about restless legs.

Benadryl may help with akathisia but it is known to make restless leg syndrome worse

Try elevating the head either with an incline or try using an extra pillow or two.

My legs jerked for hours. I had to get up and walk around in my apartment.

I finally fell asleep.

What’s the difference between akathisia and restless legs syndrome?

When i had akathisia, i had difficulty to sleep.

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I had this on quetiapine and it was awful so I begged my pdoc to take me off. Now I’m on haloperidol and have no more akathisia

As I understand it they are similar, but akathisia is an overwhelming urge to get up and move around but you still get very little relief when you do so. Restless leg syndrome affects just the legs, if you move your legs you get some relief but the urge to move your legs can come back almost immediately if you stay laying in bed, but if you get out of bed and walk around or just sit, anything buy lying down trying to go to sleep, you get relief.

When I had restless leg syndrome I would get up and move around, or sit on the couch and watch TV for a while, it would immediately go away when I did that, then maybe half hour later I would try to go back to bed and I would sometimes be fine.

When I had akasthisia I had no relief when I got up and walked around. It usually started about an hour after I took my meds, I had to wait a few hours after taking my meds for it to eventually go away. I think it affected my while my meds were passing through my digestive system, once they had the akathisia went away. Akathasia was far worse than restless leg syndrome, but both are pretty bad.

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I get the urge to jiggle my foot when I sleep and can usually surpress it.

I don’t know how akathesia works or if its progressive, I’ll be on mind to come back and check if anyone has advice.

Ok, I’m still not sure which one I have. It affects my sleeping patterns cause I can’t fall asleep and I already have difficulties with that. :confused:

If you move your legs while laying in bed and get some brief relief, or get out of bed and get full relief, it is probably restless leg syndrome

If you move around and get no relief it is probably akathisia.

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Ok, thanks! 1515

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It is my understanding that akathisia is restlessness that could be all over, for example in the arms and hands as well as the legs

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TRUTH! When I had akathisia I spent 3 hours walking around the house, running up and down the stairs, just an overwhelming urge to move my whole body but never got any relief. I just did all that until it went away on its own.

When I had restless leg syndrome I would get out of bed and I was fine. I only got the urge to move/kick/jerk my legs while lying down trying to go to sleep. When I did jerk my legs I got some instant relief but it didn’t last very long, and the urge to jerk my legs came back, so I would get out of bed and the urge to jerk my legs would completely go away

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I had that problem when I was on Risperidol 16 mgs(4 green pills) in 1996.