About a week ago I started experiencing mild restlessness about an hour after taking my antipsychotic medication (Lurasidone/Latuda).
I’m on 60mg/day. I used to get akathisia on that dose, so what I did was split my pill in half and take 30mg with breakfast and 30mg with dinner. That seemed to solve the problem for the last year and half or so.
But now I think it is back, even at 30mg.
It’s gotten progressively worse over the week, Saturday was the worse and I couldn’t take it anymore so I jumped on the web to look up if there was any OTC meds to fix it. Most websites report the main med used to treat it is proponolol but that is a beta blocker to slow heart rate and lower blood pressure, I don’t want to touch that because my heart rate and blood pressure are fine and I don’t need more problems. Plus that doesn’t help me in the short term because it takes 2-3 weeks to get an appointment with my doc or pdoc and I can’t wait that long.
I came across a mention that low doses of Trazodone can be used to treat it on webmd. I have an abundant supply of Trazodone because it was one of the first meds I tried for my insomnia, it was useless for that but I held onto it instead of returning it to the pharmacy, glad I did.
Anyways, I tried 25mg of Trazodone and within an hour that inner restlessness characteristic of akathisia went way. I’ve since tried it again with the same results. I’ve felt relaxed and great, which is such a relief!
So the bad news is that I’m pretty sure Lurasidone has started to cause me to experience akathisia, the good news is I was able to diagnose and treat it on my own.
But I am going to contact my pdocs office and make a telephone appointment to let him know of this development and how I solved it. I hope he is okay with what I have done.
I really don’t want to quit Lurasidone/Latuda, it’s been a wonder drug for me up till now. Zero positive symptoms and no other side effects. I’ve lost a ton of weight and my blood work is now perfect. I’ve also gone from being a really bad diabetic to being pre-diabetic.
I also had this induced by geodon while increasing dosages - mirtazapine helped me get through it. Sometimes the only thing is to sleep it off. Also on bentropine for tremors.
I wish I could do that, but I don’t think I could for 2 reasons. First I have really bad insomnia, and second, on Saturday, I spent all day laying in bed on my side rubbing my legs together and shifting my body to try and get some relief, but the restlessness wouldn’t go away and I got no relief, it was quite unpleasant. I think sleep was out of the question.
But since taking 25mg of Trazodone my akathisia problem has been solved. The added benefit is that Trazodone at low doses is prescribed for insomnia, so while it didn’t help much when my insomnia was really bad 8 months ago, there is a chance it will contribute a little bit to me sleeping better now that my insomnia has improved.
Yep, it’s not very pleasant. It looks like I will remain on Trazodone provided my doctor approves. I don’t think he will mind since he prescribed me Trazodone in the first place as something to try for insomnia, and I tolerated it well, no side effects, it just wasn’t very effective for my insomnia, but it is proving to be very effective for akathisia.
Akathisia is the worst, sorry to hear you’ve been dealing with it.
I’ve been given both benztropine and propranolol to combat it and neither of them works every time. I found the only real way to stop it is to reduce the dose of the offending medicine (or remove it entirely). For me, lowering my Zyprexa dose worked and it hasn’t come back for two years and counting.
If it persists you have a decision to make, me I found that akathisia was the one side effect that was worse than schizophrenia itself, at least when it was at its worst and I literally couldn’t sit down for over an hour at a time.
Yeah, that is what has worked for me. As I mentioned I split my AP in half and took it twice a day instead of all at once and that seemed to solve the problem for a long time, but now it’s back.
Yeah, it’s not very pleasant at all, Saturday was like a mild form of torture. I hope it doesn’t get worse and that Trazodone continues to work.
I take 30mg Latuda twice a day (60mg/day total of Latuda). Breakfast/Dinner.
I’ve been taking 25mg of Trazodone with each dose of Latuda (50mg/day of Trazodone total) and haven’t experienced any Akathisia over this last week.
I called my pdocs office last week but he is on vacation, fortunately he is coming back soon and I have an appointment with him next week. Hopefully he’ll be okay with what I have done.
I have tolerated the Trazodone well, no side effects, so I would like to remain on it for this problem.
I initially tried Trazodone for insomnia and it was useless for that, but my insomnia has improved over the last 8 months and I think in combination with the 1.5mg of clonazepam I take for insomnia it is helping me sleep a little better now too.
I didn’t know about Benadryl. I read on webMD that small doses of Trazodone can be used for Akathisia and I had some on hand so I tried it and it worked. Oddly enough that website says benzos can alleviate it but I’ve been on 1.5mg of clonazepam for about 8ish months and I still developed Akathisia a few weeks ago.
I also found this that shows it works, in this study they used 100mg/day of Trazodone. I’m only using 50mg/day so I can increase if needed which is good news.
I’ve never had akathisia, but it sounds awful. I’m glad you found something that worked.
I’ve seemed to develop TD, probably from the Navane (thiothixene) I take. My mouth moves and chews all day, and it’s freakin’ annoying.
I don’t want to go on the TD medicines, as there aren’t any generics for them, and the side effect profiles suck. I’m going to ask my pdoc for propranolol. My BP is normal, so it will probably drop it low. So I need to be careful about that; he’ll probably make me check with my cardiologist. The added bonus is that propranolol helps with headaches, and I am a chronic headache and migraine sufferer.
It’s also great for anxiety, and my anxiety is painful.
Sorry for hijacking your thread and making it about me!
I finally had an appointment with my pdoc, he was okay with what I had done, I told him how the Akathisia was getting bad and I was desperate so I decided to take matters into my own hands because he was on vacation. I told him I had researched it on the Internet and the only medication listed that treats Akathisia that I had on hand was Trazodone so I stared experimenting with it. He said Trazodone isn’t the first line treatment for Akathisia, usually it is propanolol, but I told him I don’t want to take a blood pressure medication and that my blood pressure and heart rate are fine and I don’t want to mess with that. I also told him that I have tolerated the Trazodone well, no side effects, and it works 100% effective.
He also mentioned lowering my Lurasidone dose but I told him I didn’t want do that either. I have been stable at 60mg, no hallucinations or delusions, I’ve held a part time job for 10 months now, plus my computer work. I’ve lost a ton of weight, now around 160lbs which puts me at a healthy BMI. My cholesterol and triglycerides are normal and my last blood sugar A1C was 6.1 which is the lowest its ever been since I developed diabetes.
I asked him to prescribe me more Trazodone and he agreed. So all is good!