Hi everybody. Hope you are well. I’m new here. I wanted to get some advice on how to deal with akathesia. I recently decided to start taking my new medicine, vraylar, again after a two-month med hiatus. I’ve been on several different meds, some with akathisia, and it always is pretty bad for me because I don’t know how to handle it well and it’s particularly bad this time.
The reason it’s bad is because I always go outside for walks almost purely to smoke cigarettes despite the fact I’m not a smoker (except on certain meds like this one). Sometimes, I’ll go out at the most obscene hours, like 3 am, just to walk. I’ll even walk while it’s snowing. When it was at its worst, I once walked three miles at 10 pm along the side of a country highway. I’ve only been on this vraylar for about a week and a half now, but it’s fast taking me back to that place since I’m walking multiple times a day. I also pace a lot inside as well, although that’s not new. I want it to stop, particularly since I’m feeling better on vraylar so far and it impacts my productivity. Do you guys have any advice on what I can do? Thanks.
Welcome to the group there are a few things that can be done one is a med change another is adding a med to slow down the restlessness another that helped me is going for walks around the block I just fully read what you were writing o think talk to your doctor about that side effect especially since it’s bothering you
Hey @Ubiqodi . If it’s that severe, you have to report it to your psychiatrist. They will hopefully give you something to counteract it. But you may have to switch to another antipsychotic.
You’re welcome to try L-theanine, as I find that works for a mild case.
i took benztropine for akathesia and it helped a ton. i had to find the right dose. it didnt work until i got it to 1mg - 3 times a day. so total 3mg. 2 mg didnt do anything. once i got to 3mg it all stopped.
Bentropine worked for me too, problem is the extreme thirst it caused me. Mine was on invega trenza. Eventually got to caplyta which gave me a few tics too but no akathesia.
I’ve had akathisia for a couple of weeks on abilify and a few more on lurasidone, both times I quit and they changed my meds.
Some people get other medications to counter it like propanolol instead of quitting, so I think you could ask for a prescription for something like that if you don’t want to change meds.
