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Does Akathisia go away?
I just started latuda 80mg. I got akathisia from it so my doctor put me on cogentin. I am not sure the cogentin is working though. Does it take a while for the cogentin to build up in the system before it starts working good? Or does the akathisia go away once you get use to the new med? I think it might be getting worse first it was just my leg shaking, tapping my fingers, and clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth a bit. Now it is so bad I can barely type because my hands are so fidgety. My tongue is twitching and my lips too now. Can this be a permanent side effect or does it go away?
Best Answer
Akathesia can improve over time but not always. Sometimes the specific dose of a side effect pill or the titraton of it has to be adjusted within a psychiatrist's discretion. Also specific types of side effect pills often treat certain aspects of extra pyramidal side effects but not others. There are still some options such as other anti-cholinergics (Artane, Akineton, Kemadrin) Benadryl if approved by a psychiatrist, Symmetryl and some beta blockers such as Inderal and Atenolol. You could ask your psychiatrist what would be the appropriate next step. Also keep track of when the motions speficically occur and if some motions respond to the side effect pill more than the others.
I hope you got off the drug that was causing that. It sounds more like tardive dyskinesia than akathisia. Tardive dyskinesia can go away but doesn't always. Getting off the causative agent is the first thing to do. There's also some hints that you were having dystonia, too.
My son is having the same problems from an antipsychotic. Did your twitching finally go away? Please can you assist us since you went thru the beginning of this a few years ago. Thank you.
I have akathisia from Abilify but it works for me most of the time so I didn't want to go off it. My pdoc added propranolol, a beta blocker, 60mg a day, that stopped the akathisia almost completely. Propranolol is actually mainly for high blood pressure but has "side effects" that takes care of akathisia and anxiety. The only problem I have from it is orthostatic hypotension (dizziness upon standing) but all I have to do is stop and lean over for a few seconds and it passes. I also can't say it is just caused by the propranolol as several of my meds had the same side effect.
My doctor cut my dose of Latuda in half from 80mg to 40mg, and then I am going to see him on Monday.
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