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Increased Irritability and Muscle twitches
I have been taking Depakote and Seroquel Xr since October 2010 and I actually quite like them LOL after being on so many mood stabilisers and antipsychotics.
In May the Seroquel was increased from 300mg to 400mg as I was becoming very irritable and unable to cope with small amounts of stress without flying into a rage and then being left with lots of tears of guilt about being so nasty.
I had also noticed that my sleep was getting less and less as the Seroquel wasn't making me as drowsy.
The increase to 400mg has helped my sleep, I get about 10 hours and more on weekends when I don't have to get up early to take my children to school.
My irritability got better too, but it has unfortunately started to return, I don't know whether this is just a cycle I've got to get a grip of, I know I can't have my medication increased every time I turn into a monster, I have started CBT but we are only at the assessment phase and he only seems interested in my depression.
Another thing that is bothering me is that I have sudden muscle movements and twitches, they are mostly in my legs but can be facial too..does anyone know if this is serious or something that would be treated with a muscle relaxant?
I was given Procyclidine in the past for muscle tightness but the docs expected this as I was on an old antipyschotic called Sulpiride.
Any ideas?
In May the Seroquel was increased from 300mg to 400mg as I was becoming very irritable and unable to cope with small amounts of stress without flying into a rage and then being left with lots of tears of guilt about being so nasty.
I had also noticed that my sleep was getting less and less as the Seroquel wasn't making me as drowsy.
The increase to 400mg has helped my sleep, I get about 10 hours and more on weekends when I don't have to get up early to take my children to school.
My irritability got better too, but it has unfortunately started to return, I don't know whether this is just a cycle I've got to get a grip of, I know I can't have my medication increased every time I turn into a monster, I have started CBT but we are only at the assessment phase and he only seems interested in my depression.
Another thing that is bothering me is that I have sudden muscle movements and twitches, they are mostly in my legs but can be facial too..does anyone know if this is serious or something that would be treated with a muscle relaxant?
I was given Procyclidine in the past for muscle tightness but the docs expected this as I was on an old antipyschotic called Sulpiride.
Any ideas?
Best Answer
Best to discuss this with your psychiatrist so they can do a movement disorders test . However if what you are experiencing is temporary movement disorders such as akathesia which are common with antipsychotics (less so with atypicals but it still often does occur you could look up the information on the medication website and discuss it with your psychiatrist) the motor restlessness itself can cause irritability and anger at times. The medication you mentioned is at times used to treat temporary movement disorders such as akathesia and dystonia but I have not heard of it being used in the U.S. Muscle relexants are not used for temporary movement disorders as extra pyramidal side effects (the official term for temporary movement disorders have a more complex cause than that you could discuss this with your psychiatrist as well). There are many options though as regards side effect pills that could treat this and as this may be one reason this could be happening best to discuss this with your psychiatrist and they could see if that's the cause and what to do from there.
my son takes seroquel and depakote n still has outbursts..im so lost...any advice on what helped others...according to doc he is in therapeutic leves..
Thankyou I was hoping you would respond. Thanks for the information, I have spoken to my Psychiatric nurse about it but she seems to think that yes it is very common for antipsychotics, and its been 6 weeks since the increase of Seroquel so it will have now reached a therapeutic level. She said it will probably get better now but I can have side effect medication if I want.
I had never thought about the restlessness causing the irritability, but it really does make sense.
I'm going to see how I get on, I really don't want another med, its just quite embarassing with the jerking and twitching, especially when its my face.
I had never thought about the restlessness causing the irritability, but it really does make sense.
I'm going to see how I get on, I really don't want another med, its just quite embarassing with the jerking and twitching, especially when its my face.
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