Psycho-Babble Medication | about biological treatments | Framed
This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | List of forums | Search | FAQ

Re: is this akathisia from abilify ed uk

Posted by med_empowered on December 20, 2005, at 9:51:43

In reply to Re: is this akathisia from abilify ed uk, posted by yxibow on December 19, 2005, at 21:54:57

Some people with psychotic depression get relief with RU-486 (I dont know the trade name, sorry). Its the "abortion drug"--apparently, it also lowers cortisol levels, which are quite elevated in psychotic depression. I dont know if the formulation of the drug specifically for psychotic depression is available yet, but RU-486 has been on the market for a good while; I imagine an RX for just the pills would be helpful (the usual routine involves in-office shots of booster hormones to terminate the pregnancy).

Other than that...sometimes akathisia goes away. Its pure hell, but some people can wait it out for a couple weeks to a month. Sometimes adding BuSpar helps, although BuSpar can also induce an akathisia-type syndrome in some users (also, avoid high doses). Reducing the Abilify dose would be a nice way to give yourself a break...like ed said, you can always up it at a later date, once your body has adjusted.

I dont know if this would be the best thing for you specifically, but some patients get better on antipsychotic polypharmacy. The doc will blend two antipsychotics (usually at low doses) to get more improvement with fewer side effects. I would think that cutting the Abilify and adding in a little bit of Seroquel would help. Since seroquel (and zyprexa) are so sedating, they have a bit of built-in anticholinergic action, which helps reduce akathisia and EPS. Plus, seroquel has a built-in antihistamine action (kind of like Benadryl plus an antipsychotic in one), so I would think that it might prove helpful.

Have you tried Symbyax? It has zyprexa, which can cause sedation and weight gain BUT...it is convenient, and it does help a lot of people. Its becoming pretty standard treatment for bipolar and some forms of depression. Since zyprexa is on the sedating side, you might end up with less akathisia or no akathisia at all with the combo pill.

Some studies have found that going without an antipsychotic will still treat the problem--once the depression gets better, the psychosis may also stop. This may or may not be the case for you. Tricyclic antidepressants (Elavil, Tofranil) are standard treatments for this kind of depression; perhaps trying one of these, maybe with a newer antidepressant (but without an antipsychotic) will be sufficient.

If you think the problem is more OCD, you could try Luvox. Or Anafranil. Anafranil is also a very, very powerful antidepressant, so it could clear up underlying depressive symptoms.

Sorry this was so long. I wish you the best of luck, and please keep us all posted.


Share
Tweet  

Thread

 

Post a new follow-up

Your message only Include above post


Notify the administrators

They will then review this post with the posting guidelines in mind.

To contact them about something other than this post, please use this form instead.

 

Start a new thread

 
Google
dr-bob.org www
Search options and examples
[amazon] for
in

This thread | Show all | Post follow-up | Start new thread | FAQ
Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:med_empowered thread:589900
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051211/msgs/590645.html