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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by sensitivetomeds on February 22, 2009, at 19:21:50
Hi,I am new to this board so I'll start by saying hi to everyone on here. I am curious if others have had the same experiences with certain meds.
I am sensitive to quite a few medications, especially in the class of anti-psychotics. I have tried many for mood stabilization and/or sleep. When taking antipsychotic meds I have experienced: restless legs, muscle rigidity, anxiety and bad restlessness.
Recently I took Trazodone for sleep and after a few nights of taking it I got the muscle rigidity, especially in the back of my calves.
I also had an odd reaction to Vistaril. I experienced bad muscle rigidity and also a heavy feeling in my chest and throat.
When I asked my psychiatrist about it she told me Vistaril is an antihistamine and should have the opposite effect. I am really confused about this side effect I experience.
As a side note I overdosed on Seroquel a few years back and experienced the tight muscles for a few weeks after. I think I screwed up my body by taking the huge amount of Seroquel.
Anyway any opinion or personal experiences regarding this are welcome. Thanks.
Posted by Phillipa on February 23, 2009, at 0:13:51
In reply to muscle rigidity and medication, posted by sensitivetomeds on February 22, 2009, at 19:21:50
Welcome to babble. I can't answer your question as don't use antipsychotics but so many do. Love Phillipa
Posted by myco on February 23, 2009, at 12:53:34
In reply to muscle rigidity and medication, posted by sensitivetomeds on February 22, 2009, at 19:21:50
Hey,
I have alot of muscle rigidity naturally as anxiety is my primary issue. The rigity was to the point of pain and natural adjustments to my posture. I found nardil did the trick in relieving alot, but not all, of that tensness.
Nardil has a heavy effect on GABA...one transmitter that controls muscle tension/relaxation.
I find that too much seratonin or norepinephrine can increase the tension.
My personal recommendation for you would either be to lower the antipsych dose or add something that works nicely on GABA. There are many options here:
BENZO'S of many kinds (xanax, klonopin, temazepam, valium, among others)in doses enough to induce sleep at night or smaller doses for you to take in the day will certainly have a nice calming muscle relaxant feel to give you and take care of that "heavy" feeling in your chest.
LYRICA/GABAPENTIN (anticonvulsant) work heavily on GABA and will relax you alot, similar to benzo's. These are great for people who suffer from muscle tension to the point of alot of pain.
as well as many herbs/supplements that act on GABA go a much milder entent:
MAGNESIUM (ie mag. citrate)
NIACINAMIDE (part of vit B3...not niacin - the other part)
VALERIAN caps/teas
RHODIOLA caps/teas
SUBLINGUAL HERB tabs (see http://www.hylands.com/products/insomnia.php)
-my personal favourite for a quick "chillout"
-mild sedative and mild enough to take during the day aswell without being over sedatedmyco
Posted by bleauberry on February 23, 2009, at 16:43:08
In reply to muscle rigidity and medication, posted by sensitivetomeds on February 22, 2009, at 19:21:50
I can relate to this because it happens to me almost exactly the same as you.
Meds I have found that improved the problem were Cymbalta, St Johns Wort, Parnate. Pretty much anything else makes the problem worse.
The doctors I have mentioned it to give me a blank stare. They don't know or care.
My theory is that it is a hypo-dopamine thing, or somehow related to a hypo-norepinephrine thing. It may be a very early pre-parkinsons? I mean, the restless legs thing kind of shows the hypo-dopamine thing. I have no clue how the calf muscles play into it or why it affects them so much. With me mostly the left one. Some weird neuromuscular thing.
Wellbutrin made my depression the worst ever. But, the 3 days I was on it miraculously fixed my legs real fast. So again, I suspect a hypo-NE or hypo-DA thing, something in that circuitry.
Antipsychotics and ssris would obviously make it worse. With the exception of Abilify which has dopamine agonist potential. Cymbalta doesn't have any known strong effect on dopamine, so I don't know why it worked so well on fixing the calf muscles rigidity. St Johns Wort does work on dopamine, as does Parnate, so those kind of make sense.
This is the end of the thread.
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