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techstepgenr8tion
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31 Dec 2009, 12:26 pm

Ever since I was in about 5th grade or so I've had difficulty off and on with a lot of physical agitation, the best way I can describe it is feeling a neural itch in a muscle, needing to tense that muscle to release the sensation, the sensation comes right back almost immediately and quite often manifests from head to toe. Part of the problem, I was on antipsychotic meds from 1991 until 1999, which I think is when most of this seemed to come to a head, recently while I don't get it quite as often anymore I still will have this hit me cyclically - either when spring is changing to summer or once in a while I'll have a block of it in the winter time (in summer its been pretty extreme, I remember a spell in 2006 that was bad enough to prompt me to go to a psychiatrist and get a prescription for neurontin - which helped out for a while but I never needed it steadily enough to stay with it).

I just wanted to double check my understanding, that what I'm looking at here is akasthesia, but I was wondering if any of you knew more about it or anything that else that helps in addition to regular workouts or cardio?



kip
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31 Dec 2009, 12:47 pm

Oh, there's a name for that? I just call it the twitch. But I know what you mean. Instead of neurontin, I like Lyrica, it's much calmer on my system, and the low dose is far more effective then the equivilent.

It's bloody well annoying though, I'll tell you that. Sorry I couldn't answer your question.


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robinhood
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31 Dec 2009, 1:08 pm

I've had akathisia as a side-effect of taking Prozac, and it's a potential side-effect of other anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. I'm quite a restless person by nature, pacing around, feeling tense and so on, which is often due to anxiety. But this really increased whilst I was taking that particular medication - I've now switched to something else. I just felt a constant tension inside myself, and was doing things like pushing my fingers to my palms to make fists, and tensing my arm muscles. Most people can take Prozac without that problem, so perhaps I was just pre-disposed to it. Was just reading quite a good article on it on Wikipedia, I expect you might have seen it, but just in case, here's a link.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akathisia



Elementary_Physics
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31 Dec 2009, 4:09 pm

I get the same thing quite often.... I have a hard time getting to sleep because of it, I have a hard time holding a pencil, and sitting in a desk. Its irritating.



hartzofspace
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31 Dec 2009, 7:35 pm

I wonder if this can also be caused by cyclobenzaprine (Flexoril)? Does anyone know?


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barbedlotus
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07 Jan 2010, 3:15 am

I've had akathisia as a side effect of abilify. I've been off it for almost a year and a half now and still twitch randomly a few times a day (it's the worst at night).