Sigh... here we go again Part II

[paul m]

Hello AJ. How is your sleep coming along? Any better than before your trip? Take Care. paul m

Hello Woody. I remember those little radios. I can also remember having a transister radio and the US stations coming in louder after 11pm(?) as a young teen. I wasn't allowed to listen to rock and roll but late at night WOWO Fort Wayne Indiana came in pretty clear with the forbidden music.

Hello Karen. If you get restless legs severly and only when taking an anti psychotic it is probably an Extrapyramidal Symptom known as Akathisa. This is a Parkinson disease like symptom caused by the med, which may or may not go away in time. Patients who sometimes have no recourse(they need the AAP) get additional treatments such as Beta blockers or other meds as used in Parkinson disease. So far seroquel and zyprexa have shown to be less likely than the others to cause EPS. How do I know all this, painfull experience plus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akathisia or www.crazydrugs.us Click on Second generation/atypical anti-psychotics on the left hand side then read the article till you come to EPS and then click on it. Take Care. paul m

[Atlantis]

Hi Paul,
Thanks for the info on AAT's but unfortunately along with abilify the other 2 AAT's I have tried are Seroquel and Zyprexa.

Do you know if the Akathisa is a serious side effect or just an annoying one?

Would the Akathisa go away with time?

Although i am sure I could not of gone another minute with that awful feeling unless I was on a high dose of benzo's.

Take care,
Karen

[Woody]

Lets keep our fingers crossed AJ

Atlantis, I need complete silence now ... Depends on some nights even the shower running in on of the adjacent apartments is enough to to keep me awake LOL

When my sleepless nights where more frequent, I would put on a movie that I had watch a many many time and eventually I would close my eyes and would imagine what was going on screen. Eventually I would fall asleep. It was still 2~3 in the morning, but at lest I got some sleep.

Paul, I was in Northern Ontario. We did get some US channels at night but weather was a big factor and it was never clear. There was this balance that you needed to keep, being loud enough to hear, but not so loud that Matriarch could not hear as her hearing was quite fine...

[AJ]

I slept 6.5 hrs last night. I'm hoping the trend continues.
I flunked my blood test I have to do a repeat on Monday.) If my neutrophil count drops any more I'll have to stop Clozaril. We haven't got the Abilify dose high enough to be fully effective on it's own. Sigh.

[uni]

Hello AJ. Sorry to hear the blood test results weren't what you were hoping for; it sure sounds frustrating. My heart goes out to you.

As for the sleeping, I too hope the trend continues for you. I posted some sleep suggestions under the thread "mania" but you likely know what works and what doesn't by now.

I hope you get a chance to catch up on some sleep over the weekend.

[paul m]

Hello AJ. That really sucks. I know how hard it is to get blood from your veins. . Take Care. paul m p.s. good luck on the count.

Hello Karen. The uncontrolled leg jerks(a type of Akathisa) etc may get better in 2-4 wks, mine always did and I have tried most of AAPs. However if after two mths you still have them, it's time to talk to your doc. Benzo's are one way to stop them, beta blockers are another, docs have several other solutions.

Even Tardive Dyskinsea may fade or go away when the med is reduced or eliminated(mine minor amount did not) Take Care. paul m

[AJ]

I did read your suggestions for sleep Uni. Good stuff. Sometimes my bag of tricks work for me, and sometimes they don't. I'm hoping for at least a 7 hr sleep tonight. My P.doc doesn't want to drop my Clozaril dose until I'm getting 8 hrs. Hell might really freeze over this time.

Yes Paul getting poked again does suck. The other part of it is being afraid my meds will have to be changed before my dose of Abilify is high enough to really count. I don't like Clozaril for many reasons, but if having to stop it because of a drop in Neutrophil count (it's really low this time), and that puts me in the hospital.... okay time to breathe again.

[paul m]

Hello AJ. You really don't complain much for all the problems you are having. If it was me, my whining would be so loud and long people would think that I was a new stlye of nuclear attack warning.

How is your RA coming through all of this? BTW, you almost snuck it by me, in the hospital for what. Probably not a party. Take Care. paul m

[AJ]

My 8 hr sleep plan disintegrated into 3 hrs sleep last night. Ugh.

Off to do my blood work today. Wish me luck.

My P.doc sent my last blood results to my family MD because I'm anaemic as well. At least that's usually easy to treat. I imagine I'll be getting a call from them.

My RA is bad right now. Between standing on my feet at work all weekend and not getting enough rest, my joint pain and inflammation are worse. Maybe having the next 3 days off will help. Of course 3 hrs sleep won't. When I am having trouble getting up (as in out of a chair or doing stairs) at home, my dog comes over and gives me something to hang on to while getting up.) She's such a sweetie. Thanks for asking Paul.

Oh the hospital thing. I just meant that if I had to stop Clozaril suddenly because my white cell count dropped more, I would probably get sick and end up on psych.

[Sweetest1]

Anne, did you start your risperidone? I wonder because of the joint pain side effect is on the "common" list and could feel like your RA acting up? If so it doesn't last long, a week or so.

Also, I found the risperidone made it harder for me to sleep at first, but that got better too.

My dog also helps me get up. LOL. What kind is yours?

Mine is a Golden Doodle (standard poodle/golden retriever)

Rebecca

Oh, I also wanted to add about the anemia, b/c I get it too, that the pills they give you always ummm back me up, if you know what I mean. But, at the health food store you can get kosher liquid vitimans called "Floradix" and it doesn't cause that side effect, and also raised my iron count twice as fast as the pills. Fair warning though, it tastes like a$$

[A.E.V.]

hi Rebecca,

it's actually AJ that has the RA and the dog... the only arthritis I have is mild in my thumb, and my only pets are two annoying hamsters.

but yes I did start the risperdal. I've taken it two nights now and so far so good. nothing to report!
my sleep problem is quite the opposite of AJ's, I've been sleeping anywhere between 10 and 13 hours a night, plus occasional 2-3 hour naps in between, and I'm still soooo tired during the day. that's kind of too much sleep according to my pdoc, and parents. hehe
this has been since a week after I started the zoloft!

Anne.

[Sweetest1]

Y'all need to not have names that aren't only initials and start with A
:cheesy:

Rebecca

[Atlantis]

2-3 hour naps

Hi Anne,

I have experienced the endless hours of sleeping and still NO energy during depressive periods before and let me stress the fact that this could absolutely drive a person insane.

Now having said that, what I would not give to nap, even for 15 mins, I have not really slept well in about a year, I take sleep meds
(non habit forming dr. prescribed) every night and on a good night get 6-7 hrs but for the past 8 weeks I am only getting about 5 hrs a night.

Not enough sleep for me and my body is soooo tired and would love a nap but my mind will not let my body rest.

Maybe, jusy maybe, if we could switch minds then my body could get some much needed rest and your body would have some much needed energy

What do ya think?

[A.E.V.]

hmmm... swap minds? I'm not sure you'd want to do that!

Anne.

[Atlantis]

hmmm... swap minds? I'm not sure you'd want to do that!

Oh, I'll take my chances. I should let you know before we do this that I recently started taking stupimax, oops I meant to say topomax

p.s. Da yau hove spall chock? I hove trauble wath spulling.