andrea3821 Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I'm curious as to what this feels like. From what I've read, it's when you feel that you have to move, and it's voluntary. Not like TD, which is involuntary. I thought I was having akathisia effects from Pristiq a few weeks ago, but ppl on the boards told me my symptoms sounded more like hypomania. So what the heck is akathisia? Does it feel like restless legs at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 For me the movement was secondary to intense anxiety and the feeling I was coming out of my skin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SunshineOutside Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 For me, Akathisia does not feel anything like hypo mania. Hypo mania feels great to me. Akathisia had me pacing the floors all the time and it felt like intense anxiety. Very hard to tolerate. Sunshine Outside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrea3821 Posted March 10, 2009 Author Share Posted March 10, 2009 From what you guys have said, that sounds like what I had. But with racing thoughts added. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 I don't really think I would describe my experience with it as anything particularly anxiety-related, or at least nothing like my usual, daily anxiety crap. I was just extraordinarily restless. Not in the sense that I had to get up and go do something, but in the sense that it was distressing to stay still in the same position too long. You know how if you sit in the same position for too long, after a while your joints/muscles/whatever get uncomfortable and you have to get up and stretch or walk around or at least change positions? It was like that, only a million times worse, and it happened every 30 seconds. I had to keep moving, or my brain and body just would not shut up about how it was not ok to stay still. It was very distinct from the physical stuff I normally get along with anxiety (which for me generally tends to run more towards getting sick to my stomach, although there is some tensing up, just in a different way from my akathisia adventures). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmo Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 Akathesia for me was an anxiety so intense and deep seated I thought I was losing my mind. I also had an inner restlessness that made me want to keep moving, keep moving. My normal dose of xanax did nothing for the anxiety, so I doubled it. Didn't even touch the anxiety. I then got into a screaming match with a customer over the phone (did I mention I freaked out at work after taking the damn abilify in the morning?) and almost lost my job. I'm normally the nicest, meekest person you'll ever meet, so no one could believe *I* did this. I got sent home, saw the pdoc, got a note for work, and got yanked off the med. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anelize Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 Like others have related, I have severe anxiety, and a need to move constantly. It's like the worst "bugs under your skin" feeling ever. I hate it, and thank god, my current cocktail doesn't cause it. Abilify and Geodon both caused it, with Abilify being the worst offender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lysergia Posted March 11, 2009 Share Posted March 11, 2009 i gotta say "me too" about the most severe anxiety-kinda feeling EVER. panic attacks are bad - that feeling is worse. nobody ever called it akasthesia when i experienced it on effexor. it got chalked up to anxiety and "histrionic behaviour". bugs-under-your-skin is a good description. i could not stop moving, i felt like if i did my body would explode. for me it also comes with a feeling of rage - i needed to scream almost as much as i need to move. i think it's just a product of the desperation i felt, though - at times i would also cry uncontrollably (but did not feel sad), probably for the same reason. the only thing that killed it (well brought it to a tolerable level) was zyprexa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netsavy006 Posted March 19, 2009 Share Posted March 19, 2009 For me akathisia was an inability to keep still for very long. I would be pacing back and forth and I wouldn't be able to feel comfortable even to be able to have a meal, I'd have to get up and move around. Even when in the hospital one time, I couldn't even stay in groups because I would be so restless. I describe it as having like restless leg syndrome only without the tingly feeling that comes with it. It's a feeling of having to move all the time. I'm glad there is medication out there to control it and reduced dosages out there because without the combination of a reduced Abilify dosage (15mg to 5mg) and Cogentin (1mg 2x/day), I would still be in akathisia land having so much trouble keeping still for even short periods... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xtryptaminex Posted June 7, 2009 Share Posted June 7, 2009 (edited) - Edited December 10, 2018 by xtryptaminex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellmate Posted June 11, 2009 Share Posted June 11, 2009 Mine was anxiety related as well. I HAD to move, but the abilify had made me fatigued as well so I was in this horrible in between state that was driving me insane. My t/pdoc said that people have actually killed themselves over it because they couldn't describe what was going on with them and get so upset and frustrated they kill themselves. I could NOT get comfortable anywhere, no matter what. I had trouble sleeping, I couldn't stop moving, I needed to move. Also, I was hungry all the damn time. My t/pdoc said this could be from the abilify itself, but it stopped when I went on the cogentin, so take that as you will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Persephone Posted June 12, 2009 Share Posted June 12, 2009 I am just coming down off severe akathesia from Remeron. I was pacing back and forth and up and down stairs from 5am to midnight two days ago. It felt like I had had 18 shots of espresso. Worst experience of my life. Emotionally, I flipped back and forth from extreme anxiety (just want to die because the world is ending and you're losing your mind simultaneously) to a giddy, silly, hypomanic-type mood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurksalot Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 When I had it the first time t was mainly physical. I had no idea what it was and my psychiatrist said it was mania. It wasn't though. It was sit down, stand up. try to ie down, pop back up, pace, sit etc. Once I shoved myself around the living room on an office chair with loud music on. I recommend that. That would have been seroquel or abilify or both.Next time it was abilify withdrawal/discontinuation and it was more mental, as in dread, grim, doom, and the the constant refrain in my head "I can't take this another minute. By then I knew what it was, not that it helped anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crtclms Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Hi Lurksalot. I just wanted to tell you it is fine to start a new thread discussing this topic. We aren't the kind of board that expects you to search for the *one* thread on a topic. This thread is 6 years old, and some of the people don't even come here anymore.I am not scolding you, I am just trying to let you know that there is nothing wrong if you start a new discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nystagmus Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 The last time I had akathisia I tried to stay in bed and I literally felt dizzy and anxious and almost nauseus lying still, but it would decrease as soon as I got up and moved around. Previous times I've had akathisia it was more like extreme anxiety unless I moved and I had to pace around in circles counterclockwise. It even mattered whether or not i paced clockwise or not. wierd huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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