The untold horror of akathisia

[Emotionalmosquito]

Recently my psychiatrist and family have been strongly recommending I start taking Abilify. Abilify is a second generation, supposedly safer antipsychotic med which I would be taking for lack of motivation and anxiety. It turns out antipsychotics are one of the main causes of akathisia, other causes include SSRIs, anti nausea meds and benzodiazepine withdrawal. It’s  characterized by the following symptoms: 

• Intense and unrelenting restlessness, complete inability to stop moving
• Severe, agonizing and bone deep discomfort throughout the body
• Feeling of being electrocuted, burned and or having thousands of tiny bugs crawling all throughout every nerve in the body 
• Severe dysphoria: unimaginable levels of fear, panic, stress, terror and helplessness. Ineffable mental, physical and spiritual torment far far beyond what any sentient creature should ever have to endure
• Suicidal and or homicidal tendencies 

I’ve also heard it described as having a nonstop exorcism or having your nervous system hooked up to a turbo jet engine and revving it up pedal to the metal. One woman said she would rather give birth multiple times a day every day for a year than ever go through akathisia again.

Some people are lucky enough to never have this side effect or only experience it for a relatively short while (minutes can feel like hours in this state) others, not so much. There are people who have been going on like this for years and it can be permanent. 

(Skip this next part if you don’t care to read my commentary on the psychiatric industry)

One thing I find concerning is none of this was mentioned to me by the “professionals” until I brought it up to them. Then they didn’t even seem to acknowledge it as being anything more than your typical bout of anxiety or restlessness. Right. That’s like saying having your childrens’ heads blown off with a shotgun right in front of you can lead to feelings of sadness. The fact that they’re so dismissive of such a serious and disturbingly common symptom leads me to wonder just how many innocent souls who just wanted to feel better are now stuck in the deepest darkest pits of hell for no telling how long due to sheer negligence. Some people who wind up this way are misdiagnosed as anxious and prescribed benzos which will only exacerbate the issue in the long run and can be ripped away from you quite abruptly. Some people are given even more antipsychotics or antidepressants. Some people are misdiagnosed as manic, psychotic or delusional and placed in psyche wards where they’re subject to being force fed more of the kinds of drugs which caused the issue to begin with. Good luck trying to tell an orderly that actually you were never this bad until after taking psyche meds. They’ll just think it’s more of your delusion talking and pump you full of the devil’s drugs then not give a single fuck about your screams of excruciating agony. I’m getting this from comments I’ve read of people sharing their experience. I know it’s possible that things can be made up, but why lie about this? What would one stand to gain by fabricating such stories? I’m also not saying all psychiatrists are this bad, but people should be aware of the red flags. 

 

So there you have it, akathisia. Wanted to talk a little about it to raise awareness because apparently most people have never even heard the word before. And to express how grateful I am for the internet. Without it, I very well might have been another victim.

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Emotionalmosquito

[Schizophonia]

9 hours ago, Emotionalmosquito said:

Recently my psychiatrist and family have been strongly recommending I start taking Abilify.

9 hours ago, Emotionalmosquito said:

I would be taking for lack of motivation and anxiety. 

wtf

 

[Schizophonia]

Have you stopped Abifily? I wouldn't even touch this with a stick unless you have severe psychosis and it works for some reason.

[Osaid]

Psychiatrists do a similar "shrugging-off" when it comes to the occurence of PSSD from SSRIs, which can basically remove sexual function indefinitely, among other anhedonic symptoms, and there is no known reliable cure.

[Emotionalmosquito]

I said I WOULD be taking it. That is if I had listened without question. Luckily I had questions. Reading what folks had to say about it and watching some videos scared me away from going anywhere near it or anything like it. Not to say I’d be guaranteed to end up with aka but my god is it really worth the risk?! 

[Schizophonia]

24 minutes ago, Osaid said:

Psychiatrists do a similar "shrugging-off" when it comes to the occurence of PSSD from SSRIs, which can basically remove sexual function indefinitely, among other anhedonic symptoms, and there is no known reliable cure.

Fenclonine

Et toc ! Now pleases remove my warning points for (sex) life saving 

Edited November 1, 2023 by Schizophonia

[Emotionalmosquito]

@Schizophonia what’s et toc? 

[toasty7718]

I agree with you 100%. The psychiatric system is fucking inhumane. 

Check out Daniel Mackler on YouTube. He's an ex-therapist who exposes the bullshit he encountered while working in the mental health industry. 

 

 

[Schizophonia]

11 hours ago, Emotionalmosquito said:

@Schizophonia what’s et toc? 

" and there you go "

[Pav]

i sure as hell wouldn't start taking an anti-psychotic for lack of motivation, that's rather absurd for your psychiatrist to suggest that. The side effects of such things are not to be taken lightly.

[Ulax]

Seems weird to me you'd be given an antipsychotic for lack of motivation/ anxiety.

Maybe sertraline would be a better psychiatric drug to try first. 

[Schizophonia]

22 hours ago, Ulax said:

Seems weird to me you'd be given an antipsychotic for lack of motivation/ anxiety.

Maybe sertraline would be a better psychiatric drug to try first. 

I wouldn't touch SSRIs.
It's the same, maybe even worse than certain antipsychotics (seroquel?).