Akathisia I - My Story

[brightside]

Akathisia I - My Story​

Akathisia is a consequence of pharmaceutical drug that deeply impacted my life. I wrote three posts about it titled, Akathisia I – My Story, Akathisia II – Deep Dive, and Akathisia III – (my) Practical Application. This is the first post and is about my story and my description of how it feels.

What is Akathisia?​

“Akathisia is a movement disorder characterized by a subjective feeling of inner restlessness accompanied by mental distress and an inability to sit still. Usually, the legs are most prominently affected. Those affected may fidget, rock back and forth, or pace, while some may just have an uneasy feeling in their body” (Wikipedia).​

While I generally disagree with this definition, this is the general definition of akathisia. Akathisia is considered a singular symptom of various drugs, however it is closer to a constellation of symptoms. The primary akathisia symptom is restlessness, however many other symptoms exist, like suicidal and homicidal ideation, anxiety, terror and panic, complete inability to relax, insomnia, intrusive thoughts, anhedonia, and more.

How does Akathisia Feel?​

Akathisia is usually a combination of two types of sensations and symptoms, physical and mental.

Physical:​

The physical sensations are usually the ones that are the most noticeable both to the observer and the person experiencing it. They consist of a specific sensation that feels strong but also “vague”; in the sense that it cannot exactly pinpointed, as opposed to a sensation made by skin contact to something, or an itch, or a cut. (this is due to Akathisia being a problem of the brain, not nerves or injury to the peripherals.) This sensation is extremely uncomfortable, and also painful. It is overwhelmingly intense, often feeling like you are being tortured. It makes one want to jump out of his skin, rip limbs off, and escape the state of living. To relieve it, you are “forced” to move. Moving is a voluntary movement, but depending on the severity, it can be impossible to restrain yourself.

As this sensation increases so does the movement, and people go from bouncing or shifting their legs to pacing around the room. When trying to hold a conversation or stand still they might shift their weight off of one foot to the other, move their limbs oddly, or perform other movements. Once exhausted, people often lay down, and continue to move until they become exhausted from even that. The best way to describe how this looks is with the word “writhe”, and it feels exactly how it looks like.

Spoiler: more

A possibly uncommon symptom that I frequently had is discomfort in my teeth. This discomfort feels just like regular akathisia and made me want to rip out my teeth just like it made me want to rip out my limbs. Pressing down on them was my version of pacing and I would often gnash my teeth. Note: I know this sounds like bruxism, but I am confident that it is not. I had bruxism in the past, and it is different to this. Bruxism is more like a stress response and coping mechanism, driven by a subconscious desire to grind teeth. Akathisia in my teeth feels like the intense discomfort that makes me want to pull the teeth out.

Mental:​

The mental symptoms are no better, typically consisting of dysphoria and panic. The dysphoria feels like a very strong emotional pain, and often has no “origin”. You simply are upset but about nothing. It feels like the worst imaginable event has occurred that cuts you deep to your core, except that there is no event or crisis. It is impossible to live life with this symptom and you become completely flooded with negative emotion.

Lastly, panic plays the other part in instilling the worst headspace possible. People who struggle with akathisia typically report a feeling of panic, and it is usually this panic that fuels the long and exhausting sessions of pacing around rooms. Combined with the intense dysphoria, the panic completely shuts down the person experiencing akathisia, and turns them into an exhausted, never still, emotional mess. It quickly destroys their life and desire to live.

The desire to end your life appears almost instantly. It is deep and irrational. It appears not because of a thought pattern or life event, but from an incorrect realization. The realization that there is no way out, no way to soothe the pain, no way to ignore it, no way to manage it, and the only option that remains, is death. When akathisia results in suicide, it is not from weakness; it is from the rational mind wrongly thinking that there is no other way out but through this violent measure. (I know this might sound like typical depressive thinkinging, but having had both, it is different. There is a distinct difference. Perhaps this video can explain it better, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eix3cdwoU )

Because of these symptoms, it is no surprise that akathisia takes people’s lives. There are many stories of people losing their loved ones shortly after a new SSRI has been started or after some other drug has been introduced or stopped. Unlike what medical professionals say, akathisia is not a movement disorder, or some other random symptom, it is THE symptom to look out for. Even though akathisia presents visually with movement, it is a serious dysfunction of the entire brain. Chronic akathisia is worse. Without a drug inducing dysfunction, chronic akathisia becomes a metabolic problem, usually with many other symptoms.

My personal experience with it has been utter hell. It is, with no exception, the worst state I have ever been in. It is worse than deep depressive episodes, exhausting dysautonomia, intense lactic acidosis that leaves you bedridden, or any other mental space I have experienced. Like I described, it is torture, and there is no escape. I occasionally resorted to unhealthy coping habits, but for the most part I managed to wait out my symptoms. I am glad that I was able to live through it and can write about it. Because I lived, I feel it is my responsibility to write about this and try to inform and help other people who struggle with it.

Life before.​

Before the development of my akathisia, my health was slowly declining over the course of five years. I assume that this decline was a prerequisite for akathisia to develop, but I can never know for sure. To add to that both sides of my family have health issues, allergy and autoimmunity being common from one side, and heart and liver disease from the other. Therefore, my general health state has been “prepared” for a major health problem, like akathisia.

First year.​

After a painful tooth infection, I was prescribed two antibiotics, and some painkillers. The antibiotics were amoxicillin (which I have successfully taken before) and Metronidazole, and the painkiller was Vicodin. After the initial treatment, I noticed some serious digestive problems but eventually found a way to keep it to a minimum through a restrictive diet. This diet included me avoiding gluten and dairy, and little amounts of meat due to a low appetite.

After a couple of months, I started noticing that my general state started declining even further. Unfortunately, not knowing what to do, I just continued doing what I was doing. Eventually, I noticed major symptoms, such as intense blood sugar swings, intense fatigue, bounding heart, and restlessness. It took me another few months before I identified the symptoms, and realized that I had akathisia, dysautonomia, and SIBO.

Fortunately, around that time I also discovered the first tool in my health toolbox, iron. Around six months after the initial Metronidazole dose, after doing lots of pacing, I randomly decided to drink some iron. And to my surprise, within 30 minutes, I achieved peace! Finally, I was able to lay down and just... relax. I remember that moment very distinctly, and that was my first realization, that whatever is wrong, can still be managed, and what I was currently doing clearly was not helping.

Current.​

So far, it has been 3.5 years since my tooth infection and I am happy to say that I have my akathisia under control. During the first and second years I seriously struggled, with some very intense peaks where I descended into very unhealthy coping habits. Unfortunately, I haven’t full “cured” it, and I still occasionally get “flare ups” which are directly connected to my gut function and nutritional status, but overall, I’m OK. I would say I am 80-90% symptom free, and mainly get the mild desire to gnash my teeth and mild RLS.

​

My Ask​

If you have loved ones that take any medication, learn a bit more about akathisia. Even identifying akathisia in somebody can be of extreme help. When I realized that I was not crazy but experiencing a serious dysfunction, I was relieved. I gained confidence that I still existed, and I just had to find a way to deal with this problem, and maybe then I could go on living my life.

The Akathisia alliance is a good library of information. And here is a short video going over akathisia.

 

[yerrag]

It seems like an inability to detach. Which is the opposite of being able to float in a state of being grounded. It's like having no center to balance oneself. Ever looking to balance but never finding it and this endless search fuels the need to keep moving.

It's the first time I heard of this and I hope I don't hear more of it. But I doubt it. It is conceivable that it becomes the defining sickness on an era that is unfolding. Expressing the debasement of our natural being into a humanoid dependent on intervention to prop us up. After vaccination, prescription drugs, consumption of foods laced with harmful additives and GMOs.

It is however, not a matter of the brain as it does not occur if the brain were sitting atop a healthy body. The brain expresses the state of the body.

 

[David PS]

Wow, you entered the discussion portion of the forum with 4 posts. Quite a big splash.

I look forward to your participation. And, welcome a board!

 

[purple pill]

sorry to hear the health issues youve had. I got a tooth extracted 2 weeks ago, was still in pain a week later so went back so they could check it out. I knew they would most likely offer antibiotics so the night before i done a fair bit of research on ones that are considered safe as ive heard some can cause other issues so compiled a list of ones id be willing to take. The dentist went on to prescribe antibiotics, i never recognised the name Metronidazole so asked if she could give me something else, her attitude was disgusting, basically told me its safe and shes given it to hundreds of patients and couldnt believe i had the audacity to question her authority and wouldnt give me anything else so told her to give me the prescription and i would research it before taking it, she was like whatever you dont have to take it. I researched it and found it was a potent thiamine antagonist along with alot of anecdotal problems people have had, ive also read alot of derrick longsdales articles so know not to mess with thiamine. Managed to get the prescription changed to penicillin by the pharmacist who was nice enough to listen to my concerns even though he had clearly never heard of any concerms over the antibiotic. I wonder if high dose thiamine could help a bit more in your case?

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Akathisia I - My Story​

Akathisia is a consequence of pharmaceutical drug that deeply impacted my life. I wrote three posts about it titled, Akathisia I – My Story, Akathisia II – Deep Dive, and Akathisia III – (my) Practical Application. This is the first post and is about my story and my description of how it feels.

What is Akathisia?​

“Akathisia is a movement disorder characterized by a subjective feeling of inner restlessness accompanied by mental distress and an inability to sit still. Usually, the legs are most prominently affected. Those affected may fidget, rock back and forth, or pace, while some may just have an uneasy feeling in their body” (Wikipedia).​

While I generally disagree with this definition, this is the general definition of akathisia. Akathisia is considered a singular symptom of various drugs, however it is closer to a constellation of symptoms. The primary akathisia symptom is restlessness, however many other symptoms exist, like suicidal and homicidal ideation, anxiety, terror and panic, complete inability to relax, insomnia, intrusive thoughts, anhedonia, and more.

How does Akathisia Feel?​

Akathisia is usually a combination of two types of sensations and symptoms, physical and mental.

Physical:​

The physical sensations are usually the ones that are the most noticeable both to the observer and the person experiencing it. They consist of a specific sensation that feels strong but also “vague”; in the sense that it cannot exactly pinpointed, as opposed to a sensation made by skin contact to something, or an itch, or a cut. (this is due to Akathisia being a problem of the brain, not nerves or injury to the peripherals.) This sensation is extremely uncomfortable, and also painful. It is overwhelmingly intense, often feeling like you are being tortured. It makes one want to jump out of his skin, rip limbs off, and escape the state of living. To relieve it, you are “forced” to move. Moving is a voluntary movement, but depending on the severity, it can be impossible to restrain yourself.

As this sensation increases so does the movement, and people go from bouncing or shifting their legs to pacing around the room. When trying to hold a conversation or stand still they might shift their weight off of one foot to the other, move their limbs oddly, or perform other movements. Once exhausted, people often lay down, and continue to move until they become exhausted from even that. The best way to describe how this looks is with the word “writhe”, and it feels exactly how it looks like.

Spoiler: more

A possibly uncommon symptom that I frequently had is discomfort in my teeth. This discomfort feels just like regular akathisia and made me want to rip out my teeth just like it made me want to rip out my limbs. Pressing down on them was my version of pacing and I would often gnash my teeth. Note: I know this sounds like bruxism, but I am confident that it is not. I had bruxism in the past, and it is different to this. Bruxism is more like a stress response and coping mechanism, driven by a subconscious desire to grind teeth. Akathisia in my teeth feels like the intense discomfort that makes me want to pull the teeth out.

Mental:​

The mental symptoms are no better, typically consisting of dysphoria and panic. The dysphoria feels like a very strong emotional pain, and often has no “origin”. You simply are upset but about nothing. It feels like the worst imaginable event has occurred that cuts you deep to your core, except that there is no event or crisis. It is impossible to live life with this symptom and you become completely flooded with negative emotion.

Lastly, panic plays the other part in instilling the worst headspace possible. People who struggle with akathisia typically report a feeling of panic, and it is usually this panic that fuels the long and exhausting sessions of pacing around rooms. Combined with the intense dysphoria, the panic completely shuts down the person experiencing akathisia, and turns them into an exhausted, never still, emotional mess. It quickly destroys their life and desire to live.

The desire to end your life appears almost instantly. It is deep and irrational. It appears not because of a thought pattern or life event, but from an incorrect realization. The realization that there is no way out, no way to soothe the pain, no way to ignore it, no way to manage it, and the only option that remains, is death. When akathisia results in suicide, it is not from weakness; it is from the rational mind wrongly thinking that there is no other way out but through this violent measure. (I know this might sound like typical depressive thinkinging, but having had both, it is different. There is a distinct difference. Perhaps this video can explain it better, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6eix3cdwoU )

Because of these symptoms, it is no surprise that akathisia takes people’s lives. There are many stories of people losing their loved ones shortly after a new SSRI has been started or after some other drug has been introduced or stopped. Unlike what medical professionals say, akathisia is not a movement disorder, or some other random symptom, it is THE symptom to look out for. Even though akathisia presents visually with movement, it is a serious dysfunction of the entire brain. Chronic akathisia is worse. Without a drug inducing dysfunction, chronic akathisia becomes a metabolic problem, usually with many other symptoms.

My personal experience with it has been utter hell. It is, with no exception, the worst state I have ever been in. It is worse than deep depressive episodes, exhausting dysautonomia, intense lactic acidosis that leaves you bedridden, or any other mental space I have experienced. Like I described, it is torture, and there is no escape. I occasionally resorted to unhealthy coping habits, but for the most part I managed to wait out my symptoms. I am glad that I was able to live through it and can write about it. Because I lived, I feel it is my responsibility to write about this and try to inform and help other people who struggle with it.

Life before.​

Before the development of my akathisia, my health was slowly declining over the course of five years. I assume that this decline was a prerequisite for akathisia to develop, but I can never know for sure. To add to that both sides of my family have health issues, allergy and autoimmunity being common from one side, and heart and liver disease from the other. Therefore, my general health state has been “prepared” for a major health problem, like akathisia.

First year.​

After a painful tooth infection, I was prescribed two antibiotics, and some painkillers. The antibiotics were amoxicillin (which I have successfully taken before) and Metronidazole, and the painkiller was Vicodin. After the initial treatment, I noticed some serious digestive problems but eventually found a way to keep it to a minimum through a restrictive diet. This diet included me avoiding gluten and dairy, and little amounts of meat due to a low appetite.

After a couple of months, I started noticing that my general state started declining even further. Unfortunately, not knowing what to do, I just continued doing what I was doing. Eventually, I noticed major symptoms, such as intense blood sugar swings, intense fatigue, bounding heart, and restlessness. It took me another few months before I identified the symptoms, and realized that I had akathisia, dysautonomia, and SIBO.

Fortunately, around that time I also discovered the first tool in my health toolbox, iron. Around six months after the initial Metronidazole dose, after doing lots of pacing, I randomly decided to drink some iron. And to my surprise, within 30 minutes, I achieved peace! Finally, I was able to lay down and just... relax. I remember that moment very distinctly, and that was my first realization, that whatever is wrong, can still be managed, and what I was currently doing clearly was not helping.

Current.​

So far, it has been 3.5 years since my tooth infection and I am happy to say that I have my akathisia under control. During the first and second years I seriously struggled, with some very intense peaks where I descended into very unhealthy coping habits. Unfortunately, I haven’t full “cured” it, and I still occasionally get “flare ups” which are directly connected to my gut function and nutritional status, but overall, I’m OK. I would say I am 80-90% symptom free, and mainly get the mild desire to gnash my teeth and mild RLS.

​

My Ask​

If you have loved ones that take any medication, learn a bit more about akathisia. Even identifying akathisia in somebody can be of extreme help. When I realized that I was not crazy but experiencing a serious dysfunction, I was relieved. I gained confidence that I still existed, and I just had to find a way to deal with this problem, and maybe then I could go on living my life.

The Akathisia alliance is a good library of information. And here is a short video going over akathisia.

Wow this is a really interesting post! I am really sorry for all you have gone through. I wonder how common it might be, and gets misdiagnosed? This is very sad, especially with words like writhing and “gnash my teeth”.

 

[imzack]

Did you test if you had low iron?
Was there anything else (other than iron), that helped you out?
Or did you just have to wait it out?
You also address the SIBO? What gas, and are you neg now?

Thanks for the post!

 

[brightside]

Did you test if you had low iron?
Was there anything else (other than iron), that helped you out?
Or did you just have to wait it out?
You also address the SIBO? What gas, and are you neg now?

Thanks for the post!

At the very top there is a link to my two other posts. They should answer your question better

 

[imzack]

Thank you! Didn't realized those were continuations

 

[brightside]

Wow, you entered the discussion portion of the forum with 4 posts. Quite a big splash.

I look forward to your participation. And, welcome a board!

Thanks!

haha, well, I had a goal, and it helped me stay motivated to finish all of them.

 

[brightside]

If anyone is interested to see what it looks like, here are a few videos.

Kid who was given nausea meds (D2 blockers)

Guy getting relief after using some medical cannabis

Example of the emotional state during a wave

And here is lucinda, who has her own channel where she frequently posts her experiences

 

[brightside]

sorry to hear the health issues youve had. I got a tooth extracted 2 weeks ago, was still in pain a week later so went back so they could check it out. I knew they would most likely offer antibiotics so the night before i done a fair bit of research on ones that are considered safe as ive heard some can cause other issues so compiled a list of ones id be willing to take. The dentist went on to prescribe antibiotics, i never recognised the name Metronidazole so asked if she could give me something else, her attitude was disgusting, basically told me its safe and shes given it to hundreds of patients and couldnt believe i had the audacity to question her authority and wouldnt give me anything else so told her to give me the prescription and i would research it before taking it, she was like whatever you dont have to take it. I researched it and found it was a potent thiamine antagonist along with alot of anecdotal problems people have had, ive also read alot of derrick longsdales articles so know not to mess with thiamine. Managed to get the prescription changed to penicillin by the pharmacist who was nice enough to listen to my concerns even though he had clearly never heard of any concerms over the antibiotic. I wonder if high dose thiamine could help a bit more in your case?

Thank you.

That was a good decision. However, penicillin isn't really equivalent to metronidazole, and sometimes you might need it. I don't know how much antibiotics can effectively replace it.

It sucks, because it seems to be quite effective at killing a large amount of infections, so the drive to replace it isnt there.

Thank you for the recommendation, but I have already been taking high dose for the past three years. I wish it would be more effective, but atleast it does help me quite a bit.

 

[brightside]

Wow this is a really interesting post! I am really sorry for all you have gone through. I wonder how common it might be, and gets misdiagnosed? This is very sad, especially with words like writhing and “gnash my teeth”.

Thank you.

I feel like it might be quite common actually. According to this, the top 5 SSRI's were prescribed roughly 120 million times in 2020! Now that's not the actual amount of patients that are taking them, that's closer to 25 million. On the other hand, the top 8 neuroleptics were prescribed 30 million times, with around 5 million patients in 2020.

Akathisia is quite common with neuroleptic use( a few %), and probably? more uncommon with SSRI use. However, akathisia is much better identified by doctors their patients who are taking antipsychotics, since the doctor is usually more familiar with such side-effects, and the patient can more easily find his symptom in a list from antipsychotics. However, I almost never see akathisia mentioned as a side-effect of SSRI's which means that there are a large amount of people who have it, but either they themselves don't realize it, or their doctor misdiagnoses or ignores their symptoms.

There was a small poll on reddit, which showed that the akathisia causes were almost tied between anti-psychotics, and SSRIs. That tells me that even though akathisia is not commonly diagnosed from SSRI use, there are still a large number of people who experience it and manage to figure out that they have akathisia.

I would guesstimate that there is roughly a million people with akathisia right now in the US(England also has high rates of SSRI use, an other countries are catching up too). Note: there are also akathisia induced by anti-emetics, and other drugs.

 

[peatmoss]

@brightside The body hides iron during an infection because iron feeds infection. If you have to continually take iron, there might still be a low grade chronic infection. One of my favorite ways to help with infection is turkey tail tea. It grows wild everywhere...except for maybe Antarctica. But theres a bunch of ways to combat infection that you could choose from


" During bacterial infection, pathogen and host compete for iron (Fe). The inflammatory response associated with infection shifts Fe from the circulation into storage, resulting in hypoferremia and iron-deficient erythropoiesis, and ultimately contributing to the anemia of inflammation."

Iron and the risk of infection - PubMed

Humans respond to infection with inflammatory cytokine-induced hypoferremia. This association, as well as the growing literature linking Fe to both impaired immunity and heightened microbial virulence, calls into question the value of Fe supplementation during inflammation and infection.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[peatmoss]

@brightside I just noticed you said " I would say I am 80-90% symptom free, and mainly get the mild desire to gnash my teeth and mild RLS."

Im a sports massage therapist and the first thing i check when someone has RLS is the atlas or C1 transverse process (first cervical vertebra). Im guessing that yours is tender especially after you mentioned that you want to gnash your teeth. A subluxed (out of place) C1 will cause disfunction to the vagus nerve that will cause you to have RLS. During an infection what is really common is the lymp will swell. Swollen lymph will have an impact on nearby muscles. Those muscles will spasm and get tense. Once this happens it'll cause your vertebra to go out of place which probably happened to your C1 vertebra. Is the lymph around your jaw a little tender and the transverse process of the first vertebra sore?

heres how to find the transverse process of c1. Theres a lot of lymph around that area as well so you could check for soreness in that general area for congested sore lymph


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJCkmpMmdz8

 

[brightside]

@brightside The body hides iron during an infection because iron feeds infection. If you have to continually take iron, there might still be a low grade chronic infection. One of my favorite ways to help with infection is turkey tail tea. It grows wild everywhere...except for maybe Antarctica. But theres a bunch of ways to combat infection that you could choose from


" During bacterial infection, pathogen and host compete for iron (Fe). The inflammatory response associated with infection shifts Fe from the circulation into storage, resulting in hypoferremia and iron-deficient erythropoiesis, and ultimately contributing to the anemia of inflammation."

Iron and the risk of infection - PubMed

Humans respond to infection with inflammatory cytokine-induced hypoferremia. This association, as well as the growing literature linking Fe to both impaired immunity and heightened microbial virulence, calls into question the value of Fe supplementation during inflammation and infection.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Yes, thank you. I do address this in my other two posts :)
I did manage to get almost complete remission with an antibiotic and lactoferrin to pull iron out, but it only works while taking the antibiotic.

I have tried countless things, but it seems to be stemming primarily from inhibited mitochondria, allowing for slow transit time, weak digestion, etc. Untill I fix the mitochondrial inhibition, all of the things that kill infections have been mildly helpful, and only for a short period of time.

 

[brightside]

@brightside I just noticed you said " I would say I am 80-90% symptom free, and mainly get the mild desire to gnash my teeth and mild RLS."

Im a sports massage therapist and the first thing i check when someone has RLS is the atlas or C1 transverse process (first cervical vertebra). Im guessing that yours is tender especially after you mentioned that you want to gnash your teeth. A subluxed (out of place) C1 will cause disfunction to the vagus nerve that will cause you to have RLS. During an infection what is really common is the lymp will swell. Swollen lymph will have an impact on nearby muscles. Those muscles will spasm and get tense. Once this happens it'll cause your vertebra to go out of place which probably happened to your C1 vertebra. Is the lymph around your jaw a little tender and the transverse process of the first vertebra sore?

heres how to find the transverse process of c1. Theres a lot of lymph around that area as well so you could check for soreness in that general area for congested sore lymph


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJCkmpMmdz8

@peatmoss

Intersting...

What I always found odd is that when akathisia would be mild, or a wave was coming on, only teeth 3-6 would hurt. Then, when things would get more intense, the rest of them would start to hurt and I would have mild akathisia all over my body. Eventually I would be pacing, unless I intervened. So it happens that my infected tooth was also on the right side but on the lower jaw, I think it is tooth 30 or 29.

I've had inflamed tonsils and sinus congestion for at least the past 3 years, if not longer. I wonder if the sinus inflammation is also playing a role here.

No doubt that there of inflammation still, but im not sure if I have congested lymp? If I press on the transverse process of c1, it does feel somewhat uncomfortable, but wouldn't it feel uncomfortable to anyone?

Vagus nerve dysfunction would certainly explain all of my symptoms, although, indirectly. (through inhibition of proper digestion)

 

[LadyRae]

How about taking an eye dropper full of 1% methylene blue solution before bed in a little bit of water? Swish it around in your mouth first for a good minute before you swallow

 

[brightside]

How about taking an eye dropper full of 1% methylene blue solution before bed in a little bit of water? Swish it around in your mouth first for a good minute before you swallow

How much mg would that be?

 

[LadyRae]

How much mg would that be?

Each drop is .5 mg. So I would start with 10-15 drops. That's what I take every evening before bed...

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Thank you.

I feel like it might be quite common actually. According to this, the top 5 SSRI's were prescribed roughly 120 million times in 2020! Now that's not the actual amount of patients that are taking them, that's closer to 25 million. On the other hand, the top 8 neuroleptics were prescribed 30 million times, with around 5 million patients in 2020.

Akathisia is quite common with neuroleptic use( a few %), and probably? more uncommon with SSRI use. However, akathisia is much better identified by doctors their patients who are taking antipsychotics, since the doctor is usually more familiar with such side-effects, and the patient can more easily find his symptom in a list from antipsychotics. However, I almost never see akathisia mentioned as a side-effect of SSRI's which means that there are a large amount of people who have it, but either they themselves don't realize it, or their doctor misdiagnoses or ignores their symptoms.

There was a small poll on reddit, which showed that the akathisia causes were almost tied between anti-psychotics, and SSRIs. That tells me that even though akathisia is not commonly diagnosed from SSRI use, there are still a large number of people who experience it and manage to figure out that they have akathisia.

I would guesstimate that there is roughly a million people with akathisia right now in the US(England also has high rates of SSRI use, an other countries are catching up too). Note: there are also akathisia induced by anti-emetics, and other drugs.

Wow you have really done your homework on this subject. I’m impressed!