I tried Abilify and it made my legs jerk
Monday January 19, 2009
On our Main Forum, member Hope For Better Days writes: "Actually, it made me jerk quickly all over, when I'm trying to sleep. And of course the jerking would wake me up. My pdoc warned that it might cause 'restlessness' - well the jerking was more like seizures than restlessness! Aaack! It did help my mood, though, but I'm already taking [several other medications]. I'm slowly weaning off the Abilify now."
Jerking of the limbs is an extrapyramidal side effect of many antipsychotic medications. There are several other types of extrapyramidal symptoms. According to the prescribing information, in clinical trials these symptoms appeared in about 5% of people taking Abilify.
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Comments
I was on Lamictal which was working great until I developed severe joint pains. Pain in my hands and arms made me cry when I used them. The pain stopped immediately upon my stopping the Lamictal. Too bad…I really liked that med otherwise.
I was also on Lamictal, but stopped due to hair loss, straw like hair texture, and negative mood changes. I liked it too until that started to happen. Now I am on Neurontin, and it’s workiing wonderfully, w/o any side effects that I can note at this point. I have also taken Seroquel for extreme mania, and during those short periods, I didn’t experience ep side effects; but once I took it in the fall to go to sleep on an edgy night and I jerked and my hands were tingling. Scary. Especially with all the press coming out about the atypicals and heart failure, diabetes, and kidney failure.
At 8-9 weeks on Lamictal, I started getting the rash they warn of, from my neck to my thighs. Went away once I stopped taking it. It did work for my depression though.
When he was taking Abilify, my son was on four other major drugs including Seroquel, Lithium, Inderal, and Klonopin. The Abilify caused indigestion and a red rash on his torso, and later on he had symptoms of tardive dyskenesia (muscle tics, stiffness in his joints and hands, rolling of the tongue and lips, and eventually he was completely psychotic. After a short hospitalization, he is on one major antipsychotic now and is doing very well.
Lamictal was working for me very well until after about 3 weeks I developed the rash. I was soooooo disappointed. Now I am on seroquel, zoloft and trileptal. So far they seem to be working well for me. Does anyone know if seroquel can be taken long term?
I take Lamictal AND Abilify with very few side effects from either. My Doctor told me to take Benedryl to stop my hands from shaking from the Abilify. It’s working very well for me!
I was taking Lamictal and it helped me a lot, my concentration improved and mood swings were starting to improve. I had almost no side effects until the 8 week mark, when I got a rash all over. I had to go to Urgent Care, and get steroids. I stopped taking Lamictal and soon the rash went away.
I also took Lithium but I couldn’t walk straight. I kept stumbling around and my arms were uncoordinated.
Then I took another mood stablizer and I forget the name of it right now, but it also gave me a rash, in about 11 days.
Finally my doctor said I can’t take the anti-seizure type of mood stabilizers, OR Lithium. He said, also, I can’t take any anti-depressants even though I’m very depressed.
He gave me two kinds of anti-anxiety medications, buspar and ativan and it seems that’s all I get.
I was on Lamictal for several years. It seemed to work at first and slowing without realizing it; I lost my appetite and got more depressed. I started having involuntary limb movements, my arms would fly up or my body would jerk ( like parkinsons). I have been off it for 3 years and I still have the involuntary limb movements. Anyone else have that problem?
I have been taking Effexor for a few month and last week was also put on Lamictal. Two nights ago, while slipping off to sleep I had my first ever involuntary muscle movement. My full body literally jerked to the right including my head. To say I was worried is an understatement. It also happened last night but not as bad. So happy to read that there’s a correlation between the jerking movement and Lamictal.