Does anyone on medication have this problem?

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Sarahsmith
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26 Apr 2020, 7:49 pm

I’ve been on antipsychotic medication for 3 years. I have been experiencing racing heart rate and anxiety or restlessness that comes out of nowhere even though I’m not stressed out over anything. I’ve been experiencing these symptoms for a while now. But when I moved back home with mom it became extreme. I’m afraid to tell my psychiatrist this because I don’t want to increase my dosage. I would actually like it decreased because I think the medication is making me constipated. The constipation has gotten worse recently too actually. I don’t remember having this form of restless anxiety when I was mentally ill. I was just psychotic, not anxious.

Has anyone had this symptom from medication, and what can I do about it?



starkid
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26 Apr 2020, 8:29 pm

Yes, anti-depressants I was prescribed for insomnia had this side effect. First I tried halving the dose. When that didn't help, I just stopped taking it.

You definitely need to tell the doctor what is happening. Unless the doctor is insane, the dosage would not be increased (if so, find another doctor). You will probably be given a decreased dosage or prescribed something else.

I do not recommend that you simply stop taking the meds without advice (like I did) because symptoms that require antipsychotics are probably serious.



Noca
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01 May 2020, 12:01 am

Have you counted what your resting heart rate is? Many antipsychotics are anticholinergic as well and anticholinergic drugs can increase your heart rate which can feel like anxiety. Antipsychotics can also cause akathisia(restlessness). If your heart rate is high and bothering you maybe your doctor can give you a betablocker(lowers heart rate and blood pressure) which would also relieve the anxiety, but probably not the restlessness.

Constipation is a very easy side effect to fix, simply buy some Restoralax from a pharmacy, and just add a very little (1/8 of a cap full or less) into a glass of water once a day and drink that. Give it a few days, if you still can't go, just keep taking a gradually larger dose each day until you can go. After you find what dose works for you(which is easy since its just powder) stick with it.



Sarahsmith
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01 May 2020, 8:38 am

The unpleasant side effects I had are pretty much gone now. I think the nurse that gave me the injection accidentally gave me a larger dose. He is usually pretty quick about the injections but last time it took a long time to put in and it just seemed like more than usual. I also felt sedated and twitchy and that has never happened to me before. I'm going to remind them when I go in what my dosage is.



holy999
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01 May 2020, 9:22 am

Sarahsmith wrote:
I’ve been on antipsychotic medication for 3 years. I have been experiencing racing heart rate and anxiety or restlessness that comes out of nowhere even though I’m not stressed out over anything. I’ve been experiencing these symptoms for a while now. But when I moved back home with mom it became extreme. I’m afraid to tell my psychiatrist this because I don’t want to increase my dosage. I would actually like it decreased because I think the medication is making me constipated. The constipation has gotten worse recently too actually. I don’t remember having this form of restless anxiety when I was mentally ill. I was just psychotic, not anxious.

Has anyone had this symptom from medication, and what can I do about it?

side effect



Sarahsmith
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01 May 2020, 9:47 am

Sorry that's what I meant.