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blitzkrieg
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02 Aug 2018, 10:04 am

In regards to Tourette's Syndrome - which have you found to be the best for you? I've seen quite a few people on various places on the internet say the typical antipsychotics are better for controlling tics than atypical psychotics. For example, Haloperidol being better than Risperidone or Abilify.

Thoughts?



renaeden
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10 Aug 2018, 2:07 am

I have motor tic disorder (no vocal tics) and I'm on 5mgs of haloperidol at night. I have tried risperidone for my tics because I wanted to come off haloperidol. It didn't work. I felt weak and shaky, plus my tics came back. I tried that for 3 weeks. Then it was back to haloperidol because that at least put a stop to my tics.

I'm just worried about being on haloperidol long term because it's known to cause tardive dyskinesia and that is something I do not want.



blitzkrieg
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12 Aug 2018, 3:03 pm

I have a neurologist's appointment next month and am thinking of switching over to Haloperidol. My tics are mostly motor too and happen more regularly when I'm working/exposed to stress, more often. I've been working about 25 hours per week now for nearly six years which is a lot for me and my issues. It'd be such a relief to have something that works properly to kill tics, without a medication being overly sedating.



renaeden
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17 Aug 2018, 7:19 am

Even though I take haloperidol at night, I don't think it's sedating. Sometimes I'll get a few tics while I'm going off to sleep but that's about it.

From 2011 to 2013 I had a break from haloperidol because I was prescribed ziprasidone (Geodon/Zeldox). That's an atypical antipsychotic and it worked well for tic suppression but I had to take a really high dose for it to work. Anyway, I had a psych ward stay in 2013 and while I was there I had 3 abnormal ECGs. My heart was beating abnormally and the culprit was the ziprasidone. So I had to come off it. Back to the old haloperidol. I've been on it since then.

blitzkrieg, best of luck for your neurologist visit. If you are prescribed haloperidol, be aware of possible parkinsonism side effects. You may have to be prescribed propranolol or benztropine to offset them. I take benztropine and it works very well.



blitzkrieg
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18 Aug 2018, 7:02 pm

How would the beta-blocker Propanolol help a lack of dopamine ala Parkinsonism?

Thanks, I should be receiving my appointment letter soon.



renaeden
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20 Aug 2018, 10:48 pm

I'm not sure. What happened was, I was in an Intensive Day Therapy Unit (IDTU) as a transition from hospital to the community, and my parkinsonism symptoms were pretty bad. I went to see the psychiatrist in the unit about it and he mentioned propranolol and asked if I had asthma. I said I do and he said well then, you can't have propranolol, try benztropine instead. So that's what I started taking. I know very little about propranolol.



blitzkrieg
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25 Aug 2018, 5:03 pm

renaeden wrote:
I'm not sure. What happened was, I was in an Intensive Day Therapy Unit (IDTU) as a transition from hospital to the community, and my parkinsonism symptoms were pretty bad. I went to see the psychiatrist in the unit about it and he mentioned propranolol and asked if I had asthma. I said I do and he said well then, you can't have propranolol, try benztropine instead. So that's what I started taking. I know very little about propranolol.


Apparently (according to various links that came up when I searched Google) - Propanolol can be used for (mild) essential tremor. But it isn't a Parkinson's drug and it doesn't increase dopamine like Parkinson's drugs do. So maybe they considered it for you for that reason?



renaeden
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28 Aug 2018, 12:21 am

I'd say so, but my tremor wasn't mild, it was very noticeable!

Do you have your appointment letter?



blitzkrieg
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09 Sep 2018, 12:07 pm

renaeden wrote:
I'd say so, but my tremor wasn't mild, it was very noticeable!

Do you have your appointment letter?


Strange. No, I don't have my appointment letter yet. I've rang the clinic twice and they said both times that I should be sent a letter for an appointment in September. But I have received nothing...

Good ol' NHS...