Chronic Restlessness With Antipsychotics

Abstract

Treatment in Psychiatry begins with a hypothetical case illustrating a problem in current clinical practice. The authors review current data on prevalence, diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment. The article concludes with the authors' treatment recommendations for cases like the one presented.Mr. B is a 34-year-old man with a 13-year history of schizophrenia. His early treatment consisted of brief trials of first-generation antipsychotics, which he refused to take for any significant period of time. He was then started on risperidone at an average of 5 mg/day. Within a few months, he and his mother noticed that he had upper and lower extremity tremor and profound motor restlessness, especially of the legs. These symptoms worsened until Mr. B was taken off risperidone and started on olanzapine, after which the tremor resolved, but the restlessness persisted. Mr. B's discomfort was so severe that he was unable to sit through a 15-minute medication management appointment without getting up and pacing the room. His mother noted that the restlessness lasted throughout the day, relenting only when he slept. Mr. B stated that he could not stay still for more than a few minutes at a time and that he had an irresistible urge to move, which led him to pace the house and neighborhood until the soles of his feet were bleeding. Mr. B's mother also reported that when the restlessness was at its worst, he was extremely irritable, easily agitated, and sometimes violent.

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