Posted by xjs7 on January 24, 2003, at 20:17:40
In reply to seroquel question, posted by tancu on January 24, 2003, at 18:47:25
Hi Tancu,
Seroquel is an antipsychotic agent, and is prescribed mainly to treat psychosis and mania. It is estimated that about half of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder experience psychosis.
There are two types of movement disorders associated with drugs in this class. Extrapyramidal symptoms are the most common and occur in 10-30% of people treated at average doses of the newer antipsychotics. Tremors, muscle stiffness, and difficulties walking are common extrapyramidal symptoms. These symptoms can be treated with anticholinergic medications, such as Cogentin.
The second kind of movement disorder associated with antipsychotic meds is tardive dyskinesia. This occurs most often in people who have been treated with AP's for several years at high doses. Newer medicines like Seroquel cause this problem much less often than older drugs. The probability of getting tardive dyskinesia from the newer AP's has been estimated to be 0.1% per year of exposure. Sometimes, this condition is irreversable. Common symptoms of tardive dyskinesia include involunatary tongue and mouth movements, and sometimes movements of the limbs. There are no personality characteristics associated with tardive dyskinesia.
From your message it sounds like your wife is experiencing extrapyramidal symptoms. Sometimes these are temporary and will resolve themselves without any extra medication, and sometimes an anticholinergic like Cogentin is used to eliminate them. They are not permanent like tardive dyskinesia sometimes is.
I hope this helps.
xjs7
poster:xjs7
thread:137378
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030119/msgs/137389.html