Notes on symptom onset from my diary. I didn’t start learning about akathisia until 2004 when I noticed the word on a patient forum.
Oct/Nov 2001 1 tablet Domperidone for migraine with vomiting
Feb. 2002 Sore eyes. Feel watery in wind. Eyes screwing up in work at computer. In evening they start to close like long blink.
May 2002 eyes v. tight closed at times practically blind
May 15 2002 GP thinks eye problem is stress and prescribes SSRI Sertraline
16/5/02 couldn’t sleep. Poss. Bit nauseous…if this is what the tablets do don’t like it but got to see if it gets rid of the blinking
17/5/02 feeling bit strange, bit sick
18/5/02 face v. tight
19/5/02 all neck tight when walking, face so tense
bit worried about side effects blurb – can make twitching worse if already doing
22/5/02 awake every night
May 27 2002 GP prescribes Amitriptyline for insomnia . I try for 2 days and abandon. Day after I stopped tablets felt dizzy and unwell
30/5/02 clenching jaw, stiffness in neck
The Story of SSRI Stories February, 28, 2012 Rosie Meysenburg’s story
For anyone interested in the effects of drugs, the website SSRI stories has been an inspiration. Rosie Meysenburg, its creator, was recently diagnosed with cancer and is terminally ill. The story of how she came to create SSRI stories shows what people can do to hold the powers that be to account. — David Healy
DH: How did you get started with SSRI stories?
RM: I had spent ages trying to quit smoking. Eventually, in 1992, my doctor persuaded me to try Prozac. I took it for eight weeks during which time my behavior got stranger and stranger and I ended up in hospital. I had no idea what caused the problem until my husband, Gene, suggested it might be the Prozac. So I called the Mental Health Association here in Dallas and asked, “Do you know anyone else who has had a reaction to Prozac? Is there somebody I could talk to?” She said, “Oh, we have a number here for the Prozac Survivors Support Groups.” So she gave me their number and I called them. They talked to me for a long time on the phone and sent me a ton of literature. Well I couldn’t believe it — there were testimonies from Dr. Teicher and others.
Suicidality, violence and mania caused by selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): A review and analysis Peter R. Breggin International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine 16 (2003/2004) 31–49 31 IOS Press
There are many reports and studies confirming that SSRI antidepressants can cause violence, suicide, mania and other forms of psychotic and bizarre behavior. Overall, the SSRIs produce violence, suicide and extremes of abnormal behavior by a variety of mechanisms. Teicher et al. [*] suggest nine possible mechanisms:
(1) energizing the depressed and suicidal patient,
(2) paradoxically worsening the individual’s depression,
(3) causing akathisia,
(4) causing panic and anxiety,
(5) causing manic or mixed manic-depressive states,
(6) causing insomnia or disturbances in the sleep architecture,
(7) causing obsessive suicidal preoccupations,
(8) causing borderline states with hostility, and
(9) causing alterations in EEG activity.
*Antidepressant drugs and the emergence of suicidal tendencies. Teicher MH, Glod CA, Cole JO. Drug Saf. 1993 Mar;8(3):186-212.
Emergence of Intense Suicidal Preoccupation During Fluoxetine Treatment, Martin H. Teicher et al., 147 Am. J. Psychiatry 207 (1990).
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9281/2ce9458daab22f57683160fe2b46722aa4fc.pdf
Extrapyramidal symptoms associated with antidepressants—A review of the literature and an analysis of spontaneous reports S.Madhusoodanan, L.Alexeenko, R.Sanders, Annals of Clinical Psychiatry 2010;22(3):148-156