How do you know between ADHD and Akathesia
 

My bipolar son exhibits a lot of the symptoms of akathesia but also has adhd, lately his anxiety level is so high it is off the charts, hair trigger anger, nausea and vomiting before school due to anxiety, can't sit still, can't stop talking, a lot of these symptoms he has always had but lately the anxiety, anger, can't sit still has gotten really bad. Akathesia was brought up to me today and it sounds a lot like what could be going on and he does take Abilify and has had problems with starting and stopping. Is there a way to tell the difference between the two? Other things to look for? Does anyone know?

abilify
 

Hi,
My first guess is that it is the abilify.
Whenever I have anything going on with myself, 8 times out of 10 it is a med situation. When I was still busy changing and modifying doses and stuff, it was 10 times out of 10.

My suggestion is to call or present him to the pdoc.

Mari

http://depression.about.com/cs/sidee.../akathesia.htm

I did some real digging and I don't think it is this but his meds still aren't doing their job. He is due for a change or something.

I had this reaction on top of dyskinesia when I was taking Geodon. I had been taking it for three days and on the third day it was so bad I could barely move from my chair. Took 4 days to go away. It was absolutely awful, wanting to crawl out of my skin and move yet my muscles were spasming so bad I could barely stand.

Thanks for the link Mari

and for bringing it up Pam, I am still going to mention it to his pdoc.

Christina

I hope you get some answers soon. Its the most frustrating thing in life.

I know we dealt with a lot of these things with my middle son. We never
really figured out what all caused it. But he had lots of illnesses that
developed with the symptoms.

We didn't force him to go to school because of the migraines. And at
times I wish I'd seen through some of what was going on.


He is now a college student but he had to finish high school home bound.

Donna

Glad to have mentioned it Christina, I know it's so difficult to try to pin down what the problem is that it was worth mentioning...Good luck finding the source of his woes, medicationwise...:)