Anxiety or Neuroleptics side-effects

[alex86]

Hi,
I'm a new person here. I want to share my story with you to find some advice and help here.
It was a very stressful time one year ago due to family and job problems. At that time I was already taking zoloft and perfenasine (which is neuroleptic) from anxiety and panic disorder. At that stressful time I was always shaking and had some hand tremors. I went to a doctor and told him that. Doc told me that it could be neuroleptics that caused this. And advised me to cut it gradually and have a holiday. So I cut it and went to a seaside for couple of weeks. It normalized and everything was good. After my holiday I came back normal however I faced job problems again they fired people and cut wages. I was scared to be the next. So the next day after this bad news I woke up and felt how badly my head was shaking and jerking. It was constantly jerking. Like shivers or smth. I could not play video games and hold it still. Could not watch TV at all. Could not read and rest normally. It was even hard to look around. Also I had that feeling of a need to constantly move. I went to doc again and he told me that it was anxiety. He gave me some pills. After a couple of months the situation improved. And he told me to get back to that neuroleptic I used to take. Saying that it would help. I thought it was strange because at first he had told me to cut it off. Since that time my head has been regularly jerking on a daily basis and shaking when I work in front of computer or move my eyes when trying to see after something in action. I tried some muscle relaxants but nothing works. This jerking in neck is still there even when I am calm.
I started to question experience of my doctor. Who still believes it is anxiety. However I read on internet that neuroleptics may cause consequent movement disorders after it’s been stopped. And it seems to me like the cause of my problem is in taking these pills. I still frustrated about these problem and looking for new doctor. Meanwhile I’d like to know your opinion of what it may be and if this looks like medication-induced thing or really anxiety. If you have any advice please let me know. It’s been one year since I’m trying to solve it. Many thanks in advance.
Regards,
Alex

[Nowuccas]

Hey alex,

Did you mean Perphenazine?

Interestingly, the side effects of it include:

muscle spasms of face, neck, or back; muscle weakness; new or worsening mental or mood problems; numbness of the arms and legs; prolonged or painful erection; restlessness; seizures; severe or persistent constipation; severe or persistent dizziness, drowsiness, or headache; shuffling walk; sleeplessness; stiff or rigid muscles; sudden shortness of breath or vomiting; swelling of the hands, ankles, or feet; symptoms of infection (eg, chills, fever, or persistent sore throat); symptoms of liver problems (eg, dark urine; pale stools; severe or persistent nausea, stomach pain, or loss of appetite; yellowing of the skin or eyes); tremor; trouble urinating; twitching or twisting movements; uncontrolled muscle movements (eg, loss of balance; trouble speaking, breathing, or swallowing; twitching of the face or tongue; uncontrolled movements of arms or legs); unusual bruising or bleeding; unusual eye movements or inability to move your eyes
https://www.drugs.com/cdi/perphenazine.html

but those of Zoloft / sertraline from https://www.drugs.com/sfx/zoloft-side-effects.html include:

inability to sit still
increase in body movements
unusual or sudden body or facial movements or postures
muscle trembling, jerking, or stiffness
muscle twitching
twitching
uncontrolled movements, especially of the face, neck, and back

https://www.drugs.com/interactions-check.php?drug_list=1832-0,2057-1348 shows that there is a moderate interaction between those medications, so there is the possibility that discontinuing one means an increased risk of experiencing the side effects of the other, in your case, those of Zoloft.

"So the next day after this bad news I woke up and felt how badly my head was shaking and jerking" - the timing suggests anxiety as the cause.

Another forum member provided the following useful information:

Common Anxiety Symptoms - AnxietyCentre.com

Here are some of the many symptoms associated with anxiety disorder (because each person has a unique chemical make up, the symptoms and their intensity will vary from person to person).

The Member's area of this website contains explanations on what causes many of these symptoms and why they occur:
Body

* Burning Sensations throughout the body
* Chronic Fatigue
* Electric shock feeling
* Excess of energy, you feel you can’t relax
* Feel like you are going to pass out or faint
* Feeling cold or chilled
* Hyperactivity, excess energy
* Increased or decreased sex drive
* Muscle twitching

From http://www.vitamindwiki.com/Handout+on+Vitamin+D+%28Hormone+D%29+and+sleep+-+Gominak+2012 by
neurologist, Dr. S Gominak:

"If you have a neurologic problem that is severe enough to see a neurologist, you probably do not heal your body in sleep as perfectly as you once did. Most of us who have headaches, tremor, balance difficulties, vertigo, burning in the feet, depression, body pain, or memory loss have abnormal sleep and, surprisingly, fixing the sleep can fix the neurologic problem. From 2005-2009 I performed sleep studies on most of my patients and used medications or sleep masks to try to help their sleep. In 2009 I accidentally discovered that most of my patients had abnormal sleep because they were vitamin D deficient."

If you think this applies to you, read the article in full.

"Vitamin D3 Cured my Anxiety, Depression, and Panic Disorder", (by another forum member) is at http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?12695-Vitamin-D3-Cured-my-Anxiety-Depression-and-Panic-Disorder&highlight=vitamin

My previous post about vitamin D may be viewed at: http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?34912-I-can-t-breathe-or-relax&p=228476#post228476

GENERALISED ANXIETY DISORDER: See http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?33964-New-to-the-site-and-looking-for-help&p=223989#post223989

DEPRESSION: (Zoloft is an antidepressant; also prescribed for its anxiolytic properties) http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?32707-has-this-happend-to-you&p=216510#post216510

PSYCHOSIS: (Perphenazine is an antipsychotic / neuroleptic prescribed to treat schizophrenia) http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showthread.php?35105-Delusions-of-Persecution!&p=229728#post229728
It includes natural treatments; niacin / vitamin B3, omega 3 fatty acids, and vitamin D, which may reduce, or possibly eliminate in some cases the need for antipsychotic / neuroleptic medications, with their risks and side effects.

So, now that I have given you some things to consider, and perhaps muddied the waters, I can only hope that you have better luck with your new doctor.

[Nowuccas]

It seems that I have duplicated a post again.