oh man.
i have some pretty serious life-long sleep issues myself, but nothing as fucked up as this. i don't know how you're coping at all. only thing i can really relate it to is 5 days awake from opiate withdrawal or something.'
watch this space - i'll talk to my friend and report back. be interesting to know if this is "a thing" that happens to many people. you're only the second i've heard of, but it's fascinating/terrifying.
I've been looking at some antidepressant drug withdrawal forums. This problems doesn't seem too uncommon but nobody can actually explain what is happening exactly or provide a solution except to wait it out.
It got better for people but they say it takes years..
I suggest you go to another doctor then, hopefully one who's more competent. I think the meds definitely played a role in this, because all of this sounds disturbingly similar to the sort of benzo withdrawal could expect after several months of continuous heavy (ab)use. But even then the duration is usually a matter of days not months, and it's hard to understand how any drug, no matter how potent, could ever trigger such severe WD symptoms after barely a week of use (let alone ones that last this long)...some sort of atypical PAWS perhaps?
Why were you put on those meds in the first place? Bipolar and drug-induced psychosis are the two obvious possibilities that come to mind, but it's also not unheard of for either of those meds to be given for severe insomnia (although I would think not both of them at the same time, and certainly not both started on the same day). Those symptoms could be part of an agitated depressive episode, possibly precipitated by the sudden discontinuation of the meds.
Were you taking anything else prior to taking those two meds? If so, had you had a bad reaction to it, and did you stop it abruptly at the same time you were put on the meds?
Did you have a history of insomnia or any sort of sleeping problems beforehand?
I too think that it could be some kind of PAWS, especially since I have tons of other symptoms beyond that. All my senses are messed up too.
I got to the psych ward to rule out neurological issues, I had insomnia and sleep problems before due to indoor allergies & stress but I could handle that easily as I could recuperate & make up for that later in the day,
but what those meds this is just not in a natural realm anymore. The insomnia got really bad after I got a reflux problem & so I thought maybe meds could help out, I wasn't even aware that the side effects could be this insane...
When I got the akathisia & dyskinesia I just though I have a neurological disease... It was weeks later that I understood it was the medication... lol
I haven't been taking anything else before. I didn't even do drugs, lol.
I think of maybe reinstating very small amounts to see if it might be withdrawal related.
Thanks a lot for participating. Really appreciate it.
What if the meds you took for seven days months ago have nothing to do with this?
Why where you in a psych ward? I was in a psychward and they made me take like trazadone or mitrizapine i dont remember when i couldnt sleep and seroquel but i was on them for suicide. So if i stopped them would it be more likely meds i took a few times causing nonspecific brain damage or my brain having a mental disorder causing issue months later
I was there to rule out neurological conditions & because of the sleep issues. It does seem like damage from taking & from stopping & withdrawal. I'm not really sure. Funny thing is, those meds made me extremely
suicidal on day 3... I remember googling methods & seeking for ways to so so which was very unusual for me. I didn't realize I had akathisia at that point.
I understand what you're saying and agree that that possibility should be brought up but what stands out to me is that the drug initiation caused apparently severe akathisia/dyskinesia and the OP has lingering restless legs. Issues with restless legs are supposedly higher with seroquel than some other antipsychotics (although I believe risk of extrapyramidal side effects and tardive dyskinesia is supposed to be a bit lower with seroquel/quetiapine compared to other antipsychotics)
Its possible that two different persisting effects of the drugs are causing both the insomnia and RLS independently but my hunch is that they are not so independent, and thus if the RLS is believed to have been caused by the drugs then chances are the insomnia is also related in both original cause and pathology
Thanks a lot for your very valuable input & trying to connect things.
The restless legs thing I am literally having half of the day. But I am almost oblivious to it because I'm barely aware most of the time. However since I'm slowly tapering the benzo I was taking it seems to aggravate issues a bit. I definately know that taking flurazepam seemed to have given me back cognitive function. I almost couldn't speak the first 2 months. If think the benzo masked some issues but didn't help at all with shutting my brain or the part of my brain down that causes the inappropriate wakefulness & doesn't allow for deeper rest/relaxation/sleep.
Also it does make a lot of sense relating RLS with insomnia because I haven't had the RLS... insomnia was mild-moderate before... but on top of that it's not only the excessive wakefulness... I have like 30-40 other symptoms...
I have extreme visual problems. I can barely read normal because the scope of what I can focus with my eyes is partially focused and partially unfocused... My vision is unfocused all the time. I have an unfocused stare at nothing... the whole day... like I can't read the words straight, my brain is compensating like crazy... all this also got worse month by month... I've been to 10 ophthalmologists everybody told me my eyes are fine. The last one said it's a perception issue caused by the meds I took..
Also my vestibular sense, balance & hearing is off... altough my ears and balance organs and my brain based on MRI scans are all fine... altough all senses are messed up... so it really makes me wonder.
My idea is that based on my genetic report is that due to COMT++ I'm breaking down stress hormones 300% slower... that means high norepi levels... Also I have some serotonin transporter mutations that suggest higher serotonin levels...
I also assume I have rather lower dopamine because I would have all the symptoms that would indicate that... but again it's just an assumption.
Combining high norepi & serotonin with drugs that increase serotonin & norepinephrine would have caused this disaster because dopamine would end up too low in some of the brain areas that control wake/sleep homeostasis & that messed up all my senses, to connect everything together.
But not sure how to reverse now. I am thinking of reinstating micro doses of the medication because all those problems got worse week by week, month for month & or take L-Dopa every day or wait it out, lol.
Also I developed TMJ pretty much instantly after stopping the meds. Maybe also acetylcholine/dopamine imbalance there as I've never had that before.