5 More Side Effects from Psychiatric Meds

A while ago, I made a post of eight side effects of psychiatric medication (https://www.leighwintersstoryofhope.com/post/8-side-effects-of-psychiatric-medications). Well, today I’m following that up with five MORE effects pf psychiatric meditations. This is not a complete list and I am not a doctor.

1.       Akathisia. I refer to it as restless legs but it’s more than that. It’s the inability to stop moving. Its torture. I was prescribed Ability my sophomore year of college and it was so hard to sit through lectures while my legs were twitching. But it got even worse at bedrime. I tried heat. I tried ice. It didn’t work. I would literally lie in bed and do mountain climbers in bed. At one point I told a friend I wanted to break my kneecaps.

2.       Pseudo Parkison. I was diagnosed with this last week because my facial muscles felt frozen and I was shuffling my feet to the degree I had fallen. The good thing is that this side effect is reversible. We didn’t take that me off that medication though, we added two more to counter the symptoms. It’s been a week and I notice I don’t shuffle as much. And it’s easier to smile.

3.       Cotton Mouth and constipation. I literally have no saliva. My mouth is like the desert. I also am so bloated you could probably mistake me for pregnant. I grouped these two side effects together because they come from the same medication, Cogentin which also damages your eyesight. I am on Cogentin because of my Pseudo Parkison and that was triggered by several other medications. See the chain?

4.       Polydipsia. This is a complicated word for “excessive thirst”. I remember when they first put me on Lithium (in the hospital) I was constantly asking the staff for water (it wasn’t like we could get it any other way). I chugged bathroom cup after bathroom cup. Even now I wake up several times a night desperate for water. And what happens when you drink a lot of water?

5.       Polyuria. This means yes, “excessive urination”.  I find myself peeing much more frequently and urgently. Over the summer I went to the ER because I was presenting examples of some form of diabetes after peeing every five minutes, unquenchable thirst and wetting the bed (admitting that was embarrassing. But hey these things are only as embarrassing as you allow them  to be)

So that’s what’s going on with me. Despite that, I feel really optimistic about 2024. It’ll come with challenges but so far everything has fallen into place. I hope you are having a great New Year too.