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I can't say I remember this coming up before, but if it has, I apologize for not knowing!

My hands shake ALL THE TIME. Sometimes worse than others, but pretty much all the time. I'm taking a few meds that can cause that side effect. So does anyone know of a way to counteract the shakes? I don't think it's anxiety-related. I really feel as though it's my meds. So is there anything I can do?

If you're curious, I take:

Prozac 80 mg in the morning
Wellbutrin 300 mg in the morning
Levothyroxin 75 mcg in the morning
Allegra D 12 hour in the morning (one pill)
Adderall 10 mg 3 times a day (I don't take it every day)
Zyprexa 2.5 mg at night
Ativan 3 mg at night

Holy crap, that's a lot of meds. I wish I didn't need them.

It could be tardive dyskinesia. Depending on how long you've been on meds.

my daughter has it from her lithium./

usually a choice of shake or feel worse off the med.

Queen, I'll mention this to my pdoc when I see him next. I, for whatever reason, didn't think of tardive dyskinesia. I've been on the anti-depressants regularly since 2003 or 2004? I started taking the Zyprexa at the end of 2005. I really started with the shaking when I added the Adderall, and now I just have it all the time. Even when I'm not taking the Adderall.

And Jody, you're right. We need to pick our poison... or what's better for us. For the foreseeable future, I'm on meds, so I shake. I was hoping there might be yet another pill I could add to my arsenal that would calm the shaking.

It also depends on your doses but certainly something to as next time you're at the Dr.s.

My daughter's medication-induced shaking and twitching were stopped by adding benzatropine.

zyprexa has tremor as a side effect. its a antipsychotic..so does the adderall, for ADD.

my daughter doesnt need anything else to try to pay for to stop something...lol...im just glad she is taking what she is and its doing well for her. for once.

but i looked up the med mentioned...it is for parkinsons...and says this...""""BENZTROP should not be used in patients with tardive dyskinesia as it can exacerbate this condition."""""

and """""in patients with mental disorders, occasionally there may be intensification of mental disorders with large doses. In such cases antiparkinsonian drugs can precipitate a toxic psychosis. Patients with mental disorders should be kept under careful observation, especially at the beginning of treatment or if dosage is increased.

Tardive dyskinesia may appear in some patients on long-term therapy with phenothiazines and related agents, or may occur after therapy when these drugs have been discontinued. Antiparkinsonian agents usually do not alleviate their symptoms of tardive dyskinesia, and in some instances may aggravate or unmask such symptoms.

BENZTROP is not recommended in tardive dyskinesia."""""

anyways.........she shakes diff places (hands, head, legs,) at diff times, by now. it hasnt gotten worse and i think is a small trade off for her off meds. she is self concious about it tho, as you said you were, T.

Well, all I can relate is our own experience. Zyprexa caused shaking in my daughter (almost immediately after she started taking it), and then in response her psychiatrist prescribed a very low dose of benzotropine, which relieved it completely, not exacerbated it.

Something to discuss with the psychiatrist, I guess.

Trinity, you don't smoke, do you?

Jody, I'm going to have to polietly disagree. I have several clients that take Benz for similar symptoms.

Trinity, how is your blood sugar? Could there be an underlining health problem to the shaking? I really hope you figure this out. I imagine that the situation could be a little distressing.

Trinity, I have what's called essential tremor. It's not from meds it's neurological. In me it causes a shaking of the hands, just a slight tremor. I can't have that for my lifestyle (my work in particular). I don't know about the future of this disorder for me, but for now--

I have successfully gotten my tremor under control with the use of meditation, mindfulness and hand exercises that involve active and passive stretching and deliberate flexing of the hand muscles. It took some time, but I don't shake anymore--and mine is hereditary, my grandmother and my brother both shake badly.

I would think if I could get a handle on my tremor given that I'm essentially 'wired' for it, you could too, but I dunno. I would not like to think that adding a med (and the possible side effects from that) was your only option for controlling this.

lol, your not disagreeing with me. your disagreeing with the web sites i copied from. email them, lol.

personally, i have no dog in the fight. my daughter shakes, and always will but she is alive and not manic or depressed and for that im grateful.

*******It is not helpful in treating movement problems caused by tardive dyskinesia and may worsen them.*****

web md. wikipedia. http://www.drugs.com

healthline.com

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=benztr ... s&ei=UTF-8 which is my search url.

i never heard of the parkinsons drug myself. i just looked it up for trinity. and all of the sites say the same thing. alls i did was copy and then paste.

that is what it is. a parkinsons drug. its only tardive d that is cautions against. IF that is what T has.

personally, i dont care as long as it aint my kid.

OH, no I don't smoke.

Queen, my blood sugar is fine. It was actually tested pretty recently. I've also had two CT scans, an EEG, and wore a halter monitor for a day. Totally unrelated to the shaking because I was shaking before the incident that led me to those tests. Actually now that I think about it, the shakes could possibly had been a sign. Oh, I just don't know!

Harmonium, you've just given me some hope. I've started mindfulness meditation already because I've been under a lot of stress. I'll check out those hand exercises. In reality, I'd much rather do something than take a drug.

I think it's the Wellbutrin and Adderall. Now that I'm (temporarily) unemployed, I'm going to drop the Adderall. Don't need to focus on anything. We'll see.

--

Just so you know what happened that led me to those tests, back at the beginning of December, I passed out a work and hit my head. Well, we assume I passed out. No one was with me and I don't remember. I actually lost a half hour of time. The confusion when I came to was overwhelming. I thought the blood from my injury was paint, so I didn't realize I was hurt. I actually thought I'd laid down on the floor in some paint. A co-worker drove me home and I got into the shower. That's when I realized there was A LOT of blood coming from my head. My hair had just been soaking it up. My husband took me to the ER. They put two staples in my scalp to close the wound and admitted me overnight into the following afternoon. It was scary, but I'm fine. We will probably never know what caused me to fall and hit my head. I hate that, but I'm trying and using Radical Acceptance on it.

Crap Trinity, that's just really scary. Will you update this if you find out anything?

Trinity don't want to add any more onto you

But what about seratonin syndrome?

Thinking of your recent collapse. the other stuff connected sounds like it might be related to the head trauma.

If is seratonin syndrome taking the adderall out could help. That is a high dose of of fluoxetine/ prozac you are on..... reaching limits here in UK.

I know you said even when you don't take the adderall, but meds stay in system for some time.

I would ask your pdoc though.

I certainly wouldn't discount the head trauma. It does funny things to a person, even if it's mild (and with two staples, that doesn't sound so mild). I fractured my skull in 1993 and had some seizure activity on and off ever since. It only happens to me about once maybe twice a year, but it's there. The EEG doesn't always pick it up in my experience--it's not a perfect test for non-epileptic patients.

Did your docs say for sure that you fainted? They should be able to read that from the EEG (syncope is the medical term for fainting, it will be on your discharge sheets if it's there).

In any case, I wish you well. Please keep us posted if you can.

((Trinity))

H, no, they didn't say I fainted. I think everyone just assumed I'd either fainted of had a seizure. My amnesia about the event and the 30 or so minutes before the event doesn't help.

Tracy, you make a good point. I'll talk to my pdoc. I've already talked to him about the situation and he didn't seem to think it could be related to my meds.

Queen, I will certainly let you guys know if they ever figure anything out. So far all the tests they've done have shown nothing. Where's Dr. House when you need him??