Inner restlessness is the subjective core of akathisia. People may describe an unbearable urge to move, discomfort inside the body or an inability to settle. The experience can be difficult to explain and may be mislabelled as anxiety, agitation or lack of cooperation. Visible movement is not always proportionate to distress.<\/p>\n
Akathisia is a movement-related adverse effect characterised by distressing inner restlessness and often a need to move. Antipsychotics and some other medicines can cause it. It is not simply ordinary anxiety or voluntary fidgeting, and the subjective discomfort can be severe even when visible movement appears relatively mild to an observer.<\/p>\n
Assessment should ask directly about the feeling rather than rely only on observation. The person may struggle to sit through meals, conversations or appointments. Sleep and concentration can be affected. Understanding the sensation and its onset helps distinguish it from other problems. A clear description of when it began and how it relates to medication changes is useful for the prescriber. Recognising the subjective experience prevents an apparently minor movement pattern from obscuring a potentially serious burden on wellbeing and treatment tolerability.<\/p>\n
Some people describe movement as the only temporary relief from the sensation. The urge may make sitting through an appointment almost impossible, yet stopping briefly can conceal its severity from an observer. Asking about this pattern gives the person language for the experience. It can also prevent restlessness being mistaken for an intentional attempt to disrupt or end the conversation.<\/p>\n
Further reading:<\/strong> DailyMed prescribing information (1)<\/a>; DailyMed prescribing information (2)<\/a>; Research record 2877708<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Inner restlessness is the subjective core of akathisia. People may describe an unbearable urge to move, discomfort inside the body or an inability to settle. The experience can be difficult to explain and may be\u2026Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[49],"class_list":["entry","author-","has-excerpt","post-736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-medication-effects","tag-akathisia"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schizophrenia.world\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}