The adverse effects of antipsychotic medications range from relatively minor tolerability issues (e.g., mild sedation or dry mouth) to very unpleasant (e.g., constipation, akathisia, sexual dysfunction) to painful (e.g., acute dystonias) to disfiguring (e.g., weight gain, tardive dyskinesia) to life threatening (e.g., ...
Agitation and sedation: Some people feel “wired” and unable to stop moving when taking antipsychotics. This effect may be mistaken for a worsening of illness rather than a side-effect of the medication. These same drugs can also have the opposite effect, making people feel tired.
The target symptoms of antipsychotic drugs include agitation, aggression, psychosis, and inappropriate behaviors ( Figure 1 ). None of the antipsychotics, except for haloperidol and risperidone in several countries, are approved to treat BPSD; therefore, these drugs are generally prescribed as off-label.
Antipsychotics were studied in more depth, because they can have more serious side effects. They can cause movement disorders such as twitching and restlessness, sedation and weight gain, and lead to diabetes.
Antipsychotics can cause the very symptoms they relieve, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, poorer cognition, agitation, mania, insomnia, and abnormal movements.
Drug for schizophrenia causes side effects by shrinking part of the brain. A leading antipsychotic drug temporarily reduces the size of a brain region that controls movement and coordination, causing distressing side effects such as shaking, drooling and restless leg syndrome.
Antipsychotic drugs are harmful if you do not need them. For someone with dementia, antipsychotic drugs can make everyday activities more difficult. They also have dangerous side effects such as more anxiety, restlessness, loss of hunger or thirst, excessive sleeping and even death.
Many antipsychotics increase risk for metabolic syndrome and thus the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and stroke (7), which are among the common causes of premature mortality in schizophrenia (8).
But antipsychotic medications can also have significant long-term side effects, such as movement disorders. These are often referred to as extrapyramidal symptoms and can include parkinsonism, extreme restlessness, and tardive dyskinesia (a condition of involuntary movements).
First-generation and second-generation antipsychotics can cause an inability to hold still (akathisia) or uncontrolled face muscle movements (tardive dyskinesia). Other symptoms include tremors or parkinsonism-like symptoms. They can also cause neuroleptic malignant syndrome, a possibly deadly complication.
Newer antipsychotics — also called atypical antipsychotics — may help with anger or agitation related to certain health conditions.
While there are no clinical trials showing that antipsychotics cause aggression or impatience, drug companies clearly believe this can happen and have listed it as a side effect on the package insert of most of these drugs.
Results: Antipsychotics, as a group, increase weight and may lead to dry mouth and bad breath, cataracts, hirsutism, acne, and voice changes; they may disturb symmetry of gait and heighten the risk for tics and spasms and incontinence, potentially undermining a person's attractiveness.
This model returns over the observations of the pioneers in the use of antipsychotics, proposing that these drugs do not extinguish psychotic symptoms, but rather, they produce emotional detachment due to down-regulation of dopamine turn-over.
All antipsychotic medications are associated with an increased likelihood of sedation, sexual dysfunction, postural hypotension, cardiac arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death. Primary care physicians should understand the individual adverse effect profiles of these medications.
But with the right treatment, most people can live complete and fulfilling lives – thanks mainly to their antipsychotic medication. But of course, all medications have side-effects and for some people on antipsychotics these side-effects can range from mildly debilitating to life threatening.
After symptom remission, continuation of antipsychotic treatment is associated with lower relapse rates and lower symptom severity compared to dose reduction/discontinuation. Therefore, most guidelines recommend continuation of treatment with antipsychotic medication for at least 1 year.
While not a certainty, long‐term antipsychotic treatment is a very common outcome for people with schizophrenia.
When people who are prescribed antipsychotics for psychotic disorders stop taking them, some relapse, meaning that their psychosis returns. However, some patients are able to sustain a psychosis-free existence after the cessation of antipsychotics.
Atypical antipsychotics can cause adverse effects of weight gain, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, QTc prolongation, extrapyramidal side effects, myocarditis, agranulocytosis, cataracts, and sexual side effects, which this activity will discuss here.
The single most significant reason why individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder fail to take their medication is because of their lack of awareness of their illness (anosognosia). Other important reasons are concurrent alcohol or drug abuse; costs; and a poor relationship between psychiatrist and patient.
Clozapine and olanzapine have the safest therapeutic effect, while the side effect of neutropenia must be controlled by 3 weekly blood controls. If schizophrenia has remitted and if patients show a good compliance, the adverse effects can be controlled.
People who have psychotic episodes are often totally unaware their behaviour is in any way strange or that their delusions or hallucinations are not real. They may recognise delusional or bizarre behaviour in others, but lack the self-awareness to recognise it in themselves.
Meyer-Lindberg himself published a study last year showing that antipsychotics cause quickly reversible changes in brain volume that do not reflect permanent loss of neurons (see 'Antipsychotic deflates the brain')7.