Knowing the causes and symptoms of akathisia prior to starting, stopping, or changing dosage or type of certain medications can save lives. Had these families been in formed of the risks prior to receiving these prescriptions, they likely would never have had an akathisia story to share in our public health video. Listen and learn at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibCOhnmM608

See and share our public awareness video, “What Does Akathisia Look Like?” Akathisia is often missed or misdiagnosed in part because of the false belief that all akathisia sufferers exhibit uncontrollable movements. Some akathisia sufferers do not exhibit movement and others are able to control movements for short periods of time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER4JGnRssSk

Cepro and Levaquin, two commonly prescribed antibiotics can cause akathisia and death. But the FDA doesn’t have a black box suicide warning on either drug despite a medical expert’s urging.

Heather McCarthy, a mom whose son, Shea, died after suffering the adverse effects of Levaquin, points out these iatrogenic deaths are prompted by psychiatric side effects and aren’t traditional deaths of despair. “By all the visible circumstances does it look like suicide? Yes,” said Heather. “I’m a mom. I loved my son. I knew my son. He did not want to die. To put these all in a box of suicide, I feel is a real injustice to these victims.”

Read the full article at https://www.wrtv.com/news/wrtv-investigates/new-push-for-change-as-growing-number-of-suicides-linked-to-popular-antibiotics

A new study finds clinicians need withdrawal guidance and training to better ensure patients can safely discontinue these drugs. When SSRI withdrawal and withdrawal akathisia is misdiagnosed as relapse, consumers are more likely to continue taking risky drugs they do not need.
Read the full article at https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/02/official-guidelines-antidepressant-discontinuation-fail-practitioners-patients/