Antipsychotic and Neuroleptic Drugs Side Effects
Antipsychotic and Neuroleptic Drugs Information
Antipsychotic and Neuroleptic Drugs Side Effects
The range of interactions can produce different adverse effects including extrapyramidal reactions, including acute dystonias, akathisia, rigidity and tremor, tardive dyskinesia, tachycardia, hypotension, impotence, lethargy, seizures, and hyperprolactinaemia.
The atypical antipsychotics (especially olanzapine) seem to cause weight gain more commonly than the typical antipsychotics.
Clozapine also has a risk of inducing agranulocytosis, a potentially dangerous reduction in the number of white blood cells in the body. Because of this risk, patients prescribed clozapine may need to have regular blood checks to catch the condition early if it does occur, so the patient is in no danger.
One of the more serious of these side effects is tardive dyskinesia, in which the sufferer may show repetitive, involuntary, purposeless movements often of the lips, face, legs or torso. There is a greater risk of developing tardive dyskinesia with the older, typical antipsychotic drugs, although the newer antipsychotics do seem to cause this disorder to a lesser degree. It is believed that the possibility of tardive dyskinesia can be reduced by combining the anti-psychotics with benedryl or benztropine.
Another serious side-effect is neuroleptic malignant syndrome, in which the drugs appear to cause the temperature regulation centers to fail, resulting in a medical emergency as the patient's temperature suddenly increases to dangerous levels.
Another problematic side-effect of antipsychotics is dysphoria, meaning that it just makes the patient feel bad. This side-effect is a major problem for patients with schizophrenia in that it causes them to discontinue medication, and this produces a relapse of psychotic symptoms.
Whilst this may seem a daunting list, it must be noted that many people suffer few, if any, side effects from taking antipsychotic medication.
Antipsychotic and Neuroleptic Drugs Information
