#extrapyramidal

[creativeera]

Understanding Mechanism of Action  of Antipsychotic Drugs Medication

Antipsychotic medications work by balancing certain chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. The two main neurotransmitters involved in schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are dopamine and serotonin. All antipsychotic medications act primarily by blocking dopamine receptors in the brain. Specifically, they block dopamine receptors in the mesolimbic pathway, which is the brain system that regulates reward, motivation, and pleasure. By blocking these dopamine receptors, antipsychotics reduce dopamine signaling and the positive symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations and delusions. Some antipsychotics may also block serotonin receptors. This helps reduce negative symptoms like social withdrawal and lack of emotion/motivation. The exact mechanism is still being researched, but balancing dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain seems to improve psychotic symptoms. Antipsychotic drugs do not cure schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders but can effectively treat symptoms when taken as prescribed long-term. First-Generation vs Second-Generation Antipsychotic medications are generally classified as either first-generation (typical) or second-generation (atypical). First-generation antipsychotics were the first to be discovered in the 1950s. They are very effective at treating positive symptoms but often cause serious neurological side effects like tremors and muscle rigidity due to their strong dopamine receptor blockade. Second-generation Antipsychotic Drugs were developed in the 1990s to have similar effectiveness against psychosis with reduced neurological side effects. They tend to block serotonin receptors in addition to dopamine receptors. Common second-generation antipsychotics include risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, ziprasidone, and lurasidone. However, second-generation antipsychotics are also associated with metabolic side effects like weight gain, diabetes, and high cholesterol that first-generation antipsychotics rarely cause. Overall, treatment decisions are made on a case-by-case basis depending on individual risk factors, symptoms, and tolerance of side effects. Common Medications Some of the most frequently prescribed antipsychotic drugs include: - Haloperidol (Haldol): A typical first-generation antipsychotic. Very effective for acute psychosis but causes more neurological side effects. - Risperidone (Risperdal): A second-generation antipsychotic used as a first-line treatment. Effective against both positive and negative symptoms with a lower risk of neurological side effects. However, weight gain is common. - Olanzapine (Zyprexa): A second-generation antipsychotic also used as initial treatment. Similar efficacy and side effect profile to risperidone but may cause even more weight gain. - Quetiapine (Seroquel): A second-generation antipsychotic used for both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Associated with sedation, dizziness, and increased appetite and weight. - Aripiprazole (Abilify): A second-generation antipsychotic with a unique mechanism of action as a partial dopamine receptor agonist. Associated with less weight gain and metabolic issues compared to other second-generation drugs. - Clozapine (Clozaril): A second-generation antipsychotic reserved for treatment-resistant schizophrenia due to risk of agranulocytosis (low white blood cell count). Very effective but requires regular blood monitoring. Associated with substantial weight gain and other metabolic effects.

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Alice Mutum is a seasoned senior content editor at Coherent Market Insights, leveraging extensive expertise gained from her previous role as a content writer. With seven years in content development, Alice masterfully employs SEO best practices and cutting-edge digital marketing strategies to craft high-ranking, impactful content. As an editor, she meticulously ensures flawless grammar and punctuation, precise data accuracy, and perfect alignment with audience needs in every research report. Alice's dedication to excellence and her strategic approach to content make her an invaluable asset in the world of market insights.

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[acerlking]

have you tried meditation

if that doesnt work try risperidone

so tired of listening to myself think all the time. just shut the fuck up for a second

[loving-n0t-heyting]

the fda has approved a new drug for treatment of schizophrenia, going by the brand name cobenfy (xanomeline and tropsium chloride)

its mechanism of action is completely different from the dopamine blockers usually used to treat psychosis, meaning it may present less of a danger of the cognitive impairment much feared among those at risk of being put on antipsychotics (tho ive not seen numbers on that, and numbers can be unreliable about cognitive symptoms for obvious rsns of self-obscuring). certainly it seems to induce extrapyramidal symptoms like akathisia at much lower rates, and is better tolerated among test subjects. it also promises to reduce "negative" psychotic symptoms (low motivation, social withdrawal, etc) as well as "positive" (hallucinations, delusions, etc), a major stumbling block for traditional antipsychotic medications. here is the lancet article from the developers from early this year

a healthy degree of scepticism is always warranted about such things, ofc. but there is much here that is very promising

[covid-safer-hotties]

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism - Published July 4, 2024

Unpaywalled link available in the link to our archive! A taste below!

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism Andrea Kitta Journal of American Folklore, Volume 137, Number 545, Summer 2024, pp. 321-330 (Article) Published by American Folklore Society For additional information about this article muse.jhu.edu/article/931461[37.228.238.33] Project MUSE (2024-07-09 12:59 GMT) American Folklore Society

This essay critically examines the intersection of COVID-19, Long COVID, ableism, and health care disparities in the United States, emphasizing the transformative impact of COVID-19 as a mass disabling event with a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. I also bring an autoethnographic lens to my experi- ence of COVID-19 and Long COVID, underscoring the importance of recognizing the diverse and often untellable experiences of individuals with disabilities and challenging the prevailing ableist perspectives embedded in society. I raise ethical considerations of storytelling in the context of Long COVID and urge researchers to embrace empathy and a more inclusive approach that challenges traditional notions of objectivity and distancing within academic research. I call for a collaborative approach between disability studies and folklore studies, encouraging scholars to interrogate and explore the traditions shaped by experiences of disability.

On December 13, 2020, disability advocate Imani Barbarin created a TikTok where she stated in the caption: “COVID is a mass disabling event. Things will never be the same. Never. You may now become who you thought was disposable” (Barbarin 2020). Barbarin was not overstating what is happening in the United States. In addition to the overwhelming number of US-based COVID-19 deaths (1.07 million as of November 1, 2022, according to the New York Times COVID-19 Tracker [New York Times 2023]), there is also an alarming number of cases of post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or, as it’s more commonly known, Long COVID. Long COVID happens in anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent of COVID-19 infections (although most medical experts agree the rate of Long COVID is somewhere around 20–30 percent of all infections). Long COVID affects women at a 22 percent higher rate than men (Sylvester et al. 2022:1391), and one study of Long COVID listed over 200 symptoms (Davis et al. 2021). The most common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, brain fog, sleep disturbances, depression, joint pain, and dysautonomia (a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that typically presents as the inability to control temperature, breathing issues, and other things the body normally controls automatically).

Current estimates of those affected by Long COVID in the United States are between twenty and forty million. COVID-19 has also been shown to reactivate other viruses (Gold et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2022; Su et al. 2022), and one current theory is that Long COVID is the result of the COVID-19 virus continually being reactivated in the body (Klein et al. 2022). The latest research out of Yale University shows that COVID-19 cases entail cellular changes to the B and T cells, lower levels of cortisol, and that the virus can reactivate other viruses (Su et al. 2022:891–2). A recent study with more than 154,068 participants showed that “in the post-acute phase of COVID-19, there was increased risk of an array of incident neurologic sequelae including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cognition and memory disorders, peripheral nervous system disorders, episodic disorders (for example, migraine and seizures), extrapyramidal and movement disorders, men tal health disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, sensory disorders, Guillain–Barré syndrome, and encephalitis or encephalopathy” (Xu, Xie, and Al-Aly 2022:2406).

Both COVID-19 and Long COVID exposed inequities in the US health care system, with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations dying from COVID-19 at much higher rates than White people at the beginning of the pandemic. Compared to White people, Alaskan Indian or Alaskan Natives died at 2.1 times the rate, Black people at 1.7 times the rate, Hispanic or Latinx people at 1.8 the rate, and Asian Americans at 0.8 times the rate (CDC 2023). According to the Washington Post’s analysis of CDC’s statistics, the rate of White people dying from COVID-19 became equal to the rate of other groups beginning in October 2021, then (except for the Omicron wave) increased, primarily due to White people being unvaccinated. Strangely enough, the equalizing trend wasn’t because death rates dropped for BIPOC people, but rather was due to the rise of the White death rate. Tasleem Padamsee, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University who researched vaccine use and who is a member of the Ohio Department of Health’s work group on health equity, stated: “Usually, when we say a health disparity is disappearing, what we mean is that . . . the worse-off group is getting better. . . . We don’t usually mean that the group that had a systematic advantage got worse” (quoted in Johnson and Keating 2022).

Additionally, at the time of this writing in Spring 2023, the pandemic has been declared as “over” despite the fact that around 400 people are still dying per day in the United States and that those dying tend to be people with disabilities and the elderly (New York Times 2023). It’s difficult to imagine a situation where 400 deaths a day are deemed acceptable, yet here we are. Many people are desperate to “get back to normal” and seem to care more about going maskless or dining indoors than they do about those who are dying of COVID-19. Those who are unvaccinated and unmasked also seem to not understand (or not care) that the longer they continue on that path, the longer the pandemic will take to dissipate. Simply put, the majority of people do not seem to care about people with disabilities, including those who are immunocompromised, and their increased health risks due to the pandemic.

People with disabilities are an unrecognized health disparity population, and they died at much higher rates during COVID-19 (Krahn, Walker, and Correa-de-Araujo 2015). The National Council on Disability found that 181,000 people with disabilities in long-term care facilities died from COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic, making up one-third of COVID-19 deaths at that time (National Council of Disabilities 2021). The report is worth quoting at length.

In addition to disproportionate fatalities, key findings of the report include:

People with disabilities faced a high risk of being triaged out of COVID-19 treatment when hospital beds, supplies, and personnel were scarce; were denied the use of their personal ventilator devices after admission to a hospital; and at times, were denied the assistance of critical support persons during hospital stays. Informal and formal Crisis Standards of Care (CSC), pronouncements that guided the provision of scarce health care resources in surge situations, targeted people with certain disabilities for denial of care (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Students with disabilities were denied necessary educational services and supports during the pandemic and have experienced disruption and regression in their behavioral and educational goals (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

The growing shortage of direct care workers in existence prior to the pandemic became worse during the pandemic. Many such workers, who are women of color earning less than a living wage and lacking health benefits, left their positions for fear of contracting and spreading the virus, leaving people with disabilities and their caregivers without aid and some at risk of losing their independence or being institutionalized (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind, and Blind persons faced a profound communication gulf as masks became commonplace, making lip-reading impossible and sign language harder (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

[power-chords]

My folks and I have been reading some of the literature on COVID/Bipolar I and they seem to suspect — and I’m inclined to agree with them — that what I thought was “long COVID” after my second bout with the virus may have in fact been my first recognizable depressive episode. Most of my symptoms overlapped with the depressive phase of Bipolar I, so disentangling the two is probably impossible in retrospect, but for many many months I was behaving in ways that are completely uncharacteristic of my personality: I was exhausted, unmotivated, and even more inattentive than my ADHD makes me ordinarily; I was uninterested in things that give me great pleasure, like going to shows and creative writing; I had brain fog so bad it was an uphill battle doing things that otherwise come quite easily to me, like communicating verbally and expressing myself with clarity and precision. Gradually these symptoms subsided, and I became even more productive and social than usual, which may very well have been a protracted hypomanic phase. I caught COVID again earlier this year, and by the start of July I was spiraling into full blown mania, prone to intense emotional states like expansive rapturous joy and crying jags at the drop of a hat. Music, theater, and reading fiction felt almost unbearably moving and profound. I was writing like crazy, and pretty soon afterward I was acting crazy, too, with racing thoughts and speech, disturbed sleep, and thoughts/ideas that were growing progressively more disordered and paranoid.

I prefer the term “manic depression,” though some consider it antiquated/offensive, because to me it most accurately describes my experience. But by my 36th birthday my new shrink had diagnosed me with full blown Bipolar I. I’m much better now with several weeks of a mood stabilizer under my belt, and this past weekend we went with the “nuclear option,” I.E. a four-day course of high dose antipsychotics. I was miserable from the extrapyramidal side effects, and had to take Xanax throughout in order to tolerate the akathisia and restless leg syndrome. But thank god, it snapped me right out of it, and knock on wood I’m back to my old self — with a little luck, I’ll have another 15 years symptom-free, or with just low grade hypomanic/depressive states that are so mild as to feel like ordinary, subclinical mood swings.

What I’m struggling with is the feeling that I’ve been handed a label sticker that amounts to crippling disability at best, and an early death sentence at worst. I will probably always have to keep these incredibly powerful drugs with their rotten side effect profile on hand, and may one day need to take them consistently, if I wind up having future severe episodes. To have to choose between Shitty and Shittier over a dangerous brain disease feels like I’ve been dealt the world’s worst genetic hand, and that bums me out a lot. I know it’s not my fault, but seeing the agony I’ve put my parents through is the worst part. Figuring out how to manage this is going to be a lifelong struggle against my own lousy biology, and that sucks. I’m trying to stay optimistic. It’s been really, really hard.

[glossykris]

This fandom is literally the only good thing that happened this year, but it gave me so much that I would say this was one of the best worst years of my life.

I made my first genuine friends in years, contributed to a fandom for the first time (my Learn Finnish with Käärijä video has 45,2k likes, wtf….), traveled to Berlin, went to gigs and talked to strangers, all because of this fandom.

cw mental health struggles

I survived the constant episodes of hypochondria and intense fear of death, scary extrapyramidal side effects from meds, intrusive thoughts and all the shit that life threw at me. I can’t stress it enough the kind of hell on earth this year was. I have been and will always be mentally ill, I know what it’s like but the things that were happening in my mind and body this year were literal torture.

I think… being here made me feel like a person when I felt like all there is to me are problems. These goofballs, Kä and his crew and Joker Out boys, brought me so much joy. And you guys brought me so much joy.

Thank you for being good to me. Thank you for being a safe place.

[dorianbrightmusic]

New Antipsychotic FDA Approval – Cobenfy

Cobenfy (xanomeline/trospium chloride) has just been approved for schizophrenia treatment in the US. This is huge. It's the first antipsychotic in decades to not target dopamine directly. It's got a much, much better side-effect profile, and it might work for negative and cognitive symptoms.

FOR MORE READING – news report/patient-centred plain language overview: See here.

FOR MORE READING – scientific evidence report: See here (note: the drug is referred to as 'KarXT' in this report).

I couldn't be happier right now. People with psychosis go through so, so much trying to find medications that are both useful and tolerable, and psychiatry has historically neglected psychotic people's needs so, so awfully. (Not to mention how little there is that actually helps with anything other than positive symptoms.) So I'm really, really hoping that with the proof that we can, in fact, make antipsychotics that aren't based on the same old pharmacological things we've tried before. Cobenfy is a muscarinic agonist/antagonist in fixed combination – and it also indirectly regulates dopamine and glutamate. And given that we know both dopamine and NMDA are probably involved in schizophrenia somehow – AND that treating things to do with either is hard – this is so, so, so exciting.

This isn't to say Cobenfy doesn't have side-effects (the most common ones being nausea, constipation, dyspepsia, vomiting, hypertension, dry mouth, and tachycardia. We also know that there is a small risk of extrapyramidal symptoms, and that prolactin-related side-effects do happen, unfortunately). We don't know much about how it affects folks in the long-term, or much about the long-term tardive dyskinesia risk. But even so, it's progress compared to some of the worse antipsychotic side-effects.

Moreover, there is a possibility it might be useful for negative and cognitive symptoms. Holy crap.

I'm really really really excited. I hope this is the start of a shift in psychiatry towards better standards of patient-centred care for psychosis. Y'all have deserved better for far too long – here's hoping this is the start of more ethical, effective treatment.

[neuroticboyfriend]

> goes ER for seizure like symptoms. including aura like symptoms. has another seizure like thing in the waiting room. no one sees.

> explains whats happening. gets asked about my anxiety, if i have a family history of seizures (i dont)

> they tell me it might be extrapyramidal symptoms or tardive dyskinesia. then say it doesnt sound like that.

> does bloodwork, comes back fine (urinanalysis was not normal though?). no neuro tests, not even an eeg. why? because fuck me thats why.

> says they ruled out "anything serious." diagnoses me with a tremor. (i have a tremor. i was not talking about my tremor. at all).

> discharges me after 4 hours and tells me to follow up with my GP and psychiatrist.

the american health system at its finest, everyone.

[shameboree]

i am actually going to whine about this publicly

my recent Poisoning Adventure was bc my psych NP (baseline can't be trusted) overdosed me on a new med I never shouldve been on and it caused pretty severe acute extrapyramidal effects (hella muscle spasms, uncontrollable jerking/movements, felt like i was in a fuckin dbz gravity chamber) and METABOLIC ENCEPHALOPATHY!! i couldnt control my body and even tho i knew who i was when it was where i was and why i was there i was also on a completely different realm of existence and it was like, Terrifying Actually!! so even tho im off that med and antidoted and not at risk anymore every time i have any kind of nerve tingling anywhere i start Freaking The Fuck Out. this shit was FOR REAL worse and more harrowing than literally any part of having cancer including the parts where i almost died. was more frightening than having meningitis bc at least i wasnt totally fuckin zooted outta my mind!! ur bitch needs Therapy. wowie!!

anyway ive been struggling w orthostatic hypotension for a hot minute (largely dehydration imo) so i got that rush u get when ur bp tanks and just started cryin like a little bitch babby on account of the Fears. Despite being super tired I am afraid to sleep bc the first bout of extrapyramidal symptoms woke my ass from DEAD SLUMBER

I used to love NPs but nowadays NP schools are clownhouse jokester diploma mills and due to scope creep ushered forth by the capitalist disneyfication of healthcare theyre allowed to practice WAY THE FUCK completely outta bounds. it isnt safe!! chikadee was makin nonstop bonkers med choices for me including putting me on the vers of a medication not even meant to to treat what we were trying to treat and also the correct version had limited success in.. the pediatric population?? babe what?? had to get my pcp involved on that one.

i had issues w nps before on account of all the probs w education and safety (theyre not even required to have 5 minutes of bedside experience outside of clinicals which ultimately are glorified techwork and useless in terms of Actual Nursing Practice (i do think having clinical experience IS Essential and beneficial tho)) but this trash ass dumbshit idiot gave me FRESH TRAUMAS i did NOT need so i have gone from a nonenthusiast to a full on hater. listen we did not go to med school we went to nursing school we should stay in our fucking lane. christ alive!!!!!

i cant fuckin believe this single experience was more traumatizing than actual months of chemotherapy

ALSO I GOT DENIED MEDICAL LEAVE?? WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THAT!!!!!!

[azelind4]

Psychiatry literally be like:

— This will help you with hallucinations.

— What are possible side effects?

— Parkinsonism and extrapyramidal disorders.

— Ok.

— This will help you with parkinsonism and extrapyramidal disorders.

— What are possible side effects?

— ... Hallucinations.

— ... Ok, anyway, I don't have a choice.

[I'm not joking. It's my real story.]

[topoillogical]

I do think that, when we hopefully eventually ban harmful psychiatric drugs, people who are already taking them should be able to choose to be grandfathered in to still be able to take them. Like how people want to progressively raise the smoking age, except linked to specific patient histories.

Idk, you know, maybe at some point we will get rid of all the antipsychotics that are more dangerous than they are helpful! That would be great! But the people who have been on them for years and cope with the side effects and feel their life has been given back to them, well, they can have them still I think. Even if they have horrible extrapyramidal stuff. They can make their own choice -- if they choose to stop ofc they should be aided in titrating off and/or switching to a safer alternative. And, even if they choose to stay on the drug, they should still be entitled to any reparations offered for people who were prescribed the dangerous drug. Its possible to acknowledge you were harmed and treated irresponsibly, but also that you'd make the same choice now and that's okay. And we should also be giving psychotic people money anyway obviously

On a different area of psychiatric drugs completely: Venlafaxine. It could maybe be banned one day for causing people to enter the hell dimension if they attempt to stop taking it, but god damn can you pry it from my cold dead hands

[psychocollective]

I have so little faith in the hospital and medical system. I had to go to the ER last night for severe extrapyramidal medication side effects and they didn't take it seriously at all, asked me if it was "voluntary movement or not" in my body after telling them I was there because I couldn't stop shaking, couldn't control my eyes, got my eyes locked back in my head, came into the hospital literally covered in vomit because I couldn't see to clean myself. Well yeah they didn't even treat my severe panic attack that led to the episode I sat there for an hour and a half covered in dried puke while the nurses talked and laughed with eachother and probably made fun of me. The guy who took all of my information made a comment when I said I was bipolar too. Fuck all of these people it's not a human life or an emergency to them it's just a job and another person to shake off. Never found out what was wrong btw.

[loving-n0t-heyting]

Hello loving not heyting do you have any recommendations on learning about anti-psych position/movement? For someone who really wants to understand the position does anti-psych also go in fields such as psychology and psychoanalysis? Does it propose reforms or abolition?

i have not read much anti psych "theory" tbh, and when ive tried reading any of it it often comes across with the same pitfalls common to a lot of leftist "theory" anyway: high on abstract speculation about the social role of psychiatry, low on concrete details; keen on pinning all our hopes on the abolition of capitalism or the state in such a way as to demoralise rather than inspire. i have looked a bit into more focused activist organisations like akathisia alliance that have been helpful. i also found, way back and diffusely in a way hard to either clearly recall or recommend central cases of, some autism self advocacy work that helped set me on a saner path generally; lydia xz brown, mel baggs, other internet activist microcelebs. there was more wheat with them i think than "mad liberation" and "anti psych" stuff generally (common autist w) but also still a fair amount of chaff. he is definitely NOT antipsych, but scott alexander had some helpfully sober assessments of the efficacy and drawbacks of ssris in particular (tho this example feeds into the next genre)

more illuminating than anything to me has been reading from "the enemy:" actual literature by psychiatrists and their partisans. actually looking thru the existing medical literature on antipsychotics (efficacy, side effects, etc), in particular, did more to radicalise me on the topic than any antipsych propaganda. partly in terms of laying out the problems with the medications, partly by exposing how fundamentally unrigorous a lot of this research is. (i remember once looking into a taxonomy of extrapyramidal conditions, then into i think parkinsonism in particular, and seeing the list of symptoms include... "extrapyramidal symptoms".) i used to binge read the neurodivergence-unfriendly spectrum news and you could just regularly see them report the stupidest or most degrading bullshit without an ounce of incredulity, like this piece which makes me almost too angry to articulate the retardation involved (moral luck is an open philosophical problem, not a settled fact about "theory of mind") or this piece hailing the coercive implantation of mind control chips in an adult womans brain in order to curb her excessive hand washing. academic research on the subject inspires in me similar sentiments. the dsm itself, current and past editions, can be an extremely instructive read. i could go on, theres a lot to look into here

i get the impression that ppl styling themselves as anti psych or psych critical tend to go soft on a lot of more "analytic" (freudian) approaches; here are two examples of this brand of shameful dereliction of reason. which is the opposite of helpful to me bc i was made to see freudians from ages 4 to 25, and coming to grips with the truly rank pseudoscience of freudian theory was an important step in my self devt

sorry this answer is sort of all over the place. my feelings about the psychiatric system were not really forged by reading a couple of big thought provoking books, sadly

[jokerlennon]

okay fuck it if i dont know biology i dont know biology i know what an extrapyramidal system is i bet most random adults on the street do not know that its enough for me.

[drchristophedelongsblog]

Automatic movements: a definition

Automatic movements are an essential part of our daily lives, often performed without our paying any attention. They are regulated by specific neuronal circuits, in particular the extrapyramidal and cerebellar systems.

Automatic movements are motor actions that do not require conscious attention and are often learned and repeated. They are in contrast to voluntary movements, which require conscious planning and control.

The role of the extrapyramidal and cerebellar systems

- The extrapyramidal system: This system is mainly involved in controlling posture, muscle tone and automatic movements. It plays a crucial role in the fluidity and coordination of movements. The basal ganglia, an important part of this system, are involved in programming and initiating movements.

- Cerebellum: The cerebellum is essential for movement coordination, balance and posture maintenance. It receives information about movements in progress and compares it with an internal representation of the desired movement, enabling movements to be adjusted in real time.

Examples of automatic movements

- Walking: A complex movement involving numerous joints and muscles, coordinated automatically.

- Eye movements: Eye movements to follow an object or focus on a point are automatic.

- Everyday gestures: Eating, drinking and dressing are actions that become automatic with practice.

- Reflexes: Reflexes such as the patellar reflex are automatic motor responses to sensory stimulation.

Automatic movement disorders

Dysfunctions in the extrapyramidal or cerebellar systems can lead to automatic movement disorders. These disorders may manifest as :

- Tremor: Involuntary oscillations of a part of the body.

- Rigidity: Increased muscle tone, making movement more difficult.

- Akinesia: Decreased range and speed of movement.

- Dysmetria: Difficulty assessing distances and adjusting the strength of movements.

- Balance problems: Difficulty maintaining a stable position.

Associated diseases

Many neurological diseases can affect automatic movements, including :

- Parkinson's disease: characterised by tremors, rigidity and akinesia.

- Multisystem atrophy: a degenerative disease that affects several systems, including the nervous system.

- Stroke: can lead to motor disorders depending on the area of the brain affected.

- Brain tumours: can compress the brain structures involved in controlling movement.

To sum up

Automatic movements are essential to our daily lives and are regulated by complex neural circuits. The extrapyramidal and cerebellar systems play a crucial role in the coordination and fluidity of these movements. Disorders of these systems can lead to significant difficulties in daily life.

Go further

[synnatpharma11]

Primary Uses of Biperiden Hydrochloride

Primary Uses of Biperiden Hydrochloride

1. Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson's disease is a chronic neurological condition that affects movement control, causing tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Biperiden can be used as an adjunct to other anti-Parkinson medications like levodopa or dopamine agonists to help reduce symptoms such as muscle rigidity and tremors.

2. Drug-Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms (EPS)

Certain medications, especially antipsychotic drugs, can induce EPS, which include symptoms like tremors, muscle rigidity, and involuntary movements. Biperiden is commonly used to alleviate these symptoms, as it can help restore the balance between acetylcholine and dopamine.

3. Other Movement Disorders

Though less commonly prescribed for this purpose, biperiden can sometimes be used in the management of other movement disorders or dystonias that involve abnormal muscle movements.

Dosage and Administration

The dosage of biperiden hydrochloride depends on the condition being treated, the severity of symptoms, and the individual patient’s response to the drug. It is typically administered in the form of oral tablets, but in some cases, it can be given via injection for acute episodes.

Typical Adult Dosage:

For Parkinson's disease or EPS, the initial dose is often 2 mg 1-3 times daily.

The dose may be gradually increased based on the patient’s response to the medication.

Maximum Dose: The usual maximum dose does not exceed 12 mg per day.

It is crucial that patients follow the prescribed dosing regimen and not self-adjust their dose, as improper dosing can lead to side effects.

Potential Side Effects

Like all medications, biperiden hydrochloride can cause side effects. Not all users will experience these side effects, but it’s important to be aware of them:

Common Side Effects:

Dry mouth

Blurred vision

Constipation

Drowsiness or sedation

Dizziness

Serious Side Effects:

Confusion or hallucinations, especially in elderly patients.

Urinary retention (difficulty urinating).

Tachycardia (rapid heartbeat).

Severe allergic reactions, such as rash, itching, or swelling.

Patients should seek immediate medical attention if they experience signs of an allergic reaction, confusion, or severe dizziness.

Precautions and Warnings

Before starting biperiden hydrochloride, patients should inform their healthcare provider about any medical conditions or medications they are currently taking. Biperiden may not be suitable for everyone, especially those with certain health conditions, including:

Glaucoma (due to the drug's effect on pupil dilation)

Prostate issues (like benign prostatic hyperplasia, which could be worsened by urinary retention)

Cardiac conditions (such as arrhythmias)

Gastrointestinal disorders (due to constipation)

Elderly Considerations:

Older adults may be more susceptible to the side effects of biperiden, particularly confusion, sedation, and urinary retention. A lower starting dose may be recommended for elderly patients to minimize risks.

Pregnancy and Breastfeeding:

Biperiden should only be used during pregnancy if the potential benefits outweigh the risks. It is not known if biperiden passes into breast milk, so breastfeeding mothers should consult their healthcare provider before using this medication.

Conclusion

Biperiden hydrochloride is a valuable medication for managing symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and drug-induced extrapyramidal symptoms. By balancing acetylcholine and dopamine levels in the brain, it helps alleviate motor symptoms like tremors, rigidity, and bradykinesia. However, like all medications, it comes with potential side effects and risks that should be considered.