Severe Anxiety/Panic Attacks/Oculargyric Crisis Disorder

I experience severe Anxiety or Panic attacks with Oculargyric Crisis
(rolling up and tweaking, straining on the eye muscles) once every 2
to 4 days. The anxiety is a combination of me thinking someone will
come up and scream at me / do something bad to me or my family and a
voice in my head that has
agreements or disagreements with my consciousness.

It feels like the voice part is lack of medication (when I take
risperdol it goes away), and the anxiety
is caused by the medication. I say the anxiety is caused by the
medication because I went without
zyprexa (my main medication) for 4 weeks last year and for 2 1/2
months I had no anxiety attacks.

This all started (I think) with Geodon. I was put on it for 3 weeks
cold turkey from zyprexa. no weening.
The 3rd week is the first noticible anixety attack, except I was
twitching, spasm, couldn't control
my tightened face muscles and had extreme worry/anxiety. Ever since
then I get anxiety attacks.

Currently I'm on 6 mg of Risperdol (3 in morning, 3 at night). I was
on 20 mg of zypexa but got
successfully weened off. I've been off zyprexa completely for the last
week.

My anxiety attacks used to be once every 4 months, once every month,
once every 2 weeks, once
every week, once every 4 days. Now I just started getting them once
every 2 days (for the last week).

I am wondering if I take a little tiny bit of Geodon do you think this
would this curb the anxiety?

I have tried Journaling (with the new attacks this helps a bit),
resting, meditation, positive self talk, deep
breathing, EFT, visualization, they all start to help a little bit,
but none solve the main problem of the
panic attacks itself.

What else can I do (the doctors don't want me on anti anxiety meds)?

Worried,
John

"JohnnyL" <johnnylutz@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1176205654.304672.162270@e65g2000hsc.googlegr oups.com...
>I experience severe Anxiety or Panic attacks with Oculargyric Crisis
> (rolling up and tweaking, straining on the eye muscles) once every 2
> to 4 days. The anxiety is a combination of me thinking someone will
> come up and scream at me / do something bad to me or my family and a
> voice in my head that has
> agreements or disagreements with my consciousness.
>
> It feels like the voice part is lack of medication (when I take
> risperdol it goes away), and the anxiety
> is caused by the medication. I say the anxiety is caused by the
> medication because I went without
> zyprexa (my main medication) for 4 weeks last year and for 2 1/2
> months I had no anxiety attacks.
>
> This all started (I think) with Geodon. I was put on it for 3 weeks
> cold turkey from zyprexa. no weening.
> The 3rd week is the first noticible anixety attack, except I was
> twitching, spasm, couldn't control
> my tightened face muscles and had extreme worry/anxiety. Ever since
> then I get anxiety attacks.
>
> Currently I'm on 6 mg of Risperdol (3 in morning, 3 at night). I was
> on 20 mg of zypexa but got
> successfully weened off. I've been off zyprexa completely for the last
> week.
>
> My anxiety attacks used to be once every 4 months, once every month,
> once every 2 weeks, once
> every week, once every 4 days. Now I just started getting them once
> every 2 days (for the last week).
>
> I am wondering if I take a little tiny bit of Geodon do you think this
> would this curb the anxiety?
>
> I have tried Journaling (with the new attacks this helps a bit),
> resting, meditation, positive self talk, deep
> breathing, EFT, visualization, they all start to help a little bit,
> but none solve the main problem of the
> panic attacks itself.
>
> What else can I do (the doctors don't want me on anti anxiety meds)?
>
> Worried,
> John
>


Sounds like you're in a tough spot, Never taken Geodon so can't comment
there. My bet would be follow the doc's advice, if you've still got problems
ask for a second opinion.

Whichever ways you decide it sounds like you already have a good handle on
the situation.

best of luck

zerosky

Dear Zerosky,
thanks for the support!
If this happened in public it would be very embarrassing.
It also makes it much worse in public. I did research today
on Oculogyric Crisis and it turns out that when I'm experiencing is
Dystonic. It's Dystonia thats the main problem, anxiety is just the
side effect. and when I was taking Geodon for 3 weeks, it was Dystonia
is every
muscle group, particularly the neck and face and eyes. I really think
it's related.

The only thing that I can do, is switch medications (but I like
risperdol because
it makes me sleep normal hours or just stop taking antipsychotics
(which I think is
not a good idea, but I read an article on WebMD and it says that
untreated
dystonia is life threatening.) Maybe go on Clorzaril next? (it has
Anti Tardive D
dyskinesia properties).
Still looking for help/support.
John

On Apr 10, 4:10 pm, "zerosky" <zero...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> news:1176205654.304672.162270@e65g2000hsc.googlegr oups.com...
>
>
>
> >I experience severe Anxiety or Panic attacks with Oculargyric Crisis
> > (rolling up and tweaking, straining on the eye muscles) once every 2
> > to 4 days. The anxiety is a combination of me thinking someone will
> > come up and scream at me / do something bad to me or my family and a
> > voice in my head that has
> > agreements or disagreements with my consciousness.
>
> > It feels like the voice part is lack of medication (when I take
> > risperdol it goes away), and the anxiety
> > is caused by the medication. I say the anxiety is caused by the
> > medication because I went without
> > zyprexa (my main medication) for 4 weeks last year and for 2 1/2
> > months I had no anxiety attacks.
>
> > This all started (I think) with Geodon. I was put on it for 3 weeks
> > cold turkey from zyprexa. no weening.
> > The 3rd week is the first noticible anixety attack, except I was
> > twitching, spasm, couldn't control
> > my tightened face muscles and had extreme worry/anxiety. Ever since
> > then I get anxiety attacks.
>
> > Currently I'm on 6 mg of Risperdol (3 in morning, 3 at night). I was
> > on 20 mg of zypexa but got
> > successfully weened off. I've been off zyprexa completely for the last
> > week.
>
> > My anxiety attacks used to be once every 4 months, once every month,
> > once every 2 weeks, once
> > every week, once every 4 days. Now I just started getting them once
> > every 2 days (for the last week).
>
> > I am wondering if I take a little tiny bit of Geodon do you think this
> > would this curb the anxiety?
>
> > I have tried Journaling (with the new attacks this helps a bit),
> > resting, meditation, positive self talk, deep
> > breathing, EFT, visualization, they all start to help a little bit,
> > but none solve the main problem of the
> > panic attacks itself.
>
> > What else can I do (the doctors don't want me on anti anxiety meds)?
>
> > Worried,
> > John
>
> Sounds like you're in a tough spot, Never taken Geodon so can't comment
> there. My bet would be follow the doc's advice, if you've still got problems
> ask for a second opinion.
>
> Whichever ways you decide it sounds like you already have a good handle on
> the situation.
>
> best of luck
>
> zerosky

Maybe if you take some Cogentin as needed it would help with the muschle
twitching and eye rolling.

penguin

My doctor says it's all in my head. that i should have a fever
nad constant rolling if I had OGCD.

Now I have no idea what to do.

John

On Apr 10, 5:54 pm, "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Zerosky,
> thanks for the support!
> If this happened in public it would be very embarrassing.
> It also makes it much worse in public. I did research today
> on Oculogyric Crisis and it turns out that when I'm experiencing is
> Dystonic. It's Dystonia thats the main problem, anxiety is just the
> side effect. and when I was taking Geodon for 3 weeks, it was Dystonia
> is every
> muscle group, particularly the neck and face and eyes. I really think
> it's related.
>
> The only thing that I can do, is switch medications (but I like
> risperdol because
> it makes me sleep normal hours or just stop taking antipsychotics
> (which I think is
> not a good idea, but I read an article on WebMD and it says that
> untreated
> dystonia is life threatening.) Maybe go on Clorzaril next? (it has
> Anti Tardive D
> dyskinesia properties).
> Still looking for help/support.
> John
>
> On Apr 10, 4:10 pm, "zerosky" <zero...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> > "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> >news:1176205654.304672.162270@e65g2000hsc.googleg roups.com...
>
> > >I experience severe Anxiety or Panic attacks with Oculargyric Crisis
> > > (rolling up and tweaking, straining on the eye muscles) once every 2
> > > to 4 days. The anxiety is a combination of me thinking someone will
> > > come up and scream at me / do something bad to me or my family and a
> > > voice in my head that has
> > > agreements or disagreements with my consciousness.
>
> > > It feels like the voice part is lack of medication (when I take
> > > risperdol it goes away), and the anxiety
> > > is caused by the medication. I say the anxiety is caused by the
> > > medication because I went without
> > > zyprexa (my main medication) for 4 weeks last year and for 2 1/2
> > > months I had no anxiety attacks.
>
> > > This all started (I think) with Geodon. I was put on it for 3 weeks
> > > cold turkey from zyprexa. no weening.
> > > The 3rd week is the first noticible anixety attack, except I was
> > > twitching, spasm, couldn't control
> > > my tightened face muscles and had extreme worry/anxiety. Ever since
> > > then I get anxiety attacks.
>
> > > Currently I'm on 6 mg of Risperdol (3 in morning, 3 at night). I was
> > > on 20 mg of zypexa but got
> > > successfully weened off. I've been off zyprexa completely for the last
> > > week.
>
> > > My anxiety attacks used to be once every 4 months, once every month,
> > > once every 2 weeks, once
> > > every week, once every 4 days. Now I just started getting them once
> > > every 2 days (for the last week).
>
> > > I am wondering if I take a little tiny bit of Geodon do you think this
> > > would this curb the anxiety?
>
> > > I have tried Journaling (with the new attacks this helps a bit),
> > > resting, meditation, positive self talk, deep
> > > breathing, EFT, visualization, they all start to help a little bit,
> > > but none solve the main problem of the
> > > panic attacks itself.
>
> > > What else can I do (the doctors don't want me on anti anxiety meds)?
>
> > > Worried,
> > > John
>
> > Sounds like you're in a tough spot, Never taken Geodon so can't comment
> > there. My bet would be follow the doc's advice, if you've still got problems
> > ask for a second opinion.
>
> > Whichever ways you decide it sounds like you already have a good handle on
> > the situation.
>
> > best of luck
>
> > zerosky

On Apr 13, 5:57 am, "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My doctor says it's all in my head. that i should have a fever
> nad constant rolling if I had OGCD.
>
> Now I have no idea what to do.
>
> John
>
> On Apr 10, 5:54 pm, "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Dear Zerosky,
> > thanks for the support!
> > If this happened in public it would be very embarrassing.
> > It also makes it much worse in public. I did research today
> > on Oculogyric Crisis and it turns out that when I'm experiencing is
> > Dystonic. It's Dystonia thats the main problem, anxiety is just the
> > side effect. and when I was taking Geodon for 3 weeks, it was Dystonia
> > is every
> > muscle group, particularly the neck and face and eyes. I really think
> > it's related.
>
> > The only thing that I can do, is switch medications (but I like
> > risperdol because
> > it makes me sleep normal hours or just stop taking antipsychotics
> > (which I think is
> > not a good idea, but I read an article on WebMD and it says that
> > untreated
> > dystonia is life threatening.) Maybe go on Clorzaril next? (it has
> > Anti Tardive D
> > dyskinesia properties).
> > Still looking for help/support.
> > John
>
> > On Apr 10, 4:10 pm, "zerosky" <zero...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
>
> > > "JohnnyL" <johnnyl...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>
> > >news:1176205654.304672.162270@e65g2000hsc.googleg roups.com...
>
> > > >I experience severe Anxiety or Panic attacks with Oculargyric Crisis
> > > > (rolling up and tweaking, straining on the eye muscles) once every 2
> > > > to 4 days. The anxiety is a combination of me thinking someone will
> > > > come up and scream at me / do something bad to me or my family and a
> > > > voice in my head that has
> > > > agreements or disagreements with my consciousness.
>
> > > > It feels like the voice part is lack of medication (when I take
> > > > risperdol it goes away), and the anxiety
> > > > is caused by the medication. I say the anxiety is caused by the
> > > > medication because I went without
> > > > zyprexa (my main medication) for 4 weeks last year and for 2 1/2
> > > > months I had no anxiety attacks.
>
> > > > This all started (I think) with Geodon. I was put on it for 3 weeks
> > > > cold turkey from zyprexa. no weening.
> > > > The 3rd week is the first noticible anixety attack, except I was
> > > > twitching, spasm, couldn't control
> > > > my tightened face muscles and had extreme worry/anxiety. Ever since
> > > > then I get anxiety attacks.
>
> > > > Currently I'm on 6 mg of Risperdol (3 in morning, 3 at night). I was
> > > > on 20 mg of zypexa but got
> > > > successfully weened off. I've been off zyprexa completely for the last
> > > > week.
>
> > > > My anxiety attacks used to be once every 4 months, once every month,
> > > > once every 2 weeks, once
> > > > every week, once every 4 days. Now I just started getting them once
> > > > every 2 days (for the last week).
>
> > > > I am wondering if I take a little tiny bit of Geodon do you think this
> > > > would this curb the anxiety?
>
> > > > I have tried Journaling (with the new attacks this helps a bit),
> > > > resting, meditation, positive self talk, deep
> > > > breathing, EFT, visualization, they all start to help a little bit,
> > > > but none solve the main problem of the
> > > > panic attacks itself.
>
> > > > What else can I do (the doctors don't want me on anti anxiety meds)?
>
> > > > Worried,
> > > > John
>
> > > Sounds like you're in a tough spot, Never taken Geodon so can't comment
> > > there. My bet would be follow the doc's advice, if you've still got problems
> > > ask for a second opinion.
>
> > > Whichever ways you decide it sounds like you already have a good handle on
> > > the situation.
>
> > > best of luck
>
> > > zerosky

I used to have the same symptoms that you describe when I was intially
diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The symptoms got better with time and added confidence. The ocular
gyric crises bit is a psychological reaction to having had a genuine
one previously whilst on the medication. Because the experience was
unpleasant it leaves you feeling anxious the next time you may have
one and it becomes a self-fulfilling phrophecy that the more you feel
you are going to have one the more likely your mind will imitate the
experience, especially in public.

The way to tell if it is a genuine ocular gyrocrises is you should not
be able to look down at all. When you say your eyes are "rolling" that
is you consciously moving your eyes down and your brain pulling them
up again. If it is a genuine spasm you would not be able to
consciously move your eyes down at all.

Hope this helps.

Hi Penguin,

Are you still pacing a lot during the day? Or did you find a better med to
take? I've been a bit paranoid lately but at least I realize it before
making an ass out of myself, if you know what I mean.

"Penguin A" <kola5z@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:503-461C04F1-40@storefull-3176.bay.webtv.net...
>
> Maybe if you take some Cogentin as needed it would help with the muschle
> twitching and eye rolling.
>
> penguin
>

Hi Just Me

I haven't been pacing but I"ve been very paranoid and fearful. The good
news is that I've lost 15 lbs.

Thanks for asking. How is your job going?

penguin