Restlessness aripiprazole

Observational studies In a hospital-based postmarketing surveillance study 80% of 799 patients with schizophrenia from 122 psychiatric hospitals were treated for 4 weeks with aripiprazole 10-30 mg/day (mean modal dose 15 mg/day) [57 ]. There were significant improvements in clinical current scales and the most frequent adverse reactions were insomnia, irritability, restlessness, nausea, and vomiting. 

Restless legs syndrome has been attributed to aripiprazole [59 ]. 

Restless leg syndrome has been associated with olanzapine in three cases, in which it started after the beginning of treatment with olanzapine and resolved after withdrawal all three patients were subsequently treated with other atypical antipsychotic drugs (risperidone, quetiapine, or aripiprazole) without recurrence [105 ]. 

Bolanos-Vergaray J, Obaya JC, Gonzalez R, Echeverri C, Piquer P. Restless legs syndrome due to aripiprazole. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2011 7 39-40. 

In a 12-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of aripiprazole in the treatment of alcoholism in 295 subjects, aripiprazole produced more positive subjective effects and less overall severity of alcohol dependence than placebo, although there was no difference between aripiprazole and placebo on the primary end-point, possibly because of dose-related attrition (treatment was started at 2 mg/day and titrated to a maximum of 30 mg/day at day 28). Withdrawals (40% versus 27%) and treatment-related adverse effects (83% versus 64%) were more common with aripiprazole. The most common treatment-related adverse events that differed significantly between aripiprazole and placebo were fatigue, insomnia, restlessness, somnolence, anxiety, and altered attention serious adverse reactions attributed to aripiprazole were chest pain, cellulitis, migraine, and thrombosis extrapyramidal adverse reactions attributed... 

Metamfetamine The results of a doubleblind study of potential interactions of intravenous metamfetamine (15 and 30 mg) with oral aripiprazole (15 mg) have been published [72 ]. The effects of aripiprazole on abstinence-related craving and cue-induced craving were also evaluated. Participants included non-treatment-seeking metamfetamine-dependent patients who took aripiprazole (n = 8) or placebo (n = 8) for 2 weeks. Aripiprazole had no effect on cue-induced metamfetamine craving, but was associated with increased craving independent of metamfetamine dose, euphoria, and amphetamine-like effects after metamfetamine. Aripiprazole reduced the increase in systolic blood pressure after metamfetamine, but it had no other effects on cardiovascular responses to metamfetamine. Aripiprazole did not alter the pharmacokinetics of metamfetamine. The adverse events tended to be equally distributed between the two groups, except for tremor (n = 4) and restlessness n = 3), which were more common in those who took aripiprazole. 

A case of restless legs syndrome occurring in a 34-year-old female within 1 week of starting clozapine that responded to the addition of aripiprazole (partial dopamine agonist) is reported [111 ]. 

Raveendranathan D, Shiva L, Venkatasubramanian G, Rao MG, VarambaUy S, Gangadhar BN. Clozapine-induced restless legs syndrome treated with aripiprazole. J Neuropsych Clin Neurosci 2013 25(2) E62-3. 

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