Eli Lilly Hides Akathisia

As early as 1979, Meltzer and a team at the University of Chicago recognized that Prozac suppresses dopaminergic neurotransmission. Concerned about reports of neurological side effects that might stem from this dopamine suppression, Baldessarini and Marsh (1990) from McLean Hospital and Harvard demonstrated the effect in Prozac-treated animal brains. 

Drug-induced disruption of dopamine neurotransmission is known to produce a variety of neurological side effects (see chapters 3 and 5). The neuroleptics suppress dopamine neurotransmission, causing a reactive hyperactivity of the system that produces a high rate of irreversible dyskinesias, cognitive dysfunction, and dementia. 

Prozac s pharmacological mechanism for suppressing dopamine is more indirect than that of the neuroleptics. However, the clinical result can be very similar. Prozac can cause akathisia (agitation with hyperactivity), parkinsonism ( Fluoxetine, 1990), and dystonia (muscle spasms) (Meltzer et al., 1979 Reccoppa et al., 1990). 

Drug-induced akathisia, dystonia, and parkinsonism can produce extreme discomfort. They can be disabling and feel like torture (see chapter 3 for details). In brief, akathisia can become an inner torment and anguish that drives the individual into hyperactivity. 

Akathisia can contribute to the development of psychosis as well as violence against self or others. Dystonia often produces agonizing muscle 

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