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First-Generation Antipsychotics for Treating Schizophrenia
First-generation antipsychotic medicines can cause mild to severe problems with body movements.
- Mild movement problems include restlessness, tremors, and rigid muscles. You may be able to reduce or stop these problems by taking a smaller dose of the medicine or by switching to another medicine. Your doctor also may be able to prescribe another medicine to block the movement problems.
- A severe movement problem is tardive dyskinesia, which causes unusual body movements that you cannot control. Signs may include lip-smacking or continuous chewing, tongue-twitching or thrusting the tongue out of the mouth, or quick and jerky movements (tics) of the head.
Other serious side effects include:
- Allergic reactions (skin rash, hives).
- A lower white blood cell count. You will need blood tests to check this cell count while you are taking the medicine.
- Neuroleptic malignant syndrome. This is a rare but life-threatening side effect of antipsychotics. The first signs usually include a fever between 102°F (38.9°C) and 103°F (39.4°C), a fast or irregular heartbeat, rapid breathing, and severe sweating.
- Seizures.
- Constant movement.
- Muscle spasms, especially in the neck.
- Abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia).
- Liver problems.
- Low blood sugar (hypoglycemia).
- Frequent urination.
- Worsening of psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations.
Other common, mild side effects include:
- Drowsiness.
- Low blood pressure.
- Blurred vision.
- Constipation.
- Loss of appetite, feeling sick to your stomach, or vomiting.
- Shaking, stiff muscles, and slow movement (typically seen in Parkinson's disease).
First-generation antipsychotics may raise levels of the hormone prolactin. This can lead to breast enlargement in both men and women and abnormal menstrual cycles in women.
See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference is not available in all systems.)
| By: | Healthwise Staff | Last Revised: August 19, 2010 |
| Medical Review: | Kathleen Romito, MD - Family Medicine Miklos Ferenc Losonczy, MD, PhD - Psychiatry | |
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