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What Causes Eye Ball Movements And Headache After Having Medicines?
Question: My brother is Computer engineer. He used to a good student and wants to be a software engineer in big MNC but after completing his BTech , unfortunately he was not able to get any job. He started feeling low in confidence.He stopped meeting with other people and used to feel low all the time. Parents took him to few docs and he was on medications for last few months. During this time he developed a strange issue. His eyeballs start moving left to right and he is not able to maintain an eye contact with anyone. Once eyes start moving he switches all the lights of house and out a cloth on his eyes and lays down on the bed.He starts having headache also during this time. He feels like his voice is echoing in mind and his legs are shivering.
This happens to him in every two three days. I think the heavy medicines are making his mind dead. But don't have dare to stop them. Doctors please help as I cant see my little brother loosing in front of my eyes.
I am attaching the reports and prescription of my brother. Please let me know if he is taking correct medicine,what is his illness, and most important how can I get him back as a normal person. Also let me know the best doctor in Delhi/NCR region whom I can consult in person if required.
His issue began 2 years back. Initially the symptoms were sleepless nights and used to walk around in home thinking and thinking for 2-3 hours in one go.... Now over the course of medication he has developed rigrous eye ball movement and other symptoms as described above..
This happens to him in every two three days. I think the heavy medicines are making his mind dead. But don't have dare to stop them. Doctors please help as I cant see my little brother loosing in front of my eyes.
I am attaching the reports and prescription of my brother. Please let me know if he is taking correct medicine,what is his illness, and most important how can I get him back as a normal person. Also let me know the best doctor in Delhi/NCR region whom I can consult in person if required.
His issue began 2 years back. Initially the symptoms were sleepless nights and used to walk around in home thinking and thinking for 2-3 hours in one go.... Now over the course of medication he has developed rigrous eye ball movement and other symptoms as described above..
Brief Answer:
Inadequate treatment received.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXX,
Thanks for writing to us,
I understand your concern regarding your brother. Firstly, the eye ball movement and tremulousness are most likely side effects of the drugs prescribed to your brother. These side effects will go away as soon as the notorious drug is stopped. If it is a side effect of the drug, it is not as serious as it may seem to an on-looker. Risperidone which is given to him is known to cause this symptom. The need for this medication has to be reviewed by an experienced psychiatrist after a detailed assessment of your brother to decide whether or not this drug should be continued, since all types of depressive disorders do not even require this drug. It is difficult, on this forum, to pin-point and say which type of depressive disorder your brother is suffering from. Only if there are psychotic symptoms, prescribing this drug is justified, not otherwise. Secondly, the symptoms you report in your brother points towards the possibility of moderate to severe depressive disorder and the primary treatment of this is an antidepressant (mainly SSRIs i.e. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) which was not adequately tried in your brother. He was receiving a combination of escitalopram and clonazepam for the first month and a sub-optimal dose of Sertraline thereafter. He requires a trial of optimal dose of an antidepressant which if combined with psychotherapeutic intervention, he would recover much faster and stay well for long. However, the psychotherapies have to be planned and administered by experienced a psychologist.
A detailed psychiatric assessment will take few hours and may be exhaustive so kindly be patient with the process.
I suggest you take him to either IHBAS or NIMHANS XXXXXXX or C.I.P XXXXXXX for a detailed assessment and treatment at the earliest.
Hope this helps,
Dr A Rao
Inadequate treatment received.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXXXX,
Thanks for writing to us,
I understand your concern regarding your brother. Firstly, the eye ball movement and tremulousness are most likely side effects of the drugs prescribed to your brother. These side effects will go away as soon as the notorious drug is stopped. If it is a side effect of the drug, it is not as serious as it may seem to an on-looker. Risperidone which is given to him is known to cause this symptom. The need for this medication has to be reviewed by an experienced psychiatrist after a detailed assessment of your brother to decide whether or not this drug should be continued, since all types of depressive disorders do not even require this drug. It is difficult, on this forum, to pin-point and say which type of depressive disorder your brother is suffering from. Only if there are psychotic symptoms, prescribing this drug is justified, not otherwise. Secondly, the symptoms you report in your brother points towards the possibility of moderate to severe depressive disorder and the primary treatment of this is an antidepressant (mainly SSRIs i.e. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) which was not adequately tried in your brother. He was receiving a combination of escitalopram and clonazepam for the first month and a sub-optimal dose of Sertraline thereafter. He requires a trial of optimal dose of an antidepressant which if combined with psychotherapeutic intervention, he would recover much faster and stay well for long. However, the psychotherapies have to be planned and administered by experienced a psychologist.
A detailed psychiatric assessment will take few hours and may be exhaustive so kindly be patient with the process.
I suggest you take him to either IHBAS or NIMHANS XXXXXXX or C.I.P XXXXXXX for a detailed assessment and treatment at the earliest.
Hope this helps,
Dr A Rao
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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