Akathisia Isn't "Just Anxiety"—So Why Are So Many People Being Told It Is?

What if one hospital IV could change the next 27 years of your life?

It sounds unbelievable—until you hear Katherine Toll's story.

On the latest episode of The Gaslit Truth Podcast, Katherine shares how a medication for nausea triggered akathisia—a severe neurological reaction that left her feeling like she wanted to crawl out of her own skin. Instead of recognizing it as an adverse drug reaction, doctors labeled it panic disorder. That diagnosis followed her for decades.

And honestly? I don't think Katherine's story is rare.

I've lived through episodes of akathisia myself while trying to come off Lexapro. It wasn't "anxiety." It wasn't stress. It was an indescribable inner hell that consumed every second. The fear was so overwhelming that I had thoughts about how I could make it stop. Thoughts that scared me because they weren't coming from me. I was not suicidal. I was not depressed. They were coming from the unbearable state I was trapped in.

That's why this conversation matters so much to me.

Every week I hear from people experiencing akathisia during antidepressant withdrawal, after starting an SSRI, after changing medications, or even after receiving medications in the emergency room. Most have never heard the word akathisia. Even more alarming, many tell me their doctors haven't recognized it either.

Instead, they're told they're having a mental health crisis. They're told they're relapsing and this IS the biggest GASLIGHTING statement of them all. They're prescribed another medication.

The possibility that they're experiencing a medication injury often isn't even considered and THAT should concern all of us.

In this episode, Katherine and I talk about how one adverse drug reaction became a lifelong psychiatric label, how medication changes (including SSRIs, benzodiazepines, and ADHD medications) can complicate an already injured nervous system, and why what gets written in your medical record can shape your healthcare for years to come.

We also talk about something equally important: hope.

Katherine shares what healing has looked like for her through the "windows and waves" of recovery. She discusses supporting the nervous system, regulating circadian rhythms with morning light, learning to recognize overstimulation, and finding ways to cope that don't automatically involve another prescription.

I'm not saying every case of anxiety is akathisia. But I am saying this:

if patients and clinicians don't know what akathisia looks like, people will continue to be misdiagnosed, misunderstood, and medically gaslit.

That has to change.

If you've ever experienced unbearable inner after starting, stopping, or changing a psychiatric medication—or if someone you love has—this episode is one you need to hear.

Because sometimes the most dangerous words a patient can hear are, "It's just anxiety."

In the spirit of Katherine I end with: “FU big pharma.”