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What Is Tardive Dyskinesia?
Tardive dyskinesia is a severe permanent neurological disorder caused only by taking certain medications. Individuals are not born with the disorder, it is not caused by genetics and it isn't caused by lifestyle choices. In most cases, tardive dyskinesia developed in individuals who were taking Reglan®, a medication used to treat gastrointestinal disorders such as heartburn and nausea.
Tardive dyskinesia has also developed in children and infants who were prescribed Reglan® to relieve digestive symptoms. The dangerous drug was even prescribed to premature newborns in neonatal intensive care units of hospitals all over the nation. The consequences of taking Reglan® have far outweighed the benefits for approximately 20% of patients who were regularly taking the drug and as a result, they have developed tardive dyskinesia.
"Tardive" means slow or delayed onset and "dyskinesia" means a disorder causing involuntary, repetitive movements or difficulty performing voluntary movements. Tardive dyskinesia is essentially the loss of control over certain muscular groups in the body and leads the individual to constantly be in a state of motion. A person suffering with tardive dyskinesia has uncontrollable twitching mainly in the lower half of the face, usually with twisting of the tongue, grimacing and chewing and puffing of the cheeks.
The onset of these symptoms, as you can imagine, are frightening for the individual and he or she will feel as if they have no control over their own body whatsoever because essentially they do not. For a child or infant suffering with tardive dyskinesia, he or she will have a lifetime of pain and discomfort ahead of them due to the symptoms of this debilitating disorder. It cannot be cured, but symptoms can be managed.
Read about: How Reglan® Causes Tardive Dyskinesia »
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