Tardive dyskinesia is a permanent movement-related neurological disorder that causes various muscle spasms throughout the body, resulting in awkward, uncontrollable, and sometimes grotesque unintentional movements of the face, neck, and extremities. Not only is this physically painful and uncomfortable, the emotional pain and embarrassment that comes with such an obvious and uncontrollable condition is almost equal to the physical pain it provides.
Tardive dyskinesia is also a relatively common side effect of the digestion aiding prescription drug Reglan. Reglan works by targeting specific dopamine receptors, which means that when it is taken in high doses or over a long period of time, it can produce involuntary tics, or uncontrollable movements in the facial muscles, limbs, fingers, and toes. There are several kinds of neurological movement disorders linked to Reglan, including: cervical dystonia, which is a painful condition in which the patient has spasms in his or her neck muscles, causing the head to twist and be pulled down; orofacial dyskinesia, which is localized to facial movements; and blepharospasm or ocular deviation, which are ocular side effects that may even result in blindness due to a patient’s inability to open or close their eyes at will.
Although Reglan is still approved by the Food and Drug Administration for short-term use in the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders where other treatments have not been effective, most victims of these serious Reglan side effects were taking high doses of the medication for extremely long periods of time. In other words, the longer a patient takes Reglan, the higher their chances are of developing tardive dyskinesia or another neurological movement disorder.
Around 250,000-400,000 people in the United States alone suffer from tardive dyskinesia or one of its variations. Unfortunately, no effective treatment has been developed for the disease – and there is, as of yet, no cure.
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