Tardive Dyskinesia Prognosis

In most cases, tardive dyskinesia (TD), a movement disorder resulting from the use of medications known as dopamine receptor antagonists, is incurable and irreversible. It is however treatable and manageable. How well this disorder can be managed depends largely on:

How soon the disorder is diagnosed
How long the patient was on the medication
Age and gender of the patient

Generally, patients who are older than 50 years of age and have been taking such a medication for many years will have a much more difficult time managing tardive dyskinesia than a younger person who has only been treated a few weeks, and in most cases, women appear to be more susceptible than men. (A 2004 study suggests that this may be due to the fact that more women are treated with neuroleptic medications, however.)

Tardive Dyskinesia Treatments

Interestingly, symptoms of tardive dyskinesia in many patients disappear during sleep or when the patient is otherwise at rest. Tardive dyskinesia symptoms can reappear during times of stress; they can also be elicited by an examining physician for diagnostic purposes.

By far, the most effective treatment for tardive dyskinesia is early detection and prevention, by stopping the administration of the implicated drug. However, in some individuals, symptoms of tardive dyskinesia can appear weeks, or even days after starting treatment with a dopamine antagonist. Although stopping the medication may stop the symptoms as well, the condition may not disappear completely. In other cases, tardive dyskinesia symptoms may also appear months or years after the patient has stopped taking the medication.

Another difficulty in treatment lies in the individual nature of the disorder; no two patients are affected in precisely the same way. Some patients respond quite well when taken off the medication responsible for their conditions, while others may experience severe withdrawal symptoms.

Untreated Tardive Dyskinesia And Its Consequences

Tardive dyskinesia symptoms are not in and of themselves necessarily fatal; the greater danger lies in other side effects of the drugs that cause these symptoms, particularly Reglan. One of the greatest life-threatening conditions that tardive dyskinesia patients face is Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome, which can cause high fever, unstable blood pressure, delirium and ultimately coma and death. Although no more than 1 percent of tardive dyskinesia patients develop this condition, it is fatal in 20 percent of those cases.

There are also social consequences to untreated tardive dyskinesia; in a society and culture that is concerned with "body language," a tardive dyskinesia patient's facial mannerisms, uncontrolled expressions and limb and eye movements can be very disconcerting to those around the patient. Unfortunately, what these patients go through is often minimized and dismissed as minor cosmetic issues; they are frequently told to simply "live with it." As a result, these victims can become increasingly stigmatized, isolated and depressed.

Free information packet on Tardive Dyskinesia

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