hi. thorazine is nasty stuff at high doses. at 200-600mgs or so, it seems...well, its just another low-potency (requires hundres/mgs to get the job done...sedation, less EPS than high potency) antipsychotic. oh, and its a potent antihistamine, from the old school.

before Thorazine became an "anti-Schizophrenic" drug, then an "antipsychotic," it was...on the market, mostly for (if I recall correctly...) sleep and as a mix-in drug for pre-op cocktails. Then the old school psychiatrists got a hold of it, and...

-sigh- details from the original psych studies, in the early 50s, are horrifying. people given grams of the stuff, daily...left an odd, blue-ish tint on their skin (that happens with some phenothiazines, the chemical group for Thorazine). that says more about a total disregard for human rights than it does about Thorazine, per se...

because, from what little I've read on the subject, if the dose is kept in a reasonable range, the TD risk is not that much different from many (most? all?) 'atypicals' on the market, and lots of people way back when who were discharged from hell hole state hospitals did better, outpatient, on an OK dose of Thorazine and social support than in the madhouse. true story.

EPS happens, but its a low potency drug and it has anticholinergic stuff going on, so its not too bad (again; dosage, individual susceptibility, other drugs on board make a difference). The "Thorazine Shuffle"-stiff gait, sometimes with akathisia and/or EPS- can be an issue, but...again: dosage. for whatever reason, the old school psychiatrists were taught to increase an antipsychotic dose until EPS and Parkinsonism popped up, then either reduce a bit (outpatient, I'm guessing) and/or add Cogentin. fun, huh?

melatonin has actually been studied, here and there, to help people with established TD. seems to help at least a subset of people/'patients,' sometimes a whole lot, especially at 10mgs+ per night, based on my little bit of Google-ing into it. some people claim(ed) that melatonin has or could have other health benefits, but the melatonin-mania of years past has largely subsided.

I think its far less toxic,in terms of metabolic disorders and weight gain, than seroquel or zyprexa or clozapine. A -lot- of former 'mental patients' report intense depression on Thorazine, others...don't. again, that's probably from excessive dosing, other Rx drugs involved, etc.

hope this helps a bit.