I might have Tardive Dyskinesia from my Anti-psychotics!

I think I have Tardive Dyskinesia from my Anti-psychotics. I am on 2 Anti-psychotics they are Mirtazapine and Ziprasidone. I keep having mouth jerking when I am talking or just sitting there. My arms and hands have started moving a lot. I am afraid it's been going on for a while and I just didn't notice it atleast in my arms and hands because I might have PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder). Someone please give me advice. Am I going to have this permanently now that it is in my face?

Angel Dear,

Please see your doc right away. People do recover from that but not always and it's not something you want to mess with.

Tardive dyskinesia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

- vital

Yes contact your Pdoc today.

Call pdoc dear

Do not waste Your time posting this on forums or doing internet research, CALL Your DOCTOR and get help.

When I was diagnosed as schizophrenic, an inpatient psychiatrist prescribed 4mg's of aripiprazole for me to take. It worked well for about a week, but my hands began to twitch and my face would lock up from talking too much when I was on it. I requested to immediately change my medication and I was given olanzapine and the muscle spasms began to subside. However, I was also taking a few supplements as an adjunct with my primary medication prior to switching to olanzapine. I think that my multivitamin had more of an effect on stopping the twitching rather than the medication switch. I could be wrong, though.

Antipsychotics may also cause transient abnormal movements that are not the more worrisome and persistent abnormal movements of TD.

The above posters are correct. Discuss this with your prescribing psychiatrist asap.

Also, are you taking Cogentin? This medication may be very helpful in suppressing some of these motor side effects.

No, I am not taking Cogentin.

I recently changed anti-psychotic meds (from zyprexa to abilify and largactil) and within days of the change in meds had a constantl, severe sensation to keep moving. I literally couldn't sit still. I had my first review today and it turns out I have what's known as true akathisia. I've been prescribed Benztrop (benztropine) and it worked for me. Within 5 hours of taking it, I could sit without agitation and anxiety or the need to move every 5 seconds. Definitely speak with your doc. If it's what I had, then there are meds that can help reduce unwanted movement practically straight away.

I talked to the nurse that talked to the doctor and apparently the doctor said none of the Anti-psychotics I'm on would cause Tardive Dyskinesia. She said it might be something else but I don't remember the name of it. She said not to worry. So basically the doctor is screwing me over if this does turn out to be Tardive Dyskinesia because the doctor doesn't believe it is so if I have this problem for a while and the doctor doesn't believe me it could be permanent. I hope to god I don't end up with this permanently.

Hi. I'm following this thread closely. Thanks for the updates.

I'm researching for us, and have found absolutely zero TD risk from Mirtazapine, as this is not an AAP.

For the Geodon, I'm trying to find actual clinical study data where TD was a documented side effect so we can find out details like dosage and duration of treatment.

Angelwngs25 - may I ask you to share your dosage and length of treatment?

Curious there is a YouTube video of a case, but not sure of the facts.

You might ask your pdoc to back up his statement about TD not being possible in writting. More to come.....

moogs

Here is a detailed case of TD from Geodon:

Resolution of Ziprasidone-Related Tardive Dyskinesia With a Switch to Aripiprazole

Now the pateint had some risk factors that it mentions that you may not have. Seems they tried to treat the TD with Vitamin E which was not effective. So they changed her to Abilfy which reverdes the TD. Seems encouraging.

Another set of anecdotes in a clinical journal:

Tardive dyskinesia in 2 patients treated with ziprasidone

Basically two cases are documented. Both are high dose cases 120 and 160 and are 23 months and 34 month lengths of treatment. Still very rare.

I promise I'll stop spamming your thread after this - I'm just facinated by this topic.

This is a 39 page clinical article about TD that includes videos.

An Update on Tardive Dyskinesia: From Phenomenology to Treatment

More than you'd ever want to knowon the topic. Basically about a .08% chance of TD from second generation AAPs like Geodon is seen so a little less than one in 1000 people. More often affects females and patients over 50.

I take 160 MG of Ziprasidone and I've taken it since July 9th, 2014 (Yes, I know the exact day). I take 50 MG of Mirtazapine and I've taken it for like a month now I think.

Sounds like a second opinion is in order. Looks like they usually treat w Vitamin E at first or changing you to Abilify to help. Best of luck and keep us posted.

Dear Angelwngs25,

If it was me, I would in no way be satisfied with an answer like that. I would insist on speaking to the M.D. directly and directly asking for an explanation of what is going on. To me, those symptoms are alarming and absolutely need to be understood and followed up on.

Watch this video and tell me if you should blindly trust your MD. It is from someone who had an Akathisia and whose MD similarly claimed that it couldn't be from her medication because Akathisia was not on the package insert for her medication (Zoloft, in this case). She ended up with brain damage and barely escaping being institutionalization.



- vital