Posted by med_empowered on November 22, 2005, at 15:09:06
In reply to anything known to reverse TD?, posted by Shelley on November 22, 2005, at 12:18:16
hi! TD is an odd disorder...some cases will go away spontaneously (usually within the first 5 years of developing the disorder). Some cases never get worse, even with continued antipsychotic treatment. Some cases do get worse, to the point that the person is seriously disabled.
There's nothing that is known to absolutely *reverse* TD, but there are things you can do that may help. There's a theory that TD is caused, at least in part, by "oxidative stress"--basically, the antipsychotics help generate "free radicals" which in turn age the brain, damaging it. Soooo, the theory is that antioxidants can help undo this damage. The most commonly used treatment is Vitamin E--400 IU mixed tocopherols, 2X daily. The studies I've seen are mixed; basically, it would appear that people who have had it for 5 years or less are *sometimes* helped by it, with the results being less pronounced in more severe cases or cases of long-standing TD. Going along those lines, it would seem that antioxidants in general could help, so some people recommend selenium, COq10, Alpha Lipoic Acid, that sort of thing. I imagine that a good "antioxidant mix" vitamin would provide a lot of these.
With medications, the picture is equally fuzzy. Klonopin might help some; some people get OK results from Depakote. The usual strategy these days is to switch to an atypical and do TD-suppression--it seems to work a good bit in the short-term, but long term...no one really knows how it'll work out, or what effect the atypical will have on the underlying disease process. Among the atypicals, Abilify has a pretty good reputation for stopping TD. Since it functions more as a "dopamine regulator" than a dopamine blockade, this make sense; TD may be caused by dopamine hypersensitivity, and Abilify helps regulate the levels of dopamine in the brain, adjusting them downwards and slightly upwards, as needed. Dosage for psychosis usually starts at 10-15mgs, and can go up to 30mgs if needed.
Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:581239
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051119/msgs/581287.html