 |
 |
Antipsychotics and levodopa are the only compounds as far as i know that are known to cause dyskinesia. Antipsychotics, also called neuroleptics, cause what are called tardive dyskinesias (TDs), and levodopa causes the various types of levodopa-induced dyskinesias (LIDs). The main difference between tardive and l-dopa induced dyskinesias is that the former is “potentially” irreversible (presumably the more developed they are the less likely they are to go away even if treatment is stopped) and the latter is not considered permanent because they stop if treatment is stopped. But honestly - short of having DBS, does anyone ever go off l-dopa? As long as one has no choice but to remain on l-dopa, dyskinesias are, practically speaking, permanent. So, from that perspective they can be said to be comparable. i wanted to provide some sense of how disabling each type dyskinesia is capable of becoming, and with what frequency, but i could not find any studies/abstracts comparing the two. However, there is one way in which the two are quantifiably different - LIDs are a *much* bigger risk than TDs - with, according to one study, the 7 year risk of developing TDs being 35% (on an old neuroleptic - there are newer ones that are less likely to cause TDs), while according to another study the 10 year risk is just 11.4% - vs. the 5-year risk of developing LIDs being anywhere from 50-100%, depending on one’s age and which study one cites. And yet, in spite of a much bigger risk of LIDs, a mere 47 words are devoted to dyskinesias in the Sinemet labeling (in one section, one is instructed to call one's physician if one starts experiencing involuntary movements or nausea), whereas Navane, and old neuroleptic, devotes 535 in three different sections to TDs, including the first paragraph in the “WARNING” section, and Zybrexa, a new neuroleptic, devotes 365. i would like to know why that is. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn