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> > I am trying to find anyone who has information on a form of Parkinson's > called Tardive Dyskinesia. It is caused by longterm high dosages of certain > medications such as Stelazine. > Tardive Dyskinesia is almost exclusively related to psychotropic drugs such as Thorazine and Stelazine. If caught early and the drugs are discontinued, the symptoms disappear. In the early days of Thorazine therapy for Schizophrenia it was not uncommon for patients to receive very large doses of the drug. Symptoms of TD were ignored because the therapeutic effect of a drug that could contain psychosis took precedence over side effects. After decades of such treatment it became apparent that the "side effects" were actually an irreversible form of Parkinson. Doctors are now far more cautious in prescribing pscyhotropic drugs and watch carefully for symptoms of TD in patients receiving them. ---- Mary Ann Ryan RN