Treating tardive dyskinesia

Psychiatrist Sue Varma, MD, and Sanjay Gupta, MD, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, talk about tardive dyskinesia: what it looks like, who gets it, and how to treat TD.

Transcript

00:00

We don't want you to have any degree of tardive dyskinesia. It's not a matter of small, medium, or large. Because at some point, they can become irreversible.

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00:15

Hey, there. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and I'm here today with Dr. Varma to talk about tardive dyskinesia,

00:22

specifically about treating the disorder. So welcome, doctor. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Maybe we should start off with just the basics.

00:31

Yes. People may have heard this term before, but what exactly is tardive dyskinesia? Tardive dyskinesia, or the TDs,

00:38

are abnormal involuntary movement of the mouth, of the lips, of the tongue,

00:45

and of the extremities. And we've seen this in patients who might have been on certain types of medications,

00:51

specifically the antipsychotics which are often used to treat psychotic disorders, or dopamine antagonist.

00:57

And usually, we see this in people who have been on it for a long time, even though the condition is relatively rare.

01:05

So people who suffer from certain things like schizophrenia may have a higher risk of tardive dyskinesia, because they

01:13

are on these medications for a while. But it's not just prescribed for psychiatric disorders, right? I mean, digestive orders or other neurological illnesses--

01:22

For some people, it may not be that disabling. They may not notice a lot of the symptoms or that they really don't feel the impact

01:29

with their quality of life. But there are some cases, less than 5%, where it is very debilitating.

01:36

It interferes in either movement or just even socialization. It makes a person feel extremely self-conscious,

01:43

and it itself can lead to anxiety and depression. The way you're describing it, tardive dyskinesia

01:50

can affect people's social life, their ability to feel like they can go out in public.

01:56

So it's so important that patients have conversations very early on, when they're noticing some of these involuntary movements.

02:04

We want to be able to nip it in the bud, and some medications that are on the market right now can be very effective.

02:11

This is something that you need to talk to your doctor about so that they can weigh the risks and the benefits associated with the medication.

02:18

It's interesting because you have to have a really open dialogue with patients. They have to be very honest about reporting symptoms

02:25

to be able to get up to the real cause. You know, one thing that I'm learning is that it's so important that we hear the patient, that we ask them what their priorities are,

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not our priorities. We don't want you to have any degree of tardive dyskinesia. It's not a matter of small, medium, or large

02:40

because at some point, they can become irreversible. I enjoy these kinds of conversations, you know? Fellow physicians-- we go to medical school.

02:48

We learn our trade. And then, you know, every now and then we get to have a conversation like this where we can-- in this case, I learned something from you.

02:54

So I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks, Dr. Varma. Thanks for your time.