Patient Embarrassed by Involuntary Movement After Using Reglan

Quitman, TXTardive dyskinesia is a condition many people may only learn about when they are diagnosed with it. Unfortunately, one of the Reglan side effects is tardive dyskinesia, a condition marked by involuntary, repetitive movement. The link between Reglan and tardive dyskinesia is strong enough that the medication now carries a boxed warning, alerting patients to the risk of developing the condition, especially when Reglan is used for longer than 3 months.

"I went to the hospital [in 2004] with vomiting and stomach pains and they gave me a prescription for Reglan," Marsette S. says. "The stomach pain and nausea continued, so I saw my regular doctor who continued me on Reglan. After I was given it, my body would just move on its own—I would lie in bed, hurting, and my muscles would just jump.

This went on and on. I tried to carry on with normal daily activities, but it was hard to do the dishes or laundry or even carry my children, because of the [involuntary] movement.

A year later, I was still taking Reglan and I went to the hospital again because I was throwing up and I had stomach pains. They gave me a shot of Reglan and after that, I could not stay still. My whole body just kept moving—I was twitching and I felt very nervous.

The nurse came in and I told her what happened, but she said it was just a side effect and it should go away by itself. That whole night, I moved continuously. I tossed and turned and my body moved by itself.

Ever since I started taking Reglan, I had trouble breathing. I went to see a sleep disorder doctor and before he did a sleep disorder test, I told him about my stomach pains and the vomiting. He diagnosed me with acid reflux disease and said that doctors do prescribe Reglan for that. However, he said that Reglan makes people jittery and is dangerous so he does not prescribe it. He gave me a different prescription for the acid reflux. Then, he did the sleep test, during which I quit breathing, so now I have to sleep with a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine."