{"id":8229,"date":"2019-07-17T05:46:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T05:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/?p=8229"},"modified":"2021-04-20T19:31:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T19:31:58","slug":"14-ways-to-manage-tardive-dyskinesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/simplyhealth.today\/14-ways-to-manage-tardive-dyskinesia\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Ways to Manage Tardive Dyskinesia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As anyone who has the condition will attest to and happily confirm, living with tardive dyskinesia (TD) can be really difficult, even at the best of times. This said, even if you can’t get rid of TD altogether, there are still plenty of things that you could try which could help you manage the symptoms and cope with the struggles and scenarios of daily life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article has several suggestions for people living with TD to consider, including things like paying more attention to looking after your physical health, as well as trying to focus on your own personal wellbeing. It also talks about things like trying to build a useful and plentiful support network, as well as the need and the suggestion to try and find specialist support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whilst there are plenty of sufferers who would say they have never managed to find anything to help them manage TD, this list aims to provide a few suggestions which could make it easier to cope with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Look after your physical health<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The first thing that is important here is the need to try and get enough sleep. Sleep is incredibly powerful in that it can give you the vital energy <\/a>to cope with difficult feelings and experiences that you might encounter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also a great idea to think carefully about your diet, as eating regularly and keeping an eye on your blood sugar levels and stability can make a real difference to your mood and to your vital energy levels which can help you feel more able to cope with TD. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the TD symptoms affect your ability to eat, it could be a good idea to try and hone in or focus on the specific types of foods you\u2019re more able to swallow, rather than the ones that you struggle with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another good way of looking after physical health is found with spending more time in green spaces as it is true that being outside or doing certain activities in green spaces can actually reduce stresses and improve a person\u2019s overall wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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2. Focus on your wellbeing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s always a good idea for people living with TD to find new ways to help them manage the stresses of life living with TD, as it is well known that it can be really stressful. It is also unfortunately true that feeling stressed <\/a>can actually make it feel much more difficult for people to be able to manage their symptoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are plenty of things out there that could help a person with TD to cope with feeling stressed, such as relaxation techniques. Relaxation has a profound ability to help a person to look after their wellbeing whenever they are feeling stressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a person knows that a certain activity will invariably help them feel more relaxed, then it is a bit of a no brainer that they should try and incorporate this into their lives as much as possible. The distinction between relaxing and being lazy is very important to make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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3. Build your support network<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is always a good idea to try and talk to someone you trust as this can be a very good way of managing the difficult condition of TD. It could really help to share a person\u2019s worries with someone they trust, and that same person may also be able to help recognize the signs that a person\u2019s symptoms <\/a>are starting or changing. This is a great outsider perspective to have on things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A trusted friend or family member could also help and assist with physical activities that a person may be finding difficult such as carrying shopping or getting on with the housework. Peer support is another thing that can be useful as this brings together people who may have had similar experiences with a view to them supporting each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is well known that it is always much easier to solve someone else\u2019s problem than it is for yourself and the vast majority of us are better at giving advice than we are at taking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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4. Find specialist support<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You could go a step further on the journey to trying to manage TD by trying to get into contact with a specialist organization that could offer support for your symptoms, or for your initial diagnosis <\/a>as this can be hard to deal with for some people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding a specialist support group or network might also provide a platform for a person to be able to connect with other people who’ve experienced TD and similar symptoms and challenges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on the particular type of support that a person would find useful, it could be a good idea think about contacting somewhere like The Dystonia Society, as although dystonia is a completely different condition to TD, they have lots of brilliant information on coping with things such as involuntary movements and managing movement disorders effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A problem shared is thought to be a problem halved, and so anyone with TD shouldn\u2019t think twice about getting in touch with specialist services, as it could prove pivotal in improving their quality of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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5. Essential oils<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Nothing has had as much as a boom in recent years as the world of essential oils<\/a>. The rise of these natural oils as a treatment method for so many different things has been amazing to witness and there is seemingly no illness or condition known to man that some kind of essential oil can\u2019t at least begin to address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way that essential oils are used varies from person to person and from case to case and is largely based on individual preference, such as the range of oils available and the many different ways in which they can be consumed or applied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to dyskinesia, the most popular way of using essential oils as a treatment method is by adding them to a base oil in a diffuser and then allowing the body to slowly reap the rewards through gradual ingestion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Topical appointment of different essential oils provides an alternative option, but in truth, it really is all down the person using them and what they feel is most effective for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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6. Gait training<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

People living with Parkinson’s<\/a> symptoms of tardive dyskinesia can enhance their treatment naturally by doing what’s commonly known as “gait training” at home or with a personal trainer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This focuses on practicing new ways to stand properly, walk effectively, and turn the right way. People undergoing gait training should try to take as large a step as possible when walking straight ahead, focusing on proper heel-toe walking form. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They should also try to keep the legs something like 10 inches apart at all times whilst turning so that they can provide more support and even reduce the risk of falls altogether. It is a good idea for these people to avoid shoes with rubber soles, as they can stick to the floor and increase the risk of falls dramatically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking to a steady rhythm could be the final ingredient in successful gait training for effectively managing TD. Gait training is just another option available to people looking to manage their TD effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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7. Talk to your doctor about changing your medication dosage<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Levodopa <\/a>has been identified as the medication used to treat TD that is much more likely to cause side effects like dyskinesia when it is administered in higher doses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is thought that a dose of more than 600 milligrams per day, over a long period of time, is associated with a greater number of diagnoses of dyskinesia. With this in mind, it is pertinent to find the lowest dose that will still allow a person to remain in control of their symptoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A doctor will need to work this out through a period of trial and error, probably by starting a person on a low dose and then carefully and gradually increasing the dose as needed. This is an important piece of information for sufferers of dyskinesia to be aware of, as, in a lot of cases, people tend to simply stick to the suggestions of their doctor without exploring the implication of this or any other options that may be available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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8. Tweak the timing of medications<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another change that a person with tardive dyskinesia <\/a>might want to look to make to their use of medication is to do with the timing of when they take it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This careful consideration of the timing of medication is important to make because of the wearing-off effect or phenomenon, which sees some patients feel that the effects of the medication end at different times after a dose has been taken. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A doctor may then decide to split the daily medication into much smaller, or more frequent doses, so as to prevent any kind of wearing off period from being an issue whatsoever. Again, this is something that people with tardive dyskinesia need to know about, as they may have been unaware of the options regarding tweaks and changes to the medication they take to manage their condition, and indeed any possible tweaks and changes to the timings of taking their medication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\r\n

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