What are the side effects of the medications used to treat schizophrenia?

All medications have side effects. Different medications produce different side effects, and people differ in the amount and severity of side effects they experience. Side effects can often be treated by changing the dose of the medication, switching to a different medication, or treating the side effect directly with an additional medication. Common inconvenient side effects of all antipsychotic drugs used to treat schizophrenia include dry mouth, constipation, blurred vision, and drowsiness. Some people experience sexual dysfunction or decreased sexual desire, menstrual changes, and significant weight gain. Other common side effects relate to muscles and movement problems. These side effects include: restlessness, stiffness, tremors, muscle spasms, and one of the most unpleasant and serious side effects, a condition called tardive dyskinesia.

• Tardive dyskinesia is a movement disorder where there are uncontrolled facial movements and sometimes jerking or twisting movements of other body parts. This condition usually develops after several years of taking antipsychotic medications and more predominantly in older adults. Tardive dyskinesia affects 15 to 20 percent of people taking conventional antipsychotic medications. The risk of developing tardive dyskinesia is lower for people taking the newer antipsychotics. Tardive dyskinesia can be treated with additional medications or by lowering the dosage of the antipsychotic if possible.
• Clozapine was the first atypical antipsychotic in the United States and seems to be one of the most effective medications, particularly for people who have not responded well to other medications. However, in some people it has a serious side effect of lowering the number of white blood cells produced. People taking clozapine must have their blood monitored every one or two weeks to count the number of white blood cells in the bloodstream. For this reason clozapine is usually the last atypical antipsychotic prescribed, and is usually used as a last line treatment for people that do not respond well to other medications or have frequent relapses.

continue: Extra-Pyramidal Symptoms and Tardive Dyskinesia

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Reviewed: 03/2006