Dyskinesia

Dyskinesia is a broad term used to describe several types of involuntary muscle movements such as muscle spasms or tremors. Some types of dyskinesia are related to neuromuscular disorders. Others are related to chronic conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.

Seek help from a qualified specialist if you or a loved one are having involuntary movements that negatively affect your daily life.

What is dyskinesia?

Dyskinesia refers to involuntary movements that happen in many ways. Dyskinesia may:

• Affect one part of the body or many parts
• Be chronic or short-lived
• Be manageable or debilitating
• Be random or rhythmic
• Feel mild or painful
• Happen suddenly or develop gradually
• Start when you’re at rest or when you’re moving

Common involuntary movements that are symptoms of dyskinesia include:

• Fidgeting
• Jerking movements
• Muscle spasms
• Swaying or rocking
• Writhing or wiggling movements

What makes dyskinesia worse?

Dyskinesia symptoms related to a medication you’ve been taking may get worse after you’ve been taking it for a long time. Dyskinesia symptoms related to an underlying condition may get worse as the underlying condition progresses.

Contact your doctor if your dyskinesia symptoms get worse or change.

What is an example of dyskinesia?

Tardive dyskinesia is an example of dyskinesia that is a side effect of taking some antipsychotic, antinausea or antidepressant medications. Unlike the symptoms of other types of dyskinesia, tardive dyskinesia symptoms mainly involve facial muscles and movements including:

• Difficulty breathing (in severe cases)
• Grimacing or frowning
• Random movements of the lips, tongue or jaw
• Rapid blinking
• Waving arms or hands

Since the tardive dyskinesia cause is based on a certain medication, the symptoms may go away when you stop taking it and replace it with another medication. However, tardive dyskinesia symptoms sometimes continue for many years.

If you have tardive dyskinesia, your doctor may recommend adding a medication that makes the muscle movements stop instead of discontinuing a medication that may be managing your other symptoms well.

Types of dyskinesia

The type of dyskinesia you may have depends on the cause of your involuntary movements. Tardive dyskinesia is one of those types. Other dyskinesia movement types are:

• Athetosis: Slow, writhing movements of the hands and feet. May be similar to dystonia or chorea.
• Chorea: Sudden, random movements of your face, head, arms and legs. Often associated with Huntington’s disease.
• Dystonia: Muscle spasms that happen when you’re not trying to move. Spasms may last a long time or cause uncomfortable, painful postures.
• Levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID): Side effect that affects people with Parkinson’s disease who take the medication levodopa for a long time. May include chorea, dystonia and athetosis.
• Myoclonus: Sudden, repetitive muscle spasms or jerking.
• Spasticity: Muscle rigidity and spasms that occur when you’re trying to move.
• Tremors: Rhythmic contractions of muscles. Can be at rest, when moving, or postural – when you’re trying to hold your arms or legs up.

Conditions associated with dyskinesia

Conditions or situations that may have types of dyskinesia as symptoms are:

• Brain cancer
• Huntington’s disease
• Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
• Lyme disease and other infections
• Multiple sclerosis
• Parkinson’s disease
• Stroke
• Taking some antihistamine or antinausea medications
• Underactive thyroid
• Wilson disease

Your condition may be described as idiopathic dyskinesia if an underlying condition or cause isn’t found.

Dyskinesia diagnosis

Dyskinesia is a symptom, not a condition. Your doctor will evaluate your symptoms and look for possible causes for your dyskinesia symptoms. They may order lab tests for blood or urine and appropriate imaging tests. A spinal tap to gather cerebrospinal fluid for testing may be done.

Your doctor will observe your movements and reflexes and ask about the history of your potential dyskinesia symptoms. They’ll want to know how frequent they are, what kind of pain you might be having and what parts of your body are affected.

Depending on your symptoms and testing results, your doctor may seek input from other specialists such as neurologists or orthopedists.