It has recently been reported that the Reglan medication (also referred to by the generic name metoclopramide) which is prescribed to treat gastrointestinal disorders (GERD), acid reflux, nausea and also used to increase milk production in nursing mothers has been associated with the serious movement disorder tardive dyskinesia. On January 26, 2009 the FDA issued an alert warning against chronic use of metoclopramide containing drugs and requiring a boxed warning due to Reglan effects which are often similar to Parkinson's symptoms. Consumers have looked a filing a Reglan lawsuit based on the argument that the manufacturers failed to properly warn of the potential serious tardive dyskinesia symptoms that can develop after extended use of the drug.

Reglan is available in several forms including: Reglan tablets, Reglan oral disintegrating tablets, metoclopramide oral solution and Reglan injection. Reglan and side effects tardive dyskinesia and similar drug induced movement disorders are characterized by rarely reversible symptoms that include random movements in the tongue, lips or jaw as well as facial grimacing, movements of arms, legs, fingers and toes along with swaying movements of the trunk or hip.

Reglan drug side effects include:

?Tardive dyskinesia
?Parkinsons symptoms
?Neuroleptic malignant syndrome
?Akathasia
?Cervical dystonia (torticollis)

Reglan acts in the upper end of the digestive system and works by speeding up the movement of the stomach muscles, thus increasing the rate at which the stomach empties into the intestines. It is used as a short-term treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients who have not responded to other therapies, and to treat diabetic gastroparesis (slowed emptying of the stomach's contents into the intestines). It is recommended that treatment not exceed twelve weeks, however it is estimated that around thirty percent of patients who are prescribed products containing metoclopramide take the medication for a much longer period of time.

Reglan FDA News

According to estimates over two million people living in the United States use products containing the Reglan medication (metoclopramide). According to the FDA:

?Recently published analyses suggest that metoclopramide is the most common cause of drug-induced movement disorders. Another analysis of study data by the FDA showed that about 20 percent of patients in that study who used metoclopramide took it for longer than three months. The FDA has also become aware of continued spontaneous reports of tardive dyskinesia in patients who used metoclopramide, the majority of whom had taken the drug for more than three months.?