Greek progressive math-death metallers Tardive Dyskinesia signed with Coroner Records for the release of their second album entitled “The Sea Of See Through Skins”, scheduled for the beginning of October. The album, presented as an experimental and hypnotic trip into an obsessive and structurated world, features an incredible technical approach and an overload of math structures and tempos.
And so there you have it. Yes, there is a band out there that, in all their blue-sky brainstorming for a band name, came up with “Tardive Dyskinesia” as their very own.
I’m trying to envision that session…(note, the band members hail from Greece, so my lingo may be slightly off, but…)
“Hey dude, how bout Epileptic Overdrive?”
“Nah…I mean it’s good man, but it doesn’t speak to the cause and effect…you know, like something’s gotta send you on the trip…”
And somehow someone somewhere came across the condition of Tardive Dyskinesia. All the elements were there. Drug-induced. Not natural. Physically altering. No control. In fact, completely out of control. The ultimate taking over of your body…and hence your mind… That’s it, man.
Here, this is straight from the band’s website:
Here we are: 2003 and the beginning of their more creative period. The change in sound brought about a change in name too: Tardive Dyskinesia (an illness caused by long-term use of psychotropic medication that manifests itself in involuntary, repetitive movements of the limbs).
That’s all they really say about it. And I guess not much more is needed from a fan’s perspective.
But if you’ve been suffering from Tardive Dyskinesia—the real condition, that is—you might question why anyone would want to brand themselves with it–and start pumping out the requisite t-shirts and buttons to promote it. And I guarantee you that the only way some listeners know what the heck the name really means is by happenstance: Read the rest of this entry »
Not long ago I had posted about the drug Reglan—the drug that has been associated with Tardive Dyskinesia—and the possibility of using marijuana for medicinal purposes to alleviate some of the symptoms of the disorder. There really isn’t much more than ancedotal evidence to support using marijuana for Tardive Dyskinesia–and regardless, as of late July there were only 13 states that have actually legalized the drug.
Just today, as a follow up, I thought I’d check out Urtak.com—a collaborative surveying site—to see what the pulse is on whether folks think marijuana should indeed be legalized.
The Court of Public Opinion has spoken. Well, at least 276 members of the public have answered the question on marijuana legalization over at Urtak. And if you’ve been following the issue in the media, you may not be totally surprised by the results—it is a fairly polarizing issue.
The results… Read the rest of this entry »
A number of years ago, these three—Reglan, Tardive Dyskinesia and Marijuana—probably would not have been sitting in a headline together. But with the recent FDA-imposed black box warning for Reglan—the one that states the drug can bring on potentially chronic and debilitating neurological side effects (translation: tardive dyskinesia), Reglan’s been sitting side-by-side more often in text than GERD or “acid-reflux” patients would like.
The disturbing thing about Tardive Dyskinesia—aside from the fact that it’s a potential side effect of something used to treat a condition that’s seemingly rather commonplace—is that any resource you go to will tell you there is no treatment for it. That’s right: no treatment. And it can be completely debilitating—there are no shortage of videos on youtube.com to give you an impression of how challenging the condition must be to live with. Read the rest of this entry »
Ok folks. Let’s play a little “One of these things is not like the other; one of these things just doesn’t belong…” Sing along with me if you’d like. Or not. Either way, I’m betting the farm that you’re going to pick (drum roll please) Floppy Hats as your answer.
Raptiva, Reglan, Hydroxycut and Heparin are all drugs (one’s a supplement) that have either been directly linked to adverse (and dangerous) side effects and have been yanked or recalled from shelves by the FDA—or have received a more stringent black box warning in recent months. Each is a current legal issue with lawsuits pending.
Floppy Hats? That would be a suit, too, brought forth by Alfred G. Rava—a California lawyer. Seems he felt pretty injured (my words) when he didn’t receive a floppy hat as a giveaway at an Oakland A’s game in 2004. See, according to a great post by Rick Reilly over at ESPN.com (6/12/09), Read the rest of this entry »
Pregnant women are understandably cautious about what drugs and supplements they take-and this can be a problem for many women who suffer from debilitating morning sickness. What can you take that’s safe?
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a new study this week, “The Safety of Metoclopramide Use in the First Trimester of Pregnancy“; Metoclopramide may sound familiar—it’s the name of the drug more commonly known as Reglan.
The results of the study are getting attention because the study, which was carried out in Israel, was apparently one of the largest of its kind to date. The results of the study were as follows:
There were 113,612 singleton births during the study period. A total of 81,703 of the infants (71.9%) were born to women registered in Clalit Health Services; 3458 of them (4.2%) were exposed to metoclopramide during the first trimester of pregnancy. Exposure to metoclopramide, as compared with no exposure to the drug, was not associated with significantly increased risks of major congenital malformations (5.3% and 4.9%, respectively).
Given that Reglan—which is typically prescribed for acid reflux (GERD)—was given a black box warning by the FDA earlier in the year for its connection to Tardive Dyskinesia (characterized by involuntary, repetitive movements of the extremities, lip smacking, grimacing, tongue protrusion, rapid eye movements or blinking, puckering, pursing of the lips, or impaired movement of the fingers), it’s hard to imagine taking such a drug while pregnant.
So it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the FDA will do based on the results of this latest study. For now, Reglan remains classified by the FDA as a Pregnancy Category B drug-meaning they don’t have enough information to determine if it does cause problems.