6B. Side Effects

A medication side effect is an unwanted reaction to a drug. All meds may cause side effects. Since it is hard to tell how people will react to medication, it is important to talk to the provider. Side effects may also occur when:

• starting or stopping medications,
• increasing or decreasing the dosage, and/or,
• not taking the drug as prescribed.

One serious side effect for many of the drugs we will cover is called Tardive Dyskinesia (TD) and involves involuntary muscle movement. TD symptoms may be mild or severe. Some people fully recover from TD after they stop taking the medication. For other people, TD is permanent.