My doctor prescribed me Reglan in order to increase my milk supply while I am breastfeeding. I do need to increase my milk supply and have tried everything except Reglan to do so. She prescribed me to take 4 pills a day at 10 mg and prescribed me 300 pills. I am really worried about the possibilit of Tardive Dyskinesia. Should I be?
What are the chances of developing Tardive Dyskinesia while using Reglan?
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short answer: no.
long answer: TD is a rare side effect, seen after intense long-term use (year or more, per my dr). however, if you are concerned, you may want to try domperidone, which is a much safer galactalogue (supply booster). also make sure you aren’t accidentally eating or drinking anything that may DECREASE your supply (certain herbs, like mint and sage, will decrease supply; as will certain medications like sudafed or benadryl).
http://www.breastfeed-essentials.com/hindrances.html
http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/herbs_to_avoid.html
http://www.kellymom.com/herbal/milksupply/herbal_galactagogue.html
http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/prescript_galactagogue.html
HTH!!
According to a wikipedia article I read, Reglan CAN cause tardive dyskinesia, but only in about 20% of cases. You could ask your doctor and voice your concern, but I don’t believe that you should be all that worried. Tardive dyskinesia can be caused by an induced or natural supersensitivity to dopamines.
Just out of curiousity, you didn’t mention if you knew what was causing your low milk supply? I had the same thing prescribed to me to increase milk supply, but I chose not to take it. I was concerned, not only about the tardive dyskinesia, but its also had a history of causing severe depressive episodes, which isn’t anything a new mom needs. You also have to consider whether or not this is going through the milk to your baby, they don’t always know for sure with medications, so make sure you get some straight answers on that. I took fenugreek and blessed thistle, 3 pills 3 times a day for each, drank breastfeeding tea, and pumped constantly (like every 15-20 minutes for awhile) to increase my supply with my 2nd daughter. Turned out she wasn’t latching properly because she was very mildly tongue-tied. If you have any breastfeeding clinics in your area, they often catch things like this, along with wrong positioning, etc. that doctors normally miss. And if you need a more "stimulating" breastpump, they also have those you can use sometimes, completely sterile and everything. Just some thoughts, you said you’d tried everything, but sometimes they dont tell you what all you can try : )