DOPA-RESPONSIVE DYSTONIA (DRD)

A condition successfully treated with drugs. Typically, DRD begins in childhood or adolescence with progressive difficulty in walking and, in some cases, spasticity. Segawa’s dystonia is an important variant of DRD. In Segawa’s dystonia, the symptoms fluctuate during the day from relative mobility in the morning to increasingly worse disability in the afternoon and evening as well as after exercise. Some scientists feel DRD is not only rare but also rarely diagnosed since it mimics many of the symptoms of cerebral palsy.