Treatment
No specific treatment is know that would prevent, slow, or reverse HSP. Available therapies mainly consist of symptomatic medical management and promoting physical and emotional well-being. Therapeutics offered to HSP patients include:
- Baclofen – a voluntary muscle relaxant to relax muscles and reduce tone
- Tizanidine – to treat nocturnal or intermittent spasms
- Diazepam and Clonazepam – to decrease intensity of spasms
- Oxybutynin chloride – an involuntary muscle relaxant and spasmolytic agent, used to reduce spasticity of the bladder in patients with bladder control problems
- Tolterodine tartate – an involuntary muscle relaxant and spasmolytic agent, used to reduce spasticity of the bladder in patients with bladder control problems
- Botulinum toxin – to reduce muscle overactivity
- Antidepressants (such as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, tricyclic antidepressants and monoamine oxidase inhibitors) – for patients experiencing clinical depression
- Physical Therapy – to restore and maintain the ability to move; to reduce muscle tone; to maintain or improve range of motion and mobility; to increase strength and coordination; to prevent complications, such as frozen joints, contractures, or bedsores.
Read more about this topic: Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia
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—William Burroughs (b. 1914)
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