apomorphine

Use this section to discuss your experiences with prescription drugs, iron injections, and other medical interventions that involve the introduction of a drug or medicine into the body. Discuss side effects, successes, failures, published research, information about drug trials, and information about new medications being developed.

Important: Posts and information in this section are based on personal experiences and recommendations; they should not be considered a substitute for the advice of a healthcare provider.
Post Reply
cornelia

apomorphine

Post by cornelia »

This might be of interest to some people:
Apomorphine in idiopathic restless legs syndrome: an exploratory study.

Tribl GG, Sycha T, Kotzailias N, Zeitlhofer J, Auff E.

Department of Neurology, University of Vienna, Vienna General Hospital, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, A-1097 Vienna, Austria. gotthard.tribl@meduniwien.ac.at.

BACKGROUND: Dopaminergic and opioidergic drugs have been found to be effective in patients with restless legs syndrome (RLS). OBJECTIVES: To test the effect of apomorphine-a combined opioidergic and dopaminergic agonist-and subsequent selective antagonism by naloxone and metoclopramide on subjective and objective symptoms in patients with idiopathic RLS. METHODS: Nine patients with RLS were pretreated with oral domperidone for three days. A modified suggested immobilisation test (SIT) was carried out between 8 pm and 1 am under the following conditions of intravenous drug administration: baseline-apomorphine-apomorphine plus naloxone-apomorphine plus metoclopramide. Outcome variables were a visual analogue scale (VAS) of subjective RLS symptoms and EMG documented periodic leg movements while awake (PLMW). RESULTS: Compared with baseline, apomorphine resulted in a rapid and significant improvement in subjective RLS symptoms as measured by VAS (54.5% improvement; p = 0.011), and an almost immediate cessation of PLMW, measured by PLMW index (98.0% improvement; p = 0.012). Neither additional naloxone nor metoclopramide blocked this effect significantly. While given apomorphine with metoclopramide, there was a trend to reappearance of PLMW. CONCLUSIONS: Apomorphine may be an effective treatment for idiopathic RLS. Its effectiveness may reflect both to its dopaminergic and its opioidergic activity, and is not diminished significantly by blocking only one of these pathways. The trend to a worsening of the PLMW index with metoclopramide hints at a primarily dopaminergic effect of apomorphine in idiopathic RLS.

Corrie

Post Reply