Amantadine

[veldon7]

Hi: I am trying to wean off Mirapex .75 to 1 mg, I have been on it about 7 years, it still works but I am having augmentation and having to take more. My Neuro. won't give me Opiods, so I suggested Amantadine. I read that it is for Parkinsons and it's not a Dopamine Agon. but it's an older drug, and it's kinda expensive, I wondered if anyone has tried it. I hate to spend the money if it won't work. The Neuro. suggested taking .5 of Mirapex for a month with Amantadine.

[ViewsAskew]

It's not one of the commonly used drugs; I've never tried it and am not sure I've heard of anyone who has.

I find it unconscionable that your doctor won't prescribe opioids for this. Make me so sad that some doctors have such strong beliefs that they won't listen to other experts that say it's OK to do.

[jy13131]

Yes I agree. Another one I'd like to slip a dose of WE'D to just do they know what THE HECK THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!

[cornelia]

Dr B mentiones Amantadine in his book, referring to research in 2000 of this drug for RLS. He says it might be an option for people who can't take DA's. I wonder if it can cause augmentation too and if so it will not be an alternatve for DA's I guess.

Corrie

Mov Disord. 2000 Mar;15(2):324-7.
Amantadine is beneficial in restless legs syndrome.
Evidente VG, Adler CH, Caviness JN, Hentz JG, Gwinn-Hardy K.
Source
Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center, Department of Neurology, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, Arizona 85259, USA.
Abstract
Twenty-one patients (mean age 70 yrs) with restless legs syndrome (RLS) were treated with amantadine in an open-label trial. Amantadine was started at 100 mg per day and was increased every 3-5 days by 100 mg (up to a maximum of 300 mg per day) until significant relief of symptoms or intolerable side effects were experienced. Patients were rated pre- and posttreatment using an RLS rating scale (0-10). Each patient also rated the degree of response in a continuous scale from 0% (no improvement) to 100% (complete improvement). Eleven of 21 (52%) had subjective benefit to amantadine, with degree of response ranging from 25%-100% (mean 69%) among responders. Six had 95%-100% improvement. The RLS score for all 21 patients dropped from a mean (+/- standard deviation) of 9.8 +/- 0.6 (range, 8-10) pretreatment to 6.6 +/- 3.8 (range, 0-10) posttreatment (p = 0.001). The duration of response was 0-13 months (mean, 3.6 +/- 4.5), with nine responders still remaining on the drug as of last follow up. The mean effective dose was 227 mg per day. The most common side effects were drowsiness (3), fatigue (2), and insomnia (2); only two stopped amantadine because of side effects. We conclude that amantadine is an effective and well-tolerated drug for RLS.

[charles]

It's not one of the commonly used drugs; I've never tried it and am not sure I've heard of anyone who has.

I find it unconscionable that your doctor won't prescribe opioids for this. Make me so sad that some doctors have such strong beliefs that they won't listen to other experts that say it's OK to do.

Absolutely! I would like to see these physicians suddenly come down with advanced , 24/7 WED and have someone tell them they will not prescribe opioids. They have to experience the awful , torture that is WED.

[badnights]

I wonder if it can cause augmentation too and if so it will not be an alternatve for DA's I guess.

well even if it can cause augmentation, it might be worth a try for some people, just like someone might augment on ropinirole but not pramipexole.

speaking of which, it seems to me, I have heard of more people augmenting on ropinirole than pramipexole, and I wonder if that's real and if so, why. I haven't come across any comparative studies. Though I guess it's a low-priority thing to study.

[veldon7]

Thanks for your opinions, I have not tried the Amantadine yet because I went to another Neuro for a second opinion. He said he didn't think it would be a good choice for RLS, he said he thought I should try Gabapentin, so I reluctantly will try it along with Mirapex, to try to wean off the Mirapex. One of the side effects of the Gabapentin is weight gain so I don't think I'll be on it long, if I gain more weight, because I've already gained 30lbs the last 2 yrs, maybe from Mirapex and Menopause, I may try the Amantadine if I gain weight from the Gabapentin, I didn't care for this Neuro, he didn't seem to know much about RLS, take care friends!!

[saptree]

I have gained weight from taking mirapex, 20 lbs in a year. I'm looking for something that works as well as mirapex but without the weight gain or other nasty side effects. Any suggestions?

[badnights]

opioids seem to work well for a lot of people, without as many side effects, but some people do sitll have various side effects from various opioids.

Just because one of the possible side effects of gabapentin is weight gain, does not mean you will gain weight. It's a possible side effect, meaning a percentage of people in the initial studies experienced it. That percentage could be as low as 1% and they still would have to report it as a possible side effect. So you could very well be fine with it.

The usual first drug to try, if you haven't already, is ropinirole/Requip, another DA, similar to Mirapex but different and does not have the same side effect profile. I've presented them backwards here; the usual route is DAs, then gabapentin and other anti-convulsants, like Lyrica or Horizant, and then an opioid if none of the previous work well enough.