# Just prescribed Namenda



## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

I have been on nearly every psychiatric med you can think of and have now been precribed Namenda, a medication for Alzheimer's. I have panic disorder and nothing really seems to work well, except for benzodiazepines. Unfortunately, benzos make me fatigued, stupid, confused, not to mention the fact that they are addicitve.

Basically, Namenda (memantine), instead of increasing the amount of GABA, the inhibitory transmitter, modulates glutamate, the excitatory transmitter. Glutamate is an NMDA receptor agonist and is thought to be the cause of neuronal cell death in Alzheimer's patients, leading to memory loss and all of the other symptoms of AD. So, what I'm hoping with Namenda is that instead of depressing my CNS and stopping anxiety like benzos do, this will merely keep my brain from becoming overly stimulated, which may in turn help my DR/DP.

I was talking to my psychiatist about how my nervous system and DP are an absolute wreck the day after drinking alcohol. Then, I suggested trying Namenda and he actually got really excited and was eager to try it and see the results. He said Namenda, which is an NMDA receptor antagonist, works somewhat similarly to a med to treat alcholism called Campral. He said his patients who have taken Campral have reported a great calming effect. Anway, he thought Namenda might be a great alternative to benzos for someone who has had such bad luck with medications.

I had never heard of Campral but was very interested in it. Instead of increasing GABA, it modulates the balance between GABA and glutamate. But, since the doc had samples of Namenda, I went with those.

I'll let you know how this pans out.


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## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Hmmm....this is the first time I can say I've never heard of a drug. Campral? Have to look that up. Namenda is an interesting idea, though. Do you know why Dr. Simeon first decided to use Lamictal? Because it moderates glutamate or glutamine. I beleive its the latter. In any event, the two are chemically related - wait, they might be the same thing. I'll have to look that up too. Anyways, its based on the idea that people who take Keppra, which messes around a LOT with glutamine, also get DP like symptoms. So perhaps Namenda will help. I beleive its generic name is memantine. I'm now going to look up Campral, because as I've stated in another post, I think there is a great deal of overlap between alcoholics and DPers....

peace
Homeskooled


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## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Wow, Campral is brilliant. I bet that would work for some of our DPer alcoholics. Come to think of it, since Namenda is an NMDA antagonist, it might help alot with our HPPDers and marijuana induced DPers, as these all mess a good bit with the NMDA receptors. I'm not saying that it'll cure it, but it might calm the synapses. Might want to try these two, Uni girl.

Peace
Homeskooled


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

I was surprised I had never heard of Campral either. I guess it is relatively new. Don't think it came out until late 2004.

Another good thing about Namenda is that it has anti-depressive properties, too. I think it actually made it to Phase III of FDA approval for depression but didn't approve to be as effective as other ADs so it was canned. But, anyway it has affinity for the 5-HT3 receptor.

As of now, I've took one dose yesterday and one today. The first dose knocked me on my ass and put me straight to sleep. Second dose hasn't been as tiresome. Hasn't really helped with DP yet but I'm only at 1/4 the target dose and am still waging my war with Klonopin.


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## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Stay on the Klono with it, if you can gimpy, as I'm still quite sure that the temporal lobes are the main component in the disorder. Still, the data from NODID suggests that many people get releif of their DP/DR symptoms from alcohol. This is usually why alcoholics medicate themeselves with drink - it will sometimes cause improvements, only later with a huge backlash. Perhaps using something that calms alcoholics may also slash the anxiety present with DP.....Either way, if you can combine the two, I'll be interested to hear how it affects you. It will indeed knock you out - Alzheimer meds are industrial strength. You may also notice an improvement in your memory. Okay, good luck!

Peace
Homeskooled


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

I think you might have gotten confused back there, homeskooled. Lamictal inhibits the release of glutamate which by blocking NMDA receptors. Keppra is an AED med. I believe you meant to say ketamine, which is an extremely potent NMDA antagonist.

It gets really confusing as to why Memantine, an NMDA antagonist is helpful for cognitive processes and ketamine, another NMDA antagonist, is an anaesthetic and dissociative. I read up on it but couldn't explain it to you in my own words. Something involved with glucose and stuff.


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

Also found out that Campral is prescribed for tinnitus as well. That's interesting.


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## terri* (Aug 17, 2004)

Hi Gimpy,

Gimpy, I am very interested in this new med adventure of yours. I, too, have had so many problems with all the meds except benzos for relief from my DR. I have tinnutis. OMG, if it would help both !!! I am going to really be hoping for your sake, mine and others, that this may be a positive new advancement in the use of meds made for one problem but recognized to help others. Please, please, please let us know if you don't get sick from it. I am willing to get back involved with my shrink if you have any luck. We live in the same state so I am hoping if this proves successful, my doctor can contact yours.

Thanks so much for continuing to return to the site to share how things are going in your quest to find help for yourself and others. Really appreciate you, Gimpy.

Terri


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## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Yes, I meant Ketamine. Thanks gimpy. But I think ketamine is an agonist, not an antagonist. Ugh, I guess I'll have to dig out my PDR. All I know is glutamate release in brain cells is mediated by brain cell death. Stopping its release is a good thing. Using a glutamate or glutamine antagonist would do that.

Peace
Homeskooled


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

Day 3. Can't say anything bad about Namenda yet which for me is pretty good. It helps my nerves some and helps me sleep and is possibly helping my depression. I actually got the urge to start cleaning my house yesterday and today which is an interesting sign. Haven't done that in about 4 months.

As far as sleep goes, I'm not waking up groggy or utterly DPed, like I did with other meds that aid sleep like Remeron, the tricyclics, and the anti-psychotics. Nor do I wake up completely apathetic and depressed, which is what happened when the benzos were helping me sleep. I guess that's good.

Knock on wood.

Also, I've been on so many meds that I quit getting placebo effect after about the 4th or 5th med.


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## comfortably numb (Mar 6, 2006)

ketamine is a nmda antagonist same as memantine. dxm and pcp also fit into this catogory. why memantine would help dp/dr while the others would make it much worse im not to sure on. ive read that memantine is much less potent on the nmda receptor then these other drugs. maybe thats why it doesent act as a dissociative atleast at normal doses. dxm and pcp also hit a wide variety of other receptors as well as the nmda receptor .


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

Although I praise Daphne Simeon and her work, the ketamine-Lamictal the has been overplayed. Acid, mushrooms, PCD, marijuana, and ectasy all cause disassociation to some extent. The fact that Lamictal reduced disassociation in patients injected with Ketamine is one small piece of a much larger puzzle.

There are many different types of disassociation, DP being one of them.


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## Homeskooled (Aug 10, 2004)

Okay guys, here's the deal. I did alot of reading this morning - the Physicians desk reference, Pubmed, and the Cleveland Clinic Neurosurgery site. Glutamate and glutamine are derived from each other. In brain cells, the glutamate is taken up by the glia, transformed into gluat_mine_ and returned to presynaptic connection. It is also released in an unbalanced ratio in schizophrenics, people with brain trauma, and users of Ketamine. In other words, ketamine is a glutamine/glutamate agonist. Lamictal is a glutamine antagonist. Because NMDA antagonists usually suppress the glutamate/glutamine cycle, Namenda may have glutamine suppressing properties. I also highly agree with what you said, Gimpy. I DONT think Lamictal works because it reduces glutamine - this may be why it helps schizophrenia- I still beleive it works because it stabilizes epileptic (and sub-epileptic) temporal and parietal lobe firing. Its interesting, because an article in emedicine for dissociative disorders is now recommending anticonvulsants as a first- line treatment for dissociation (of course, the same article deals with DID, which I beleive to be closer to schizoaffective disorder, and recommends antipsychotics for those with DP, but they ARE getting closer to the truth). Sigh. I should finish med school. Interestingly enough, I met a woman yesterday in my many travels who wants to help me start a clinic and a group home using better psych techniques....It would be a great way to work around this horridly backwards psychiatric medicine.

Peace
Homeskooled


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

I'm kind of talking out of my ass here, but is Lamictal really much more effective for bipolar disorder than any other anti-epileptics?. I've taken Neurontin, Trileptal, and Keppra and found they all have mood-stabilizing properties and keep neurons from overfiring. Maybe Lamictal was approved for BPD because it has anti-depressant qualities as a 5-HT3 receptor antagonist and an antagonist at NMDA receptors.

I didn't like the anti-epileptics because they all made me depressed (being CNS depressants) with the possible exception of Lamictal. But, what really killed me was how sensitive I became to light. I couldn't go outside because I would get so blinded by sunlight.

The glutamine, GABA, glutamate story gets confusing. From what I've read, it seems like they are always breaking down into one another.


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## gimpy34 (Aug 10, 2004)

After being on Namenda for two weeks, I've come to the conclusion that it really has done nothing for my DP/DR. Nor has my cognition, However, it can be somewhat calming when taken, but I have experienced a slight worsening of depression. That's about it. Other than that, relatively benign. I think after Lamictal and Namenda, I'll give up on the glutamate-NMDA theory, at least for myself. I'll take the Namenda a little while longer just to make sure I'm not missing out, but I can usually tell how meds will affect my DP/DR pretty fast.


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## JaoDP123 (Sep 3, 2005)

i've tried campral and experienced no benefit


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