Amantadine

[nourilo]

Has anyone taken amantadine for PD?

[ParkinsonSpouse]

Yes, that was the first medicine my husband was prescribed. When it relieved about 85% of his symptoms, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

When the PD diagnosis was made, Azilect was added.

He took amantadine for about 1 1/2 years, but had to stop because it caused wakefulness. Sometimes he'd be awake 26 hours & became anxious that he'd never sleep again. (I have never heard of Amantadine causing wakefulness in anyone else.)

Amantadine was replaced with Mirapex ER, which caused him to be overly sleepy. After a few years, it was replaced with Sinemet. And, he still takes Azilect.

[Skymom2008 in reply to ParkinsonSpouse]

I have taken Amantadine for at least 5 years and do have a lot of wakefulness. Maybe it causes it. I do take it at 7 and 2.

[1shakey]

Hi

I've been on 100mg twice daily for about 10yrs along with some other PD meds,

Cheers Shakey

[Beckey]

Yes, when I began having symptoms. Ghastly.

[Lawrencium]

yes i did but im nit sure of the details

[Maryjean]

It caused my husband extreme intestinal distress, so he did not continue

[cp30329]

I take it as part of my PD cocktail mix to reduce dyskinesia and have found it helpful and effective. I take 3 x day.

[ruthgt]

Have to take it with food it couse me irritation in the throat I thought I had cancer .do not take it after 4 o'clock

[nourilo]

Seems like there is no good med for PD....

[pomo]

Yes, for a very long time, but my new movement disorder doc took me off it. The best thing about it was its anti-viral properties--I never caught anything!

[Alleymay1957]

I'm taking Amantadine ,3 per day it controls my dyskonisa somewhat. It's funny I can be as still as anything definetily om my ON time but just as soon as i go down to my music room and start singing i have real big movements , I often wonder why is that?

[Donzim in reply to Alleymay1957]

My husband responds to music like that also. After marching around the house to a Sousa march, he collapsed for hours with all his PD symptoms. Probably due to the emotion that comes along with music to some folks. Or even the oxygen/co2 balance changing. That's a dog and always causes what looks like a panic attack, taking ages to recover.

[Hidden]

Hi everyone, my neuro wanted me to take amantadine but when I asked her about its affect, she said there was little evidence that it was slowing down the progress of PD, but she still wanted me to take it.

If the side effects of these meds weren't so bad, I would consider it, but sometimes just not worth it.

Suzie

[landman]

Great drug

[Rosabellazita in reply to landman]

why do you say its great

[Enidah]

Thank you everybody for your feedback on amantadine. I have also wondered about it. My neurologist recommended it for dyskinesia but I am wary of starting on drugs to counteract the side effects of other drugs. That seems like a long road to head down. Plus, sleeping is already a problem for me.

[rons]

been on four a day for dyskinesia for 3 years. hasn't done much good there what it seeems to for me is to flatten the peaks and troughs of ldopa which is good. it does give me stomach pain and if you ever have a capsule in your mouth too long you know why. this one take with food.

[rons]

but yes i am wary of drugs to teat drugs...

[Parki]

I was also on Amantadine 100 mg 1x day. Put on because my Azilect was causing behavioral problems. Took care of this problem in less than a week. Taken off Azilect after 6 years, so didn't need Amantadine for this issue. I take sinemet (carbo/levo) 4 x day & started to have some dyskinesia problems thus put on amantadine again. After a year, had my first hallucination. When I went to my PD Nuero in Boston he took md off amantadine & it helped. It definitly helped me in many other ways. Sorry for ghe book. 😴

[lambiepie]

I took amantadine for dyskinesia, had terrible side effect, swollen feet, ankles and legs,discoloration of skin. When it was discontinued my symptoms disappeared after a while. My neurologist lowered my dose of carbidopa/Levodopa and now I just have a slight dykinesia,occasionally

[Lincpolio]

Husband has since 2001 first three a day and reduced to two a day, knock off the nighttime one about five years ago. He has Post Polio Syndrome as well as Parkinsons.