Amantadine

[nourilo]

Has anyone tried Amantadine as a mono therapy?

[Enidah]

My neurologist suggested amantadine for my dyslexia, if I wanted to try it. Do you mean only take amantadine for PD?

[nourilo in reply to Enidah]

Yes, I mean for PD. Do you mean dyslexia or dyskinesia?

[Enidah in reply to nourilo]

Dyskinesia. Sorry about that.

[christymw]

If you mean using amantadine as a treatment for infectious mononucleosis (epstein barr virus) I don't think amantadine is used for this.

Amantadine can be used as a monotherapy for parkinsonisms including PD, as well as in conjunction with sinemet and/or other PD meds such as DAs.

My neuro put me on amantadine early in my dx, prior to taking sinemet. To be honest, that was quite some time ago, and I don't really have anything substantial to report. I am again taking amantadine in conjunction with sinemet and pramipexole.

Hopefully other members can respond with information for you,

[mktbob55]

Are you taking Stalevo? My Dyskinesia has recently been getting worse and I discovered that the Entacapone ingredient in Stalevo can cause Dyskinesia. I went back to sinemet only and 99% of dyskinesia went away immediately. My neuro said if it comes back we will try amantadine.

[Hikoi in reply to mktbob55]

Bob

Stalevo is sinimet and entacopone. My understanding is that the entacopone enhances the Sinimet and it is that action (making the sinemet more effective) that causes the dyskinesia. So it is still the sinimet causing dyskinesia. I don't believe there is anything in entacopone actually causing it. When people go on entacopone or stelevo they often have to adjust their dose down and spread out the timings so they don't have this problem. Some people still have problems and go back to sinemet.

[mktbob55]

Hikoi,

My search of entacapone and dyskinesia gave me the following site along with many other sites.

Although your understanding makes sense, this is one site that states symptoms about uncontrolled movement which I interpret as dyskinesia.

You should check with your doctor immediately if any of these "side effects occur when taking entacapone:"

More common

Absence of or decrease in bodymovements

hyperactivityincrease in body movements

seeing, hearing, or feeling things that are not there

twistingtwitchinguncontrolled repetitive movements of the tongue, lips, face, arms, or leg.

drugs.com/sfx/entacapone-si...

[Hikoi in reply to mktbob55]

Yes but the side effects are due to the action of entacopone as a COMT inhibitor. I'm no scientist but I believe that means it blocks the action of a chemical in our body that breaks down levadopa. It may not have suited you in the end but it is a pity the doctor didn't try adjusting your dose

drugs.com/cdi/entacapone.html

Entacapone must be taken along with levodopa/carbidopa.

Entacapone is a catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitor. It works by increasing the levels of levodopa/carbidopa in the brain, enhancing its effectiveness.

Comments:

-Upon initiation, a majority of patients required levodopa dose reductions or an extension of the interval between their levodopa doses, especially those receiving levodopa doses of 800 mg/day or greater, and patients with baseline moderate or severe dyskinesia.

Other Comments

Administration advice:

-May be taken with or without food

-This drug should be taken at least 2 to 3 hours apart from iron; taken together, they may form chelates in the gastrointestinal tract

General:

-This drug has no antiparkinsonian effect of its own and it must be administered with levodopa-carbido