In 2012 I was taking 3 25/100 of c/l per day and was developing
tiredness. A neurologist suggested adding amantadine 2 per day of 100 mg.
Within hours of taking the first amantadine, my walking had improved
dramatically. I noticed and several neighbors noticed. At least one
HU thread mentions the LC (locus ceruleus) in regard to
norepinephrine. The HU search function identifies no such comment,
suggesting the titles are searched but not comments' text. At least
one comment mentions the important finding that amantadine helped
many individuals with PD. Here's some background (also mentioned
elsewhere) and "recent" findings.
Background:
"The history of amantadine is of interest because of its
serendipitous discovery as an anti-Parkinsonian agent. Developed as
an antiviral agent, it was used widely in nursing home populations,
and Schwab noted its unexpected benefit on tremor, balance, and
akinesia in both Parkinson's disease and postencephalitic
parkinsonian patients (Schwab et al. 1969)."
Quote from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Amantadine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Schwab RS, England AC Jr, Poskanzer DC, Young RR.
JAMA. 1969 May
19;208(7):1168-70.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/581...
Recent findings:
1. Neuronal loss is greater in the locus coeruleus than nucleus
basalis and substantia nigra in Alzheimer and Parkinson diseases.
Zarow C, Lyness SA, Mortimer JA, Chui HC.
Arch Neurol.
2003 Mar;60(3):337-41.
[LC aka locus ceruleus]
jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...
2. The noradrenaline transporter as site of action for the
anti-Parkinson drug amantadine.
Sommerauer C, Rebernik P, Reither H, Nanoff C, Pifl C.
Neuropharmacology.
2012 Mar;62(4):1708-16.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/221...
3. Clinically relevant doses of methylphenidate significantly occupy
norepinephrine transporters in humans in vivo.
Hannestad J, Gallezot JD, Planeta-Wilson B, Lin SF, Williams WA, van
Dyck CH, Malison RT, Carson RE, Ding YS.
Biol Psychiatry.
2010 Nov 1;68(9):854-60.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
Cites 1 and 2 are very important and are often ignored in studies
about PD and dopamine. When I first took c/l, I noticed a big
improvement. The next big improvement occurred when amantadine was
added to my daily regimen. More recently, adding 5 mg/day of
methylphenidate has helped ease daily tiredness.
Nonetheless, Parkinson's deterioration continues in its unhurried
pace. Amantadine efficacy seems to slowly decline, and I do not
know how long the methylphenidate will continue to be helpful.