Posted by SLS on April 12, 2010, at 7:41:05
In reply to Re: questions for those who've tried Stablon » SLS, posted by g_g_g_unit on April 11, 2010, at 19:12:11
Wow. Thank you.
Interestingly, I felt an improvement in most, if not all, symptoms of my bipolar depression during the first week of treatment using memantine at 20mg. It didn't last, and I think it might have made me feel mildly worse thereafter. Perhaps there is a dosage window of efficacy for me. Maybe I'll try the 10mg you suggest. I tried going up to 40mg for a few days. However, once I started feeling drunk, I reduced the dosage back to 20mg.
- Scott
--------------------------------------
> > > well, i feel so irredeemably dumb these days...
> >
> > Depression leaves me feeling like I am functioning at a sub-human level.
> >
> >
> > - Scott
>
> that's basically the sentiment i expressed to my therapist. unfortunately, so far drug therapy has yet to produce any drastic gains.
>
> scott, i thought of you when i read the following study (and had been meaning to post it). i know you'd tried memantine at higher doses (20mg?), but was wondering if you gave lower doses a fair trial (the second case only uses 10mg a day).
>
> "Memantine is an effective drug for the treatment of moderate-to-severe cognitive impairment related to Alzheimer Disease.5 We are reporting two cases of treatment-resistant bipolar disorder patients who showed substantial cognitive and mood symptom improvements.
>
> Case 1 (Table 1): a 29-year-old female fashion stylist with bipolar disorder type II and bulimia nervosa, who used to read and had been able to write short stories, was suffering from severe depression over the last 2 years, having spent most of her time in bed. She was unable to read a newspaper or to write a single letter. Lamotrigine and lithium were useful for 2 years, but they lost their efficacy. Other mood stabilizers (divalproex, carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine) were tried with no success. She did not tolerate some atypical antipsychotics, such as aripiprazol, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone and ziprasidone, due to severe tachycardia or reported lack of effect of these medications. In August 2005 she received memantine as an add-on treatment up to 20 mg/day. During the first week following treatment with memantine, she could go to the computer and wrote a short story, spending most of the time out of bed. After one month's treatment, she showed a moderate improvement in psychomotricity and depressive mood, along with cognitive gains.
>
> Case 2 (Table 2): a 32-year-old male judge (retired), with bipolar disorder type I, who had recently suffered from treatment-resistant mixed states, mostly with depressive symptoms. He reported mental incapacity, difficulty in concentrating and in performing abstract reasoning. He also reported hypomanic episodes characterized by compulsive shopping, binge eating and lack of insight. Previous unsuccessful treatments had included divalproex, oxcarbazepine, olanzapine, ziprasidone and haloperidol. The introduction of memantine up to 10 mg/day, in November 2005, promoted a rapid improvement in depressive symptoms, concentration and performance of tasks that were hitherto considered impossible, such as reading. Despite the maintenance of impulsivity, his insight into the compulsive shopping behavior and binge eating improved."
The measure of achievement lies not in how high the mountain,
but in how hard the climb.The measure of success lies only in how high one feels he must
climb to get there.
poster:SLS
thread:943017
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100406/msgs/943178.html