Posted by SalArmy4me on July 10, 2001, at 2:07:28
Case Series: Amantadine Open-Label Treatment of Impulsive and Aggressive Behavior in Hospitalized Children With Developmental Disabilities.
KING, BRYAN H. M.D.. WRIGHT, D. MARK PH.D.. SNAPE, MICHAEL PH.D.. DOURISH, COLIN T. PH.D., SC.D.:"These children presented with target behaviors of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and aggression, generally in the context of developmental disabilities including epilepsy, tuberous sclerosis complex, autism, and mental retardation. Four of the eight patients showed marked clinical improvement, and the remainder also showed improvement, but for a variety of reasons discontinued the medication after discharge. Among those patients with epilepsy, three were reported to exhibit fewer seizures while receiving amantadine.
Four of the amantadine responders elected to continue taking the medication for several weeks to months, and the therapeutic gains did not diminish during this extended follow-up interval. One child (patient 8) stopped taking amantadine after discharge because of aversion to its taste.
Side Effects
Transient sedation occurred in two patients. One patient experienced early-morning awakening that resolved when the timing of his second dose of amantadine was shifted from 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. In two patients, additional sleep disturbances were reported after their discharge from the hospital and upward titration of the amantadine dose. In one of these, the patient reported nightmares that resolved with dosage reduction. In the other case, the parent administered three times the prescribed dose (substituting tablespoons for teaspoons to yield 17 mg/kg per day), whereupon it appeared that the patient developed hallucinations; these resolved with dose reduction.DISCUSSION
The conclusions that can be drawn from this preliminary experience are of course limited by the open nature of the treatment and nonobjective assessment of outcome. Global measures of improvement also do not permit assessment of the response of specific target symptoms, for example, hyperactivity versus aggression. Nonetheless, after treatment with amantadine hydrochloride, the majority of patients showed sufficient improvement in their target symptoms to facilitate discharge from the hospital. Many of these children had failed previous drug treatment (an average of more than eight drug trials per patient); however, at least some of these “failed” trials may have been confounded by other factors such as lack of compliance, inadequate dose or treatment duration, or intervening situational stressors..."
poster:SalArmy4me
thread:69569
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010708/msgs/69569.html