Posted by JohnX2 on October 29, 2001, at 1:12:15
In reply to memantine, etc. » JohnX2, posted by Elizabeth on October 28, 2001, at 10:53:47
I was a bit confused about the definitions of
preventing tolerance/sensitization and addiction.
If I was a lab rat and I grew completely tolerant
to amphetamine, then I probably wouln't press the
amphetamine level. But if a medicine kept me from
building the tolerance, I probably would press the
amphetamine level a lot.
Does that mean I am addicted?They've down these kinds of studies on cocaine,
etc. and found that the meds kept the stims from
pooping out, but that didn't solve the psychological
addiction. In fact to address the psychological
addiction people are coming up with approaches
to *prevent* the effects of the meds like the
cocaine "vaccine".My thinking is that they can prevent tolerance
and sensitization and the patient needs to use
good judgement not to abuse the med from a psychological
standpoint (which is what the rats don't do
in their cages, they keep pressing the level).What do you think?
-john
> > There is a medication
> > called memantine, available in Europe, in clinical
> > trials in us that can help prevent opiod addiction.
>
> Memantine is an NMDA receptor antagonist. It may slow or prevent the development tolerance and dependence. I'm not clear that it prevents addiction, but the elimination of tolerance and dependence would solve many of the problems associated with addiction. Delta-opioid antagonists were also being looked at, last I heard. If anyone knows anything about these drugs, I'd be interested.
>
> Methadone is merely a substitute, and while it is the best treatment available at this time (and I'm all in favor of harm reduction), it does have significant problems. (The implementation of MMT programs in the US is also problematic, of course.)
>
> -elizabeth
poster:JohnX2
thread:82364
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82534.html