Posted by SLS on May 31, 2002, at 8:27:41
In reply to Re: Acamprosate Calcium/Lisa Simpson, posted by Anna P. on May 30, 2002, at 0:24:23
> > Hello everyone. Can you tell me please, has anyone been on the above drugs, and if so, can you tell me a little more about them? I've just been prescribed them by my GP. I know Acamprosate is to help with alcoholism, but I'm not sure how it works. And is Clomipramine an anti-depressant?
> >
> > Many thanks.
> >
> > Lisa
>
> Hi Lisa,
>
> Did you ever have a chance to try Acamprosate?
>
> Anna P.Hi Anna.
For what condition are you interested in trying acamprosate (Campral, Aotal, Zulex)?
From what I can tell, it might be a good drug for bipolar disorder, perhaps bipolar depression in particular. I guess I should try to get more specific details of what this drug does. I know that it prmotes GABA activity and lowers NMDA activity. Lamictal, which seems to possess true antidepressant properties, also lowers NMDA activity, albeit via different mechanisms. Neurontin and Depakote promote GABA activity, so perhaps acamprosate would exert both mood-stabilizing and antidepressant effects. I'm glad you decided to post this. I have been interested in a NMDA antagonist drug sold in Germany known as memantine (Akatinol). About a year ago, AndrewB, who hasn't posted in some time, reported that his addition of memantine to his antidepressant regime prevented his becoming tolerant to Adderall, an amphetamine. Previously, Adderall would work for only three days at a time before pooping-out all together. He would cycle on and off of it to experience this transient improvement. Andrew claimed that memantine prevented the development of tolerance to Adderall, and he was able to maintain a steady and persistent improvement.
I'm pretty sure that memantine is being developed in the US for use in Alzheimer's dementia and perhaps Parkinson's. However, it is used in Germany for depression as well. Maybe I should consider trying acamprosate as a substitute. My problem is that when a drug coaxes my brain to work properly, my brain fights back and defeats the drug after only three days of remission. This 3-day thing has occurred with TCAs, MAOIs, nomifensine, bromocriptine, and amphetamine. The 3-day number seems to appear with others as well. I wonder if acomprosate or memantine would prevent the development of "tolerance" to antidepressants in the same way as it did so with amphetamines for AndrewB. Is this what you had in mind?
Thanks.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:44789
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020525/msgs/108145.html