Posted by SLS on March 15, 2012, at 7:23:28
The addition of memantine (Namenda) to lamotrigine (Lamictal) does not work in BD, despite an early response to it.
This is *exactly* what I experienced with memantine.
- Scott--------------------------------------
Early antidepressant effect of memantine during augmentation of lamotrigine inadequate response in bipolar depression: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trialBipolar Disorders, 03/08/2012 Clinical Article
Anand A et al. This proof-of-concept study failed to show a statistically significant benefit of memantine augmentation of lamotrigine for patients with depressive phase of bipolar disorder (BD-D) over eight weeks. However, memantine had an antidepressant effect early on in the treatment while its dose was being titrated up. Larger placebo-controlled studies are needed to ascertain optimal timing and dosing for memantine augmentation of lamotrigine in BD-D.
MethodsBD-D outpatients in a major depressive episode on a stable dose of lamotrigine (100 mg or more) were randomized to either memantine (starting dose of 5 mg increased up to 20 mg over four weeks, then 20 mg stable dose from four to eight weeks) or matching pill placebo for eight weeks.
Patients were rated on the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and other behavioral measures weekly.Results
The eight-week repeated-measures mixed-effect model for HDRS was not significant for memantine (n = 14) versus placebo (n = 15).
Exploratory mixed-effect analyses for the first four weeks, while the memantine dose was being titrated up every week, revealed a significant decrease in HDRS scores from baseline (p = 0.007)Some see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1013118
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20120302/msgs/1013118.html