Memantine

[Derek]

My wife has been on 24mg Galantamine for some time now. She has just had another review, & the Doctor has reduced the strength to 16mg & has added in 2 x 5mg tablets of Menantine per day. I wonder if anyone else has had this change and if anyone has any views on it.
Regards

 

[germain]

Hello Derek,

Our Mum was about to go onto memantine (Ebixa) This is prescribed for moderate & more severe dementia. Our consultant told us that her Reminyl (galantamine) could be either be stopped comepletely or she could be weaned off it by decreasing her dose as the Ebixa dose increased. I don't think its usual to keep both drugs and Ebixa (I think) is felt to be much more effective as dementia progresses.Perhaps this is what is happening with your wife.

Regards
Germain

ps there will be other members along who can give you more detail about Ebixa from their own experiences

 

[Skye]

Hi Derek

John was on galantamine, but he only ever took 12mg a day. I've never heard of anyone having 24, I thought 16 was the absolute max.

He was given memantine while the dose of galantamine was continued. I honestly didn't notice any improvement with the memantine, and it was discontinued after about a year.

 

[katieberesford]

Hi Derek

David, my husband, is 60 years old and was diagnosed in 2002 with early on-set dementia - Alzheimer type and was started on Galantamine 24mg slow release. He did very well on this for six years, but over the last year he has gone down hill markedly. Last year he was taken off the Galantamine and started on Ebixa - 5mg twice daily for six weeks and then 10mg twice daily. Added to this he was put on Exelon patches - one daily 9.5 dose. He has done well on the change as I am sure the Galantamine had stopped being of any benefit to him. Just wanted you to know there are others who have gone through a change of medication Derek.

Take care - Katie

 

[Bookworm]

My wife has been on 24mg Galantamine for some time now. She has just had another review, & the Doctor has reduced the strength to 16mg & has added in 2 x 5mg tablets of Menantine per day. I wonder if anyone else has had this change and if anyone has any views on it.
Regards

Hello Derek - I have a British National Formulary here - it is the kind of book that GP's lean on for guidance about doses - if they exceed these doses they are "on their own" beyond what the medicine is licenced for. They get a new version at least twice a year to update on drugs. It says Galantine is initially given as 4mg x 2 per day and can be increased to 8 mg twice daily for 4 weeks & then dropped back to a maintenance dose of 8 - 12 mg per day. My guess is that in consultation with the consultant it was a trial of a rather high dose - to try to trigger improvement - that canot be sustained. It is still a little higher than recommended but perhaps she has not been on it for long yet, perhaps she is on her way down to a maintenance dose & it may be dropped still futher. Galanatine is in the book for mild to mod D. Memantine is in the book for mod to sev. D. Maximum dose is 10 mg in divided dose i.e. 5mg x 2 per day. Hope this helps - I'm no expert on these medications - but I can read the book! & I'll pick up more as this goes on in the life of my husband.

 

[Derek]

Many thanks. It is helpful to hear of other people's experiences with different treatments

 

[nellbelles]

Doesage

My husband is on 24mg Galantamine, he has been on this dose for about 6 months after slowing building up, 8mg for 3 months, then 16 for 3 months and then the 24mg.
The consultant at the memory clinic told me 24mg was the maximum dose.
Helen

 

[gigi]

Helen you're right!

Eric is on 24mg Galantamine (Reminyl) daily...it's the max dose.

He's been on this dose for about 2 years now and until recently has been quite stable on it.

Derek.....I'm afraid I can't help you with the Memantine question...but it's interesting to hear of the change....

Would be interested to hear how it affects your wife...if indeed it does.

Will you keep us posted?

Love gigi xx

 

[Margarita]

My mother was given 5 Mg memantine (Ebixa) , that built up to 2 , 10Mg twice a day , when it went up to 10mg twice a day , mum had few hallucinations , but it did pass, Lucky memantine (Ebixa) had a very positive effect on my mother for quite a few years .Now 7 years on, looking back .

It did take the edge of the harsh symptoms my mother was having making them more manageable for me to handle, over the years those symptoms are coming back, just as harsh. But then it was never a cure. but it was worth it.

 

[Bookworm]

articles on this

I've found there seem to have been trials with this drug for at least a decade. Recent example of info "Cholinesterase inhibitors produce small benefits in cognition of uncertain clinical significance in patients with mild to moderate vascular dementia. Data are insufficient to support widespread use of these drugs in vascular dementia. Individual patient analyses are needed to identify subgroups of patients with vascular dementia who might benefit."
from Efficacy and adverse effects of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine in vascular dementia: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials by Harish Kavirajan and Lon S Schneider.

I found this too! "Galantamine (or galanthamine) is an alkaloid found in the bulbs of snowdrops and several Amaryllidaceae plants. Based on the ability of acetylcholinesterase inhibition, galantamine has become an important therapeutic option against the symptoms of the patients suffered from Alzheimer's disease" by Post-ischemic continuous administration of galantamine attenuates cognitive deficits and hippocampal by Xunhe Jia, Chaoyue Lib, Yi Luc, Yaoyue Chena and Lihe Guoa

Don't know if this is useful - but I'll keep looking for info.