Memantine side effects

The side effects of memantine are generally mild and include headache, dizziness, and constipation. Memantine is started at an initial dose of 5 mg each morning and is increased to 5 mg twice daily after 1 week. The maximum dose of memantine is 10 mg taken twice daily. A recent study indicates that memantine works syner-gistically with cholinesterase inhibitors (see Section 10.5.5), and it has quickly become routine clinical practice to coadminister memantine with one of these agents. 

MEMANTINE ANAESTHETICS -GENERAL-KETAMINE t CNS side-effects Additive effects on NMDA receptors Avoid co-administration... 

DOPAMINERGICS AMANTADINE t CNS side-effects Additive effects Monitor more closely for confusion, gastrointestinal side-effects. Initiate therapy with bupropion at the lowest dose and t gradually. Manufacturers recommend avoiding co-administration of amantadine and memantine... 

Among promising candidates as antidotes against CNS intoxication by OP nerve agents, memantine (MEM) has been shown to pose both anti-excitotoxic and anti-epileptic properties. Memantine is an uncompetitive NMDA receptor antagonist, clinically used for the treatment of Alzheimer s disease, Parkinson s disease and spasticity, in the absence of serious side effects (Ozsuer et al, 2005 Lipton, 2005). From a series of rat in vivo experiments, it is evident that pre-administration of memantine significantly protects... 

Overall, memantine has been well tolerated in clinical trials. The most frequent adverse events associated with memantine include constipation, confusion, dizziness, headache, coughing, and hypertension. As some of these side effects are also reported with cholinesterase inhibitors, caution should be used when administering memantine with this class of medications. ... 

Ketamine causes memory deficits reproduces with impressive accuracy the symptoms of schizophrenia is widely abused and induces vacuoles in neurons at moderate concentrations and cell death at higher concentrations. Memantine, on the other hand, is well tolerated although instances of psychotic side effects have been reported, in placebo-controlled chnical studies the incidence of side effects is remarkably low. Memantine improves memory in Alzheimer dementia patients and in some (but not all) studies in animals [1]. 

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