Amantadine

Everyday living
1

Hi All

I have been prescribed the above drug to help with fatigue and tiredness. I was just wondering if anyone else has been or is using this . I have been prescribed 100mg to be taken twice daily.

Many Thanks for any info !

Ant

2

Hi Ant,

I have been taking this since mid July and it hasn’t made any difference to me. My MS nurse told me it was only sucessful in 20-40% of people but my fatigue has been so bad i was willing to try anything!!!

I have seen my Neurologist this morning and he has changed me from Lyrica to Baclofen for the spasms to try and increase my quality of sleep in the hope that will have knock on effect on my fatigue.

Good luck with the Amantadine though - you may be one of the lucky ones it works for - fingers crossed xx

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Hi Thanks a lot for coming back to me . Very much like you I will try anything to beat fatigue ! Fingers crossed eh ! x

4

Hi Ant

I took Amantadine for several years and it did help initially. Eventually (maybe 3 years?) later, it seemed to stop working. I swapped onto Modafinil, which is actually licensed for narcolepsy but was frequently prescribed off label for MS. It’s now more difficult to get Modafinil prescribed, but if you find Amantadine doesn’t do it for you, then try asking your neurologist for Modafinil. They may say no, but it’s worth asking.

(The reason they don’t want to prescribe it is that there’s been some people with heart related side effects. All I can say is that I didn’t have any iffy side effects beyond feeling a bit nauseous and twitchy for the first few weeks.)

After I’d been on Modafinil for a few years, that too seemed to stop working. But soon after so did I so the fatigue became less of an everyday battle.

Sue

5

I was originally prescribed Amantadine to help with my fatigue; but it worked rather too well… turned me into such a nervous, twitchy mess that I weaned myself off it again. Insomnia was only one of the side effects, but one gets rather bored with getting two or possibly three hours’ sleep and still having to get up and go to work at normal time… it really isn’t funny! Hope it works for you… but don’t be down if it doesnt, there are other things to try.

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6

Hi Ant,

I have been using amantadine since the beginning of the year.

I’ve recently stopped taking it on most days because it was keeping me awake! I was taking 100 mg first thing in the morning but even that much was too much some days. No side effects, however.

Ant

P.S. I propose we type it amANTadine, in honour of ourselves.

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Oooo I like your thinking Albrecht !!

Thanks for all your comments, I really appreciate them . I guess it is all down to trial and error with medication . I will give them a go, and see how they work out . Dont be surprised though if I am posting messages at 3:00 am !!!

Ant

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8

I’ve been on Amantadine since June. At first I was taking 1 cap in the morning and another at lunch time. It seemed to work quite well at first but after a while the fatigue came back…so my MS nurse advised me to take 2 in the morning and 1 at lunch time and so far so good. She did advise me not to take the ‘lunchtime’ one too late in the day as it could then keep me awake but it most definitely has not done that. All positives from me

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