6 replies to this topic

[floweryriddle]

I am trying another trial run with memantine for help with methylphenidate for my ADHD. I also read that memantine by itself has bettering benefits for ADHD and at this point, anything that helps with ADHD might be worth a try. 

I am taking it alongside Atomexetine (20mg) and Methylphenidate extended released (Concerta 36mg). 

 

So far it's been a really mixed bag. 

I started with 5mg for around a week, then increased to 10mg which is where I am right now. 

 

When taking 5mg alone things were ok-ish. I subjectively felt that things like caffeine felt a bit stronger and had more punch. 

When I started and when I increased to 10mg I felt a bit spacey and drowsy. 

 

Now I take 10mg in the morning with the rest of my ADHD medication. 

In the morning everything is fine, but as the day goes on I feel very drowsey and floatey again. Then when the next wave of methylphenidate kicks in, a weird mix of being jittery but at the same time spacey. Almost like weird kind of high.

In the beginning it was pretty intense but got better as days went by. 

 

The memory issues are the most annoying thing. I live in Japan and Japanese isn't my first language. When taking Memantine and I try to speak Japanese, I sound like a retard. I can't remember simple phrases and put the thing I have in my head into words. It takes a good bit of speaking to get the brain rolling again. I speak a lot slower and stop mid-sentences multiple times. 

In the beginning I could have a thought like "oh I should do x" just to forget it a few seconds later, but still knowing that there is something I really should do. I just can't for the sake of it remember it. 

 

 

I'm wondering if 10mg is too much. I am thinking of going down to 5mg again and continue the test from there, but I'm not sure 5mg has that many benefits for methylphenidate tolerance. 

 

What do you think? 

Edited by dvstr, 09 May 2018 - 11:01 PM.

[protoject]

Hi, thanks for dropping in.  I do have experience with this topic. There was a time I was on Memantine and Dexedrine. I believe I was on a higher dose of Memantine. Anyway, I totally agree with your idea of lowering the current dosage. If you at any point feel comfortable with pushing it up a notch, maybe try again later if you feel you've adapted better, but it's my personal opinion that lower is probably better, unless you want to try the higher dose for a longer time and suffer in between , not knowing if the outcome will be you gaining some tolerance to that negative effect, or, if you will simply remain feeling "stupid". 

 

Please let us know what route you took to get here. There are some recommendations on-site and  off-site and I'm not sure which route you followed. did you simply start on 5 mg for a specific amount of time and then increase to 10 mg?

 

Maybe alternate day dosing of 10 could help you acclimatize to the effect of 10 mg while also giving you a breather during the day off so that you don't have to feel constantly stupid. If after some time you feel it's not working out for you, you could always switch back to 5 mg daily.

I am not a professional and this is not a medical recommendation. Though we mostly govern ourselves on this forum it could be worthy to pitch to a professional if you can get them on board with you to see if they have a more informed opinion.   (though many professionals are not in the loop with stuff that some of us do, in terms of anecdotes and/or solid research on humans, some are open minded and may consider your position better and work with you to your benefit if you can fully articulate the reasons behind what you're doing)

Edited by protoject, 10 May 2018 - 12:22 AM.

[floweryriddle]

Thanks for chiming in, and oh man. Re-reading my initial post, I can find a few things that sound odd right away. What better way to show what it's doing to me :p 

 

I personally don't mind 'pushing through' with things. Strattera is known for it's massive amount of side effects that go away after ~2 weeks. Positive effects can take as long as 1-2 months to fully show, so I'm kind of used to that. 

 

But I read through a lot of memantine posts here, on reddit and other forums, but I hardly find any mentions that the memory impairments will go away with time. If anyone here has positive experiences on it, please chime in! 

Most of the stuff I found was "I can focus better" or "I remember things better" which sounds a bit odd given how memantine acts. 

 

 

 

 

Please let us know what route you took to get here. There are some recommendations on-site and  off-site and I'm not sure which route you followed. did you simply start on 5 mg for a specific amount of time and then increase to 10 mg?

 

I took 5mg a day for roughly a week, then increased to 10mg when it felt right. That's also the dosing that the pamphlet recommended. 

 

 

 

Maybe alternate day dosing of 10 could help you acclimatize to the effect of 10 mg while also giving you a breather during the day off so that you don't have to feel constantly stupid. If after some time you feel it's not working out for you, you could always switch back to 5 mg daily.

 

I think that might be a good idea given the very long half-life. 

 

When you took dexedrine together with memantine (assuming you have ADHD for the dexedrine prescription), did you notice any bettering over time? 

Did you notice any benefits from memantine that made you stick to it? 

 

 

 

(I could also swear that memantine does something to strattera/atomexetine, but didn't do much research on this yet. Atomexetine acts as a NMDA antagonist, Memantine apparently too.) 

Edited by dvstr, 10 May 2018 - 12:47 AM.

[floweryriddle]

Interesting post on reddit I just found: https://www.reddit.c...memantine_use/ 

 

States the study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm...pubmed/21860092

 

 

 

Alternatively, memantine could induce a long-lasting effect on memory formation through persistent effects on other receptor types, potentially in a manner similar to the persistent impairing effects of isoflurane on spatial fear memory [28]. Interestingly, the persistent memory impairing effects of isoflurane depend on 5GABA(A) receptor subunit activation [28], and memantine is known to affect GABA(A) receptor neurotransmission in mice [13]. Finally, the observed release of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex following memantine administration [11, 12] could be of considerable importance, since dopamine release in this area of the brain is already linked to cognitive flexibility in both experimental animals, as well as humans [29]. A deeper investigation of memantine’s novel and unusual detrimental effects on cognitive flexibility may shed light on new treatments for AD.

 

Edited by dvstr, 10 May 2018 - 01:30 AM.

[floweryriddle]

Update: I started going down to 5mg a day. I feel less dumb and can talk better than compared to 10mg. I will try to keep it on this level for the next weeks until I feel completely comfortable going up to 10mg again. 

 

Still a bit lightheadedness when mixing with Methylphenidate though. Let's see if that goes away the next days. 

 

Does anyone know if 5mg / 10mg has any benefits for example with tolerance or would I have to go a lot higher for this? 

Edited by dvstr, 15 May 2018 - 03:38 AM.

[floweryriddle]

The negative effects like lightheadedness and nausea started to get a bit annoying at work. I felt irritable and at the 'high' had moments where I really felt like I was on stronger drugs. 

Since this almost every day happened at around the same time (roughly at around 2pm~3pm, taking MPH+Strattera+Memantine at around 7:30am), I tried taking memantine on the evening before and just sleep through it. 

 

No problems with sleeping, and the rush once MPH kicks in seems weaker and less annoying. 

 

I had it on 5mg the night before for the past few days and the negative symptoms got a lot better. Probably also because my body is finally getting used to the memantine. 

No perceivable benefits though. Might try going up to 10mg in the next days again. 

 

[floweryriddle]

Another update on this. My 'stack' is still 36mg of Concerta, 20mg of Strattera and 5mg of Memantine. I've been on 5mg for over a month now. 

 

The "dumbness" seems to fade slowly with time. I notice that when I take a couple of days break from Memantine, I am already back at not being able to remember simple things. 

 

The more interesting thing is I still feel like most of my medication is amplified. Either the Strattera, the MPH or both - Memantine is definitely doing something here. 

Previously I had problems even noticing if my meds are doing anything at all after a couple of days, now I feel my 36mg of Concerta is too strong and I am considering talking to my doc about going back to 27mg, even though I take it almost every single day and my brain should get used to it, like it previously did. 

I found this article here that touches on Memantine amplifying things a little here - http://www.mdmag.com...-for-adult-adhd

(On a sidenote, I also feel like Memantine is making other chemicals like Phenibut stronger)

 

I feel very... stimulated. A pressure in my head and a bit of jumpiness, like I drank too much coffee. Maybe a bit dizzy. Drinking a lot of water and a protein shake seems to help with this a little. 

 

Anyone thoughts on this?