Posted by Larry Hoover on June 16, 2003, at 14:32:42
In reply to Re: pregabalin and Ca-channels » Larry Hoover, posted by Ritch on June 16, 2003, at 13:30:54
> Larry, I've used Neurontin with great success before for anxiety and sleep (especially). But, I get this weird side effect from it where my thoracic chest wall muscles tend to tighten and spasm causing chest pain, etc. We don't know why this happens, but I'm not on it now. I miss the stuff a lot because it worked so well with my Depakote and I *ALWAYS* slept so well on it. Do you think that gabapentin and pregabalin are so similar that this side effect will probably recurr with the newer med? That's probably impossible to predict-I'd have to try it and see I suppose.That would have been my answer. ;-)
>Anyhow my main question has to do with "voltage-dependent Calcium channels". There are CCB drugs like verapamil that my pdoc has brought up once, and SusanC here has had good results with it(plus Depakote) for rapid cycling bipolar. How is the action of verapamil (used for cardiac arrthymia and angine) different from the action of pregabalin ("alpha(2)delta subunit of voltage-dependent calcium channels").
I don't think you can draw generalities, simply because two compounds share the theoretical construct CCB (calcium channel blockade). Not all CCBs have psychoactive effects, and studies of the interaction of CCBs show that even those acting on a common receptor class must bind at different positions and have different effects, as some interact by increasing activity, and some interact by decreasing activity, relative to a single CCB at the receptor.
>Is it that verapamil has more of a "shotgun" effect and pregabalin is simply more selective?
They're both selective. They just select differently.
The anti-manic effect of verapamil was discovered by serendipity. It's not like they set out to regulate calcium channels in the brain. Verapamil works better if taken with magnesium, itself a regulator of calcium channels.
Calcium channels et al are not really something I feel expert about. There are numerous different types of them, and even the same receptor type may be regulated differently in different tissues/organs.
> Or is it something completely different? I've always wondered about this. Thanks for any help.
I'm going to conclude with a big shrug, okay? You pays your money and you takes your chances.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:234311
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030614/msgs/234368.html