Posted by SLS on May 28, 2009, at 11:04:46
In reply to Re: Starting Namenda for OCD, posted by greywolf on May 28, 2009, at 9:09:05
> Frankly, I was surprised that he put me on Namenda given that it's only officially been studied in a few people with OCD. But it's supposedly a safe med, so he figured why not.
This might be a long shot, but if antiglutamatergic drugs are helpful in treating OCD, then taking lamotrigine (Lamictal) might be worth a try further on down the road.
Basically, this study shows that:
1. Marble-burying behavior is an animal model for OCD. The more marbles, the higher the ocd quotient.
2. NMDA glutamate receptor antagonists (blockers) like memantine and amantadine inhibit marble-burying, demonstrating an anti-OCD effect.
Other studies have pointed to hyperactive looping glutamatergic circuits as being a component of the etiology of OCD.
One thing that is important to take into consideration is that OCD often takes longer to resolve upon treatment when compared to depression. This is certainly true of the SSRIs. It might take 10 weeks before an improvement emerges.
I think using memantine is worth a try, especially when used as an augmenter of other OCD drugs.
- Scott
poster:SLS
thread:898067
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090524/msgs/898095.html