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Glad to hear Amantadine works for this gambling problem. Only wish it didn't cause hallucinations... it's a wonderful drug, with a little pep, and wish Alan was still able to take it. He did manage several years on this drug with great results. He did not have a gambling problem. patti On Sep 8, 2010, at 9:58 AM, mschild wrote: > Amantadine reduces pathological gambling in Parkinson's disease > patients > taking dopamine agonists, according to a new study. > > Seventeen PD patients with pathological gambling uncontrolled by > medication > changes, counseling, or behavioral strategies were randomized to > receive 200 > mg/day amantadine or placebo for 4 weeks, followed by a 1-week > washout and > crossover to the other arm. > > Five patients dropped out due to medication side effects. Amantadine > reduced > scores on both the Symptom Assessment Scale and Yale-Brown Obsessive- > Compulsive Scale by 80% compared to baseline, while placebo produced > no > change. Daily gambling expenditures, which were 2% of salary before > treatment, > were abolished in 7 patients, and reduced by 75% to 90% in 5 > patients. Effects > were seen within 4 days of treatment. > > "The effect of amantadine was beyond expectations," the authors > conclude, "as a > financially devastating compulsive behavior was completely abolished > or > markedly reduced in all patients. Evidence of this effect might help > neurologists who are forced to deal with PD patients affected by > pathological > gambling." > > Pathological gambling in Parkinson disease is reduced by amantadine > A Thomas, L Bonanni, F Gambi, A Di Ioro, M Onofrj > Ann Neurol 2010;68:400-404 > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn