I pulled this off of Medline. Neurontin is brand name for gabapentin.
I've used the stuff for years for restless legs and find that it has
very few side-effects. I never realized that it might be alleviating
some of my PD symptoms.
Ron Reiner (50/3)
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Am J Med 1997 Jan;102(1):60-66
Gabapentin for parkinsonism: a double-blind, placebo-controlled,
crossover trial.
Olson WL, Gruenthal M, Mueller ME, Olson WH
Department of Neurology, University of Louisville, Kentucky 40292, USA.
PURPOSE: Gabapentin is a recently available anticonvulsant whose
mechanism of action remains unknown. We suspected efficacy from
serendipitous observations of gabapentin in patients with parkinsonism.
This led us to a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: We administered gabapentin in a
placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial to 19 subjects with
advanced parkinsonism. We measured the effect of placebo and gabapentin
on subjects' symptoms with the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale,
the Webster Scale, and the Hoehn and Yahr Scale. We assessed tremor with
surface-recorded electromyography. RESULTS: Total Unified Parkinson's
Disease Rating Scale improved with gabapentin compared with placebo (P =
0.0005). Likewise, activities of daily living and examination subscore
of the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale improved with gabapentin
compared with placebo but did not achieve statistical significance.
Webster Scale showed improvement but neither Hoehn and Yahr Scale nor
Webster Scale changes reached statistical significance. Tremor as
measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale improved with
gabapentin but the use of the root mean square of the rectified
electromyography as a measure of tremor activity was not statistically
significant. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that gabapentin
improves rigidity, bradykinesia, and tremor of parkinsonism including
both Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's syndrome. The rigidity and
bradykinesia of parkinsonism improve on the drug even when the effects
of gabapentin on tremor are discounted.
Publication Types:
Clinical trial
Randomized controlled trial
PMID: 9209202, UI: 97352944
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