Memantine

7 November 2016

MSG, Migraine, and New Treatments

A new study is giving us further insight into the migraine-MSG connection, and may be another step to better migraine treatment in the future.

Recently we talked about a non-traditional migraine treatment – ketamine. Ketamine is a NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) receptor antagonist, which means that it blocks a certain receptor that plays a part in the migraine chain-reaction. Memantine is another example.

Migraine is actually a complex web of cause and effect. So various treatments attack various parts of the migraine system.

MSG: Why does it trigger migraine attacks? What does all this have to do with MSG? MSG, or monosodium glutamate, is a common additive to foods which seems to trigger migraine symptoms in some people. Researchers in Canada decided to investigate further. In a report published in Neuroscience in October, they explained that MSG given to rats actually activates peripheral NMDA receptors, leading to migraine symptoms.

This may be another bit of evidence telling us to avoid MSG, but it’s actually much more than that.

It further confirms what scientists have suspected for many years – the NMDA receptors can play a key role in migraine disease. And so it may be that NMDA receptor antagonists are worth more serious research.

While older drugs like ketamine may help some patients, the side effects put them a long way down the list for most people. But if we could develop a similar drug with fewer side effects, it could help a lot of people who, up to this point, have not found a good treatment.

For more interesting information about NMDA receptors, and the connection between epilepsy and migraine, see Common Pathophysiologic Mechanisms in Migraine and Epilepsy. For more on how to spot MSG in foods, see The 12 Top MSG Offenders.

19 March 2009

Namenda Migraine Treatment

James Discoveries & Stats, Medications 18

It’s time to take a look at what’s new with Namenda migraine treatment. Namenda is actually just one brand name for memantine. It’s also sold as Axura, Akatinol, Ebixa and Memox.

Namenda is commonly used for Alzheimer patients, but is being tested for a number of other neurological disorders.

Technically known as a moderate affinity NMDA-receptor antagonist. In Alzheimer patients, excessive glutamate inhibits the normal sending of messages in the body. This drug blocks the effects of the excessive glutamate.

Namenda is being investigated for migraine, chronic tension-type headache, and various kinds of pain.

In one sense the news so far hasn’t been overwhelming. However, memantine may bring improvement to patients that are having difficulty finding other medications that work for them (Bigal, Rapoport, Sheftell, Tepper, Tepper 2008).

In Namenda treatment for migraine, small studies have shown some improvement in migraine patients who have significant disability and a significant number of attacks each month. The dosage is usually 10-20mg per day. Some studies saw over a 50% reduction in attacks (Krusz, Cammarata, 2005).

Namenda migraine treatment shows promise, but it’s still lacking the large, double blind trials that can really show us how well it works (and who it works best for).

I should also mention that there is some indication that Namenda may help with chronic tension-type headache. The results haven’t been as promising as with Namenda migraine treatments, but patients have seen a reduction in pain intensity, and some have seen a reduction in attacks (Lindelof, Bendtesn 2009)

Again, these are very small studies. But researchers are hopeful that memantine will be a good addition to migraine treatment, especially migraine that has been harder to treat in certain people. Since tension-type headache and cognitive problems often go along with migraine, there may be certain patients that see significant improvement with Namenda.

An interesting side note on the study of memantine is new light on the differences between men and women when it comes to migraine. Read more about Namenda, Migraine and cortical spreading depression

17 November 2007

Memantine for migraine

James Discoveries & Stats 1

Memantine is technically a moderate affinity NMDA-receptor antagonist used for Alzheimer patients to improve memory. It’s available in the USA, Europe, Mexico, and some countries in South America. It’s sold as Axura, Akatinol, Namenda and Ebixa.

Memantine is now being used "off label" for both migraine and tension headache. In the case of migraine, it may be that the drug blocks the waves of electrical activity (cortical spreading depression – CSD) that spread across the brain during an attack. In a study published in the Journal of Headache and Pain, 66% of patients found significant relief after taking the drug. It was a small study, but it sounds hopeful.

The study into CSD has an interesting side note. Studying mice, it was found that it was far easier to trigger CSD in females than in males. Since the "estrous cycle" was not taken into consideration in the study, it may be that this difference, if it holds true in humans, is not related to the menstrual cycle.

So the reason why women get more migraines than men may be a lot more complex than hormones.

Read more here – Why Women Get More Migraines Than Men from California’s UCLA.

Can mice tell us anything about why women get migraine?
Photo courtesy of beijinglaoda