Memantine, overall protection, and help w/ tinnitus

I've been taking a low dose of memantine for awhile. I'm going to stop in about 2 months probably. Been taking it for far too long. Never took more than 5mg, which is the dose I'm on now but want to raise it to 10mg. This stuff really helps. I'm going to add Agmatine soon because it compliments it well and helps w/ opiate wd.

 

I started taking memantine because I felt I would have a better chance of making a full recovery and it seems like a well tolerated drug. I never had tinnitus except one time, the morning after drinking a small bottle of whiskey, in the thick of tapering Librium last October. I haven't had any alcohol since last November or December.

 

Anyways, I suspect the memantine can help big time for this problem with ears ringing and vibrating. There is some good research that it is extremely effective for opiate withdrawal as well. I have quit taking it for brief periods of time without any issues. I regret not taking advantage of it more. I'm most likely going to up my dose to 10mg because I'm almost done w/ Librium and Suboxone. Not sure though.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3449490/

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11512037

 

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259765444_Administration_of_Memantine_During_Withdrawal_Mitigates_Overactivity_and_Spatial_Learning_Impairments_Associated_with_Neonatal_Alcohol_Exposure_in_Rats

 

https://www.tinnitusformula.com/library/excitotixicity-new-medications-for-tinnitus/

This kind of made me feel better because I've been taking this for about a year and half. But basically micro doses.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24747504

Isn't this for Alzheimer's patients?  I guess every drug has "off label" uses too.

Yes. A lot of benzos and GABAergic drugs were not intended to treat anxiety originally but have become "off label" drugs.... like clonazepam or gabapentin were epilepsy drugs. As far as a drugs intended purpose, it is to suit you specific biochemical make up. When dealing with these withdrawals it may be and probably is advantageous to use drugs that target the glutamatergic system, as long as they are safe and do not cause additional harm. Everything should be tapered as well, no mater what you take or how physically dependent it is too. Benzos cause dementia like symptoms and is linked to dementia and Alzheimer's.

 

In this case, memantine targets the glutamate receptor known as NMDA. It raises dopamine levels too and has other pharmacological effects as well. It is well tolerated and well studied and used everywhere. I think it has helped me. I am reluctant to take larger or more therapeutic doses because like many of you here believe it or not, I live in constant fear of taking more substances. But the discomfort of my brain getting "cooked" coming off these dangerous  barbiturate like substances seems far more dangerous than taking something like memantine. That is the way I look at it and the way it is from what I see from all the anecdotal data on this forum and some of the scientific evidence. It seems like the powers at be are trying to bury this issue from the scientific community. I'm not saying there is a conspiracy but it sure feels like there may be one, as far as the medical community down playing the dangers and comping up with new studies trying to give people false reassurance that these drugs are safe. They are not safe. Benzos ruin lives. Even on this forum it seems like we are constantly irritable by our neurosis. That's how I feel, so I'm assuming it is fair game that others are like this. We all act pretty annoying in my opinion. And yes, I feel like I annoy myself just by typing my new post of the day. There must be a reason for that.

 

 

So, on the cold turkey forum..... Benzos, with no doubt in my mind cause serious lasting problems if you can't find a way to do a slow taper and protect the brain. But not all is lost and there is hope and some people seem to get unscathed by this, but I personally believe the people who do better, take other substances...safe ones. I suspect in some way cannabis protects the brain from benzo withdrawal. But the side effects are extremely unpleasant for most of us though in high doses.

 

I have a good friend who quit high doses of Xanax cold turkey a few years ago. He was using around 20mg a day or more for several years. He was a binge user I think but seemed to always use daily.... and did a quick taper over 3 weeks and quit. In around 6 months he felt he was ready to resume going to music festivals and partying. He seems to drink like a fish now. Last time I saw him he probably took over a gram of MDMA and drank 30 beers. (I didn't drink any alcohol or take hard drugs when I was there.) He's a big guy but 30 beers is a lot. I suspect he replaced benzos with alcohol. But he always used lots of cannabis. I'm thinking maybe he dodged a bullet because the following morning he was ready to tackle the world. I wouldn't even be able to get out of bed if I drank that much and abused MDMA. I don't get it to be honest. On top of the 20mg of alprazolam a day he used to use, he was using at least 100mg of Adderall and a bunch of oxycodone. He some how quit everything cold turkey. His brother, who he lives with along with my best friend and few other guys basically locked him in his room and held him prisoner from what I understand and forced him to quit after he crashed his car into a telephone pole.

Thanks for sharing this information.  If it helps at least one BB then it's soooo worthwhile.  Take care.

Sure no problem. I think others have talked about it or taken it on BB but it isn't that popular. It seems to help with tinnitus and opiate wd significantly. It is a dissociative though and in larger doses can feel unpleasant. I don't take more than 5-7mg because it does make me feel weird. I upped the dose yesterday a few milligrams and I already feel more dissociated. It take a few days to adjust to it. I'm sensitive to dissociatives. Before I started using benzos 2.5 years ago I had DP/DR from a psychedelic crisis for a while and was using phenibut. Then my mom got lung cancer while I was still in the DP/DR state and things went downhill. I never recovered.

 

While my mom was sick I got surgery for the first time in my life to remove several lipomas. A week after getting anesthetized my stomach started hurting and didn't stop hurting for a year. My stomach hurt so bad that I started drinking raw cabbage juice everyday. I was diagnosed with several ulcers but the doctor who made the diagnosis lost his medical license so he could of made up the diagnoses. Then I got this injury and that started hurting and never stopped pretty much a few months after my mom died. I have some kind of hypochondriac pain disorder possibly

Sure no problem. I think others have talked about it or taken it on BB but it isn't that popular. It seems to help with tinnitus and opiate wd significantly. It is a dissociative though and in larger doses can feel unpleasant. I don't take more than 5-7mg because it does make me feel weird. I upped the dose yesterday a few milligrams and I already feel more dissociated. It take a few days to adjust to it. I'm sensitive to dissociatives. Before I started using benzos 2.5 years ago I had DP/DR from a psychedelic crisis for a while and was using phenibut. Then my mom got lung cancer while I was still in the DP/DR state and things went downhill. I never recovered.

 

While my mom was sick I got surgery for the first time in my life to remove several lipomas. A week after getting anesthetized my stomach started hurting and didn't stop hurting for a year. My stomach hurt so bad that I started drinking raw cabbage juice everyday. I was diagnosed with several ulcers but the doctor who made the diagnosis lost his medical license so he could of made up the diagnoses. Then I got this injury and that started hurting and never stopped pretty much a few months after my mom died. I have some kind of hypochondriac pain disorder possibly

 

Hi,

Thank you for these informations

 

I was on bromazepam for only 1 week,  4,5 mg per day.

When i stopped it,  i suffered from tinnitus and insomnia.

Now almost 30 days since i'm benzo free and both symptoms still with me.  My worst symptom is tinnitus.

 

Can Memantine help me for tinnitus as a benzo withdrawal symptom ?

 

Thanl you so much.

It may be able to help but I'm honestly not sure anymore. I only got a little tinnitus after jumping and none while tapering. Probably the other GABAergic drugs help with it. Memantine helps tinnitus according to some information so it is worth trying maybe. I haven't taken memantine in a few months.