Hi. there. The first thing that has to be said it that the abstracted article doesn't list the dosages that were used for mementine (Namenda) in the study; if I can get my hands on a full text of the study I will post it. I know when I first heard about the possibility of using the drug - as an NDMA receptor antagonist - I was told by Dr. Schwartzman those the dosages being recommended by the manufacturer were too low to make a difference. And indeed, the maximum daily recommended dose is 20 mg. a day. I'm on 30 and it hasn't seemed to make a difference in the pain levels, although it definitely helps with my thought processes.

Cut to the Winter, 2007 issue of the RSDSA Review, in which there's a long testimonial about the relief that one "Dave in Arizona" got through switching to 60 to 80 mg. a day of mementine, combined with 30 mg. of methadone. Almost total relief after 30 years of RSD in his feet! Nevertheless, the article cautions that the long term effects of high dose mementine is unknown and that insurance will only pick up 20 mg. a day.

I know that my pharmacist has skinned that particular cat by refilling my prescription - with a fresh co-pay each time - every 20 days instead of every 30. I can only imagine the machinations in going up to 80 mg. a day: I guess that would mean refilling it every five days or so. (Good luck going out of town on that program.)

Anyhow, that's what I know. I will definitely raise this with my neurologist when I see him in a couple of weeks, although I suspect he will fob this off on my next quarterly appointment with my pain management specialist at U.S.C.

Mike

p.s. To Artist: sorry about taking so long to get off the mark on that photo-posting but between getting ready to move and helping a friend who has to rush a manuscript of a novel to her publisher, I've been a little swamped of late. I will however get to it as soon the dust settles.