Twink, I'm so glad the Nuvigil helps you and you found the perfect thing to get you through the day! I hate it when the body wants the more expensive drugs though. I've been in that boat before.

What is Amantadine? I looked it up and it's listed as a Parkinson's drug and antiviral. Huh?

Natalie,

I can't tell you for sure but most drugs are developed for a specific disease but after being use for a while they are applicable for other conditions. For example Provigil was originally developed to help people with narcolepsy but at some point it was found to help the energy levels of us with MS. Since amantadine predates Provigil I have to believe that over time it was found to help MS patients with energy levels. For me it served a purpose to replace the Provigil which at the time would have cost me a small fortune each month.

Mike

Yep it is an Anti Viral, but works for some as an energy booster.

AMantadine worked ok for me but can no longer take it. I did not get wired but found I needed less naps and felt less tired (as in I could soldier on easier without my daily nap)

I ended up getting a weird lacey pattern develop on my legs (as in red purple lines snaking in a pattern up & down my lower extremeties) and a lot of swelling in feet and legs. My husband said it reminded him of ugly version of fishnet stockings on pudgy feet and legs LOL

The decrease in fatigue (I hate that euphamism!) wore off after a few months being on it. A side benefit is I never got the flu while on it :-)

Amantadine is cheap, relatively easy to tolerate and helps some MSers. It is not "approved" to treat MS induced fatigue as that side benefit was discovered after/about the same time it became available in generic form (thus no reason or $ incentive for original maker to spend big bucks on getting FDA approval for MS).

So the Amantadine didn't make you feel crummy? Every anti-viral I have ever taken made me feel terrible, almost to the point I couldn't tolerate it.

if you are asking me- no I did not feel crummy. *The first few days I took it I felt "off" (hard for me to describe, but doc told me this could happen the first week and is temporary).

I had no problems taking the Amentadine, no side effects like Jane described.

I took the drug for at least a year or more and did feel that it was not as effective for my fatigue toward the end but the increase in my fatigue may have been cause by the recurring UTIs I had been having at the time.

Being a friend of Jane's I don't think that was a good look for her.