Help with nystagmus
 

Nystagmus is an unintentional jittery movement of the eyes. Nystagmus usually involves both eyes and is often exaggerated by looking in a particular direction.
and clinical uses
by
Kumar S.
Neurology Unit,
Department of Neurological Sciences,
Christian Medical College Hospital,
Vellore 632004, India.
drsudhirkumar@yahoo.com.
Neurol India. 2004 Sep;52(3):307-9

ABSTRACT
Memantine is a relatively new drug specially developed for use in moderate-to-severe dementia. It is an uncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist and reduces glutamatergic excitotoxicity. Though Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the commonest cause of dementia in the world, there is no "cure" available for the same. Cholinesterase inhibitors such as donepezil and rivastigmine have been shown to provide symptomatic relief in patients with AD but have no effect on disease progression or survival. Moreover, they are not helpful in more severe stages of dementia. Memantine has been shown to cause modest improvement in clinical symptoms in severe stages of AD and may retard the disease progression. Moreover, it has been shown to be useful in various forms of dementia including AD, vascular dementia and Wernicke-Korsakoff psychosis. It is also the first drug to cause complete disappearance of pendular nystagmus due to multiple sclerosis. The current review focuses on the pharmacological properties of memantine and examines the recent evidence in favor of memantine. (Also under the drug name NAMENDA)

My nystagmus disappeared completely after starting Tysabri and having only three infusions.
After almost three years of nystagmus, with dizziness and loss of balance resulting from it, oscillopsia, scotomas, problems with light and dark and peripheral vision loss, my neuro-opthalmologist was amazed. It has never returned.
My annual eye checkups and tests are normal now and have been since August of 2007.

I wish I had known about the memantine prior to Tysabri. I would have taken it just to have had anything resembling normal vision.

Has Clonazapem (Klonipin) helped anyone?
 

The Neuro Opthamologist prescribed Clonazapem for my Nystagmus. I've taken it for two days with no noticable changes in the "bouncing" of my vision. Do you know if it takes a build up of the medicine?

I did oral steroids and felt they helped. Diplopia and nystagmus lasted just about a week.

I had diplopia (lasted about 4 months! :eek:) but nystagmus is an ongoing sx I deal with. Worse at times than others but seems to always be there. It's just like my numb right hand.....I almost don't notice it anymore. :rolleyes:

What dosage are you on? I'm on day 3 of .5 and I haven't noticed any improvement, my eyes are jumping all over the place. :(

I've taken 0.5mg clonazepam for about two years for leg spasms. It's done nothing for my Nystagmus.

Nystagmus was one of my first sx, and it's been with me ever since. For me it's always worse when I'm in a flare. Other than that, most days I don't notice it because I've become so used to it.

off and back on clonazepam
 

I took the clonezapam for 3 days and then got extremely ill. Dizzy, Nausea, Chills and even fever. Stopped it (based on call to doc) until I saw him again friday. Probably not a reaction to the meds, but medication can send a virus into hyperdrive apparently. Back on it... again 3 days into it and no change in the Nystagmus & Oscillopsia. Hoping this just means I need a baseline in my system for this to work. Dosage is only .25