Posted by klein on April 30, 2014, at 18:36:34
In reply to Can someone explain Namenda's MOA?, posted by zonked on April 30, 2014, at 13:29:24
> In plain English, what does Namenda (memantine) *do* to help people with brain damage (alzheimer's, and in my Mom's case, brain tumor damage) to help memory and cognition?
>
> I am familiar with the NMDA receptor. My understanding is that it prevents excess firing somehow and thus cell death.
>
> Someone here will know.
>
> Also when Mom started on Namenda her neurologist suggested that at some point he may add Aricept to help. I am wondering if that's worthwhile, given her prognosis and that she appears to be doing better on Namenda.
>
> -zGah, I find NMDA receptors and mematine's moa pretty hard to grasp. Maybe the easiest way to get how memantine works is to use Stahl's phrase: "artificial magnesium", that makes sense to me. If you google ""artificial magnesium" memantine" you should find an excerpt from one of his books, he explains it all very clearly and simply.
poster:klein
thread:1064975
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20140419/msgs/1064990.html