Amantadine poisoning is caused by an overdose of the drug used to treat viruses and Parkinson’s disease. Symptoms include heart arrhythmia, difficulty breathing, and pulmonary edema. Supportive care can help, but prevention is key.
Amantadine poisoning is an acute condition caused by an overdose of amantadine, a drug used to treat certain viruses, especially the flu, along with Parkinson’s disease. This condition gained a lot of popular attention in 2008 when it was featured on the television series House. While there is no treatment for amantadine poisoning, there are some supportive therapies that can be used to make the patient more comfortable, and the effects can sometimes be reversed if the condition is caught early enough.
This drug is an anticholinergic, which means that it interferes with acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that plays a critical role in the central nervous system. How amantadine works against viruses and Parkinson’s disease is not fully understood, but it has been shown to be effective. Even at the recommended dose, amantadine has some dangerous side effects, including suicidal behavior and a variety of central nervous system problems such as anxiety, tremors, and blurred vision. It is also dangerous to withdraw amantadine rapidly: patients must be tapered off the drug gradually.
If someone takes too much amantadine, they can get amantadine poisoning, characterized by heart arrhythmia, difficulty breathing, and pulmonary edema, in which the lungs fill with fluid. The drug also puts a strain on the liver and kidneys, which can lead to urine retention. In the case of a single overdose, accidental or otherwise, gastric pumping can sometimes prevent the seizures and eventual coma associated with amantadine poisoning, but when a patient has overdosed over an extended period of time, the condition can be very more difficult to treat.
Supportive care includes using a ventilator to help the patient breathe and giving fluids through intravenous needles. Physostigmine, a drug used to treat a variety of anticholinergic overdoses, can also sometimes help with this poisoning. In the case of the famous House episode, the patient was doomed because her kidneys were already failing before the poisoning began, but amantadine poisoning is not necessarily always fatal.
Prevention of amantadine poisoning involves taking only the recommended dose and providing the prescriber with a list of medications in use, along with any medical concerns. Amantadine use is contraindicated in people with liver and kidney problems or a history of seizures, and mixing some medications with amantadine can be a very bad idea. When seeking medical treatment for any condition, including a suspected case of poisoning, being able to provide medical personnel with a list of medications in use and their dosages can be crucial.
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