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Amantadine can cause life-threatening heart complications and death.
It is strongly discouraged to use this substance in high doses. Please see this section for more details.
It may contain incorrect information, particularly with respect to dosage, duration, subjective effects, toxicity and other risks. It may also not meet PW style and grammar standards.
WARNING: Always start with lower doses due to differences between individual body weight, tolerance, metabolism, and personal sensitivity. See responsible use section.
DISCLAIMER: PW's dosage information is gathered from users and resources for educational purposes only. It is not a recommendation and should be verified with other sources for accuracy.
Amantadine was first synthesized in the 1960s as a antiviral drug for the treatment of influenza. It was serendipitously discovered in 1969 that amantadine possesses central dopaminergicstimulant-like properties and it was introduced for the treatment of Parkinson's disease due to its ability to increase dopamine levels in the brain.[1]
Deaths have been reported from overdose with amantadine.[2] Its use can lead to cardiac, respiratory, renal or central nervous system toxicity.[3]
Amantadine is a substituted adamantane derivative, organic compound adamantan-1-amine, meaning it consists of an adamantane backbone that has an amino group substituted at one of the four methyne positions.
Amantadine is a weak antagonist NMDA receptors (Ki = 10 µM)[4], increases dopamine release, and blocks dopamine reuptake.[5] As well amantadine inhibits nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).[6]
It was discovered that amantadine binds to and acts as agonist of the σ1 receptor (Ki = 7.44 µM), and that activation of the σ1 receptor is involved in the dopaminergic effects.[7]
The mechanisms for amantadine's antiviral and psychotropic effects are unrelated. The mechanism of amantadine's antiviral activity involves interference with the viral protein, M2, a proton channel.[8]
Disclaimer: The effects listed below cite the Subjective Effect Index (SEI), an open research literature based on anecdotal user reports and the personal analyses of PsychonautWikicontributors. As a result, they should be viewed with a healthy degree of skepticism.
It is also worth noting that these effects will not necessarily occur in a predictable or reliable manner, although higher doses are more liable to induce the full spectrum of effects. Likewise, adverse effects become increasingly likely with higher doses and may include addiction, severe injury, or death ☠.
In addition to dissociative effects, amantadine also manifests anticholinergic effects and higher dosages can result in delirium.
Flowing - Flowing can be described as a style of visual drifting which seems to occur almost exclusively on textures (particularly if they are highly detailed, complex, or rough in appearance). It results in the textures appearing to flow like a river in a seamless, looped animation. It is particularly common on wood grain or the fur of animals.
Amantadine can hase serious side effects at higher dosages. High levels of amantadine consumption are associated with an increased risk of renal failure[9], peripheral edemas, increased heart insufficiency, and leukopenia and neutropenia.[5] Amantadine accumulates in patients with renal dysfunction.[10] In addition deaths have been reported from overdose with amantadine. Reports of amantadine fatalities indicate that doses of more that 2g are potentially lethal.[11]
Amantadine can produce dependence with chronic use, though amantadine withdrawal syndrome is a rare event. Abrupt cessation and changes in amantadine dosage can produce a severe withdrawal syndrome which can produce delirium and neuroleptic malignant syndrome.[12][13][14]
Amantadine presents cross-tolerance with [[Cross-tolerance::all dissociatives]], meaning that after the consumption of amantadine all dissociatives will have a reduced effect.
Warning:Many psychoactive substances that are reasonably safe to use on their own can suddenly become dangerous and even life-threatening when combined with certain other substances. The following list provides some known dangerous interactions (although it is not guaranteed to include all of them).
Always conduct independent research (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, PubMed) to ensure that a combination of two or more substances is safe to consume. Some of the listed interactions have been sourced from TripSit.
Amantadine has very limited information on drug combinations and should therefore be treated with extreme caution when combined with other drugs.
Stimulants - Both stimulants and dissociatives carry the risk of adverse psychological reactions like anxiety, mania, delusions and psychosis and these risks are exacerbated when the two substances are combined.
Depressants - Because both depress the respiratory system, this combination can result in an increased risk of suddenly falling unconscious, vomiting and choking to death from the resulting suffocation. If nausea or vomiting occurs, users should attempt to fall asleep in the recovery position or have a friend move them into it.
Deliriants - Combining amantadine with antimuscarinics such as datura, diphenhydramine, and nutmeg can severely increase BPM and BP, and as such, cardiac arrest, hypertensive crisis, as well as delirium.