Nimodipine in human alcohol withdrawal syndrome — an open study

Nimodipine and flunarizine in alcohol withdrawal: an open study

“…in the treatment of alcohol withdrawal were reported. In particular there was no mention of the occurrence of confusional states or seizures (Altamura et al, 1989). Similar positive findings had previously been reported for another calcium channel-blocking agent, caroverine (Koppi et al, 1987).…”

“…Finally, the alcohol withdrawal syndrome of our patients may have been more severe than that of the patients of the previous study (Altamura et al, 1989) or even other differences between the patient groups (different form of alcohol, different genetic pool) may be responsible for a different responsiveness to a given treatment. In addition, basing the evaluation of a drug for treatment of alcohol withdrawal on ratings between day 3 and week 4 (Altamura et al, 1989), is not very informative as the usefulness of a drug in treating alcohol withdrawal syndrome has to be based on its effectiveness in preventing severe alcohol withdrawal syndromes in the first days of alcohol abstinence and not on its amelioration of the already spontaneous remission of minor withdrawal syndromes.…”

“…Preliminary findings from an open study with Italian patients were highly positive (Altamura et al, 1989).…”

Nitrendipine Blocks the Nociceptive Effects of Chronically Administered Ethanol

“…They are also known to reduce voluntary ethanol intake (Kuzmin et al, 1999;Rezvani et al, 1993;Smith et al, 1999). Given the findings in animal models (Bone et al, 1989;Little et al, 1986;Littleton et al, 1990), combined with the positive findings in clinical studies (Altamura et al, 1990;Banger et al, 1992;Shulman et al, 1998), calcium channel blockers seem to be potentially useful for the treatment of ethanol withdrawal.…”

“…Furthermore, these effects were not seen with diltiazem, which suggests that specific calcium channels are involved, rather than a general change in calcium flux (Watson and Little, 1994). Nimodipine, nifedipine, and verapamil have been found to be useful for treatment of ethanol withdrawal in clinical trials (Altamura et al, 1990;Banger et al, 1992;Shulman et al, 1998). These findings suggest that calcium channel blockers may be useful treatment drugs for ethanol withdrawal.…”