Conditions: Nystagmus
Keywords: gabapentin memantine nystagmus Drug treatment
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: CROSSOVER
Enrollment: 10
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Involuntary oscillations of the eyes (nystagmus) impairs vision so that affected patients, who have neurological disorders such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) , cannot read or watch TV. Two medicines have been reported to suppress nystagmus and improve vision in such patients: gabapentin and memantine. The investigators set out to test which of these two drug was more effective by carrying out a double-blind cross-over study. In this way, we could determine which drug worked best in each patient.

Detailed description:
The study entails careful measurements of visual acuity and precise measurements of eye movements, using a contact lens device (magnetic search coil method). In this way, it is possible to make objective and reliable measurements of the effect of each drug, which are unbiased by the investigator or the patient.

Arms:
arm 1: Increasing dose to 300 mg four times per day (total of 1200 mg/day) arm 2: Increasing dose over two weeks to 20 mg twice/day (total of 40 mg/day).

Interventions: intervention 1: gabapentin intervention 2: memantine
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: increasing to 1200 mg/day intervention 2: increasing to 40 mg/day

Protocol document: