Acamprosate (Campral)

but campral has been around for years, especially in India it's very popular, we even have two guys ( both from India too I think ) who are trying campral at the moment. until now I haven't heard from anybody who had success with it....?!

 

i meant that's certainly effective cause the company funded the study...

 

I thought clonazepam made tinnitus worse?

 

I have personal (and anecdotal) experience of Campral, and while taking it I didn't notice any discernable effect on my tinnitus. In fact, it had quite a few side effects (miserable sex drive, unable to donate blood), so I'm pleased to be off it now.

 

This drug is used to treat alcoholism. Apparently it was very effective in reducing symptoms of tinnitus in a Brazilian study.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3271548/

At the end of the study, the drug had shown a statistically significant improvement in reducing the tinnitus score in 92.5% of the patients and placebo with an improvement in 12.5% of the patients. The drug was well tolerated without any serious drug reactions.
Conclusion:
Acamprosate is an effective drug in treating the severity of sensorineural tinnitus without causing much of the side effects.

 

I feel like the more the merrier to be honest.

"Yeah, I'll have one shot of AM101, umm, two Autofony pills, annnd for dessert.... Ah, Acamprosate Campral, praised by BRAZILIAN researchers that sounds exotic I'll have that" *hands back menu*

 

The conclusion is erroneous.

The Brazilian acamprosate study was highly flawed. It was neither reliable (i.e., highly suspect methodology) nor verifiable (i.e., nobody could reproduce their findings).

sp

 

Going to get a prescription and do my own drug trial. Even temporary relief from the beast will be welcome and it may kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I haven't heard silence for over 30 years. Hope I can handle it.

 

Please report back with results. I this treatment helps!

-G

 

Absolutely. Keep your fingers crossed.

 

Why acamprosate?

smn

 

See PubMed study on campral

 

You mean the 2005 Azevedo/Figueiredo study from Brazil? Or the 2012 Sharma study from India? I am aware of both of them.

If those findings (success rates of 87% and 92.5%) were reliable, don't you think every ENT in the world would be prescribing acamprosate for their tinnitus patients?

smn

 

That's a fair point. But even if the success rate is in fact much lower than reported, there is still the possibility that Acamprosate will work for @ralph j begley. Unless there are serious side effects, what is the downside in trying?

-G

 

Hey, I'm an alcoholic anyway. So where's the harm in doing my own drug trial.

 

There is no downside in trying. These decisions are personal ones; far be it for me or anybody else to suggest otherwise.

By the way, there was a very carefully controlled meticulous study of acamprosate conducted by the highly-regarded OHSU group in Portland last year. The study found absolutely no therapeutic benefit in the treatment of tinnitus for acamprosate over placebo. Publication is pending.

Still, no downside in trying. But it is good to go into these things with your eyes open, no?

smn

 

Until I see the study with my own eyes, my skepticism of anecdotal references is high.

 

Ralph, I think it is good to be skeptical.

But when Dr. Billy Martin puts something down in writing, it is worthy of attention. Dr. Martin is universally respected in the clinical, research, and academic tinnitus communities. Here is what he wrote to one of the participants on this board:

Louise,
Thanks for asking about the study. We have finished it and are writing it up for publication. The results have been presented in preliminary form at the International Tinnitus Society meeting last year in Brazil. We could find no difference in the effectiveness of Acamproate compared to placebo in an extended, very carefully done study.

Billy Martin

William Hal Martin, Ph.D.
Professor of Otolayrngology/Head & Neck Surgery
Director, OHSU Tinnitus Clinic​

So skepticism is good, but it helps to know your sources. Billy Martin has been a colleague and close friend of mine for more than a decade now. If he says something, you can take it to the bank.

All that aside, I wish you great success with your acamprosate.

smn

 

Ok, so the reference is not anecdotal. Thanks for the reference. I'll wait for the DBS chip-in-the-head.

 

Thank the Quantum Computer I'm a happy guy even with the beast in my head.

 

I agree completely: more information is always better! -G

 

Only if it's accurate!

smn

 

Indeed: information, as opposed to mis- or (worse, in my opinion) disinformation! -G

 

Dr. Nagler I appreciate your insights. I think a separate Topic/Forum should be started which list clinical trials for drugs, devices, treatments, etc. Both positive and negative. The problem with Tinnitus is that there's so much garbage out there it's difficult to sort through. I try to find competing trials before I jump into things, but I can't find everything, especially unpublished results by reliable scientists.

 

We'll crowdsource the solution to tinnitus faster if everyone helps each other understand things better. Better than this system where researchers have to pay for research papers

The future is bright with information!

 

That is confusing. So which study do we go with then? Why do these things work in one trial but not in another? So frustrating.

 

@Bella1, the key lies in one's ability to analyze studies in terms of reliability and verifiability. Quite frankly, I don't know how a person not familiar with how to read scientific studies critically is supposed to do that. So I understand your frustration.

Stephen Nagler

 

Dr, I think you are a little pessimistic all drugs that are tested for tinnitus, although they are backed by studies, please let us dream of a cure but at least an improvement, acamprosate can effectively help many people who like us and support us this respectfully thanks.

 

Only if they are alcoholic, acamprosate has no effect on tinnitus.

 

Candido, I know it is not your intention - but you are making me out to be some sort of bad guy here.

I post on this board for a number of reasons, one of which is to hopefully increase the knowledge base of tinnitus sufferers as they make decisions for themselves in the best interests of their own health care. Either a treatment works or it doesn't work - and what I might think or say about it in no way determines that.

If somebody comes up with a drug that actually does work for tinnitus, then that person is due for a Nobel prize. I do not see the acamprosate folks rushing to their travel agents to purchase that ticket for Stockholm quite yet, do you?

I have donated thousands upon thousands of dollars to tinnitus research in search for a cure and continue to do so. Nothing I say here about the drugs we have right now should prevent you from hoping for a cure in the future.

Dr. Stephen Nagler