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OVERDOSE LEVELS

At overdose levels and with frequent [everyday] use, according to the eHealthme website, Galantamine has produced 10 hallucinations in those with Alzheimers and Dementia

At overdose levels it can also cause nightmares

Galantamine-associated nightmares and anxiety - Corbo JM Brown JN, Moss JM; Department of Medical Education, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center St. Margaret, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15215, USA. jason.corbo@gmail.com

BACKGROUND:  This case report describes recurrent nightmares and anxiety possibly caused by the administration and rapid dose titration of galantamine.

CASE SUMMARY:  A 90-year-old male with Alzheimer's disease was initiated on galantamine 4 mg twice daily for 10 days, followed by 8 mg twice daily thereafter. On followup to the geriatric clinic, the patient reported complaints of nightmares and associated anxiety. The occurrences of nightmares developed after initiating galantamine and temporally increased with galantamine titration. After discontinuation of galantamine, the patient reported no further occurrences of nightmares or anxiety and memory function remained stable.

CONCLUSION:  Galantamine-associated nightmares are an uncommon adverse event and may have been exacerbated by rapid titration. Although such adverse events are unlikely to cause harm in the patient, such sleep abnormalities have the potential to decrease a patient's quality of life and may require the need for alternative therapy.

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AT NON OVERDOSE AND LOW FREQUENCY USE

“Some people who practice lucid dream (LD) or out-of-body experience (OBE) use galantamine to increase their odds to achieve LD or OBE.  By taking small amounts of galantamine (around 4 to 8 mg) after five to six hours of deep sleep coupled with relaxation techniques……………many people report more success with galantamine.

There are reports that taking galantamine without proper induction technique will not lead to LD or OBE but will result in only a vivid dream instead. Overdose leads to nightmares. It should also be noted that due to a long half life galantamine will stay in the body for a period of up to and over 48 hours, as such it is advisable to only use the product very infrequrntly both to ensure efficacy and so that the body does not build a resistance to the drug ruining its effectiveness. If frequent use and overdose occur then withdrawal will have very unpleasant results.^”

 “Galantamine is a natural substance that greatly increases the likelihood of experiencing a lucid dream [LaBerge, 2003; Yuschak 2006]. Galantamine has two primary modes of action: inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (the substance the breaks down acetylcholine) and modulation of the nicotinic cholinergic receptors to increase the release of acetylcholine [Woodruff-Pak, Vogel, & Wenk, 2001]. Galantamine has been shown to reduce REM latency and increase REM density [Riemann, Gann, Dressing, Muller, & Aldenhoff, 1994] as well as having a positive affect on memory [Koontz, Baskys, 2005]. The time required for galantamine to reach peak plasma concentrations is within one hour of ingestion.  One of the primary criteria in determining whether or not galantamine is effective at inducing a lucid dream is determined by the efficiency with which the subject enters into REM sleep after taking the dose. The odds are significantly increased if the subject enters the REM sleep phase directly from the waking state. If a typical sleep cycle proceeds however, in which the subject first passes through the deeper sleep stages, the odds of lucidity are reduced. Due to this characteristic, galantamine is usually taken after first sleeping for some period of time such that the body is already tending to naturally enter longer REM periods [Yuschak, 2006]. The normal sleep cycle favors the deeper sleep stages in the first part of the night but as morning approaches the deeper sleep stages become less dominating. Although this trend increases the odds that galantamine will cause a person to directly enter REM sleep from the waking state, provided it is ingested after 4 or 5 hours of normal sleep, there is still a reasonable chance that one will enter the deeper sleep stages for some period of time before REM is initiated and this can lead to inconsistent results for lucid dreaming.”