Can Galantamine Help in Schizophrenia?
Medical case histories of patients being treated for some disease have little inherent scientific value, but they can be illuminating and helpful to other physicians, and they sometimes suggest avenues of research that might be promising. In Durham, North Carolina, two psychiatrists believe that galantamine may be beneficial in schizophrenia, judging by the case histories of two of their patients.1 One was a 28-year-old man suffering from auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusions of persecution. The other was a 53-year-old man with profoundly disorganized thoughts and bizarre behavior, such as wearing multiple layers of clothing inside out and backward. Both were doing poorly on the antipsychotic drug risperidone. When the psychiatrists added galantamine to their drug regimen, both men improved significantly (the second patient even began dressing normally) and were able to function in society with less difficulty than before. The psychiatrists cite literature suggesting that the
