Amantadine as Augmentation in Managing Opioid ‎Withdrawal with Clonidine: a randomized controlled trial

Objective: Withdrawal symptoms ‎are a main reason of continuous ‎use of opioid. This study ‎compares the efficacy of ‎augmentation of amantadine ‎with clonidine in decreasing ‎opioid withdrawal symptoms‏.‏ Methods: This double-blind ‎randomized clinical trial was ‎carried out in the detoxification ‎and rehabilitation inpatient ward ‎at Razi Hospital, Tabriz, Iran ‎during 2012. The patients were ‎randomly assigned to receive ‎clonidine or clonidine plus ‎amantadine; and withdrawal ‎symptoms were evaluated in the ‎admission day and 24, 48, and ‎‎72 hours later. Data were ‎analyzed using SPSS by the 2*2 ‎repeated analyses of variances ‎‎(ANOVA).‎ Results: From the total of 69 ‎participants, 30 patients ‎completed the trial in each group. ‎The severity of symptoms, ‎however, had an increasing trend ‎in both groups. Analysis of ‎variance of the symptom severity ‎score (by The Clinical Opiate ‎Withdrawal Scale) revealed a ‎significant group-time interaction, ‎and the patients who were ‎receiving amantadine ‎experienced milder symptoms‏. ‏ Conclusions: Treatment of ‎opioid withdrawal symptoms with ‎amantadine and clonidine would ‎result in a better outcome ‎compared with clonidine alone‏.‏