Alcohol and Memantine: what the published research says
PubMed indexes 8 records that name Alcohol and Memantine together, either in the title or in an interaction, co-administration, or pharmacokinetic context. Each one is listed below with its study design and, where the abstract states one, the authors’ own conclusion, quoted and linked. This page reports that literature. It does not tell you whether to combine them.
Every statement below is attributed to a named, dated, linked source.
This page lists published research relevant to Alcohol and Memantine. It deliberately does not state whether the combination is safe, whether it interacts, in which direction, at what dose, or how far apart to take them.
A study appearing here is not proof that an interaction exists. Two substances can be named together in a paper that never tested them in combination, and a source listed as background may cover only one of them.
Findings are quoted from each abstract as the authors wrote them. NutriStack has not re-analysed, pooled, or reconciled them, and they may disagree with each other.
NutriStack’s own interaction assessment for this pair is not published here. It has not completed qualified-human clinical review, so it is withheld from search. See the publication gate.
Nothing here is medical advice. Decisions about prescription medication and supplements belong with your prescriber or pharmacist, who can see your full regimen.
The research
8 studies naming Alcohol and Memantine.
Strongest relevance first: papers naming both substances in the title, then human trials and systematic reviews.
“Neither treatment condition significantly influenced alcohol-induced stimulation or sedation. Memantine (at a dose of 20 mg/day) enhances the efficacy of naltrexone (50 mg/day) in reducing alcohol drinking and craving among FHP drinkers with beneficial effects that appear to carryover after discontinuation of memantine treatment.”
Journal of addictive diseases · 2020 · PMID 32050864
Randomized Controlled Trial
“Memantine maintains a profile of high tolerability and low side-effects during post-detoxification AUD treatment. These data suggest a more aggressive dosing/escalation schedule may be used safely in future trials designed to ascertain improvements in neurocognitive function, affect, and/or craving as primary measures.”
Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2008 · PMID 18828800
Comparative StudyResearch Support, N.I.H., ExtramuralAnimal study
“Memantine may be of therapeutic value during alcohol detoxification by virtue of its having neuroprotective effects in addition to anti-seizure activity. The potential role of memantine in treatment of alcoholism is deserving of further study.”
“Memantine was well tolerated in combination with alcohol. The findings suggest that NMDA receptor neurotransmission may be involved in alcohol craving and alcohol-induced subjective dissociative effects.”
Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2024 · PMID 39038728
Animal study
“The findings reveal that Memantine significantly improves chronic alcohol-compromised cognitive functions and mitigates hippocampal pathological changes, implicating a moderating effect on the disassembly of actin cytoskeleton and microtubules in the hippocampus, induced by chronic alcohol exposure.”
International journal of molecular sciences · 2021 · PMID 34360704
Animal study
“Furthermore, our experiments indicated that ethanol withdrawal (7 days withdrawal after 10 days ethanol administration) down-regulated the CNR1 (encoding CB1), GRIN1/2A (encoding GluN1 and GluN2A subunit of the NMDA receptor) genes expression in the prefrontal cortex and dorsal striatum, but up-regulated these in the hippocampus, confirming the involvement of these receptors in ethanol rewarding effects.”
“Our results suggest that activation of the NR1-CaMKII-ERK pathway in the mPFC and NAcSh is an important contributor to the molecular mechanisms underlying alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety behaviors. NMDAR signaling pathway inhibitors are thus potential therapeutics for treating alcohol abuse.”
Names both Alcohol and Memantine in its title.
Limitations
What this evidence cannot tell you.
Search-based evidence indexes have real limits, and it is worth being explicit about them:
Selection. These records were found by searching PubMed titles and abstracts for both substance names alongside interaction and pharmacokinetic terms. Relevant work that phrases things differently, or is not indexed in PubMed, will be missing.
No effect size. The quoted conclusions are the authors’ words about their own study. We have not extracted effect direction or magnitude, and a single study’s conclusion is not a consensus.
Population mismatch. Findings in healthy volunteers, animals, or a specific patient group may not transfer to you, your dose, or your formulation.
Absence is not safety. Few published studies means the combination is under-studied, which is not the same as established as safe.
Nearby evidence
Other pairs with published research.
Pages covering Alcohol or Memantine alongside a different substance.
NutriStack is a free iPhone app for organising a supplement routine: what you take, when, and what the published record says about it. Its exploratory interaction checker covers Alcohol, Memantine, and several hundred other substances.
The checker is a research and organisation tool, not a clinical decision aid, and its per-pair assessments are excluded from search until they pass claim-level review.
NutriStack is an informational and organizational tool, not a medical service, and not a substitute for professional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting, stopping, or changing any supplement or medication.
