Dramatic favorable responses of children with learning disabilities or dyslexia and attention deficit disorder to antimotion sickness medications: four case reports

Percept Mot Skills. 1991 Dec;73(3 Pt 1):723-38. doi: 10.2466/pms.1991.73.3.723.

Abstract

Responses of four learning disabled children who showed dramatic improvements to one or more antimotion-sickness-antihistamines and -stimulants are described qualitatively. These cases were selected from a prior quantitative study in which three antihistamines (meclizine, cyclizine, dimenhydrinate) and three stimulants (pemoline, methylphenidate, dextroamphetamine) were tested in variable combinations (using a specific clinical method) for favorable responses by 100 children characterized by diagnostic evidence of learning disabilities and cerebellar-vestibular dysfunctioning. Pending validation in double-blind controlled studies, these qualitative results suggest that the "cerebellar-vestibular (CV) stabilizing" antimotion-sickness medications, Piracetam included, and their combinations may be shown to be therapeutically useful in treating children with learning disabilities or dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Comparative Study

MeSH terms

  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / drug therapy*
  • Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / psychology
  • Central Nervous System Stimulants / therapeutic use*
  • Child
  • Cyclizine / therapeutic use
  • Dextroamphetamine / therapeutic use
  • Dimenhydrinate / therapeutic use
  • Dyslexia / drug therapy*
  • Dyslexia / psychology
  • Female
  • Histamine Antagonists / therapeutic use*
  • Humans
  • Learning Disabilities / drug therapy*
  • Learning Disabilities / psychology
  • Male
  • Meclizine / therapeutic use
  • Methylphenidate / therapeutic use
  • Motion Sickness / drug therapy*
  • Motion Sickness / psychology
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Pemoline / therapeutic use
  • Vestibular Function Tests

Substances

  • Central Nervous System Stimulants
  • Histamine Antagonists
  • Methylphenidate
  • Meclizine
  • Pemoline
  • Dimenhydrinate
  • Cyclizine
  • Dextroamphetamine