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MAOIs, stimulants, and other things

Posted by Elizabeth on June 4, 1999, at 11:41:23

In reply to Re: nardil/maoi -- and coffee!, posted by JD on June 4, 1999, at 8:22:12

> Ah, Elizabeth... Good to be reminded that there are people out there who know this stuff better than I do! ;-)

Jeez, I didn't mean for it to come out like *that*! :-)

> I think that both caffeine and nicotine have important *indirect* effects on the dopamine system, too.

Probably - who knows? It seems to me that all those neurotransmitter/neuromodulator systems are hopelessly entangled. If we ever sort them all out, it will be quite a feat.

>It's often said (and lately, I guess, often repeated by me) that Parnate is quite amphetamine-like in certain respects.

What, like the molecule looks almost exactly like amphetamine? :-) Seriously, I heard that rumor too, that Parnate or one of its metabolites has amphetamine-like activity. Nobody's ever really put much effort into investigating it, although whenever they autopsy a Parnate OD, they always seem to look for amphetamines. (Oops, that was kind of morbid.)

>I've wondered if the subjective effects of Nardil strike people as being totally different--Though I'm getting closer to trying an MAOI, I can't say I'm much of a stimulant-lover myself, perhaps cuz I tend to be so hypersensitive to them across the board.

I'm apparently hypersensitive to amphetamines, or at least to Ritalin - it made me feel really freaked out, and I kept thinking there were bugs crawling on my skin. Caffeine is okay, as is Cylert. I've never smoked a cigarette or anything like that. I did try nicotine chewing gum once (don't ask!), and it did make me extremely jittery, but that is probably just because it's intended for people who have some tolerance to the stuff.

Nardil is better for anxiety in my experience, and suspiciously enough, unlike Parnate it increases GABA concentrations. I think that's the main difference. I don't find Parnate actively "speedy." Oh, of course, one other thing - Nardil never caused "auto-hypertensive" reactions for me - the occasional occurence of such reactions is another thing that's been used to justify the claim that Parnate works like amphetamine (if this were true, it would mean that when you take it, you're basically mixing a MAOI and a small amount of speed).

Now, *selegiline*, on the other hand, was jittery. Contrary to claims that have been made for it, I didn't find it as easy to tolerate as the other two MAOIs I've tried. (And it turns out that selegiline *does* have amphetamine metabolites - I even tested positive for them (how embarrassing).)


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Psycho-Babble Medication | Framed

poster:Elizabeth thread:6791
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7055.html