Questions and Answers
I have asked my psychiatrist to prescibe eldepryl for my depression. He has never used this for depression before, but since it is being tried, I wondered if you knew of any success in using this. I have heard there are less side effects than Nardil and Parnate, but when I read the PDR, it doesn't look that way. I'm really refering to that particular MAO's use for depression and not Parkinson's Disease. I have taken MAO's for over a year now (Parnate and Nardil) and have suffered weight gain with both. I was looking at Eldepryl for it's use for depression only and any unusual side effects in comparison with Parnate and Nardil. Also, have you seen this used for depression and was it effective?
You're probably referring to the possibility of hypertensive crisis due to vasoactive amines and MAO inhibition. It is generally accepted that at doses up to 10mg./day, the effect is selective for MAO-TypeB; MAO-TypeA is unaffected. Higher doses may produce inhibition of A as well and thus call for dietary restrictions as for non-specific MAO inhibitors. Up until May of this year (my latest info) there has beeen no report of hypertensive crisis while using eldepryl - in one case, the lady (a registered nurse) reported her husband using the drug for 6 years, got 'really flushed' after red wine (a not uncommon phenomenon) and increased sensitivity to bee stings! It would seem that a dosage limited to 10mg./day or less in a fully compliant individual should be readily tolerated. All the MAO inhibitors have a wide variety of side effects - the selective ones, like deprenyl, benefit from the reduced possibility of hypertensive crisis but, as far as I know, have no benefit on the side-effect side of the equation - fortunately it has shown a low incidence of such effects in Parkinson's patients. About its effectiveness in depression, I'm outside my area of competence.