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Lucile/RWright, I do not understand the neurologist who, when prescribing eldepryl (selegline hydrochloride) for the first time, specifically gave out a diet warning against the so called "cheese effect". He would be very correct IF eldepryl was a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, type A. It is not. Eldepryl IS a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, type B, and does not have the "cheese effect". The chemical name for what we know as "eldepryl" is: (R)-(-)-N,2-dimethly-N-2-propynylphenethylamine. It was first marketed in Hungary as "Jumex"; as Deprenyl in Europe; and Eldepryl in the US. This drug, by any name, is NOT a type-A monoammine oxidase inhibitor (MAO-A). It IS a type-B monoammine oxidase inhibitor (MAO-B). Some people who do not stay current with the literature, sometimes confuse the two. The only known food or drug that is contraindicated with eldepryl is anesthetics of the demerol family of drugs. What started this confusion was a cruise in the Carribbean that Charles Wilson (a nom de plume to protect the real person's privacy) took in 1963. He enjoyed the foods: alcohol, cheese, sauerkraaut, chocolate, meat, etc. Charles was taking a drug called Eutonyl, a drug that was a MAO-A chemical compound. Three days into the cruise, Mr. Wilson suffered terrible headaches, and stiff neck, and began to vomit. He was airlifted off the cruise ship as "a medical emergency" with extremely high blood pressure. Later, after test, it was determined that the "cheese effect diet" was reactive with MAOs (before the type-A, and type-B was fully recognized). Some, who refuse to see that there are "modifiers" in the course of history stll say if it is an MAO it has the cheese effect, when in fact the MAO-B does not have the cheese effect at all unless an unusually (very) high dosage is taken ...not likely where the standard dose is 2 tabs a day. My only advice is to get another neurologist, and, two, make yourself aware and current of the information available regarding Parkinson's Disease. One way to do this is to read "Parkinson's Disease: The Mystery, The Search, and the Promise" ISBN 0-9620354-1-6, Lib of Congress Card Number 92-093912. The Charles Wilson story is an extraction from this book that has complete reference bibliographies. You can get the book by writing Pixel Press, P O Box 3151, Tequesta, Florida. 33469-0501, USA. Price, returned postage prepaid: US, $16.95; Canada, $17.50; Outside the continent, $19.50. All in US funds. If you live in the State of Florida, add $0.90. I hope this has been helpful to you in clarification of the matter, and will help stop the proliferation of incorrect information by people that should know better. VernD <[log in to unmask]>