Dear Cybersomniacs,
Recently, someone sent in a grave and solemn warning about the danger of
certain of our medications not to be taken with aged cheese, sausages, wine.
I don't recall from memory whether this was specifically tied to Eldepryl, but
it described the interaction between those things and too much Eldepryl. When
taken in doses above 10 mg per day (and all of us know this as a no-no),
Eldepryl can act like a non-specific monoamine oxidase inhibitor, to which the
warning should be attached.
Most of the Type A MAOI (type A monoamine oxidase inhibitors) will give this
reaction , as will Eldepryl in doses above 10mg daily, in a small number of
persons. The Type A inhibitors are rarely used, except to treat difficult-to-
manage hypertension, or high blood pressure. The brand names of them, Nardil,
Parnate (etc) are unknown to us.
The tyramine (aged cheese etc) warning is real for Type A drugs, and for
doses of Eldepryl above 10mg daily Usually, this warning is given to those
folks just starting on a MAO inhibitor, regardless of type. The warning
however is not valid for those persons taking Eldepryl in the prescribed
manner, one tablet (5mg) twice daily, with breakfast and lunch.
Usually, the warning is given by a conscientious, but incompletely-informed
pharmacist who thinks s/he is doing you a favor. While technically true,
there are very few among us who take either more Eldepryl than is prescribed
or a little-used, obscure, third-line high blood pressure medication. So if
your local pharmicist wants to give you this warning, and you have
successfully been on Eldepryl, hand them a copy of my letter, and ask for a
refutation. The warning is real, as outlined above, but doesn't apply to us.
PS If there are Parkinsonians out there whose docs have prescribed Nardil or
Parnate for your hypertension, I'd love to hear from you! Piffle, indeed !!
From a doc who thinks we get too many warnings anyway,
Don Penny, doctorwine@aol
