Is MAO inhibitor the most dangerous prescribing drug alive, worst than heroin?

Question

monoamine oxidase inhibitor is a drug given for mood disorders such as depression etc. It is also a drug given for parkinsons disease. however, this drug is last when almost all medications for mood doesn't work, even tricyclics. My friend is taking insocarboxazaid, known as Marplan (MAO inhibitor) and she cannot eat MOST foods and the diet is very strict. If by accident she ate the wrong food such as cheese, my friend is dead in less than 5 minutes. Because it suddently increases blood pressure to a lethal amount in seconds, causing a heart attack. My friend has to carry a LONG list of foods she cannot eat every time she shops for food. This drug is very very dangerous! how could doctors prescribe these stuff to patients? you would need to have a huge amount of heroin in your body in order to die, besides heroin doesn't have any lethal effects if combined with ANY food. What is with this drug, it is even worst than ECT shock therapy. I have found a website that shows a bunch of food that cannot be eaten. Does anyone disagree, b/c it MAO inhibitor seems extremely dangerous.   

Foods cannot eat--  
http://nepenthes.lycaeum.org/Misc/maoi.foods.html

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Heroin's not a prescription drug firstly.

The older generation of MAO inhibitors do have side effects with tyramine (cheese, wine containing foods and a whole lot of others) and can cause hypertensive crises (though not in 5 minutes as you alluded to as far as I know).

The newer forms of MAO inhibitors tend to have less of a dietary interaction but they're still not usually prescribed.

Why is your friend taking Marplan? is it for a mood disorder?
It's surprising that she isn't started on the more common classes of mood disorder medications like SSRIs (prozac, celexa..etc.)

A lot of drugs are dangerous - yes MAO inhibitors are bad with dietary reactions but no drug is perfectly safe.

P G · Answer

ALL antidepressants have side-effects!

Foods with "tyramine"

It's an older antidepressant, it came out in 1959.  The original manufacturer stopped making it in 1994.

"A randomized controlled trial published in December 1988 found that isocarboxazid significantly reduced binging and purging in bulimia nervosa, regardless of the presence or absence of depression or personality disorder."

With today's new medications it's really a last resort.

> "Does anyone disagree, b/c it MAO inhibitor seems extremely dangerous. "

Even the tricyclics will elevate blood pressure, and other side effects.    To be chemically and clinically depressed, life literally stops.   Trust me, the precautions your friend puts up is small compared to being severely depressed.  As long as she's being monitored closely by a physician she should be ok.  It's better she's taking this under a doctor's care rather than "self-medicating".  You really can't compare it to taking heroin.

Having said this, she should continue to investigate newer medications or combination of meds.

Anonymous · Answer

MAOIs aren't dangerous, they just have a lot of dangerous interactions. And because you're clearly ignorant of the reality, I'll point out that your friend won't just drop dead if she eats something that's not approved. The possible side effects are myriad and many of them are life threatening, but some of them are more innocuous like sweating. It goes without saying that if your friend feels she'd be better off without the drug then she should discontinue its use.

Trending News

Is MAO inhibitor the most dangerous prescribing drug alive, worst than heroin?

3 Answers