MAO-A / MAO-I differences?

[optimuswind]

Hello,

I am unable to take any MAO-I drugs / antidepressants because of asthma (told by my doctor years ago), and even if I did not have asthma, I would like to avoid them because from what I have read, they have quite bad interactions with a lot of other substances.

I recently came across some Russian anti-anxiety medication called Afobazole which I plan to try.

However, it mentions MAO-A on the wiki page, and also here: http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/45726881/effect-afobazole-mitochondrial-monoamine-oxidase-activity-vitro

The whole neuropsychopharmacology area is far too complicated and way above my level of understanding, I was hoping someone could tell me if this drug doing things with MAO-A is in any way the same as something acting on MAO-I, and if it is safe for me to take with asthma, and if there are any contraindications with many other chemicals like there are with MAO-I's.

Another (Russian) anxiolytic I am planning to try is Bromantane, I can't see anything to do with MAO interactions with that, and with these drugs being Russian finding much if any at all English literature on them is difficult.

Could someone that knows their stuff take a look at these and give me a rundown of the safety precautions and whether or not I should worry about MAO-I(?) interactions - with either of them? And if not (or even if so) could you explain what the potential problems are for me and whether you think they should be safe for me to take? As I said, I've read that MAO-Is interact badly with a lot of other drugs, and I would rather avoid them, but if MAO-A is different enough to not make any difference, I would really like to try them for my anxiety.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sekio]

MAO-I stands for MonoAmine Oxidase - Inhibitor. There are 2 protiens in the body that are classed as monoamine oxidases, MAO-A and MAO-B. MAOIs bind to these protiens and inhibit their activity. MAOIs can inhibit either MAOA, MAOB, or both.

I am unable to take any MAO-I drugs / antidepressants because of asthma

Never heard of MAOIs being contraindicated with athsma. Usually the only thing that contraindicates MAOI administration, is concurrrent administration of a strong monoamine releaser like amphetamine. I suppose MAOIs would interfere with the common e.g. bronchodilators, though - ephedrine and stuff like that.

Most of the scary side effects come from permanent, irreversable MAOIs (phenelzine/hydrazines), and "reversible" MAOIs like harmine or afboazole will have much less of an effect. If you are not on any other medication I would not worry about MAO-based side effects.

The whole neuropsychopharmacology area is far too complicated and way above my level of understanding,

No offense - don't take strange Russian drugs then. Especially ones that have unknown modes of action.

 

[optimuswind]

MAO-I stands for MonoAmine Oxidase - Inhibitor. There are 2 protiens in the body that are classed as monoamine oxidases, MAO-A and MAO-B. MAOIs bind to these protiens and inhibit their activity. MAOIs can inhibit either MAOA, MAOB, or both.



Never heard of MAOIs being contraindicated with athsma. Usually the only thing that contraindicates MAOI administration, is concurrrent administration of a strong monoamine releaser like amphetamine. I suppose MAOIs would interfere with the common e.g. bronchodilators, though - ephedrine and stuff like that.

Most of the scary side effects come from permanent, irreversable MAOIs (phenelzine/hydrazines), and "reversible" MAOIs like harmine or afboazole will have much less of an effect. If you are not on any other medication I would not worry about MAO-based side effects.



No offense - don't take strange Russian drugs then. Especially ones that have unknown modes of action.

Thanks for the reply. It was very helpful, I wonder why then the doctor wouldn't give me any MAOI antidepressants and said it was because of my asthma? my asthma is actually even quite mild, I don't even really get strong "attacks", my throat just gets a bit tighter, take a hit of my inhaler and i'm done. happens like 2-3 times a day at most. so are you saying based on what (little) info we know of how these drugs work, there's nothing to worry about if i'm not taking an amphetamine? (that's speedy stuff like adderall or modafinil right? energy boosting things?).

Also, I've been dealing with chronic social anxiety with co-morbid major depressive disorder for about 15+ years now and I have tried everything, nothing is helping and at 25 I am starting to lose hope and thus am looking into more obscure / not relatively well known medication that my doctors have no idea of. I am trying things like piracetam, aniracetam, citicoline, sarcosine and various other nootropic supplements, which, to be frank are actually helping me an absolutely tremendous amount, and it is a low toxic, sustainable solution as opposed to another benzo addiction. so yes, I think I well take strange russian drugs so I can get on with my life, thanks for the concern though.

 

[sekio]

The reason athsma is "contraindicated" with MAOIs is because if you get an athsma attack, the medicines that could save your life now could instead kill or harm you by raising your heart rate blood pressure to dangerous levels.

If you need an inhaler (typically salbutamol) you probably should not be using MAO-Is alongside it because you run the risk of side effects like tachycardia, arrythmia, panic attacks and so on that you normally would not encounter.

Afobazole is a reversible MAO-A, like harmine. So you can also go looking at using drugs like harmine when you have athsma - the general consesnsus, is if you stop using your inhaler for a day or so you can then play with MAO as you like, as long as you limit the intake of other drugs.

(ref: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19902087)

 

[optimuswind]

well my inahler is salbutamol, so then I can't? why would you say prety much the opposite in your first post and then retract it with "this can actually kill you"? I could have taken some in that time had I had any..

 

[sekio]

I suppose MAOIs would interfere with the common e.g. bronchodilators, though - ephedrine and stuff like that. [...] If you are not on any other medication I would not worry about MAO-based side effects.

Where did I say it was safe to combine it with asthma drugs? More importantly, where did you say you took any drugs for your asthma in the first post? (hint: you didn't)

Either way, I'm not a doctor, and anyone who takes wierd experimental drugs without doing their research first is, plainly stated, a fool. A cursory google search shows that salbutamol/albuterol/Ventolin plus MAOIs is a no-no.

see also,
https://www.dmt-nexus.me/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=38208
http://asthma.emedtv.com/albuterol-inhaler/albuterol-inhaler-drug-interactions-p2.html
http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-547...THOMIMETICS/MAOI'S&intrtype=DRUG&pagenumber=9

 

[optimuswind]

You didn't say it, but you never told me otherwise when I specifically said I can't use them *because my doctor told me it was because of my asthma* and then you even said *I don't know why he would say that*. There is something called ommission of evidence being evidence. Are you an idiot? What do you think I am doing here, having a picnic? this is the best research I can do on an obscure russian drug. You also have a shit ton of posts, and are a moderator, nobody came in to contradict what you told me, as far as I knew, and as much as anyone can be certain regarding info from anyone on the internet, I would have been fine to take it.

And you just resort to namecalling after that? fuck you, you absolute dickbag.

 

[sekio]

you even said *I don't know why he would say that*

I never said that, don't twist my words. I said I had "never heard of MAOIs being contraindicated with asthma".
Some people have unmedicated asthma, or they take e.g. steroid medications. It's not asthma that is contraindicated with MAOIs, it's a subclass of drugs used to treat it (adrenergic agonists) that's the problem.

And you just resort to namecalling after that? fuck you, you absolute dickbag.

You're welcome, as well I'm not here to pick fights - just saying that you should maybe consider doing independent research on wierd compounds you ingest, or you'll end up in trouble one day.

 

[bloodshed344]

You didn't say it, but you never told me otherwise when I specifically said I can't use them *because my doctor told me it was because of my asthma* and then you even said *I don't know why he would say that*. There is something called ommission of evidence being evidence. Are you an idiot? What do you think I am doing here, having a picnic? this is the best research I can do on an obscure russian drug. You also have a shit ton of posts, and are a moderator, nobody came in to contradict what you told me, as far as I knew, and as much as anyone can be certain regarding info from anyone on the internet, I would have been fine to take it.

And you just resort to namecalling after that? fuck you, you absolute dickbag.

Don't get mad just because you slipped up on communication and he couldn't read your mind. You're mighty argumentative as evidenced by the way you said "why did you say blah blah and then retract it blah blah blah contradict". He was obviously only trying to help you, and he didn't miscommunicate anything. I read.

Sound like you're redirecting frustration.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

Well played sek-man. If you don't know what a MAOI is don't take it; they are very potentially lethal drugs. I think you're mad because he tried to stop you from putting strange soviet creations in your ol' noggin.

 

[Hammilton]

This fellow comes here, asking for advice, not knowing what MAOI and MAO-A stand for, omits key information and then gets upset when you have to clarify the advice you've given because of his omissions?

He's clearly not capable of making his own medical choices. Perhaps not many are, and that's why we've allowed doctors to act as proxies for us. Whatever the reason, he's a douche and should just be happy that you caught that before he made a real mistake- like taking selegiline or tranylcypromine!

I doubt afobazole would be a problem given it's weak inhibitory effects (it's more like amphetamine as far as I can tell) but as you warned- if you're not willing to do basic research yourself, don't blame someone else when things turn out badly. This is one of those fucks who'd smoke heroin, OD and blame the dealer.

 

[ebola?]

Okay. I think that the question was answered (and definitions clarified) as best as would be possible by sekio already. I'm going to close this thread, because volleying insults back and forth won't prove fruitful. Please PM me if you would like to make a case for reopening the thread.

ebola