Relaxa-Tabs (25mg mepyramine maleate)

[Pleonastic]

Hey guys,

For my work I sometimes have to work nightshifts, and then suddenly swing right back into a string of day shifts - often with less than 8 hours turnaround. In those cases where I work until midnight and then have to be back at 8:00am the next morning, I've been using Restavit (25mg doxylamine succinate) which has helped really well.

However this thread isn't about restavit (I actually started one here a couple of years ago). The other day I went to the chemist to get a pack of restavit and they had run out. So asking for something similar, they gave me Relaxa-Tabs (25mg mepyramine maleate), which actually come in the same sort of packet and are made by the same company (the instructions on the back are almost identical).

These didn't really work for me - I still had trouble falling asleep unlike with restavit where it was quite effective. However I did feel like the small amount of sleep I managed to get was quite beneficial, and I hardly felt tired at all the next day despite only getting a few hours sleep.

So, after that ramble, here are a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone might know the answers to (cos I ran a search and only came up with two threads that vaguely mentioned it, and I can't even really find much with google either!):

• What are the major differences between restavit and relaxa-tabs?
• After a big weekend I'll sometimes use restavit to help me sleep - but is there any danger involved with relaxa-tabs (big weekend meaning mainly amphetamine use)?
• Anything else interesting that I should know about relaxa-tabs, or any links to further information will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

 

[BigTrancer]

Sounds great... effective sleep in a short period without hangover...

BigTrancer

 

[phase_dancer]

I also had trouble locating anything much on mepyramine. It is a histamine antagonist targeting H1 receptors. Here are the structures if it's any help. I had to end up drawing them both as online sources turned up nothing worthwhile.

An interesting thing to note is the complexity of the 3D latticing arrangement, which has made structure determination of the ester very difficult. Doxylamine succinate bond types are many and the form asymmetrical in arrangement. Although conformationally restricted due to the double bond, mepyramine would no doubt also have a complex struture. How this affects efficacy is hard to say, but would IMO provide fast assimilation and transport of the drug in vivo


The maleate of mepyramine also known as pyrilamine. Try doing a google on that.

 

[Pleonastic]

Thanks for that info!

I'm having just as much trouble finding out about pyrilamine anywhere too. I think I'll ask the pharmacist that recommended it.

 

[superbabydoc]

All I could find on mepyramine was that it is yet another sedating antihistamine (as is doxylamine). Therefore it has the same side effects, interactions and so on as other sedating antihistamines. The fact there is little information about it in MIMS or Micromedex (which both contain all the manufacturers product information on thousdands of drus between them) suggests that it is not a popular drug.

On a side note, the notion of shift work and its effects on health is something I have become more interested in lately. I have been working shifts for about 9 years, and it is getting harder and harder to tolerate the change of shift, and associated sleep problems/fatigue. Working a late shift and then an early is like torture to me, yet I do it it at least once a week, sometimes twice. There is increasng research about the harmful effects of changing shifts on physical and mental health. I suggest you get out of shiftwork as soon as you possibly can!