Posted by adiaphora on November 6, 2012, at 3:10:19
Does anyone have any experience and/or knowledge of Parnate/Tranylcypromine leading to thiamine (or other B vitamin, especially B12) deficiency? I have been on Tranylcypromine (60 mg/day) for about three months now and seem to be manifesting the symptoms of beriberi (pedal edema, lethargy, urinary incontinence, et al.; also I should probably admit that I have been living on a diet of processed carbohydrates through this last 6-month depressive episode). Some of the symptoms have subsided with over-the-counter thiamine and B-complex administration, but others (especially what I think would be accurately be called some version of peripheral neuropathy)are not improving very quickly if at all. I am considering going to an emergency room for diagnosis, but so far have met only opposition from the members of the medical community to whom I have access at the idea that a non-alcoholic person following a Standard American Diet could contract beriberi. I found some research that seems to point to a connection between thiamine deficiency and Tranylcypromine (Ali, B.H. (1985), Effect of some monoamine oxidase inhibitors on the thiamin status of rabbits. British Journal of Pharmacology, 86: 869875. doi: 10.1111/j.1476-5381.1985.tb11109.x; Wei, R., and L. M. Lewin. "The biosynthesis of thiamine: A yeast enzyme system which converts 2-methyl-4-amino-5-aminomethylpyridimine to 2-methyl-4-amino-5-hydroxymethylpyrimidine." Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-General Subjects 230.2 (1971): 253-257.) but I am neither a biochemist nor a medical doctor (although of course even I understand that research on rats is not the same as work on humans), so I thought that I would appeal to the extensive knowledge and experience of so many on this board and see if what I am going through either rings any bells or makes any biochemical sense.
p.s. I know that Nardil has been connected to B6 deficiency and I have read that research, but those symptoms just don't fit.
poster:adiaphora
thread:1030783
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20121029/msgs/1030783.html