Can I use Selegiline?

[Yalie22]

Hi!
Firstly, this probably is a very wrong place for me to post this question, but I also believe people here might have the knowledge to help me out.

I am 19 years old, completely normal, with no diseases. I've been fascinated with selegiline for months now. It sounds like the perfect drug. I study at Yale and have a very busy life, and an active sex life as well. I've researched a LOT on selegiline and it looks like this could help me a LOT. I also read somewhere though that it is recommended only for people above 30. I was wondering if there would be any problems if I used this drug, not on a daily basis, but during the intense times at college. The dopaminergic effect it has should work with me as well, and since it doesn't really have any other side effects...

[OSMD]

There has been a recent escalation in the off-label use of certain pharmaceutical agents administered more appropriately for the treatment of disease. Being an ivy leaguer, here's an interesting caveat that you may want to investigate a bit further before using a selective MAO-B inhibitor. I'm uncertain how you quantify or define a "LOT" in your research efforts, but as a physician I'll endeavor to point out that your study of the potential side-effects of an agent like this is somewhat lacking.

MAO-B inhibition at the levels produced by Selegiline are commensurate with about a 50% to 70% increase in synaptic dopamine. An interesting note not shared in the insert for dopamine agonists is that the brain responds to this increase by decreasing the amount of natural dopamine produced in the substantia nigra. In fact, the brain performs this down-regulation with a lot of neurotransmitters. It should interest you to know that while the half-like of selective MAOIs is somewhat better than non-selective agents, the brain can sometimes undergo permanent down-regulation depending upon the patient.

This is why parkinson's patients ultimately require constantly increasing doses of levadopa because the brain continues to make less of the neurotransmitter. Consequently, a paradoxical relationship arises in the manner that artificial means can produce short-acting effects to help patients with mobility, but at the price of permanent down-regulation of whatever natural dopamine presently exists.  

Patients using MAOIs can also unwittingly consume food products containing levadopa and the inhibition of MAO at the intestinal level has been directly linked to hyperpyrexia.

Although the selective MAOIs are more reversible in nature concerning their binding affinity, there is no conclusive evidence regarding their safety under certain conditions.

So if Selegiline is something you feel is warranted to help you during "intense" times at college, you may wind up spending the more sublime periods of academia dealing with the sometimes irreversible effects of using MAOIs. They are, in many ways, toxic.

Lastly, I'd suggest you place your research of this drug on the shelf until you've at least completed the baccalaureate phase of your education. A college education possesses the mysterious quality of significantly altering your values and standards as you proceed. It would be my hope that you come to learn the value in using your natural talents rather than seeking methods to inappropriately enhance them, a prospect that can sometimes be very unforgiving in the instance of drug use.

Best regards,

OWS, MD