At any rate, use caution with this one, and take lower-than-usual doses of other substances, including foods containing tyrosine and other potentially dangerous monoamines (e.g. chocolate, cheese, wine).
Just elaborating here on interactions with selegiline (which is a drug I highly recommend, by the way). The active ingredient in chocolate that interacts with the MOAI in selegiline is phenylalanine. The same amino acid discussed earlier that serves as a precursor to dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline. It’s what people refer to when they talk about chocolate’s “happy hormone”.
Normally phenylalanine is fairly mild. Take a whole bunch and you may notice a boost in mood—particularly if stress has depleted your reserves. Even then it doesn’t last long. But with selegiline in the system it is a whole different ball game. The combo can be abused to give a euphoric high with an amount of phenylalanine you quite possibly wouldn’t even have noticed. The combo has also been used as a depression treatment. But either way selegiline + phenylalanine is powerful stuff. To the extent that I am surprised that people bother with illegal party drugs when this stuff is legal.
(Above notes aside I am not particularly warning against selegiline + chocolate. There isn’t that much phenylalanine in the stuff that you’re going to get high. :P)
Oh, and another thing. Selegiline is an irreversible MOAI-B. That means that when it deactivates the monoamine oxidase that molecule is deactivated for good. Basically, this means that the primary effect of selegiline operates over the timescale of about a month, not hours. It takes a while for the effects to build up and even longer for them to disappear completely. This is in stark contrast to most other things that give a stimulating effect. So don’t go about swallowing 500mg of phenylalanine a week after you stopped selegiline and be surprised when you hit the roof. ;)
Are you sure you mean phenylalanine and not phenylethylamine?
For me, the combo selegiline + 500 mg phenylalanine (or even 1000 mg) doesn’t produce any noticeable effects.
OTOH, selegiline + 500 mg phenylethylamine is really powerful stuff. On a par with the strongest illegal stimulants.
Just elaborating here on interactions with selegiline (which is a drug I highly recommend, by the way). The active ingredient in chocolate that interacts with the MOAI in selegiline is phenylalanine. The same amino acid discussed earlier that serves as a precursor to dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline. It’s what people refer to when they talk about chocolate’s “happy hormone”.
Normally phenylalanine is fairly mild. Take a whole bunch and you may notice a boost in mood—particularly if stress has depleted your reserves. Even then it doesn’t last long. But with selegiline in the system it is a whole different ball game. The combo can be abused to give a euphoric high with an amount of phenylalanine you quite possibly wouldn’t even have noticed. The combo has also been used as a depression treatment. But either way selegiline + phenylalanine is powerful stuff. To the extent that I am surprised that people bother with illegal party drugs when this stuff is legal.
(Above notes aside I am not particularly warning against selegiline + chocolate. There isn’t that much phenylalanine in the stuff that you’re going to get high. :P)
Oh, and another thing. Selegiline is an irreversible MOAI-B. That means that when it deactivates the monoamine oxidase that molecule is deactivated for good. Basically, this means that the primary effect of selegiline operates over the timescale of about a month, not hours. It takes a while for the effects to build up and even longer for them to disappear completely. This is in stark contrast to most other things that give a stimulating effect. So don’t go about swallowing 500mg of phenylalanine a week after you stopped selegiline and be surprised when you hit the roof. ;)
Are you sure you mean phenylalanine and not phenylethylamine?
For me, the combo selegiline + 500 mg phenylalanine (or even 1000 mg) doesn’t produce any noticeable effects. OTOH, selegiline + 500 mg phenylethylamine is really powerful stuff. On a par with the strongest illegal stimulants.
Thankyou, I mean the latter.