Medications

Methionen

A healthy adult should consume around 19 mg of L-methionine per kilo of body weight per day.

However particular conditions and circumstances can lead to a higher requirement. These include allergies, liver conditions and urinary tract infections (Aminoacidstudies.org, 2017).

Effects

Methionine is used to prevent liver damage in acetaminophen poisoning. In acetaminophen poisoning, methionine prevents the breakdown products of acetaminophen from damaging the liver (WebMD, 2017).

As methionine makes urine more acidic, it can be used effectively to prevent urinary tract infections (UTIs). This is because E. coli, which is usually responsible for cystitis, cannot survive in an acidic environment (WebMD, 2017).

It is also used for increasing the acidity of urine, treating liver disorders, and improving wound healing. Other uses include treating depression, alcoholism, allergies, asthma, copper poisoning, radiation side effects, schizophrenia, drug withdrawal, and Parkinson’s disease. More evidence is needed to rate the effectiveness of methionine for these uses (WebMD, 2017).

A study was conducted on 11 patients who had untreated Parkinson’s disease. Participants were treated with L methionine for periods from two weeks to six months and showed improvement in akinesia and rigidity, resulting in fewer tremors than usual (WebMD, 2017).

Methionine may help athletic performance (and even weight loss) due to its effects on bones. Results indicate that the methionine combined with endurance exercise caused lower whole bone mass, size and/or strength, but it enhanced natural bone strength overall (Meininger, 1982).

Side Effects

Too much methionine can cause brain damage and death. Methionine can increase blood levels of homocysteine, a chemical that might cause heart disease.

Methionine might also promote the growth of some tumours. Methionine can cause changes in acidity of the blood and should not be used in people with a condition called acidosis. Methionine can cause changes in acidity of the blood and should not be used in people with a condition called acidosis (WebMD, 2017).

There is some concern that methionine might make atherosclerosis worse. Methionine can increase blood levels of a chemical called homocysteine, especially in people who don’t have enough folate, vitamin B12, or vitamin B6 in their bodies, or in people whose bodies have trouble processing homocysteine. Too much homocysteine is linked to an increased risk for diseases of the heart and blood vessels. (WebMD, 2017)

Methionine might make liver disease worse (WebMD, 2017)

Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) deficiency is an inherited disorder. It changes the way the body processes homocysteine. People who have this disorder should not take methionine supplements because methionine might cause homocysteine to build up in these people. Too much homocysteine might increase the chance of developing diseases of the heart or blood vessels. (WebMD, 2017)

Large doses of methionine (e.g., 20 g/day for 5 days) might cause confusion, disorientation, delirium, agitation, listlessness, and other similar symptoms in people with schizophrenia (WebMD, 2017).

Alternatives

While you can purchase supplements, it’s likely that you’re getting all the methionine you need through your food.

Free-range chicken— which is always the best way to obtain nutrition when possible.

There’s a long list of foods that have methionine, with the highest levels coming from meat and fish sources, but here are a few to give you a sense of the variety of foods that contain it, based on levels of 200-calorie serving): egg whites, free-range elk, wild-caught fish, such as halibut, orange roughy, tuna, ling, pike, cod, cusk, sunfish, dolphinfish, haddock, whitefish, turkey, seaweed and spirulina, sesame seeds, brazil nuts, oats, and sunflower butter (Huang, 2014) (Nutritiondata, 2017).

Baclofen

Effects

Baclofen is used to treat muscle spasms caused by certain conditions (such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury/disease). It works by helping to relax the muscles (Coffin, 2017).

Side Effects

Drowsiness, dizziness, weakness, tiredness, headache, trouble sleeping, nausea, increased urination, or constipation (Coffin, 2017).

Discontinuation of baclofen can be associated with a withdrawal syndrome which resembles benzodiazepine withdrawal and alcohol withdrawal.

Withdrawal symptoms are more likely if baclofen is used for long periods of time (more than a couple of months) and can occur from low or high doses.

Withdrawal symptoms may include auditory hallucinations, visual hallucinations, tactile hallucinations, delusions, confusion, agitation, delirium, disorientation, fluctuation of consciousness, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, inattention, memory impairments, perceptual disturbances, itching, anxiety, depersonalization, hypertonia, hyperthermia, formal thought disorder, psychosis, mania, mood disturbances, restlessness, and behavioral disturbances, tachycardia, seizures, tremors, autonomic dysfunction, fever, extreme muscle rigidity resembling neuroleptic malignant syndrome and rebound spasticity

This drug may make you dizzy or drowsy. Alcohol or marijuana can make you more dizzy or drowsy (Coffin, 2017).

Interactions

Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you are taking other products that cause drowsiness such as opioid pain or cough relievers (such as codeine, hydrocodone), alcohol, marijuana, drugs for sleep or anxiety (such as alprazolam, lorazepam, zolpidem), other muscle relaxants (such as carisoprodol, cyclobenzaprine), or antihistamines (such as cetirizine, diphenhydramine) (Coffin, 2017).

Novalgin

Effects

The active ingredient metamizole has an analgesic, antipyretic and relaxing on the muscles. How the substance works, however, could not be finally clarified (NOVALGIN, 2015).

Apart from its analgesic effect, the medication is an antipyretic and spasmolytic agent (Jasiecka, 2014).

NOTE: Metamizole is banned in several countries, available by prescription in others (sometimes with strong warnings, sometimes without), and available over the counter in yet others. For example, approval was withdrawn in Sweden (1974), the USA (1977), and India (2013, ban lifted in 2014). In 2018 an investigation in Spain looked into Nolotil (as Metamizole is known as in Spain) after the death of several British people in Spain a possible cause could be a side effect that can cause agranulocytosis (a lowering of white blood cell count).

Side Effects

Hypersensitivity reactions of the skin, such as rash, low blood pressure, and collapse tendency in case of excessive blood pressure drop (NOVALGIN, 2015).

For patients with nasal polyps, chronic respiratory infections, asthma or allergic reactions such as hay fever, the medicine may cause an asthma attack or a severe allergic skin reaction (NOVALGIN, 2015).

Alternatives

NOTE: Metamizole seems to be safer than other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and causes fewer gastric and duodenal ulcers in postoperative pain management (Jasiecka, 2014) (Clinicaladvisor, 2016).

References