![[dr. bob]](/dr-bob-sm.gif)
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by MissThang on December 27, 2010, at 10:51:54
Despite the fact that I'm going off parnate, I've had several hypertensive reactions over the past couple of days and now I'm scared to eat anything.
Background: I gave parnate a 6 week trial but after receiving no benefit and constantly elevated blood pressure, I decided to go off of it Christmas Eve. I realize, of course, that I still need to follow the MAOI diet for another couple of weeks, but I swear it seems that I'm more sensitive to various foods now than I was when I was still taking the stuff.
Christmas day, for example, I ate some plain cheese pizza, one slice -- it was a frozen pizza and I reviewed the ingredients carefully and it said there was only mozzerella cheese and nothing else listed seemed questionable. Despite all the new dietary guidelines saying mozeralla's ok in moderation, I still went hypertensive (I got some thorazine in me by the time it got to around 160/115).
Yesterday, however, was the absolute worst. I fixed myself a turkey sandwich from leftover Christmas turkey, and within 3 bites, my scalp started tingling...took my bp and it had reached 170/120...thankfully, by chewing up my thorazine and let some dissolve under my tongue, I was able to get it to start going down almost immediately, at which point, I thought I was safe.
Problem is, after that, everything else I tried to eat the rest of the day would send my bp up -- Breyer's vanilla ice cream and some Campbell's soup that I had eaten many times before on parnate both sent my bp rising quickly again, which meant more thorazine:-(.
I ended up resorting to calling 911, but by the time the paramedics arrived, my by was down to the 150's/90's and they seemed to be pretty clueless anyway (kept asking me if I had been drinking -- I told them my tongue was numb from having chewed up thorazine, but they still seemed suspicious...then they said they thought I had a problem because I seemed fixated on possibility of my having a hypertensive stroke, which they decided was a signal that something was wrong with me mentally. Of course I was fixated on trying to avoid a hypertensive stroke!!! Why the *!&#% do you think I called 911 in the first place?!! They didn't really know what MAOI's were in the first place and didn't understand why I was taking thorazine unless I was actually psychotic.
Anyway -- enough about my horrible experience with the paramedics. I'm scared to eat anything at all today for fear of triggering another crisis and yet I need to take my lithium (which makes me quite ill unless I take it after eating).
What are the absolute safest foods to eat on an MAIO? I can't wait to get this poison out of my system and start eating normally again!!! (I'm going to try going back on wellbutrin, this time augmented with lithium to see if that brings its benefits back for me).
I obviously need to stick with things that have absolutely no tyramine, and at this point, I'm not really sure what I should try that won't shoot my bp up into the stratosphere again!!
Thanks in advance for your help -- I appreciate it!
Posted by emmanuel98 on December 27, 2010, at 20:57:53
In reply to After Hypertensive Crisis, Safest Things to Eat?, posted by MissThang on December 27, 2010, at 10:51:54
I guess you have a blood pressure cuff at home. My friend lent me one when we were having dinner and I went to the ER after eating parmesan cheese and going to the ER to get my BP checked. In my experience, having a BP cuff around all the time is not a great idea. I became obsessive about taking my BP and the fact is that BP is very volatile. Walking up a couple of flights of stairs can push your systolic pressure way up. So I don't want to minimize your worries but maybe you aren't having hypertensive crises. Maybe your BP is just volatile. You might want to see your GP about this. I pizza with nothing but mozzeralla shouldn't have tyramine, nor should a turkey sandwich unless the turkey has gone bad, nor should canned soup. There are plenty of things which never have tyramine -- eggs, milk, grains, fresh meats, vegetables and most fruits, nuts, etc. Go on a really healthy low fat diet for a couple of weeks until the parnate has left your system and you should be alright. And why take your BP unless you get a severe occiptial headache??
Posted by MissThang on December 27, 2010, at 22:21:42
In reply to Re: After Hypertensive Crisis, Safest Things to Eat?, posted by emmanuel98 on December 27, 2010, at 20:57:53
Emmanual, I appreciate your thoughts, but no -- the reaction to the leftover turkey was definitely an hyptertensive crisis in the making...I started feeling all tingly and hot and within just a few bites, my bp had gone from aroun 124/74 to 170/120 -- that's not just changeable -- that's crisis level (the diastolic reading anyway).
I realize bp varies throughout the day, but for me, it usually rises only a bit during/immediately after eating and then about 10 mins later it actually drops, but this was nothing like that and the other increases were much higher than usual too.
Today, I seem to be back to normal, I guess, but I've just had so many problems with hypertension with this drug that I'm really ready to get it out of my system!
This is the end of the thread.
Psycho-Babble Medication | Extras | FAQ
Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.org
Script revised: February 4, 2008
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/cgi-bin/pb/mget.pl
Copyright 2006-17 Robert Hsiung.
Owned and operated by Dr. Bob LLC and not the University of Chicago.