Posted by gardenergirl on January 30, 2004, at 17:16:12
In reply to Re: MAOI diet during drug washout » gardenergirl, posted by Ilene on January 30, 2004, at 17:03:24
I hope it works for you, too as it seems like a miracle drug for me.
Here's the story about my reaction. I had some major dental work done just before Thanksgiving. I looked over all of the food and scanned for cheese and other no-no's, but I was mostly looking at the texture for soft stuff as I was still in some pain. It never occured to me that my aunt would use giblets in the stuffing as my mother never used to, but I realize now that is really naive. I just wasn't thinking and was also on Vicuprofen, so...not my sharpest. Anyway, not long after dinner I developed a terrible headache. I attributed it to referred tooth pain and took another Vicuprofen when it was time. I have had migraines in the past, so the headache, although awful, did not scare me. (Incidentally, not a single migraine since I started the Nardil. Used to also take tylenol daily for tension headaches, but none of those, either!)
I later realized that I must be having a reaction, as the Vicuprofen didn't really help, but it was fading with time, which a migraine does not usually do with me. By the time I got back home, about 2 hours or so after it started, my BP was normal and my head felt much better. I am betting if I could have checked it during the headache it would have been elevated.
There are others who have gone to the hospital and/or who carry emergency medication to deal with hypertensive crises. The jury is still out according to research as to whether these emergency meds (Procardia is one, can't think of the other)are effective or safe, so I have never asked my doc. for one. If I were to have another attack, I likely would go to the hospital if only to get faster relief from the pain. I'm sure my husband would insist, as he is quite cautious.
But there are also posts on here that talk about bad experiences going to the hospital. If you are on an MAOI, you may want to consider getting a med alert bracelet (I still haven't done that, but I intend to.)
Incidentally, there is a great deal of information in the archives of this site about MAOI's. It's here that I learned so much. I learned that I can safely eat mozzarella and provolone cheese as these are not aged and research failed to detect a significant amount of tyramine in them. Pizza, YES! This is good to know, but I also recommend that when you first start out you follow the recommendations very closely until you know how you react to the med. Everyone reacts differently to the med and to the diet, so what's good for one is not necessarily okay for someone else.
Good luck and if I can help more, please let me know,
gg
poster:gardenergirl
thread:307303
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040127/msgs/307441.html