Posted by ayrity on September 22, 2002, at 2:05:39
In reply to Re: my update Hypertensive Reaction!, posted by jsarirose on September 21, 2002, at 19:19:09
Hi again, Jessica-
Sorry you had a bad reaction. Despite my numerous (sometimes quite high) spikes in BP, only one of them (the first time, actually) was a real "crisis" with pounding headache, etc. Quite scary, so I know how you felt. I carry around nifedipine (this is controversial and some recommend against its use; it's probably safe if you're young and no history of heart disease)- took one and it brought my BP right down and the symptoms were gone.Given the problems I've had, I'd strongly recommend that anyone on an MAOI get a blood pressure machine for home. There are alot of inaccurate junk machines out there, so you have to look for a good one (check with you primary MD)and double check it with a manual cuff BP in your doc's office. Well worth the investment and piece of mind.
Yeah, as you say, treatment resistant depression sucks. Nothing seems to work for me, and the only thing I seem to get out of meds is side effects. My doc has mentioned augmentation (I already did that on SSRIs with no help), but we first want to make sure my BP is stable and that I'm safe on the Parnate- jury's still out on that. I'm one of those rare ones (figures) that get spontaneous high spikes in BP right after taking the medication, unrelated to diet. Seems to be improving it still occurs at times.
As you also said, finding a good doc is half the battle. He's a good guy and know's his stuff. More like seeing a friend than a therapist (transference, maybe? :-) ) Still, I'm paying a fortune, even with insurance covering about 50%. We have almost weekly sessions- does that sound excessive? Probably not necessary, but I (mostly) enjoy them, and I don't have anyone else to talk to anyway except my ex-wife, who's great but I can't confide everything (or much at all) in her anymore.
Sorry for the rambling! :-)
Thanks again for your support.
> Having a good doc is more than half the battle! I'm glad you're getting some positive effect as well. I know the desire not to excessively medicat, but if you do reach your limit and find you get some relief but not enough you can also look into augmenting the Parnate with another drug to boost the effect. I have Treatment Resistent Depression too so I can understand the extreme frustration with medications. They are continually a mixed blessing (and usually not a blessing at all).
>
> Regarding the diet - all I can say is even after being on Parnate for almost a year I still make mistakes. I haven't had a reaction in over 8 months and I guess I got lax. I had a tap beer last night and had my first hyptensive crisis in ages. I took the Thorazine (my emergency pill) right away. It helped, but I still had nausea, a migraine, sweating and red, blotchy skin. I think since I took the pill so quickly it wasn't as bad as it could have been. While my head did hurt I've had much worse migraines previously. My friend drove me home (this is the first time I had a reaction when I wasn't already home), and I took 1/2 an oxycodone for the pain. Then I slept for about 15 hours. Today I just feel a bit dizzy when I stand or walk and have a slight headache when I move around. I'm also a bit tired. Most of the dizziness and tiredness is left over from the Thorazine.
>
> So the lessons I was reminded of are 1) always have that pill with me, and 2) don't be lax! Just because the beer was from a big microbrewery doesn't mean the cafe I was at has clean equipment. That's really the only thing I've occasionally been lax about, but obviously it's hit or miss (as the tyramine analyses state). Stick to bottled beer from larger breweries.
>
> -Jessica
poster:ayrity
thread:75408
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020914/msgs/120696.html