Posted by cubbybear on April 10, 2004, at 12:03:54
Would someone maybe be able to shed light on what happened to me today?: I take 30 mg./Parnate daily and have had success with it for 20 yrs. Today, I developed severe stomach cramps without diarrhea or vomiting and a feeling that I had had severe gas and overall stomach/intestinal dstress. The gastroenterologist suspected probable food poisoning (which I didn't think was possible with cramping alone) and what frightened me was seeing that my blood pressure had shot up to 188/120. Since I never had a history of hypertension, I first wondered about a freak hypertensive crisis but then thought it was so unlikely since I had no other symptoms of hypertensive crisis (e.g. headache) and hadn't eaten any of the contraindicated foods with Parnate.
I was given an injection of Buscopan, an antispasmodic/anticholinergic to stop the GI spasms but somehow I felt just as bad, if not worse after this injection. After i got home, I had a (belated) diarrhea attack which lent credence to it being food poisoning, and I felt better after that. Then, I had to contend with a feeling of severe lightheadedness and that I might faint after I got up from the bed and started walking. Perhaps this was a side-effect of the anticholinergic drug or a sign of dehydration, since I hadn't drunk water all day and it was hot and humid.
I read website info about anticholinergic drugs and it says that they adjust the balance of acetylcholine and dopamine. There's no prohibition given vs. MAOIs, so perhaps the lightheadedness was just a side effect. Then, again, what about my earlier HIGH blood pressure? Could food poisoning induce such a thing? I realize that there's a big complex set of factors here, and we're not doctors, but maybe one or more of you can shed light on the BP and anticholinergic questions. Thanks for any help.
poster:cubbybear
thread:334887
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040407/msgs/334887.html