Posted by harryp on May 11, 2004, at 2:43:49
In reply to Re: Please help me understand: harryp, posted by kittencat on May 10, 2004, at 21:12:26
About MAOI's:
There is a pretty good diet/drug list on the www.dr-bob.org homepage. Someone taking a MAOI needs to avoid any aged food that might contain tyramine. This includes most cheeses (esp. cheddar) (some cheeses are safe, I just don't like cheese, so I haven't bothered to find out. They should be on the list)
Soy sauce is very bad, so are aged meats like bacon and sausage.
Any drugs containing or resembling ephedrine (like cold medicines) need to be avoided, along with prescription stimulants. SSRI's cannot be combined with MAOI's.
Tap and foreign beers can be a problem, too.
Oddly, Italian broad beans are bad because they contain too much dopamine.Cottage cheese, yoghurt, and sour cream are fine.
Generally if you like freshly cooked foods like beef, fish, chicken, and vegetables and fruit (except Italian broad beans) and avoid strange aged sauces you will be able to eat very well (and healthily).
If you do eat a problem food (can happen by mistake!) you may have a hypertensive crises: very high bp ~200/~90 or more, accompanied with a strange throbbing headache. If this happens, you should not panic, but just get medical treatment as quickly as possible.
Your doctor should make arrangements with a local doctor's office and the ER to have your chart and phentolamine (the best drug for returning your bp to normal) available, so you can just walk in and get the necessary injection.
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Abilify tales of horror...Well, I shouldn't really talk about Abilify...
Since some people have had great responses to it.Personally, I took a pill on Friday night, and Saturday I felt like a zombie. I felt really horrible, kept winding up back in bed, couldn't think, and couldn't really move very well. I kept telling myself it would wear off, but I felt almost as bad on Sunday (I had only taken the Fri. pill). I was so mad I wanted to cry--but I couldn't cry, or even FEEL like I wanted to cry (that's scary!). I managed to go out to my Aunt's birthday party, but I was in a complete fog. My Monday I still felt messed up, but the drug was finally wearing off, and it wasn't till Tuesday I felt normal again.
I think I saw my doc that day or the next, and that was when we established that AP's were out for good!
He's a nice guy, though, I can remember how excited he was on Friday: "Harry! This is the newest kind of antipsychotic." (me thinking: new?! AP? blah!) "It should have mood-elevating properties. And it ISN'T a dopamine antagonist, but a partial agonist, so it actually raises dopamine levels if they are too low!" (me thinking: sounds fishy, but hey, what the heck? Maybe it will work!)
poster:harryp
thread:345262
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040510/msgs/345624.html