Posted by psychobot5000 on June 9, 2007, at 0:53:01
In reply to Does anyone here use a BP monitor for MAOIs?, posted by girlnterrupted78 on June 8, 2007, at 23:30:40
Well, a heartrate monitor measures the speed of your heart, which is useful in this case but not precisely the same as blood-pressure monitoring. Though as I understand it, MAOi cardiovascular crises involve racing heartrates also, the concern seems to focus on blood-pressure instead, though they're closely related.
I use a BP monitor with my MAOis, but to check and establish blood-pressure in-general, not to test reactions to food. The arguments against would be that there is enough normal variation in blood-pressure, to make it difficult to get useful 'test results,' without some fairly extensive examinations (i.e., good readings done by hand and not a machine, probably on more than one or two occasions) of reactions to tyramine-rich foods to be useful.
In any case, I've read that these crises are unpredictable, too, i.e. a patient gets a blood-pressure crisis from eating a proscribed food she's eaten twenty times before on the medication, with no reaction. So, if that's true, then I suppose the testing might give one a false sense of security.
Just thoughts - I often think MAOi risks are exaggerated, and I've often thought such testing a good idea. But no, I've never done it. I've also never, ever, had a problem with a blood-pressure crisis. But I do think it's a good idea to have a blood-pressure cuff around anyway.
Best,
Psychbot
> In another thread somebody mentioned (I believe it was gardenergirl) that you can use a BP monitor for precaution with foods that interact with MAOIs.
>
> I was just wondering how effective that is? Does anyone else use that approach? So you basically try a little bit of a "food to use with caution" and monitor your blood pressure 15 minutes later? But what if a small amount is ok, but a higher amount is not? The BP monitor will tell you once it's too late!
>
> Also, is the BP monitor the same thing (or could be used for the same purpose) as a heart-rate monitor--the one used for cardio/workout purposes? Or is it completely different? Could the heart-rate monitor be used instead or in the same fashion? (I'd rather get a heart-rate monitor, since I work out and it would kill two birds with one stone.)
>
> If anyone has any info on this, I'd appreciate it.
poster:psychobot5000
thread:761947
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070604/msgs/761955.html