Posted by ger man on October 4, 2011, at 14:56:35
In reply to Re: nardil travelling....diet??? » pedr, posted by europerep on October 4, 2011, at 14:06:58
> This is really a tough one. I know that MAOIs are sold in some more remote parts of the world (such as the United Arab Emirates), but I'm not aware of them being available in South-East Asia. The closest thing may be safrazine, which is available in Japan.
>
> What you could do is get the package insert of safrazine and have it translated to German, since Japanese cuisine is probably somewhat closer to South-East Asian cuisine than the stuff that we eat in Europe. Still though, this will probably not really be satisfactory.
>
> Personally, I think that doing "real", extensive tours into foreign countries, eating with local populations and so on, is difficult if not impossible on an MAOI like phenelzine. And not speaking the local language will make it even more difficult.
>
> If you decide to go nonetheless, you should definitely ask your doctor for emergency medication in case of a hypertensive crisis. Usually, patients are no longer given drugs like nifedipine, but if the nearest emergency room may be hours away, it may be an option for you. You must really talk this through with your doctor though, because using an antihypertensive when it's not needed (or using too much of it) can have really bad consequences.
>
> One other option I can think of is to ask the experts at www.jatrosom.de ... it's the website of the German version of Parnate (tranylcpromine). Click on "Anfrage" and then describe your question. You don't necessarily have to mention that you are taking phenelzine instead of tranylcypromine, since food restrictions are basically identical. When I was on tranylcypromine I contacted those guys for info on tyramine contents of some foods, and they were very helpful, so maybe they can help you out!
>
> Good luck...Thx for your post,its very helpful. I already wrote to the jatrosoms experts some time ago and they wrote that i should be aware of fish sauce and/or shrimp paste as these are ingredients with high tyramine content often used in asian cuisine. They also told me that it shouldnt be such a big problem to travel to asia when being perfectly introduced what foods to avoid. As im a biologist personally i think i can imagine where tyramine could be high an where not. Maybe i shouldnt but im scared anyway and thats why i wanted to hear if there are people having been travelling around in asia,india etc.? For now i thought to tell the gastronome over there that im allergic to those spices and that they must avoid to use them for me. All the other "bad" fod i can see and avoid them personally. I mean, as long as im not eating anything not being 100% sure about that it is harmless, i think i should be safe! I know its tricky,but i have to enjoy life and as you mentioned, i already do wear nifepidine with me for emergencies away from civilized regions and my shrink told me only to use it when having high bp (systolic 200+) and physical symptoms (neck headache, sweating rapid and punding heart beat and nausea). I hope everything will be fine.
poster:ger man
thread:998687
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110925/msgs/998724.html