Posted on 12/18/2012 8:13:07 PM PST by neverdem
The patient didn’t overdose on medication. She overdosed on grapefruit juice.
The 42-year-old was barely responding when her husband brought her to the emergency room. Her heart rate was slowing, and her blood pressure was falling. Doctors had to insert a breathing tube, and then a pacemaker, to revive her.
They were mystified: The patient’s husband said she suffered from migraines and was taking a blood pressure drug called verapamil to help prevent the headaches. But blood tests showed she had an alarming amount of the drug in her system, five times the safe level.
Did she overdose? Was she trying to commit suicide? It was only after she recovered that doctors were able to piece the story together.
“The culprit was grapefruit juice,” said Dr. Unni Pillai, a nephrologist in St....
--snip--
The interaction also can be caused by other citrus fruits, including Seville oranges, limes and pomelos; one published case report has suggested that pomegranate may increase the potency of certain drugs.
Older people may be more vulnerable, because they are more likely to be both taking medications and drinking more grapefruit juice. The body’s ability to cope with drugs also weakens with age, experts say.
Under normal circumstances, the drugs are metabolized in the gastrointestinal tract, and relatively little is absorbed, because an enzyme in the gut called CYP3A4 deactivates them. But grapefruit contains natural chemicals called furanocoumarins, that inhibit the enzyme, and without it the gut absorbs much more of a drug and blood levels rise dramatically.
For example, someone taking simvastatin (brand name Zocor) who also drinks a small 200-milliliter, or 6.7 ounces, glass of grapefruit juice once a day for three days could see blood levels of the drug triple, increasing the risk for rhabdomyolysis, a breakdown of muscle that can cause kidney damage...
(Excerpt) Read more at well.blogs.nytimes.com ...
What happened to JA?
Regarding the grapefruit juice, I’d drink it instead. Skip the pharmaceuticals, they are all poison to me.
Merry Christmas all!
My son emailed a similar story to me last week because he knows I usually slog my small handful of daily vitamins down with grapefruit juice. It never seemed to bother me, but now I wonder if there is any positive or adverse effect on my vitamins (Ester-C cap, B-Complex cap, D gelcap, CoEnzyme Q10 gelcap)?
Certain chemicals that grapefruit products and citrus fruits contain can interfere with the enzymes that break down (metabolize) various medications in your digestive system. As a result, more medication stays in your body. This can increase the potency of your medication to potentially dangerous levels, causing serious side effects.
I’m warned not to eat natural licorice while taking my B.P. medication. Until I read that I wasn’t even aware that there was a “natural” and “unnatural” licorice.
I just heard about Judith Anne via FReepmail. It’s removed.
They finally have a safe drug that cures everything:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP9B3NBFD2M
I just read that she had a stroke and died shortly afterwards.
I actually take extra-strength licorice extract while taking my statin (I realize you are not talking about a statin). But the extract is deglycyrrhizinated and it was that part that would cause you problems.
She may still be reading threads in heaven; wouldn’t half surprise me. By now she could post some really definitive comments in the religion threads!
Oh dear! I am so sorry! Nice woman, I hate it when folks pass. I will pray for her soul. God Bless.
Earl Grey Tea also has a reaction with medications. You have to read the box and medication literature to find that out.
Yup. I completely avoid grape fruit juice because of it’s interactions with prescription meds. Checking drug/food interactions is just as important as checking drug/drug interactions.
Rc!, that is great!
I take Norvasc & Diovan for blood pressure, and thank God for waking up each day.
On to my NW SC country paradise at the end of the year.
Red Grapefruit juice is my favorite juice to mix with club soda. However, since I take verapamil, I just don’t do grapefruit other than maybe once a year.
Lately my blood pressure has trended up, so maybe I should treat my self a little and have 1/4 or 1/2 cup. LOL.
I'm on a successful diet that excludes my favorite foods that started it all.
Excluded: chocolate, cabbage, nuts, okra, spinach, celery, kohlrabi, soy, beans, seasoned meats, milk and colored beverages.
Google oxalates.
!!!!
Wowzers.
google chanca piedra
this supplement breaks up kidney stones
http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/benefits-of-chanca-piedra/
Thanks, neverdem, for the ping.
The drug, verapamil, featured in the lead, is one I take daily. I’m frightened to hear that it can cause heart block when interacting with grapefruit, but it does indeed prevent vicious migraine attacks.
I’m off grapefruit!
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