Posted by Cam W. on September 5, 2001, at 15:36:58
In reply to PLEASE can you help - Cam, Sunnely, anyone, posted by caroline on September 5, 2001, at 14:49:21
Caroline - Yes, there is an interaction between clomipramine and sympathomimetics (of which, pseudoephedrine is one). The clomipramine can increase the cardiovascular effects of pseudoephedrine. The GP may not have picked up on this, as most of the literature just mentions sympathomimetics, in general.
Most people do not have as pronounced response as you did to the combination. You usually see an interaction when high doses of both drugs are being taken.
Some people do react to very strongly to pseudoephedrine, by itself. This may have been the case, here. I would say, (although it is not necessary), don't take pseudoephedrine with clomipramine, again.
I doubt that you were experiencing ventricular tachycardia, as that is a worst case scenario (actually, I guess death via stroke or myocardial infarction - heart attack - would be a worse case scenario). It is very rare that any of these instances occur, but they have happened. You may have experienced tachycardia, which is basically a racing heart.
Or what you may have experienced could have been postural hypotension, where your blood vessels do not respond as quickly to a change in position; and you pass out. This is far more commonly seen with clomipramine, than any of the other conditions I mentioned. In theory, the pseudoephedrine should have counteracted the postural hypotension, although the dizziness from the interaction between the drugs could overshadow this.
I hope that the GP took your blood pressure, as this may have given an indication of what was going on. All in all, you are probably very sensitive to the effects of pseudoephedrine and the clomipramine just compounded the sensitivity.
I hope that this rambling is of some help (I was basically thinking out loud). - Cam
poster:Cam W.
thread:77865
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/77868.html