Radha Posted January 14, 2005 Report Share Posted January 14, 2005 for those of you who have taken octeotide, did it help you to eat without getting tachy afterwards? i'm getting so bad where i cannot eat even the tiniest amount of food without getting forceful pumping in my head and feeling so terrible and getting headaches, me and my parents are so worried because i'm slowly starving to death coz its so hard to eat, but i dont have problems with actual digestion, just the blood pooling and heartbeat problems, would octreotide maybe help to avoid these symptoms so i can eat more? thanksradha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gena Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 Hi RadhaI am not familiar with octeotide, but I wanted to respond real quick before I'm off to bed -- mainly to bump your post up since it's not gotten any responses. Hopefully someone out there is familiar with this med.The other reason for answering is to suggest trying a meal replacement drink ( you may have done this already). You can buy them pre-mixed or buy the powder and mix it up in juice, water, milk, etc. They should have a all the essential vitamins, minerals, calories, fat, etc. that you would normally get in eating a nutritious meal. Maybe your heart wouldn't react so badly to something liquid?? Perhaps you could drink these until you find a med to help with blood pooling, etc.Whenever I eat a high carb meal or give into my craving for a candy bar, I always get those same painful, forceful heartbeats and feel awful afterward.I'm so sorry to hear your having problems eating anything at all. Have you tried any other meds for blood pooling like proametine or mesotin? ( I know I didn't spell those correctly, sorry Well, I hope someone out there if familiar with octeotide and can offer you some guidance, b/c we don't want you getting any skinnier! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radha Posted January 17, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 thanks Gena for your concern and for replying, yes i tried the midodrine and it didnt help, but then i tried it years ago and i didnt have as many problems eating as i do now, this has definately gotten worse, i dont know much about the mestinon, i didnt think it was for the forceful beating, i'm not sure whats it for, thanks againradha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyYount Posted January 17, 2005 Report Share Posted January 17, 2005 HI,I was on the octetride years ago. They put me on it to regulate the dysmotility in my small bowel. But to be honest I could not tolerate the injections. So we stopped it. I really don't think it was helping . I was down to 84 lbs and they put me on TPN. Slowly I was able to eat more and now can eat enough to maintain its just hard. I did not have the tachy after eating I don't think but at that point I was very out of it! One thing that kept me going and eventually I wa able to drink was fruit milkshakes. Jim would make me one everyday and at first he was adding protein powder which is yucky but he snuck it in when he could. Ensure is ok and I drank that. But since mine was more of a digestion problem I am not sure these things will help. But since I did have experience with the octetride I thought I would respond.Hope I helped and feel free to e-mail me if you want.Stacey :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radha Posted January 18, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 hi stacey, thanks for your input, what is TPN? radha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaceyYount Posted January 18, 2005 Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 Hey,TPN is Total Parietal Nutrition. After having a naso-gastric tube twice with no help and after they finally found the small bowel dysmotility, with a horrible test, a small bowel manometry they started me on TPN. The put a catheter(i think) in your elbow artery ( again I think) and it feeds up into your heart. Then liquid nutrition is pumped in. I was attached to the pump 24 hrs a day at first and then only at night. I had it about 3 months and went from 84lbs to 114. During that time I slowly started eating little bits again. Before I went on the TPN I was not eating anything. Someone more medical might be able to explain it better. A home health company brought the bags that were attached to the machine every week. It was a picc line that was in my elbow to my heart. It did get infected slightly and had to be removed. A second was placed here at home but it was not done properly, there was to much line and the contractions of my heart actually drew the line in and it was curled around in my atrium. ( I think or something like that) After that the line was removed and I slowly began eating again. I was very very out of it and am not explaining this well. But basically it is a line that is placed through your elbow and into your heart were they pump in nutrition. Still not a great explanation but you get the idea I hope.Stacey :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoGiuliana Posted January 18, 2005 Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 RadhaI am sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I don't know that I can help much except to say that I have also had this symptom of my heart beating very very forcefully following a meal. This symptom comes and goes for me. I don't know if it is getting worse for me over time at this point. It was bad for awhile during pregnancy and post partum and then 4 years prior to pregnancy I had it for several months, non-stop it seemed. I also have no gut problems--it is all cardiovascular.The things that have helped me when I get a flare-up of this have been low dose beta-blockers, high protein, low sugar meals, lots of fluid and salt with my meals, small more frequent meals, especially in the first part of the day.One thing also that overall I think helped re-set my autonomic system (besides also taking a low dose SSRI) has been walking -- about 30 minutes a day. There is something about that motion that I think really helps b/c I do notice that if I get out of that routine, some of my POTS symptoms get a bit worse again.Anyway, I hope you soon find something that will give you relief and allow you to eat comfortably.Katherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lalalisa Posted January 18, 2005 Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 Radha,I really hope you can find something to help you eat again! It must be horrible to get tachy and headaches just from eating!Hang in here,Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yogini Posted January 18, 2005 Report Share Posted January 18, 2005 I also have this symptom - I posted about it sometime in Nov/Dec. For some reason it only happened in the afternoons. I would suddenly feel warm, get a pounding headache and my heart would start going nuts. I got great advice from Katherine and Nina at the time. I've reduced carbs somewhat, and try to eat my meals in small stages. So I'l eat veggies, wait an hour, eat the main course, wait another hour, eat some multi-grain bread, etc. I am happy to report that this symptom seems to have almost gone away for me now! So if you haven't tried it already, eating in small amounts (even a few bites at a time) might help... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radha Posted January 19, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 thanks to all of you for caring enough to reply, i never eat sugar or caffeine or carbs,and all i can tolerate is a mere 2 or 3 bites at a time without getting symptoms, i'm reluctant to increase my beta blockers since my bp is already very low,but i've never tried any ssri , mainly coz i dont want to have to add yet another med to my long list, and i dont want to take something that is so hard to get off of, and that is addicting, thanks again for all your suggestions, i guess octreotide isnt for me! i value all your input so much, and i always share what i learn with my mom, who is my angel, my best friend, my counselor, my whole life!she is so glad that i am a part of this group,radha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoGiuliana Posted January 19, 2005 Report Share Posted January 19, 2005 RadhaJust wanted to clarify that SSRI's are not addicting. It is true that you need to taper off slowly after you have been on one. They are considered to be a very safe drug, especially in low levels, for adults. For children and teenagers, I guess there is still question about their efficacy and safety, however.Good luck with solving your problem.Katherine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldicedance Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 Radha,I am so sorry that things haven't been going well for you.I was on octreotide for about 10 months. I was getting very good results. Then I got gall bladder problems (possibly aggravated by the octreotide) and bad dehydration. I started then taking mestinon and have been very satisfied.Octreotide is very expensive. The monthly dose can run from $1200-$2800 depending on the strength. My insurance covered it.Don't give up! Lois Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radha Posted January 21, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 thanks lois for your concern, and to all of you, lois how did mestinon help you? did it help with the anxious tachy feeling? did it help with the fatigue? did you have hard time eating without getting pumping, and headaches? thanksradha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corina Posted January 21, 2005 Report Share Posted January 21, 2005 Hi Radha,I'm trying mestinon for some time now. I do have some improvement: being in the car is more comfortable (I don't have the feeling I can fall out every corner we make) and being in my electric cart feels better. BUT I have a lot of stomach problems, bad vision sometimes, muscle movements and something else which I've forgotten right now. I don't have the eating problems like you do so I can't help you with that. I also usually don't have the tachy feeling because of my bb's. I do know that mestinon can slow your hr as well so maybe this could help you. Be careful though, the possible side effects aren't easy to deal with (as is my experience, but remember we all are different and we may react differently). Hope this helped you,Corina Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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