No replies to this topic

[LeviM]

Hey guys and gals.

I have had hypertension for a long time now. I was first hospitalized for it at a children hospital at age 17. They never did find the exact cause of it. This was pre Sci. At 17 I was put on Atenolol and remained stable on that med alone for a few years. After a few years my blood pressure was on the rise and no longer controlled with just that med so they added Zestril. That worked to bring it down some but not enough to make my PcP happy. So they switched me to Verapamil Er along with Zestril and that brought me back to controlled status. My Sci happened after this med change.


About 3 years ago(6-7 yrs post Sci) my blood pressure began to fluctuate a bunch, so my PcP wanted to add a third med, Toprol Xl. I wasn't happy about the idea of adding a third med for one specific issue at all, but agreed to try it. It did bring my pressure down to a decent level again but I just had a feeling of being not well all of the time. I tried to discuss other options with my PcP but he wasn't really hearing it, so I just stopped taking it. He eventually figured it out and advised me I needed to find a new PcP.


Anyways I have "left it at that" ever since and hoped for the best when my PcP's nurse took my blood pressure. Before I moved here to Maryland last January, I was in an assisted living facility. My PcP came there monthly to check in on me. He had noticed it and asked the facility to start taking my blood pressure at certain times and record it for him. After a month he looked at the records and we talked about how it was fluctuating between ok and extremely high. I told him about a previous doctor wanting me to be on the 3rd med and told him what happened with that.


He agreed to do some research into the issue to try and figure out the best steps to take. Long story short, I moved to Maryland before we resolved the issue. So I get here and I have yet to find a really good PcP, but the one I'm currently seeing has expressed concern but he seems to have forgot about the issue lol. I'm not too happy with this doctor and will likely keep changing PcP's till I find one that is both comfortable treating me and my complex issues (ranging from birth defects to MS and then the Sci) and then someone who will invest the effort and time to get to know the issues I deal with enough that they aren't treating me like it's my first time seeing them every single visit. When I find a doctor I think will work out I will address this issue with them.


Anyways. I'm concerned because in the past my blood pressure really didn't fluctuate, it was just straight out high and remained that way all the time. I'm concerned that there's more to it than hypertension. I have had only 2 confirmed cases of AD and those were years ago when I had a partial bowel obstruction. I've had a couple times where symptoms kinda stood out as unusual even for my normal hypertension and wondered if I might be having an issue with AD, but nothing confirmed or anything.



So I guess I just really spent forever writing this detailed post to ask a few simple questions.


How does someone with hypertension differentiate from the same ole same ole high blood pressure symptoms from symptoms of AD?
How does a doctor know for sure its high blood pressure to blame and not a flare up of Ad when some visits my blood pressure is "ok" and others it is high enough it raises enough alarm for them to make me come back the next week for a retake?
My blood pressure is taken at home often and the same holds true at home. Sometimes its ok and other times it's extremely high. I am still on Verapamil Er 180 x 2 daily and Zestril 10 twice daily.
Anyways I'm sorry this got so long, I just felt a history might give more insight into the matter then simply asking the questions without a history.