DD,
Welcome to the boards!
Goodness, your blood pressure is certainly labile.
Has your doctor considered the possibility that you may have "secondary" hypertension?
Next doctors' visit, since all these drugs are not giving you good control, you might want to get very, very specific and ask to be tested for the following main secondary causes:
1)
Pheochromocytoma (adrenal gland tumor-almost always benign and cured by surgical removal. And voila! No more high blood pressure. The test involves a 24-hour urine test for excess of catecholamines.
There is also a blood test called the "Plasma Free Metanephrine" blood test that some say may be even more reliable than the urine test, especially if there is an intermittently secreting tumor.
2)
Kidney disorders including cysts or scarring of any kind.
3)
Obstruction of the renal artery, the main vessel supplying each kidney. The obstruction is most often due to atherosclerosis, narrowing of the blood vessel due to a buildup of fatty deposits on and under the lining of the artery wall. Ask the doctor if he/she would consider doing a nuclear scintiscan test for this. (renal artery scan).
Just for clarity, a pheo is a (benign) tumor that usually arises in the adrenal
medulla.
And then there's also Conn's Syndrome (that's hyperalderstronism) which arises from a tumor in the adrenal
cortex (the outer part of the adrenal gland) and produces excessive amounts of the hormone aldosterone.
Different hormones, different tumors, but both affecting the adrenals.
zuzu
