Please offer advice. Things aren't getter better.

[irisheyes39]

Hi Danny and Flowergirl,
I have been reading your predicament and wanted to add my two cents. Danny I see a heart doc for hypertension in Cincinnati Oh at Ohio Heart and Vascular center at Christ Hospital. My Doc is John Paul Runyon. Is there anyway that you can go there? Heck if I were you I would just take off a week from work and show up at the ER there as if you're on vacation and see if they will see you. These guys are wonderful and it would be worth whatever it takes to get this problem fixed. I know the insurance issues involved but really if it means your life or quality of life I would do just about anything.

That said one of the first things this center did when I had such high numbers was run a kidney test on me, with MRI. This is to check your kidney function. If this has not been done it should be. I have hereditary hypertension and have had it since I was about 24 years old. I am now 42 and take Toprol XL and Atacand. Atacand is an angiotension drug and you should ask your docs about it. It helps me greatly and considering that they have seen spasms on your EKG this would have to help I would think. I am in awe of you both because I would be a basket case living on the ER doorstep if I had to live like you are living. I have also heard that too much nitro will have a rebound effect, but don't take my word on that, I know it will give headaches though.

Flowergirl, I have had pretty high pressure at times too but have managed to keep it down with the Atacand and Toprol. Also I take magnesium as much as I can, somewhere around 800 mg a day. And I found out that women who have fibroids, which I have gives me BP spikes. My good hypertension doc says this could be much of my problem. I don't know how old you are but estrogen can wreck havoc on BP. The fibroid, even little ones release extra estrogen, especially at that time of the month.

Another think I also have been avoiding is bottled water. I drank it religiously and found out that plastic leaks, guess what?? ESTROGEN!!,,, since I stopped drinking it I have not had the ER visits for high BP either. Whether it is a combination of all these things I don't know, but now the week of my period I have usually a few hours of high BP around 160/100 and then it passes. At most other times my Bp can be as good as 105/65. My highest episode was 200/120 for which I took a nitro pill at the ER. This was thought to be anxiety along with cold medicines which we hypertensives should never ever take. Anything with the vasoconstrictors in them, ephidrine, psuedonephrine, etc are absolute poison to us.

One last thing, I have had episodes of left sided upper chest pain that usually comes on only after eating. I believe this is esophageal spasms of some kind, because burping relieves it and brings up acid. BUT if you are taking massive amounts of magnesium or acid reducers you MUST space them out to avoid neutralizing your BP meds. God bless you both and I hope you get some relief.

[irisheyes39]

Oh and Danny, I also have MS. Lucky me huh??, but was told that hypertension can show as hyperintensive spots on the brain. These are what mine were thought to be before I was diagnosed with MS.

[dannyp]

Hi irisheyes39,

Thanks for replying.
My doctor switced me back to a .4mg nitro patch while I sleep. I had three good nights of sleep in a row followed by two bad ones. I woke up feeling very ill and just plain bad. A couple nitro sprays and I felt ok.
I am eager to see a fresh doctor. My family doctor is talking about sending me to Halifax. He told me that he hopes one of the specialists will try new treatment methods with me. He is stumpted. The drawn pale look on my face when I am feeling bad according to him is a sign of serious internal chest trauma. I'm going back to him in a couple weeks. I'm going to mention the pills that you are taking and see what he thinks. I hate to take any more. I'm hoping to take less as time goes by.
I have been waiting for a couple months to see the local heart specialist again. Sometimes I feel like I am fine as is. But the overwhelming sick and exausted feeling that is relieved by nitro spray makes the think otherwise.
On a good note I return to work tomorrow.
Hopefully that goes well. I'm optimistic.
The reality is I need a break from nitro patches, sprays, and chest pain, and this energy draining feeling soon.

[irisheyes39]

Danny!! I hope you are still reading this cause I had to tell you what has happened to me. REcently I had blood tests for anemia, long story see my posts in Anemia. ANyway I had a B12 readng of 228 was given a B12 shot and my BP had dropped right through the floor!!! I have had to take LESS of my meds to keep it from going too low. I'm talking 108/65 and lower.....It all began with the B12 shot. Is there any chance you have had the Blood test for B12 and if so what is the number. Low B12 can cause all sorts of things including heart stuff. I had to tell you about this in the chance it might help you.

[irisheyes39]

I went back and read again both yours and Flowergirls posts and wonder if you have read any of the anemia boards. You have much of the same symptoms too of which I have just become aware of myself. Low B12 can do all these things, and you both mention energy levels over and over which is the number one complaint of such a deficiency.