High Blood Pressure - Phaeochromocytoma

[Vigilante]

Hello all,

I have not posted in some time, and I have posted about this previously. I have generally been feeling ok, not really stressed (or at least as much).

Last time I posted about this I was doing a 24 hour urinary test for catecholamines.

This result took a very long time to come through, I believe there is 4 hormone breakdowns tested in that all was fine but the break down product from Adrenaline which was slightly elevated, I am already under an Endocrinologist so he has told my Doc to repeat the test 3 x over a 3 week period, which I have just completed and awaiting results, I also have an appointment to see the Endo next month.

Previous to the urine tests I was taking the beta blocker propranolol which worked for the most part on my blood pressure, while drugs like ACE inhibitors had little to no effect - basically tells me it is something to do with adrenaline flow.

However I did not like the fact that I had no energy while on these tablets, I could no longer even ride my bicycle up hills, it felt like I was not getting enough energy to my muscles quick enough and I was literally blowing them out doing little to nothing....

I had to come off these in order to repeat the urine collections, because these drugs can mess up the result, so I am now in the situation of having completed the tests this week and having not taken a beta blocker in 2 weeks , I feel much more energized and am able to ride back up hills without much problem and my recovery is again good I am also back down the gym weight lifting and have lost 4 pounds in the past 2 weeks however my blood pressure is back at figures of around 148-150 / 95-105 constantly. My heart rate remains normal in the evenings its around 60 around this time of day if around 70.

Not sure what to do really, as far as Phaeochromoctyoma goes its pretty rare at like 500,000 -1 chance and its more a case of my docs/endo ruling this out then me actually thinking I have this.

I really do not want to take medications that limit me though as well, I am wondering if I continue to lose weight and regain the fitness I had just a few years ago if my blood pressure might drop naturally?

[Catherine S]

That's a thought that I have too Vigilante. I take 40mgs propranolol, down from 80 a few years ago and can relate totally with the side effects, also the weight gain because of a slower system :(

I was oringionally given them for my BP too as it went up to 160 over 110 :ohmy: for a while and propranolol brought it down. However, a bonus of taking them is that they stop the crazy heart palps which ive suffered with for many years so i'm reluctant to stop taking them for this reason, even though I know my fitness levels would improve and probably start losing the weight which seems imovable!

My instinct tells me that your BP would come down naturally if you got your mojo back and started losing the extra weight...unless of course there are other factors affecting it like alot of stress.

ISB x

[Vigilante]

Hey ISB thanks for the reply.

Yeah Propranolol is strange I have to say, I was told its not even in the top 5 of BP medications that my Docs would usually prescribe but it seems to work on me better then the others they recommend. I was on the extended release version of it a couple of years ago for anxiety and didn't feel the low energy that I do with the 40 mg tabs, I was prescribed 40 mg 1-3 daily this time around.

I was telling my doc about the fatigue while on them and his advice was I would get used to that so just push my body to doing what it feels it cannot do (like biking uphill) so I did and the muscle pain was awful for around 2 weeks after. Like I had tore every fiber in my thighs just biking up one hill.

I am sort of following The perfect Health Diet right now, but that is eating more fats/protein to carbs ratio so not sure if that would make Bp worst. but dropped 4 pounds in the last 2 weeks.

[AlexandriaUK]

I suppose best person to ask would be Dr, but Its not like massively high so maybe if you are over weight then getting it down to healthy levels and increasing your exercise will make a big difference, have you checked it away from the medical enviroment to see if Its influenced by that.