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[Defective]

I'm 23 year's old. I recently began to have extreme trouble with dizziness (about 3 months ago) and was told I had high blood pressure. They put me on Lisinopril. I ended up in the hospital a month later (Christmas Day) with chest pains. They then told me they thought the Lisinopril was to blame. They took me off Lisinopril and put me on Atenolol. The Atenolol (over the course of a couple of weeks) lowered my pulse rate too much and started causing my heart rate to become irregular. I ended up back in the hospital where they took me off of the Atenolol and put me on Hydrochlorithiazide. Unfortunately, it too seems to be disagreeing with me, and we still haven't figured out what the cause of it all is. I'll occasionally wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes right after I fall asleep, with a sudden jerking feeling and a need to breathe which usually raises my blood pressure bad. This would lead me to believe I had sleep apnea or something similar, but this doesn't always happen, and the majority of the time, my blood pressure is bad during the day as well.

They've done numerous blood tests, thyroid tests, heart and kidney ultrasounds, elecrocardiograms, ran nuclear stuff through my blood stream and tracked it through an MRI, done chest x-rays, stress tests, and hooked me to heart monitors. So far, everything turns up fine according to everyone. I'm still having heart pains, irregular heart beats, bad dizziness, and my blood pressure runs high almost daily.I've been living off of grilled chicken salads with no dressing and drinking water for the past three months, but even a switch in diet doesn't seem to have helped. I really hope I can figure this out soon.

My blood pressure this morning was 126/110... the bottom number being the highest it has for some time, while the top was actually low for once. However, the pulse was also 110, and I was only laying down still sleeping just moments before I checked it. I also had an irregular heartbeat once again.

[Cleveland Clinic]

It is unusual for someone in your age group to present with hypertension. Have you been worked up for secondary causes of hypertension? For instance in your age group a structural abnormality caused coarctation of the aorta can cause both headaches and hypertension and if diagnosed early on can be completely correctable. You would need an MRI of the aorta to exclude this condition. Other possibilities include endocrine abnormalities caused by rare tumors and congenital abnormalities of the coronary arteries. You would need both specific laboratory tests and/ or a CT scan of the chest.

[brendalovesvictor]

A related discussion, blood pressure was started.

[myboysrock000]

Have you searched the condition POTS? I came across others posting about it, and it seems to refer to BP and HR issues.

[Defective]

Unfortunately, there have been a variety of other symptoms following this situation. I had to wear a holter monitor for 24 hours and apparently my pulse dropped really low on several occasions. Even tonight, my monitor is recording it at only 47. I'm by no means an athlete though I'm not overweight either. As I stated before, I'm only 23, but now my heart doctor wants to see about putting a Pace Maker in me!?

I ended up in the hospital again this past week after being quickly woken up unexpectedly. The initial surprise sent a huge sharp pain throughout my chest from the left side into the right and up my neck. As soon as it spread through my neck, I began to lose feeling. My neck and chest were numb to the touch, and my body was starting to tingle. I thought for sure I was having a serious attack and got a friend to rush me to the hospital. Twenty minutes down the road, I had lost feeling in my chest, my neck, and in both hands and arms. My body felt like electricity was coursing through it. I couldn't even bend my fingers! It was the scariest moment of my life. It took couple of hours in the ER before my body would return to its normal state. The doctors had to give me a shot and a couple of pills. They now think all of it is nerves, but the majority of the time the chest pains or dizziness start, I'm relaxing and not nervous or stressed at all. I'm still so very confused about the answers.

I tried to propose the above ideas to the heart doctor, but he seems to think it's an impossibility. Any other suggestions? Help would be so much appreciated. :(