Apologies in advance for this long winded thing, but I'm a dataphile and assume you are as well. 42f, 5'6" 180 lbs. Recently lost 22 pounds, still going, great diet, exercise regularly with C25K, hiking and heavy lifting. Intermittent faster. Ran a Spartan 4 years ago in the best shape of my life, gained a bunch of weight (35) last year due to my daughter attempting suicide and my husband experiencing a horrible motorcycle accident. (Everyone is doing better).
BP has been randomly, inconsistently elevated for about 2 months (as far as I'm aware). Annual checkup, doc says keep an eye on it, so I buy a BP wrist cuff, which ended up being about 10 points over on average (based off doc office comparison, read on). Got a bicep cuff 3 days ago at the recommendation of the third! doc I've seen about said issue. I wish I could attach that data here (it's a great bar graph), but suffice to say it's severe hypertension, but incredibly variable both diastolically and systollically. Always taken at rest, it varies from day to day from juuuust barely hypertensive to go to the emergency department immediately (according to 2 separate nurses).
I got a propranolol prescription, extended release, but let doc know I stopped a week later when I tried to hike and was alarmed by my super low heart rate, which caused me to crash so hard at the end of my hike that I could barely function for the rest of the day. Exercise is important to me, so is fasting, which does affect the BP since my first reading in February (seems to be high when deeply fasting but drops a bit when I eat, yet still in hypertensive category).
My research has ruled out the common causes of hypertension (diabetes, diet, lack of exercise, etc.) vitamin D deficiency (blood was taken and ruled deficient but I've been on high dose D for 4 weeks so far). EKG readings were normal. All other full panel of blood readings were within normal range.
Doc #3 finally ordered a stress test, but they haven't called me to schedule it for 2 weeks and I'm starting to panic. The last 3 days have been highly concerning. I've been a great sleeper my whole life, but after 48 hours of readings at or around severe hypertension, last night I was WIRED and didn't sleep. At all. It was insane. My highest reading was 163/23, and this was after lying in bed watching TikToks for an hour. I was also headachey and dry mouthed.
So am I on the right track thinking adrenal tumor? I researched kidney issues as well. Sounds possible. I really hate to do the WebMD rabbit hole, but without answers or doc communication, I'm severely worried about a stroke or heart attack. This is SO STRANGE to me, and I'm scared. What specialist should I see? Cardiologist? Nephrologist? Any advice?