What Causes Fluctuations In BP Levels

Posted on Wed, 18 Feb 2015

Question: My dad is 74. He had a mild heart attack when he was 51. He's been on Lipitor and although his BP was normal, was is on a low dose BP med. over the last two weeks his BP has shot up to 180 / 80 and when they doubled his BP med went down to 90/60. Off the second dose, it's shot up to 185 / 60. Blood tests and EKG are both normal. What is causing this wide fluctuation?

Answered by Dr. Anantharamakrishnan (17 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Needs more tests

Detailed Answer:
Hi friend
Welcome to Health Care Magic

Such fluctuation is generally due to sudden outpouring of hormones – specifically epinephrine (adrenaline) > a condition called Pheochromocytoma. He needs further blood tests for the hormone – especially during the shoot up / urine test for its metabolites (24-hour urine VMA) / abdominal scan to see the kidneys and suprarenal glands – to evaluate possible tumour of the gland.
Ambulatory monitoring of the pressure / more scans – may be in need depending on the results of these tests / The treating doctor alone could conclude better, based on the total clinical picture

Good luck
God bless you

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar