Expert: Dr. Shabbir Baldiwala - 3/4/2009

Question
Hello,

First off, I have a long medical history so I am going to give you an insight into that before I even begin to tackle my hypertension. I am a 20 year old female, from the ages of 16 through 18, I have had 3 surgeries in regards to my ovaries. I have been diagnosed with, GERD, Epilepsy, and Polycystic Ovarian Disease, and just recently was diagnosed with Bipolar. My blood pressure has not been a problem up until about a year ago, I had numbers in the 160-170/100-106 range and was put on Atenelol to control the blood pressure. I also had a resting rapid heart rate of 120. Since then, my doctors have continually increased my dosage. I started off at 25mg, and I'm all the way up to 75mg in a matter of a year. I am thoroughly confused by this. I have also noticed within the last few years that I have these little red, pin point dots (petechiae), all over my body. They kind of look like small, broken blood vessels. I also have extreme joint pain, and have just found out that I am allergic to the contrceptive pill. I am beginning to get annoyed by all of this as, my doctors put me on medication, especially for my blood pressure.. it levels out, and then eventually it goes back up again. Please help me, what do you think all of this means? Is there a possibility that everything is connected? I am also vitamin B12 deficient and my blood levels for anemia came back high. Please help!!

Thank you so much,

Stephanie

Answer
You seem to be having some kind of immune disorder. Anyways, you have to treat each component on an  individual basis. As regards the pressure, continue with Atenolol 100mg daily. If your pressure is uncontrolled, you could add an ARB like Olmesartan.