I am having some bizarre symptoms for about 5 weeks now. My dentist found elevated bp at a routine appointment, which I thought was strange, since I had a complete cardiological workup in January (echocardiogram, holter monitor, 24 hr monitor, ekg, stress/echo test, blood work, carotid doppler) and a ct scan and u/s of the abdomen and pelvis. The only thing showing up on the ct was diverticulosis which i've had for years. I have also had gallstones since 1995 when I was pregnant, and they really never bothered me. Over the past 5 weeks, my bp stayed elevated and was getting worse. I have been petrified of taking bp meds because of side effects. I have multiple drug allergies and an allergy to dyes (I had a tumor in my submandibular gland in 1990 (where I had an anaphylaxis reaction to the cat scan dye) & a melanoma in my fingernail in 1992). I have had anaphylaxis reactions to pencillin and sulfa drugs and some other really bad reactions to other drugs. I didn't do well under general anesthesia when I had my tumor taken out in 1990, so I am petrified of being put out or even having a cocktail of drugs (i.e. propophol & versed for a colonoscopy so I won't have one; if I need to do it, I'll probably do a virtual).
Having refused the diovan hct my cardiologist's partner prescribed (I researched it and found out there was sulfa in the hct so I wasn't able to take it), I just kept pressing for more tests when my cardiologist came back, since my gut was that my high blood pressure could be secondary to something else going on. I did go to the ER (before my dr came back) when my bp reached 175/98, and i asked for some basic blood work just to see if there was an infection somewhere in my body, but nothing showed up and they, too, said take diovan. I refused. I had more extensive blood work when my cardiologist came back, and I had elevated aldosterone, but not renin; and high cholesterol (216) and ldl (142). Before the blood work came back, I had a renal doppler sonogram, and it showed there was a blocked artery to my left kidney. I saw the dr who read it, and he was perplexed because my symptoms were atypical for this except for the hypertension (my kidney was not small or shrunken, and the blockage was not typically where one would be). He said he could have made a mistake in reading it (I appreciated his honesty), and he didn't want to do an angiogram (due to my dye allergy) or angioplasty (heaven forbid!) until he knew for sure it was renal artery stenosis, so he ordered an MRI with gadolinium (which although there is not supposed to be a reaction to it - Bayer could not guarantee it - but they did say to make sure there was no kidney disease first - my egfr and creatinine were normal so they said it should be fine). However, my bp is now up to 170-185 at night over a diastolic of anywhere from 98-120). When I get up in the morning it can be as high as 170 as well. It is so frightening. The original med (diovan) was contraindicated for renal hypertension so I was glad I stood my ground and never took it. I do feel there is a missing component to all this.
About 4 weeks ago, once I heard about the hypertension issues, I was petrified, and I immediately started to clean up my diet and exercise. I gave up green tea, and coffee (which I rarely drank) and just have been drinking alkaline water. Within 10 days, I lost close to 14 pounds (which I've been dying to do for the past few years but was unable to). I've been doing fresh squeezed veggie juice on occasion, lots of fruit, veggies, nonfat yogurt and minimal protein. I was taking a lot of vitamins, omega 3 fish oils and probiotics and my stools were formed and dark due to the vitamins (I stopped a lot of this in fear that anything I was previously doing might be causing the hypertension). Two weeks into the diet cleanup (up to then my bm's were still okay), while I went to pick my daughter up from camp, I noticed a complete change in my bowels. I was at the hotel, and suddenly I wasn't forming a solid stool. I had only eaten fish, and some broccoli. The small cluster of feces was beige and looked like dog kibble (round little pellets all together in a round ball - you could see the individual pellets). It scared me, and of course my bp was elevated that entire weekend. Since then, I've been eating, still losing weight, have no stomach pain (except for some soreness to the right of my belly button which has been there about 4-5 years) and still no bm. I walk about 45-60 minutes every other day, and I really don't feel bloated or feel like I have an urge to go to the bathroom. My stomach is as flat as its ever been and not swollen or bloated. I began getting worried about not going to the bathroom, and so I took some large doses of vitamin C to try and go, and all that came out was mostly water and very little broken up feces. I urinate frequently (always have). I kept eating, lost more weight, and had 2 little dark strips come out and felt it was an incomplete evacuation. Yesterday, I took some prune juice at night, and more water and broken up black pieces of feces within the water came out (I could also see some pieces of granola in there as I've eaten lots of fiber - allbran, granola, ground flaxseeds and oat bran which didn't produce any bm).
I asked the cardiologist and vascular surgeon if there could be any relation between the potential renal artery stenosis and this constipation problem. I told them I hadn't gone in 2 weeks, and they didn't think it was related. Tonight I had 2 little strips come out that were tan, and that really panicked me. I took more prune juice and again all that came out was water and some orange colored broken up minimal feces (I had eaten an omelet this morning with tomatoes and artichokes and chili peppers, cayenne and tumeric which would account for the orange color). That is what scared me, because usually chili peppers cause me to go to the bathroom easily.
Should I go to the ER to see if I have an intestinal blockage? Could this all be from the change in diet? Would the best diagnostic test for now be xray or ct scan? I don't have an internist right now, so I would have to find someone to evaluate me asap. I am supposed to have the MRI with gadolinium next Tuesday, August 18th and now I'm scared of doing that in case there is some blockage in my intestines which might interfere with the test. It's so stressful and confusing, and I just feel it all might be related and causing the hypertension. One last thing, I had a fibroadenoma in my breast last January as well, and they used an ultrasound needle biopsy and then inserted a titanium clip in my breast. I mentioned it to my gynecologist as perhaps a possibility for all these problems, but she said titanium is usually very safe.
Many thanks, and sorry for the long post.