Not sure what to make of this

A little background, 31 M, last blood work done 6 months ago, everything normal except triglycerides were a little high.  I have normal blood pressure and my normal resting heart rate is 55/60.  I have had some chest pain for a few years and my primary care physician recommends I see a cardiologist and gastro to try to figure out what is causing it.

A few weeks ago I end up getting sick, fever, sore throat..end up getting zpack from my doctor.  After a few days I am feeling much better, but the zpak runs out and the sore throat starts coming back, so I go back to my doctor and she prescribes cefuroxime axetil.  It really does not appear to help and I end up getting severe diarrhea, then my stool turns green and becomes foul smelling.  Last Thursday I finally have my appointment with my cardiologist and gastro and to my surprise, my blood pressure is high in both doctors offices (145/95), when normal for me is 120/80 and in fact my two previous appointments with my primary care physician just a week earlier was 116/66 and 120/76.  I continue to monitor my blood pressure the next two days and it is still high, so I decide to stop taking my antibiotics.

Now the cardiologist does not seem concerned and feels my chest pain is not heart related, but agrees to perform a stress test and echo, which I had today.  Again my blood pressure was high and my heart rate was high and after about 8 minutes on the treadmill he stops the test because my heart rate is around 194 (normal for me is around 165).  He said the heart looks good, mentions I have only very minor leaking valve (does not mention which one), but wants me to see me in a month to check my blood pressure and heart rate.

Now my question is what can cause a sudden increase in heart rate and blood pressure.  Clearly it was normal prior to me taking the antibiotic cefuroxime axetil, can an antibiotic cause an increase in heart rate and blood pressure??  I was aware of the possibility of the cefuroxime axetil possibly causing a clostridium difficile in my colon (diarrhea and green foul smelling stool), which is why I stopped it and started eating yogurt and taking acidophilus (still having diarrhea, but normal color).  Could the toxins from a clostridium difficile be causing my increased heart rate and blood pressure??  I am just stumped by all this and the sudden onset of the increased heart rate and blood pressure....right now resting heart rate is 90, which a week about it was 55.

I know this is a lot to absorb, but any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Michael

[avesls]

stress of any kind, including illness, will increase your blood pressure.  I bet it is back to normal now that the cold is over.