Possible endocrine issue causing hypertension

[shedwards1]

I have a 16 yr old son that has congenital hepatic fibrosis but so far no issues with it.  We had to take him to the ER the other day and he had a bp of 145/95 and heart rate of 138 and WBC of 21.9 but they can't figure out what is wrong.  He had small amounts of protein in his urine and his xray was fine as was his ekg.  They are sending us to a cardiologist which they'ved done before when this happened but nothing turned up.  I just wondered if there were any endocrine issues that could cause these same issues.  He also was dizzy, pale, and disoriented and had pain in his right armpit that went into his bicep.  Those symptoms dissapated after a bit of time but his bp and heart rate did not change.

[Deanna L Aftab Guy, MD]

The endocrine causes of hypertension include overactive thyroid, rare but important tumor of the adrenal gland called pheochromocytoma and sometimes Cushings Disease which also is rare. It sounds honestly like he had an illness, high white count and sometimes people leak protein in urine when sick but the kidney may be a source. The blood pressure is best repeated 2 more separate times to be sure this persists and needs workup and I would talk with your pediatrician if referral is needed perhaps even to see a nephrologist