Will I ever have an answer - high BP at night?

[lauriannem]

So far the echo, stress and kidney scan (ultrasound) were all OK.  BP rises in the evening, usually starting around 4-5PM and onward.  During the day it is normal.  I'm not doing anything stressful in the evening - just watching TV, lying down on the couch reading etc.  I'm 45, 155 lbs, 5ft5in, and generally healthy except for M.S.  I eat very well, very low sodium and no fast food, little processed foods.

My cardio seems to be out of ideas.  He keeps calling it primary hypertension and just wants to drug me.  Fine, I've started on an ACE inhibitor (enalapril) - ok the first two nights, didn't work at all tonight -had to take a clonidine on top of it :(

I don't believe it's primary - I've spoken to many people I know with that and they said it was a gradual raising over time of their BP and it is all day, usually lower at night.  This is nothing like that.  Any ideas on where I should be loooking for answers?

I am seeing a new cardio tomorrow and am hoping to have some ideas, questions to speak with him about to try to solve this.

Thanks!

[lauriannem]

Good thoughts Ed - I'm sure I could use a good shrink as much as the next person.  However, in the evening I'm really very content, watching TV, reading, computing - I work from home as well so often working.  Nothing that should spike it by 30/40 points I would think.  I'm not one to obsess too much and have dealt with a fair amount of adversity in my life and feel I deal with it pretty well (Katrina, multiple sclerosis, etc.).  So, I still suspect something is actually causing it but it's always good to remember to breathe :)

[ed34]

What about your psychological status, which can obviously have a huge impact on blood pressure. A friend of mine suffers elevated blood pressure in the evenings because it's quieter with no distractions and she sits/lays there thinking about all the problems she has to deal with over the next few days.