please help me... life hangs in the balance.. teen stage 2 hypertension

[deardoc]

Hello all, thank you for reading. My son, 17 years old, has had consistently high blood pressure (160/90-100) for around 4 years. While this may be common for overweight teens, or teens that don't exercise, he is in AMAZING "lance armstrong" shape. He runs and works out daily, eats very healthy, and is very muscular, fit and seemingly the vision of health. However, he has been on blood pressure medication for 4 years (lisinopril) and doctors cannot find the cause of his hypertension. The only thing that has been discovered is an enlarged heart and thickened walls. My question is, could there possibly be a defect that no one has found? What could be the cause of this? What tests should he have? He has already had an MRI and an ultrasound... He has started having chest pains more frequently, and I cannot tell you the pain I feel for him... Please help me, I'm afraid for his life.. Thank you, Sara

[solace21]

Hi,
   Yes, you should show him to more doctors and find the real cause of his high pressure, as it can affect various organs of his body. By the way, I hope his adrenal gland functions would have been already checked, if not that should be checked. How is his pulse rate?, is it also high?What about his thyroid functioning? In any case, do not leave the issue as it is, better to go to a multispeciality hospital, where you could expect to find an answer to your problem.
Good luck,
Solace  

[caringmom720]

New here today, my daughter also was diagnosis awhile back with hypertension, also was on lisinopil, but she stop taking it about 2 yrs ago on her own, but told the doctor, she lost 43lbs, I see your son has been heathy weight wise. But, now at 23 yrs old my daughter is 6 months pregnant, a single mom.  She's been going to a prenatal specialist due to her B/P very high, been to the hospital twice now,taking Labetalol 200 mg twice daily,  they did a echocardiagram on both, they said her baby, looks fine, but my daughter was diagnosis with thicken walls and a hole in her heart.  So, Monday we have an appt. for to a cardiologist. I don't know much about this, and am glad I got on here.  I feel awful, my daughter studied aboard this summer, and she complain alot about feeling tired and out of breath. Everyone was telling me, oh she's just lazy.  My husband passed at an early age(cancer), and it's just me and my daughter now, so this has me very concerned. I can feel how you're feeling about your son, please do get another opinion.

[sweetpea03]

Have you taken him for a second, or third opinion? It's good to get a fresh set of eyes on a difficult case. It's possible there is something else they haven't found yet, though they seem to have done all the typical tests they should have done. I would think that if the medication isn't working, they'd switch him to another one til they can find one that works better. I'm sorry you have to go through this. Good luck.