Sudden blood pressure changes

I've been on blood pressure medication for 30+ years and have always been easily controlled. Suddenly my blood pressure was gone up. It was 192/129 today at doctor's office. I was given a second antihypertensive to take with the one I'm already on. Why would my BP all of the sudden become elevated? (been creeping up over last month). I lost 40 pounds over 1.5 years on South Beach Diet but suddenly gained half of that back in just 3 weeks without any changes in diet or activity level.

My BiPAP treatment is excellent with AHI less than 1.0 every night. Doctor is concerned that more is going on. Had blood work drawn and he's referring me to cardiology for stress test. I've had minor chest pain on exertion but immediately disappears with rest. I had a positive stress test 10 years ago and angiography showed some closure of one artery but not requiring a stent. Maybe things have worsened?

A bit disconcerting to me. I had one sister die at age 55 due to massive heart attack. Another sister died at 50 presumably due to arrhythmia due to enlarged heart (probably from untreated OSA). A 3rd sister had sudden cardiac arrest due to ventricular fibrillation (was in coma 5 days) but survived. Now has implanted defibrillator which has gone off once since implanted 4 years ago. Oh, and my father died of heart disease. So MAJOR genetic concerns about my heart.

Entering the age group where everything starts going wrong. Had cataract surgery last year. Had trigger finger releases on both hands 3 months ago. Now in hand therapy as the surgeries resulted in very thick scars in the palms of my hands which have entrapped the tendon of each finger. (3 previous trigger fingers and bilateral carpal tunnel release without problems within past 15 years).

VG, I hope this turns out to be something benign and fixable.
Increase in blood pressure and increase in weight, both within a 3-4 week period -- did your doc include thyroid in the blood tests?

Hopefully your doctor will be thorough and address whatever needs addressed. Please do come back and let us know how things develop with you. Wishing you a quick discovery and recovery. I understand about concerns over family history and age. It can be unsettling just knowing we are in a danger zone, but hopefully that awareness is what leads us to early diagnosis before a problem gets too severe. Wishing you the best.

kaiasgram wrote:VG, I hope this turns out to be something benign and fixable.
Increase in blood pressure and increase in weight, both within a 3-4 week period -- did your doc include thyroid in the blood tests?

This. When my thyroid takes a break from wanting to work, I can put on 20 lbs in 2-3 weeks; eating the same doing the same things. My BP is linked directly to my weight.

Partial answer. First, all my blood work was normal including thyroid panel. When I had surgery on both my hands 3 months ago, the doc started me on MELOXICAM, a prescription NSAID. I didn't think anything about it. Then I go to http://www.drugs.com and find this big warning:

"Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur while taking meloxicam:
increased blood pressure
weight gain or loss"

"Cardiovascular

Cardiovascular side effects have included edema which has been reported by approximately 1% to 5% of patients involved in studies. Other cardiovascular side effects have included angina pectoris, cardiac failure, hypertension, hypotension, myocardial infarction, vasculitis, arrhythmia, dehydration or decreased intravascular volume, palpitations, and tachycardia."

From National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health:
"People who take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) (other than aspirin) such as meloxicam may have a higher risk of having a heart attack or a stroke than people who do not take these medications. These events may happen without warning and may cause death. This risk may be higher for people who take NSAIDs for a long time. Tell your doctor if you or anyone in your family has or has ever had heart disease, a heart attack, or a stroke, if you smoke, and if you have or have ever had high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or diabetes."

I am pretty sure my sudden elevation of BP and sudden rapid weight gain are the result of Meloxicam. Called my hand doctor today he said to stop Meloxicam immediately--people with existing controlled hypertension can experience sudden elevation, heart attack or stroke. WTF. Didn't he read any of the patient history (6 pages) I filled out for his chart. Yes, I have hypertension controlled with meds; yes, I have family members that have died from heart disease (too many), and yes, I have high cholesterol controlled with statin. He should have never prescribed Meloxicam to me according to NIH warning.

So I took my last Meloxicam today. Wonder how long it will take for my system to return to normal?

I'm getting pretty skeptical about the health care most Americans receive. The doctors require tons of documentation but then don't read any of it. They spend very little time talking to patient ( less than 2 minutes in room with me after nurse took out stitches) and then just get out Rx pad. This doctor didn't even ask me if I had hypertension before he wrote the script. He is a board certified hand surgeon but apparently specialists get tunnel vision and only think about the condition they are treating and forget that there is more to the patient than the hands he operated on.

Yikes. I feel sorry for those unable to advocate for themselves. Let us know how soon things start resolving. VERY interesting.

Good thing you decided to investigate the meds. I hope discontinuing the meloxican results in a quick reversal of those unwanted and scary changes.

I'm getting pretty skeptical about the health care most Americans receive. The doctors require tons of documentation but then don't read any of it. They spend very little time talking to patient ( less than 2 minutes in room with me after nurse took out stitches) and then just get out Rx pad. This doctor didn't even ask me if I had hypertension before he wrote the script. He is a board certified hand surgeon but apparently specialists get tunnel vision and only think about the condition they are treating and forget that there is more to the patient than the hands he operated on.

Sadly, I am not at all shocked VG. At least he didn't deny the med was the problem unlike many doctors who do even when it is listed as a major side effect. But still, that is pretty despicable that he never asked you if you had hypertension.

49er

49er wrote:
Sadly, I am not at all shocked VG. At least he didn't deny the med was the problem unlike many doctors who do even when it is listed as a major side effect. But still, that is pretty despicable that he never asked you if you had hypertension.

49er

49er wrote: Sadly, I am not at all shocked VG. At least he didn't deny the med was the problem unlike many doctors who do even when it is listed as a major side effect. But still, that is pretty despicable that he never asked you if you had hypertension.
49er

Or opening up my chart to see that not only do I have hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, I was on meds to treat those conditions. And I have a very scary family history of death from heart disease among females at fairly young age (fifties). Some side effects are "minor" to docs and they could care less--just live with it. But when you're talking potential sudden death??? Maybe my case will be a wake up call for him. If 5% of test population of a drug had a side effect, chances are you will see a few of those patients in your practice. Maybe he'll be more careful about zipping out a script for a drug without determining whether it is appropriate for the given patient.

I didn't even think about MELOXICAM being the culprit as I was told it was "Just a more powerful Aleve or Motrin". OK. From now on, before I let a doc write a prescription for me to take a drug, I'm asking a lot of questions. It may irritate the heck of them because they want to quickly move on to the next patient. But I'm not ever going to be a victim of something like this again.

VikingGnome wrote:

49er wrote:
Sadly, I am not at all shocked VG. At least he didn't deny the med was the problem unlike many doctors who do even when it is listed as a major side effect. But still, that is pretty despicable that he never asked you if you had hypertension.

49er

49er wrote: Sadly, I am not at all shocked VG. At least he didn't deny the med was the problem unlike many doctors who do even when it is listed as a major side effect. But still, that is pretty despicable that he never asked you if you had hypertension.
49er

Or opening up my chart to see that not only do I have hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, I was on meds to treat those conditions. And I have a very scary family history of death from heart disease among females at fairly young age (fifties). Some side effects are "minor" to docs and they could care less--just live with it. But when you're talking potential sudden death??? Maybe my case will be a wake up call for him. If 5% of test population of a drug had a side effect, chances are you will see a few of those patients in your practice. Maybe he'll be more careful about zipping out a script for a drug without determining whether it is appropriate for the given patient.

I didn't even think about MELOXICAM being the culprit as I was told it was "Just a more powerful Aleve or Motrin". OK. From now on, before I let a doc write a prescription for me to take a drug, I'm asking a lot of questions. It may irritate the heck of them because they want to quickly move on to the next patient. But I'm not ever going to be a victim of something like this again.

VG,

I totally hear you and definitely understand your frustrations based on similar type experiences with doctors regarding meds and side effects. Being the cynic that I am, I wouldn't count on this being wakeup call for this guy. They are just too concerned with getting patients in and out of their practice. I would love to be proven wrong on this but I fear I am right.

49er

VikingGnome wrote:
I didn't even think about MELOXICAM being the culprit as I was told it was "Just a more powerful Aleve or Motrin". OK. From now on, before I let a doc write a prescription for me to take a drug, I'm asking a lot of questions. It may irritate the heck of them because they want to quickly move on to the next patient. But I'm not ever going to be a victim of something like this again.

I take care of my parents. They are on a lot of drugs. Every few years a geriatric specialist and a pharmacist review ALL their medications for interactions and adjust or change or eliminate drugs. Medications have become so complicated that just the drug checking has become a speciality that needs several specialist to work on. Your pharmacist should be checking for drug interactions but a doctor needs to check for counter indications due to other health issues. They taught my father to check for some of those issues on his own - he takes diuretics for one issue but it causes his blood pressure to drop so we check his ankles daily as well as his BP and his monthly INR. Depending on the results he adjusts his medication himself.

VikingGnome,

Since you took the Meloxicam, you might want to have a blood test to check your kidney function. Probably not an issue, but for me, a rhematologist put me on too many NSAIDS & I stupidly thought it was OK, since I had been going to him for years. Found out the combo of NSAIDS and just some NSAIDS by themselves can cause kidney disease/failure. I was in kidney failure, stage 3 when it was found. My symptoms were similar to yours, rapid weight gain with no change in diet & major hypertension, so high they called it malignant hypertension. Your case is probably different, but I just thought you might want to have your kidney function checked just to be safe.

Jen