|
New Doctor, New Diagnosis
I finally get what sounds like a solid diagnosis! Tumor of the adrenal medulla.
Date: 1/12/2010 9:34:45 PM ( 15 y ) ... viewed 976 times (This is a continuing saga and I’m not good at writing recaps. Start here at your peril)
It was the week before Christmas when I turned in my second 24-hour urine sample. You know what that means, no results until after the holiday. In the meantime my BP went up and down and down and up, but not as wildly as before. And the intervals between spikes were longer. The diovan was working, just not working that well.
The Monday after Christmas, I got a call from my doctor. Urine results were negative. Nothing wrong with my kidneys. Humm. One good thing about this is that I am learning what parts of my body do work. Looks like I have a good heart and nice, solidly performing kidneys. Good to know.
But at this point she said I needed to see a specialist, either another cardiologist (I’d told her I wouldn’t go back to Dr. W) or an internist. R has an internist he has been going to for a long time and he’d been pestering me to go to him. In fact, he’d already made an appointment for me just in case, for the Monday after New Year’s.
In the meantime I was feeling somewhat better and I’d gotten used to the BP spikes. Since my heart was in such good shape, no need to worry about a heart attack. And the spikes were low enough that a stroke didn’t seem likely.
Dr. S2 is an older guy with a kind-of Dr. Heber from the Simpson’s attitude—he laughs at inappropriate times. Or at least he seemed inappropriately jovial. When I told him my history he quizzed me, “What causes hypertension, shaking and low potassium?”
I shook my head. Obviously I didn’t know. Isn’t that what I came here to find out?
“Adrenal tumor.” He went to a flip book of charts he had hanging on the wall and turned to the one with the abdominal cavity exposed. “Here. One just above each kidney. They secrete hormones that regulate blood pressure.” He went on to explain that they were very small glands and could be easily extracted using laparoscopy. He wanted to see the MRA of my kidneys before he decided whether I needed at CT scan or not. In the meantime, a bunch of blood tests and another, different, 24-hour urine sample were needed.
He put me back on lisinopril, explaining that one difference between diovan and lisinopril is how their ability to control hypertension related to adrenal tumors. What about the cough? Dr. S2 said he takes it and just deals with the cough.
I didn’t ask many questions, figuring I’d search the interweb for information (which is how I stumbled upon this site). The interweb said many things. Firstly, episodic hypertension, shaking and low potassium are symptoms of tumors of the adrenal medulla. Also something called “flank pain.” I remembered how I’d had that pain in my right side just before this all started, that was definitely flank pain. But why did I have to miss out on the potentially positive side effect of weight loss? Figures.
Add This Entry To Your CureZone Favorites! Print this page
Email this page
 Alert Webmaster
|
