Urgent Care Visit Yesterday

[MBombardier]

My blood pressure has been trending up for a few days. We bought a house and are in the process of moving out of the duplex we've lived in for almost seven years. The loan qualification was a hassle, including closing a week late and having to go back in the next day and sign some papers again because the lender made a change. The mortgage payment is more than double our rent, so there is going to have to be some real belt-tightening. On top of that, I have not dealt with my brother's death last month. There has been so much else to deal with that I have basically refused to think about it.

Yesterday I woke up shaky, with the heart palpitations I have been experiencing off and on. Around 3:30pm I went to urgent care because my BP was 175/90 and my HR was edging over 100. Generally, except the last week or so, my BP has been 120's/80's, and HR 60-65. The MD did an EKG, which was fine, and did blood work for some kind of imbalances that can cause this type of thing, and also thyroid labs. She also prescribed atenolol 25mg, a beta blocker, which I started taking yesterday.

I am not a happy camper. I don't understand why I went over the edge like this. I didn't sleep much for the three days or so before this happened, but I forced myself to stay in bed 10 hours last night and slept close to seven of them off and on. This morning my BP was still 150/85, but my HR was down to 63.

The good news is that my gut is just fine. Go figure.

[Gabes-Apg]

Marliss,
Tough few weeks, and if get the feeling you and I are kindred spirits with our health history and how our bodies react to things. Hugs

I have been on atenolol 50mg and zanidep 10mg since early 2012.

I have 'unknown cause renal impairment'. Scans, blood tests, urine tests have not provided a cause. Other than having a biopsy I remain in the 'interesting' category. Kidney function regularly monitored.
No way of knowing if the bp issues caused the kidney, or if the kidney caused the bp.

Post Pyrrole diagnosis, all the research thus far, my strong belief is that all the inflammation, IgA, etc, has clogged (maybe a better word is affected ) filtering properties of the kidney. This increases the pressure and strain on heart. Before the meds my resting heart rate was 120. It used to up to 150 when I climbed a flight of stairs.
Bp issues, heart rate issues are linked to mast cell issues, and again it is the ongoing inflammation at the root cause.

Like the Pyrrole, one element of the MTHFR is heavy metal build up, and cell properties are not correct to clear toxins and inflammation. IMO, this would be another key aspect of the worsening of the bp and heart rate.

And akin to the MC and when the MC bear awakes from hibernation. It was maybe gradually getting worse and then maybe the recent events in your life were the tipping point. The emotions, the cortisone, adrenalin, excess inflammation (everywhere else but your gut) as the cell health degrades, these other issues awake from hibernation with a big growl!!

My doctors are confident, when Pyrrole correction works, inflammation is minimised going forward, kidney function stabilised, within 2 years I can get off the atenolol and zanidep.

That is why I am keeping up the CoQ10, reduces bp, help the kidney and heart. Bang for buck it is helping a multitude of things... Teeth/gums, cells, kidney, heart
(Interestingly, atenolol decreases formation of coQ10 in the body... No wonder I need 300mg of coQ10 per day for energy!! )

Nutrient bible has long list of things for hypertension;
Sort of 'same same' to what we have discussed (and most are in line with MTHFR corrections etc..)
B3, C, CoQ10, D, glutamine, zinc, selenium, magnesium, potassium, and a lot of the amino acids
-Are you doing bone broth?

CoQ10 is not cheap and given your current circumstances may not be viable, if you can do bone broth/amino acid supplementation, d, Vit C, zinc, magnesium, it will help a lot,

Healing hugs
Xo

[tex]

Marliss,

FWIW, I have occasional blood pressure "events" every winter usually starting right after Christmas, and lasting off and on until almost March. Sometimes they're major, and sometimes they're minor. I have no idea what causes them, but I have a hunch that (as Gabes mentioned) they're somehow mast cell-connected. They seem to have a mind of their own.

The symptoms of episodes such as this remind me of panic/anxiety attacks, but I have no idea why I would have such attacks, since I don't seem panicked or anxious. I have often wondered if they might be the result of nightmares or some other sleep events that I'm not even aware of.

At least that's good news that your gut is behaving. In your case, you've certainly had enough going on in your life lately to generate anxiety issues, so medications may be in order.

Please take care of yourself.

Tex

[DebE13]

Sorry to hear of your recent problems. I hope you get back on track soon and have a smooth transition with your move now that the paperwork is done.

[Gabes-Apg]

Marliss
came across this today... the increased stress of the past 6 months, MTHFR gets worse, and;

highlights are done by me!

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mthfr/

What a defective (mutated) MTHFR gene does to you
It produces a defective MTHFR enzyme of different varieties i.e. it functions less than optimally, such as performing at only 40% of its capacity, or 70% of its capacity. It can mean you won’t break down toxins or heavy metals well i.e. you could find yourself with high iron, or high copper, or high lead, or high mercury….etc. High copper can also cause low ferritin, even though your iron levels look great!
The defective enzyme doesn’t break down folate vitamins properly (of which folic acid is the precursor to), which can cause high homocysteine, which can increase your risk of coronary heart disease (arteriosclerotic vascular disease or venous thrombosis), and related heart and BP conditions, as well as increasing your risk for dementia.
Homocysteine is poorly converted to glutathione, which is your body’s chief antioxidant and detoxifier. You are then more susceptible to stress and toxin buildup.
Homocysteine is poorly converted to methionine, and less methionine can raise your risk of arteriosclerosis, fatty liver degenerative disease, anemia (see Wiki), increased inflammation, increased free radical damage… and produce less SAM-e
Less SAM-e can increase depression
And more broadly, an MTHFR defect can increase your risk of a variety of cancers (including breast and prostate cancer), stroke, heart problems, congenital defects, depression, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), miscarriages, migraines, chemical sensitivities and many conditions.
You can find yourself with high folate or high B12. i.e. your body will have problems converting inactive forms of folate and B12 to the active forms. So the inactive folate or B12 will simply build up in your serum, also inhibiting the active forms. Most serum folate tests are actually measuring folic acid, which needed to be converted to methylfolate to be used metabolically.
The journal Molecular Psychiatry states that “Schizophrenia-like syndromes, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia have all been associated with one or more mutations of the MTHFR gene”. (2006;11, 352–360)

[MBombardier]

Gabes, it does sound like we share some health challenges, particularly in regard to inflammation popping up other places than the gut. I was glad to read your story. Also, that's a lot of good information on MTHFR and a great article at STTM! I have one A1298C mutation. Thank you so much for how you share your journey and what you've learned!! Hugs back to you!

Tex, I really appreciate your telling me about your high BP episodes. It really helps to know others are experiencing the same thing, as of course you know. Our bodies do seem sometimes like they have a mind of their own, don't they? Mast cells/histamine is one of those subjects that is confusing to me and I have been avoiding, though at the same time I have tried to avoid high-histamine foods. Looks like I will be studying up on them more...

My thyroid labs from Sunday indicated that my fT4 was slightly elevated, but my fT3 was really high. So my hypothesis is that this particular episode may have been caused by an over-medicated thyroid. I had cut back on my NDT from 180mg to 150mg 4/7 and 120mg 3/7 about three weeks ago. Since I tolerated it well I was going to continue to gradually go down, cutting it to 120mg 7/7 last week. I just went ahead and reduced it to 60mg today. I already feel better. I have a PCP appt. on the 26th, so we'll see how I feel and what my labs look like then. At this point, feeling a little tired and sluggish seems like a good thing. I'd probably get more than a few hours of sleep at night.

I have been eating a strict AIP diet for about a month. I have read that the AIP may possibly put autoimmune diseases in remission. I can hope that, but I suspect that I actually have a node that suddenly went hot sometime last week and precipitated this. I doubt I have been eating AIP long enough for any kind of remission, though I have been eating more or less Paleo for a couple of years now.

[tex]

Marliss,

I agree that you've probably pinpointed the source of the main problem. Heart palpitations are a common marker for elevated thyroxine levels. I'm glad that you figured it out before it went on any longer.

Thanks for the update.

Tex

[MBombardier]

Me, too, Tex. Hoping for some real relief real soon.