Has anyone been diagnosed with pseudopheochromocytoma

Posted by lisa11 @lisa11, Sep 7 4:32pm

Hi. I had man symptoms of pheochromocytoma (tumor on adrenal gland) including very high blood pressure, high heart rate, sweating, flushing, terrible anxiety (unprovoked) and others. Your body essentially goes in to fight or flight mode for no reason. I was given clonidine for these rare occasions. Otherwise BP was normal. The episodes became more severe and frequent and I had the testing done for this which came back negative. Apparently out of 300 people tested only 1 will actually have tumor. So the rest of us are referred to as Pseudo pheo. Just trying to reach out to others for support. Thanks for any feedback.

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It sounds like a panic attack to me, especially if the testing was negative.

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There are similarities, but different in that panic attacks have some trigger, and these come out of nowhere. Also BP doesn't rise as high with panic. It's explained in more detail in the literature. There's a Dr. Samuel Mann who specializes in both and the differences are explained.

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That sounds very distressing. How are you treating it?
I will add that I used to have panic attacks and they can come out of nowhere, for apparently no reason. Varying things can trigger them. My trigger was caffeine, but not always.

I hope you can get responses from others with your condition. And, find some relief.

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@celia16

That sounds very distressing. How are you treating it?
I will add that I used to have panic attacks and they can come out of nowhere, for apparently no reason. Varying things can trigger them. My trigger was caffeine, but not always.

I hope you can get responses from others with your condition. And, find some relief.

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I am on a beta blocker, alpha blocker and antidepressant. It's suggested that even if you don't feel depressed, they can help prevent the "spells". I'm also working on mind/body techniques. It is common for it to happen after long term stress and or childhood trauma. I have been under tremendous stress over 3 plus years. This has to be much more common than recognized if only 1/300 people tested for the actual pheochromocytoa have it. There are other symptoms as well, but it's the ones I've mentioned that got my attention.

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