Has anyone been diagnosed with pseudopheochromocytoma

Posted by lisa11 @lisa11, Sep 7, 2024

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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Hi. A lot of doctors don't know about this. Research Dr. Samuel Mann and pseudopheochromocytoma. His specialty is resistant hypertension. He is a pioneer in identifying it. My provider didn't believe it either but much to her credit she took the time to look into it. On one of my follow up appointments I had several articles by Dr. Mann and she also had a couple to give me by him. She knows my history and what I've been through and his papers made her a believer. I started out on Toprol, 100 mg, doxazosin 3 mg, which is now changed to atenolol 12.5 mg and terazosin 1 mg. I also take Zoloft 50 mg. So my dosage is way down and blood pressures controlled. I had insomnia for several months on Toprol due to the it being fat soluble and crossing the blood brain barrier. Atenolol was a game changer but it does give me non allergic rhinitis which is annoying but tolerable. From what I understand the alpha blocker add on is important but I'm not sure why. Dr. Mann addresses it. Maybe this is the missing piece for you? I also have clonidine and Xanax as rescue but seldom use them anymore. When this came to a head for me over the summer, I was in the ER 3 times. I know what you're going through. When you go into fight or flight mode for no apparent reason its awful. I fully believe this is a mind body syndrome. Mann has a book, "Hidden within us" that you might find helpful. In it he references Dr. John Sarno who also identifies this as mind body. I'd suggest you look into Sarno's books as well. I think his first was "healing back pain", "the divided mind" is another. I know the feeling of isolation. I think a lot more people have this but it's put under the umbrella of labile hypertension. The difference between this and a panic attack is there's nothing that provokes it, it comes out of the blue. I hope this helps some. Also for you mkent who posted on 12/30.

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@lisa11
I too have suffered from this condition since 2014. I have the ODT (Oral Dissolving Tablets of Xanax quarter of a milligram emergency tabs that bring my BP under control. Hypertensive meds do nothing for me. Thank the Lord I was diagnosed properly @ Shands UF in 2015, and am fortunate that I haven’t suffered a stroke during my many episodes of BP going upwards of 220/140 and higher. Thank you for the recommendations of the other books by Dr. Mann. I will print out the articles as well to share with doctors who are not familiar ( sometimes don’t believe) that this condition exists. It is very frustrating trying to educate others.

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