@kkubsky, I can definitely relate to the scariness of increased blood pressure given s diagnosis of ascending aortic aneurysm. I've had issues with insomnia and anxiety attacks because of it. I think finding more effective ways to decrease your stress/anxiety is really important, and I hope you will consider that.
In my case, blood pressure was well-controlled for many years with Lotrel 5/10. Then in the months leading up to and including initial diagnosis of the AAA (during which time I found out I had stage 0 genital cancer and needed surgery), it was consistently high (between 165-187/80). My cardio then changed to Lotrel 10/40, which helped but I still had terrible insomnia and anxiety attacks that kept it high. After ~5 months after the change in Lotrel dose, my BP is now consistently under what my cardio (and the vascular surgeon who would do surgery if it becomes necessary) consider reasonable control,