Last Mo, Oct. 13, I had biopsies taken from the prostate, which is
large, and the PSA test high, in order to examine for the suspicion of
prostate cancer. This was done by sticking me 10-15 times through the
rectum. My blood pressure was 100 over 75 on Monday but jumped since
to around 180 over 100 reaching 204 Thursday night. My cardiologist
advised me to take 25 mg atenolol, and a lorazepam and go to sleep;
and my general practitioner concurred. I hoped my blood pressure will
drop but it is still 180 over 94.

Does anybody know if there is a connection between the prostate test
and the high blood pressure?

Is a sustained blood pressure of 180 safe or am I shopping for a
stroke?
Is there a stroke prevention institution I can consult?

If no, and if my cardiologist continues to refuse giving me
blood-pressure lowering drugs, should I change cardiologists and how
do you do that being on Medicare and without the general
practitioner's help?

If everything else fails how can you get blood pressure lowering
drugs, legally or illegally without the doctors' cooperation?

---

Clarification of Question by vaac-ga on 22 Oct 2003 11:54 PDT

My blood pressure came down to 140 over 80 which is what it used to be
all the time so that all the comments in the discussion are
irrelevant. the suggestion that stress might have caused it is also
untenable since there is no reason to be less worried before the
biopsy with a blood pressure of 100/75 than after the biopsy with a
pressure of 204/100. My assumption that the biopsy caused the blood
pressure increase is refuted by the cardiologist as well as by the
urologist. Does anybody have information to the contrary?

Life Style is also a factor.

Cut out salt; more exercise (nothing too violent); cut out dairy
products (soya milk is great); maybe eat less (are you overweight?)
...

Your doctor may also consider giving you a diuretic.

What's your age?

There's a LOT of good stuff on the web.

Good luck!

What is your normal blood pressure? Is your blood pressure normally as
low as it was on Monday or is that abnormal for you? It is possible
that perhaps the first reading was inaccurate. Something to consider.
I don't know what your normal dose of blood pressure medications is,
but adding an extra 25 mg of Atenolol would be an acceptable
adjustment to attempt to lower your blood pressure. It sounds like you
may need to schedule a formal visit with your cardiologist and/or
general practitioner to reevaluate your blood pressure. Good luck!

Boquinha-ga

It is possible that stress is one of the causes, on account of the
procedure itself and also due to the worry that you are presumably
experiencing at present about your medical condition. This will,
however, be compounded by the additional worry about your blood
pressure, placing you in a vicious circle.

You could try some stress management techniques.  
http://www.uihealthcare.com/topics/stressandcope/stre5135.html
http://iml.umkc.edu/casww/strsmgmt.htm
However, perhaps you should also consider changing to another GP, who
might listen to your concerns more sympathetically.

You might also be interested in this article:
"The prescription drug terazosin [Hytrin] is a safe and effective
treatment for both high blood pressure and the symptoms of an enlarged
prostate -- medically known as benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a
recent study shows.
"For men over 45 who have hypertension and BPH, terazosin not only
reduced their elevated blood pressure, it also significantly improved
their BPH symptoms," said Robert Guthrie, author of the study and
associate professor of pharmacology and family medicine at Ohio State
University."
http://www.acs.ohio-state.edu/units/research/archive/hytrin.htm