Referral

[Guest guest]

I supposed the proper thing to do would be to first introduce myself.

My name is Tom and I live in the fair city of Walla Walla, Washington

State. I have been reading through everybody's postings as they have

come through ever since I became a member of this group. That was

shortly after my Cardiologist noticed that my aldosterone renin ratio

was off and the subsequent CT showed a 15 x 12 mm adenoma on my left

adrenal. He said it was only the second time he had ever seen this.

He seemed encouraged saying that it may be a real indication of

Conn's…a new wrinkle on me, something I had never heard of before. He

went on to say that it may be the reason why my high blood pressure

was uncontrollable and the subsequent constant a-fib condition I am

in. The a-fib condition is the whole reason my wife had me seek out a

cardiologist. Long story short, the cardiologist referred me to a

endocrinologist at that point in November of 2007. The

endocrinologist in our little town (we only have one) ran a whole

battery test over the next several months. These ranged from salt

loading to blood and 24 hour urine screens. Finally the

endocrinologist came back a couple of weeks ago and said that I do

not have primary hyperaldosteronism and that I should return to my

primary care physician and cardiologist and start re-titrating my

meds to gain control of my blood pressure.

I started down this path 8-9 years ago with the high blood pressure.

It started off with 1 medicine to keep it under control but with each

subsequent yearly physical the doctor would have to increase my

medication and/or add another to the point where I now take Atenolol

50 MG tablets- 4 ea. daily, Hydrochlorothiazide 25 MG tablets- 1 ea.

daily, Amlodipine 10 MG tablets- 1 ea daily, Lisinopril 40 MG tablets-

2 ea. daily, Potassium 10 MEQ tablet- 1 ea. daily and Aspirin 81 MG

tablets- 1 tablet daily. With this my blood pressure remains at an

average of 150/100 plus or minus 5 on each. The A-Fib condition

manifested itself or was discovered at my last doctor's appt. in

October, 2007. I am a 48 year old male.

Not wanting to make this a long post I am writing to ask if there is

an endocrinologist located in Washington State and/or the Pacific

Northwest that specializes in this field that you would suggest I

seek out? I know how I am feeling and the symptoms seem synonymous

with others I see in other post to this site. In addition to that my

high blood pressure has now pushed my heart into A-Fib. I feel that

there has to be something the endocrinologist missed. I would look up

the test after they were run to find out about them only to find out

that at times protocols were not followed. The lab my cardiologist

uses and the one the endocrinologist where different if that matters?

I appreciate any information you could give me on a referral. Thanks,

Tom.