How do you get a doctor to listen?

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone, I'm new to the group but from what I have read on here and

elsewhere online, I feel a lot of my symptoms match what others on here have

experienced with hyperaldosteronism. I'm a 25yo female and last year around

February, I started to get really tired all the time. I thought it was due to a

bad flu but long after recovering I could never seem to get enough sleep. Around

the same time I started to get migraines on an almost daily basis (didn't

realize the killer headaches were migraines at the time since I'd never had

one). On top of it, my usually sharp memory was completely gone and I was stuck

with extreme brain fog. With a lot of caffeine I made it to the end of the

school year and made an appt with my GP in June where on top of everything I

found I had extremely high bp, 196/92. Now, I had to have a physical for my new

job 8 months before where my bp was perfectly normal, 124/80. My bp remained

high and got started on metoprolol 25mg. At the time, I was looking for typical

issues that might cause all this such as anemia, thyroid and maybe even reaction

to bcp. I stopped my ortho tri cyclen and blood tests came back normal except

that one thing was slightly low, and if memory serves me (which it may not :-/),

it was my potassium. I also saw an allergist thinking maybe it was my allergies

causing it. He was more concerned than my gp and put me on elavil for migraines

(I take 10mg) and singulair for asthma so I could stop advair. As soon as I

stopped advair I feel I slept much better, but still didn't feel well rested or

as energetic.

I had my 6 month checkup and my bp was high again at 174/90. I asked my doctor

what could be causing it to go up and she just acted like it is one of those

things that can just happen. bs! I'm now upped to 50mg meto, she tried me on

hctz but that made me feel awful with extreme muscle weakness and fatigue so I

had to stop that. Now she has added amlodipine 5mg (for about a week now) but I

can still tell my bp is high and the muscle weakness/tiredness has not gone away

and I have dull headaches almost every day. My doctor doesn't seem to think

anything is really wrong and has never tested me for anything other than a

typical blood test (back in June) and a sleep study (which showed I was an

inefficient sleeper, due to the advair i believe?)

Now today I tried to get a referral from my dr to see an endo thinking that

would be my best starting point based from what I have read online and family

recommendation. Well the nurse calls me back asking why I would want to see an

endo. I explain that my bp is still high and my migraines are returning and I am

just all around fatigued and low energy. She questions me saying " don't you mean

a neurologist " since I of course mentioned my migraines. I tell her no, I feel

the migraines, high bp and other symptoms are all related. So she said " oh, so

you're thinking thyroid issues. " Well, no I'm not, but I just tell her I feel it

may be a gland issue. So she just kinda laughs and says " well, I'll try to call,

but they're going to tell me the same thing I told you " which was that endos

don't deal with high bp and migraines. Errr. I'm hoping to hear back from my dr

office soon to see if i can get in, but how do I go about making my dr hear me?

I know something is wrong with me and no matter what she may think, otherwise

healthy 25yos don't develop extreme hypertension over an 8 month period without

something causing it. I guess if all else fails I'll call my allergist and see

if he will give me the referral since he is the only one who has seemed

concerned by my symptoms.

Thank you for listening to my rant! Any advice from your own experiences would

be greatly appreciated.