I've been going to the ER just about every week with either
tachycardia or high blood pressure that is very out of the ordinary
(now on a beta blocker but doesn't help). The bp and hr increase is
*always* accompanied by severe bloating, pains, and pressure in my
upper abdomen.

I'm seeing two cardiologists (one for second opinions), an
endocrinologist and my family doctor. They're doing a lot of testing
and trying to sort this out (because I'm pushing for an answer), but
so far no luck.

At one point we thought that I had orthostatic intolerance, and in
fact a lot of my symptoms are similar. My hr and bp increase when I
stand. They thought my catecholamines were increased but that is not
the case (just found out yesterday). I have been thinking my problems
are due to something wrong in my abdomen, because I have a lot of pain
and pressure there - especially during these attacks.

I had a CT scan that was clean, aortic and carotid US that were clean,
blood tests, etc. all good. But when I stand up, I get really sick to
my stomach.

There is one thing that I feel is related to this but the
cardiologists don't see the connection.. that is, I have acid reflux
disease that is managed with Aciphex and I have a lot of pressure in
my abdomen. I told both my cardiologists that when I stand up and
tighten my stomach or relax my stomach, just a certain way - I
instantly go into tachycardia and have wide fluctuations of blood
pressure - I have even passed out. One cardiologist witnessed this but
didn't have an answer.

Below is a chart of my blood pressure and heart rate taken while
standing over the course of about 30 minutes. Notice that that my BP
and HR increase a LOT when I tighten my ab muscles.

As an aside, a recent upper GI with barium showed reflux but there was
a comment in the report about the duodenum, regarding a possible
enlarged gland. Again, my CT was good. I'm having a hard time trying
to convince the doctors into doing an MRI or anything else.

I hope this displays correctly in tab delimited format (descending
order):

Systolic    Diastolic    Heart Rate    Pulse Pressure    Action
Just stood up:
99    55    70    44
108    75    96    33
103    69    87    34
104    66    85    38
106    72    88    34
102    79    88    23
98    72    88    26
102    76    88    26
106    75    89    31
113    82    96    31    stomach pain
116    78    81    38
105    78    84    27
106    77    90    29
99    78    94    21
109    79    93    30
116    79    87    37    more stomach pain
125    85    84    40    stomach gurgled
109    80    90    29
128    88    112    50    tightened ab muscles
112    83    87    29
106    82    93    24
116    78    88    38    stomach pain
107    82    90    25
125    94    124    31    tightened abs, felt adrenal rush
Have been standing 30 minutes.