[hugostrange22]

I'm 23 years old. Male. Physically I'm not perfectly healthy. I'm 270 pounds, 6 feet tall.

I've been having problems ever since high school (or maybe further back?) my blood pressure has been VERY high, sometimes 200/100. I never checked it before then.

Beyond that I have small red spots on my legs/elbows/ and lower belly. Sometimes they itch, sometimes they don't. I rarely drink, but when I do It flares up and is very itchy especially on the ankles. *I've had chicken pox*

Anyway... not sure if the following is relevant... I have a slightly under active thyroid. I have joint soreness all the time. Neck/ancles/wrists/back.

I had an ultra sound on my kidney's and they were healthy.

I also have A lot of stress. I had panic attacks sometimes during late high school and early college. I have physiological problems, my pyc friend says I might have some sort of mild borderline personality disorder. I also have lots of death anxiety... I'm wondering if all of this is mental, but my doctor isn't convinced this could even be a fraction of just stress.

I've been getting meds to fix my thyroid and blood pressure, my blood pressure is finally under control, BUT the spots are still come and go.

My main worry here is that I'll have a stroke or one of my organs will fail. I don't know how many times I can go to the doctor and have him tell me he dosen't know what it is. I feel like besides finally getting my blood pressure under control we've made no progress.

I feel like we've got a symptom under control... but we have no idea why this is happening. It's very frustrating not knowing what's going on with my body.

[smoothy]

You need to go to a specialist... a dermatologist. A general practitioner isn't going to be an expert on spots or unusual skin rashes. THre are many things they can be,, but you would have to be tested and examined by someone knowledgible in skin conditions to determine what exactly they are.

Good thing that blood pressure was discovered... It would have killed you while still fairly young if it was left untreated.

[hugostrange22]

You need to go to a specialist... a dermatologist. A general practitioner isn't going to be an expert on spots or unusual skin rashes. THre are many things they can be,, but you would have to be tested and examined by someone knowledgible in skin conditions to determine what exactly they are.

Good thing that blood pressure was discovered... It would have killed you while still fairly young if it was left untreated.

According to him the dots are blood under my skin, little broken vessels from the blood pressure... he said it would hopefully go away after the blood pressure was treated... but obviously it didn't work.

I've already stiffed the ultra sound people for their expensive as heck ultra sound... I hate to do the same to a dermatologist... because honestly, I can't afford this stuff. I mean... how many high blood pressure spot conditions are their? I hate that we know what it is and we don't know the cause? What's that about >_<

It sort of frustrated me because when I first met him he took a student in to watch his diagnosis and he let the student make a bunch of guesses and kept telling him why he was wrong... then when he finished guessing I thought to myself "okay this is the part where the doctor actually says what it is..." NOPE.

Anyway... ive got another apointment with my doctor on Monday... going to ask him to schedule me with the dermatologist... we had the conversation before but like I said we decided against it because of money. But I'm going to just do it and stiff them too : /

[Fr_Chuck]

You are assuming the spots and blood pressure are connected ? Why? The could be two totally different issues.

[joypulv]

If your doctor told you that the spots are broken blood vessels, then you need to either believe him or see another doctor. I don't think a dermatologist is the right approach, because in your case the spots are indicative of mysterious underlying conditions, not a skin condition (probably - of course I am speculating, and they could even be an allergy).

I think you need a really good teaching medical center, one associated with a university, a large one with many specialists. You need to know the underlying cause of HBP in someone so young, just for starters. Then the joint soreness, the panic attacks, and the fears, seemingly partly psychological, could be physiological, given the identified symptoms. So far, you are dealing with SYMPTOMS that don't add up to a condition.