Hi, I'm wondering if anyone has any medical experience on this situation. My partner, we think, has Autism, our son has a diagnosis and it makes sense with the difficulties my partner has. He gets extremely irritated when things aren't done perfectly, and basically I'm wondering if this mindset could be a cause of consistently high blood pressure? For example, yesterday he went to collect a prescription, after calling to check it was ready, and they had a part of it missing. He came home and was so angry that someone made this mistake, he constantly complains about people at work not doing things the correct way, he's gets extremely irritated when people make driving mistakes, if we pay someone to come and paint and it isn't as good as how he could do it etc. Could feeling this irritated cause elevated blood pressure all the time, not just reactive highs? He is on double dose of medication and it isn't lowering it enough... But he gets so irritated by having to make time to speak to the Dr, and then when it can't be solved easily or they don't solve it for him, he gets even more irritated and doesn't bother to call them to discuss a new medication.
He is also suffering with leg vein issues where he needs to wear a compression sock which he hates, he is so irritated by wearing it with shorts in the summer that he has a strop and refuses to go out sometimes. He also gets a pain in his toe that he gets really irritated by but he is dragging his feet to go and get his veins lasered to see if it can help. Can varicose veins cause high blood pressure? The Dr's don't seem to think so...
He also won't consider going on antidepressants... He says that won't stop him encountering 'idiots'... He says he's surrounded by idiots even though I think he knows deep down its him with the issue of handling the response to downs.
He will get so irritated that he then needs to go on his phone with earphones in and retreat from the family, and I'm beginning to get extremely fed up of the situation but he isn't making any effort to solve his issues. I keep telling him he will give himself a stroke or heart attack if he doesn't address the issue of the stress and blood pressure.. But he says he isn't stressed, but then he reacts like I've mentioned above! He can go days or a week or so with seeming calm and fine and then all of a sudden he goes back into these irritable episodes where he encounters people making mistakes or things not to his standard, combined with foot pain and he then just can't cope.. But refuses to think about anti depressents because he says he isn't depressed, just irritated by other people's stupidity!!
Would antidepressants help with feeling irritated and would that in turn lower blood pressure? The nurse did check his heart and veins etc. And he eats really healthily, good weight, gave up smoking 3 years ago (we wonder if this contributed to his high blood pressure) his job is enjoyable to him, but it is high pressure, no time for Dr's appts. Etc