High blood pressure not lowering with meds

[Anonanon12]

Hi, can anyone shed some light on why blood pressure might not lower in an otherwise healthy person even when on meds and meds being tweaked?
Diet is excellent, weight is good, very good at handling stress (blood pressure is consistently high not just high when stressed) no added salt, non smoker etc.
His Mum also has borderline high blood pressure and again is generally quite a healthy person... What type of faulty gene can cause this and how do you solve it?

Drinking plenty of water?

Yep tons... Tried that because he suffers from bloating and mild constipation every 10 days or so, so he started drinking as much water as he could and still nothing

he needs to visit hospital cardiology department for checks.

How high?

I had this and was on one tablet a day for it then they decided to put me on 2 different tablets a day and it came down to normal levels.

Well, if it's genetic, then not a lot can be done. In the same way you can't fix the gene that causes cancer or heart disease.

Living a healthy lifestyle, plenty of rest and cutting out caffeine can all help reduce the risk, but if he has it, he has it.

Meds take time, how long have they been taken them?

He will be going in about 2 weeks to have a 24hr heart rate monitoring thing put on, the usual check with the nurse all came back normal so we hope the cardiology unit will shed some light on it. I'll find out the exact figures but the target for the meds was to lower the bottom number to the 90s and I don't think he can get it below 110 ish, but I will clarify that with him tomorrow. He's even had the meds doubled, then put on an extra heart protection med too and it still hasn't lowered and he is only 38

First, when did you start the tablets?
I think this is important here

I think he has been on them for around 4 months now and doubled the dose just before Christmas, he tried to get more exercise and eat as healthily as possible, drink more water first but nothing has helped.
We are beginning to think it's genetics but it's hard to understand that I think, most things have a practical cause that you can alter but genetics doesn't come with a blood test diagnosis so it's hard to understand and accept I guess

Might simply need alternative meds.

I was diagnosed with high bp at 21.. so was sent to hospital due to age. They found no secondary reason so considered genetic..

I have been through various med two which are now advised against for bp but now on a combination of two.

Yes, I'm hoping the cardiology unit might be able to offer more insight but his meds have been swapped once already. Bit concerned about what happens next if nothing is lowering it, and why meds aren't lowering it....

Has he had any bloods done, kidney function checked?

Starlightstarbright1, did the different meds lower it eventually then? Have you ever been given any explanation as to why some meds don't work and some do?

Yes Kidneys all OK, he seemed to get some health anxiety from lots of new health problems (sudden leg vein issues, constipation and bloating, cold hands, high blood pressure) so he had lots of blood tests, a colonoscopy, that Dr even looked at veins through a scan and even looked at the organs and was given the all clear...

@Starlightstarbright1
When mine wasn't lowering they did an e-referral to the endocrinology department at hospital. That person said to put me on different tablets (as well as some others) and they did the trick
Has he not been referred to the hospital at all yet?
Cos my GP wouldn't have put me on that particular one

Sorry I was supposed to address @Anonanon12

He asked to be referred about 2 weeks ago (after about 9 months of trying to lower the blood pressure) and he got an appointment through quite quickly to go to cardiology in 2 weeks time. They are going to fit a 25 hr heart trace monitoring thing, but he has also seen the gp nurse to have an ecg, and has also had a kidney blood test done and all came back normal

Tablets started about 4 months ago.. Sorry my phone won't let me quote people's names

It can take ages to find the right combination of blood pressure medications. It took my dad years to get the right mix. Been fine since he got the right mix.

How many different types of tablets have they tried him on?

Oh crikey I didn't realise it was that difficult to find the right meds, that helps to put it into context so thank you!
I think they have doubled the dose, changed the type once, and then added in a heart protector tablet. I'll ask him in the morning the names of the meds... We did wonder if the cold hands, leg vein issues (where he needs a compression sock) and high blood pressure were all linked. But the Dr's keep saying the leg vein issues aren't connected to the blood pressure

What does “excellent” diet mean?

I was diagnosed with essential Hypertension in my early 20s. It took absolutely ages to get it down with meds. The first drug made me cough all the time so that was changed. Still no lower so eventually another drug was added. Then another and finally with 4 drugs it was lowered to an acceptable level. Diet, weight, salt intake, exercise has made not one jot of difference to mine over the years which is very frustrating. I’m on candesartan, bisoprolol, bendrofluethamide and felodopine.

Some people just seem to need a lot of trial and error with various drugs and doses than others. The cardiologist I saw said they prefer to add in extra drugs rather than going for a really high dose of one or perhaps two drugs. Your DH will get sorted I’m sure but it might take a while.