Is it normal for a 17 yr old to have high blood pressure?

Question

Hi, i'm a 17 yr old male and i was told by a doctor at the hospital that i have "very high blood pressure for my age"..... I believe it was 154 over 86 when i was in the hospital a few nights ago but i'm not 100% sure (I was in the hospital for a recluse spider bite)............Anyway it went down a little, to about 134, but it shot up to 162 over 76 or something like that and it seems like it gets higher throughout the course of the day.........I am not overweight or anything...i am tall, 6'3 and 205...but i don't consider it overweight with my height................Anyway i don't know anything about it other than its high but i would appreciate any advise as this is a very strange thing that has occurred in my life.....thank you.

Answer 1

Only in a small minority of patients with elevated arterial pressure can a specific cause be identified. These individuals will probably have an endocrine or renal defect that if corrected would bring blood pressure back to normal values.

Renal Hypertension

Hypertension produced by diseases of the kidney. A simple explanation for renal vascular hypertension is that decreased perfusion of renal tissue due to stenosis of a main or branch renal artery activates the renin-angiotensin system.
Adrenal Hypertension

Hypertension is a feature of a variety of adrenal cortical abnormalities. In primary aldosteronism there is a clear relationship between the aldosterone-induced sodium retention and the hypertension.

In patients with pheochromocytoma increased secretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine by a tumor (most often located in the adrenal medulla) causes excessive stimulation of [adrenergic receptors], which results in peripheral vasoconstriction and cardiac stimulation. This diagnosis is confirmed by demonstrating increased urinary excretion of epinephrine and norepinephrine and/or their metabolites (vanillylmandelic acid).
Hypercalcemia

Coarctation of the Aorta

Age. Over time, the number of collagen fibers in artery and arteriole walls increases, making blood vessels stiffer. With the reduced elasticity comes a smaller cross-sectional area in systole, and so a raised mean arterial blood pressure.

Environment

A number of environmental factors have been implicated in the development of hypertension, including salt intake, obesity, occupation, alcohol intake, family size, excessive noise exposure., and crowding.

Salt Sensitivity

Sodium is the environmental factor that has received the greatest attention. It is to be noted that approximately 60% of the essential hypertension population is responsive to sodium intake.

Role of Renin

Renin is an enzyme secreted by the juxtaglomerular cells of the kidney and linked with aldosterone in a negative feedback loop.The range of plasma renin activities observed in hypertensive subjects is broader than in normotensive individuals. In consequence, some hypertensive patients have been defined as having low-renin and others as having high-renin essential hypertension.

Insulin Resistance

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. Its main purpose is to regulate the levels of glucose in the body, it also has some other effects. Insulin resistance and/or hyperinsulinemia have been suggested as being responsible for the increased arterial pressure in some patients with hypertension. This feature is now widely recognized as part of syndrome X, or the metabolic syndrome.

Genetics

Hypertension is one of the most common complex genetic disorders, with genetic heritability averaging 30%. Data supporting this view emerge from animal studies as well as in population studies in humans. Most of these studies support the concept that the inheritance is probably multifactorial or that a number of different genetic defects each have an elevated blood pressure as one of their phenotypic expressions.

More than 50 genes have been examined in association studies with hypertension, and the number is constantly growing.

Other Etiologies

There are some anecdotal or transient causes of high blood pressure. These are not to be confused with the disease called hypertension in which there is an intrinsic physiopathological mechanism as described above.

Answer 2

3 years ago, I was diagnosed - hypertension with a reading of 160/100. I used to feel dizzy a lot, my legs had awful cramps, and levels were very low in my potassium, causing my fingers and toes to always cramp together. One day I started to feel really faint while I was driving with my daughter in the back seat and I passed out, hitting 3 cars and ending up in a ditch. That moment,I knew I had to do something because my meds weren't working. I heard about this diet from a friend and thought I'd give it a shot. The results have been remarkable. In just 21 days, I honestly can't remember feeling this good, my blood pressure went from 175/110 to 125/70.

Answer 3

While the systolic pressure is higher than it should be, it could simply reflect stress...the lower number is the more critical...this is the diastolic pressure and reflects the pressure as the heart relaxes. I think that your physician un-neccessarily frightened you. I am an internist and of course, I would like to do a number of tests to eliminate other possible causes however, it would probably be a waste of your time and money. I would suggest asking your school nurse to check your blood pressure to see it the systolic pressure remains higher than normal....but I suspect that she will find it normal. Interestingly, I was bitten on the belly by a recluse...painful as hell...I used calcium gluconate but perhaps because my hobby is toxicology (study of animal poisons) neither my pulse or B/P changed.... It is a personal opinion that many people when bitten by venomous animals actually make the bite worse by their fear (from lack of understanding the animal or its venom)...and perhaps in your case, fear...strange hospital surroundings and a physician not experienced in dealing with envenomation contributed to your "high blood pressure". When I was in Hong Kong, a student of mine was examining a group of snakes that had arrived from Africa...he was very interested in reptiles but didn't know them...he was bitten....my assistant and I decided to test my theory a bit...I began to ask if he had tingling pains...if his vision was blurry, and was he salivating?.....as soon as I mentioned a symptom...he suddenly began to experience it....(the snake was in fact harmless) and he was furious when I told him that the snake was non-venomous...but he learned not to go beyond his own knowledge....Everything was caused by fear...I am sure that you will get a hundred answers advising you to seek instant medical help, and about junk food, and salt intake and hereditary causes, etc....be wise...the people giving you that silly advice know as little or less than you do.

Answer 4

That's a question for a medical doctor, not us Yahoos here in Yahoo Answer.

My guess would be no, not really. I'm in my late 30's and mine is borderline; I work in a stressful job and don't eat right sometimes.

We're only guessing here but maybe the recluse spider venom had something to do with it?

Answer 5

Do you think it has anything to do with the spider bite(yikes... a recluse?). Anyway, i think it's better to ask your doctor about it. Also, there are other causes for high blood pressure that are not related to weight. Salt intake, stress...

Answer 6

1

Answer 7

In this day and age it's possible because of all the fast food at our disposal....all the Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonalds...etc...etc...That stuff is packed with sodium....Not to mention all the salty snacks on the market. Cut back on your sodium intake. If that's not the culprit, make another appointment with your doctor, to see what the cause can be, and have them advise you on what's best to lower it.

Answer 8

Who told u its normal?
U r toooooo small 2 hav that biiiiiig BP.
Normally Hypertension is a problem of elderly persons of more than 60 yrs.

Answer 9

I'm not a doctor, but i think that is too high, and you should ask a treatment. but sometimes if the parents have high pressure blood, may be the children have it, you should ask, please don't let your self without a doctor

Answer 10

it is not normal. Consult a good physician. In the meantime you can use carrot soup with no salt twice a day this will help you a lot.