What other conditions can mimic Pheochromocytoma?

23 yr old fem.
Night sweats, headaches, ear infections, feeling that I cant swallow, anxiety/dizzy spells with tachycardia, feeling like I cant breathe. Diagnosed with high blood pressure.
Blood tests for thyroid so far came out ok, stress test came out negative for WPW, 24 hr urine for metaepinephrines came out negative for Pheochromocytoma.
I keep getting these symptoms, bp is still high 145/90 even with Norvasc and now the dr want to check thyroid and adrenal glands again with PET scan. Could the original tests come back false negative?what else could this be?

Im skinny, no drugs.
During the attacks my bp wasnt measured, I was in school, work or the train at those times, but at the doctors appt, which was on my day off, it was 145/100 when I felt I was resting. The attacks were definitely more severe than that.

labile essential hypertension
anxiety/panic disorder
paroxysmal atrial tachycardia (not just wpw)
mastocytosis
amphetamine or cocaine addiction.....just askin' you know
thyroid problems
well, you prolly aren't in menopause....
Possibly renal artery stenosis?????????

Anyway, I doubt ear infections are related to this thing.
Did they check for increased intracranial pressure? Have you had any urine leakage? Are you overweight (this goes along with the increased intracranial pressure thing) You should have an opthalmologist look at your optic nerve to check for papilledema.

Yes, original tests can be falsely negative, but that is pretty uncommon. The high blood pressure can be a red herring. With pheo it is usually super high and episodic. Yours isn't that high. It is possible that you have essential hypertension plus panic attacks. You might be treated more effectively with a beta blocker or with clonidine.

Well, I won't second guess your internist, good luck on your treatment, hope ya feel better very soon.

The urine tests for pheochromocytoma tend to have a 50 - 60 % false negative. Most doctors will recommend also a plasma free metanephrine blood test as a back up to not miss any pheochromocytoma. Report It