Andrew J. Rosen wasn’t surprised when he was diagnosed with high blood pressure at 39. Both his parents had taken medication for years, which had effectively controlled the condition that affects nearly half of all American adults and frequently runs in families.
But Rosen, who lives in Carlsbad, Calif., was not so lucky. Even on the maximum recommended doses of five drugs, his blood pressure remained stubbornly elevated.
Rosen said he repeatedly asked his doctors whether an undiagnosed condition might be to blame. Each time, he received the same response: He had “essential hypertension” — high blood pressure with no underlying cause.
Sometimes, doctors told him, the condition, also known as primary hypertension, can be difficult to control. Poorly controlled high blood pressure increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, irreversible kidney damage and early death.
More than a decade would elapse before Rosen learned that he had been asking the right question but had been given the wrong answer. His persistently high blood pressure did have an underlying, treatable cause.
