Kidney disease and high blood pressure are intertwined together. High blood pressure can change kidney structure and function (Hypertensive Nephropathy), while kidney problem can elevate blood pressure (renal hypertension). They are each other’s cause and effect so as to cause vicious circle.

If you can control blood pressure timely and effective in early stage or once you find the disease, it will play an important role in blocking the vicious cycle between hypertension and kidney damage.

For kidney patients with high blood pressure, they often use antihypertensives for treatment, but those medications can worsen metabolic disorder so as to make you feel that your symptoms or condition get worse.

Therefore, for patients with relatively stable hypertension, non-drug therapy or nutritional therapy is preferred. By changing the bad life habits and eating habits, stopping smoking, limiting alcohol, losing weight and doing exercises, you can lower blood pressure.

Kidney is actually a cluster of blood vessels. When blood pressure increases, blood vessel walls will become more and more thick to prevent blood pressure increasing higher. As a result, blood vessel lumen will become narrow. That is to say, blood vessels will be thinner and thinner.

If the blood vessels in the kidneys become very thin, toxins can not be filtered out of body adequately, and due to renal ischemia and anoxia, kidneys will become atrophic, as a result, kidney will be small and its surface will wither, like dried apple.

This process is very slow for most patients with high blood pressure. But because symptoms in early stage are not obvious, so patients usually do not realize the severity of hypertension to kidneys. When they find kidney damage, uremia may have already presented. What is worse, this kind of kidney damage is irreversible. Once it appears, it can not be cured.

To monitor blood pressure and use appropriate medication

For healthy people, blood pressure fluctuates in 24 hours. 8-10am and 3-5pm are the peak of blood pressure, while blood pressure in evening decreases 10%. Therefore, you should measure your blood pressure in different times every day to prevent blood pressure from being too low or too high. If blood pressure is lower than before, you should reduce the medications. If you take two or more antihypertensives, reduce dosage firstly. If blood pressure is still low, reduce further. All in all, stable blood pressure is critical for health. Do not stop the medications suddenly when your blood pressure decreases, leading to a large fluctuation so as to affect your heart, brain and kidneys.

Hypertension and medication: which do more harms to kidneys?

High blood pressure is a chronic disease, which requires long-term regular medication to control it.

Some people think that medications can cause renal damage, so they refuse to take any of them. Some people stop the medications when they see their blood pressure becomes normal. In fact, there are five types of antihypertensives in the market. Only ACEI and ARBs can decrease renal function, while other antihypertensives are safe to kidneys when you take the normal dosage.

Meanwhile, you should know that those the above medications can decrease your renal function. They can also protect your renal function, which can prevent the damage of hypertension to your kidneys.

When renal ischemia condition is not serious, those two medications have positive effect. When it is serious, they have adverse effect.

Therefore, patients with high blood pressure should not only take medications, but also go for checkup regularly.

6 Precautions on diet for Hypertensive Nephropathy

1. To restrict salt intake. No matter kidney disease or high blood pressure both requires a low salt diet.

2. To control weight and increase exercises.

3. To follow a low protein diet, but increase your intake of high quality protein.

4. To restrict fat intake and unsaturated fat intake.

5. To increase potassium and dietary fiber intake.

6. To stop smoking and drinking alcohol.

For more information on Hypertensive Nephropathy, please leave a message below or contact online doctor.