Can High Blood Pressure Aggravate Diabetic Nephroapthy

High blood pressure is one of the principal causes of Diabetic Nephropathy and kidney failure.

When blood pressure is high, there is a large amount of tension inside the blood vessels that leads to damage. These vessels may close off completely which can cause a heart attack, stroke, or kidney failure.
High blood sugar and high cholesterol can also damage blood vessels. Thus people with diabetes who also have hypertension are at especially high risk for blood vessel damage.

It usually takes years for blood vessels to completely close off and damage to blood vessels can be slowed down or reversed with treatment.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of high blood pressure can only be done by having your blood pressure measured by a person trained in taking blood pressures. Usually, there are no symptoms that can tell you that you have high blood pressure. In diabetic patients the blood pressure is considered high if it is greater than 130/80.
Your blood pressure should be measured on multiple occasions as blood pressures vary normally throughout the day and it is normal to have occasional high pressures. Blood pressure should be taken after you have rested for 5 minutes and may be taken sitting or standing.
Your healthcare providers may ask you to check your blood pressure at home and record the readings as part of your blood pressure management.

Treatment

There are multiple ways to control your blood pressure. The first step is lifestyle changes. Most patients will also need one or several medications to achieve good blood pressure control.

Lifestyle Changes

Your diet and lifestyle can directly affect blood pressure. For example, too much salt, alcohol, or caffeine intake leads to your body increase your blood pressure. Your weight also affects your blood pressure. Increased weight leads to fluid retention and the extra fat releases hormones that make blood pressure to rise.
Thus weight loss, lowering salt , alcohol and caffeine in your diet, lowering stress, and increasing exercise are all an important parts of blood pressure control.

Medications

The exact combination of medications that are best for you can only be decided in discussions with your doctor. The medicines work in many ways. Of note, many studies have shown that you may need to take several medications to get your blood pressure to the goal of less than 130/80.

The medicated treatments can help patients to sow down the progression of the kidney disease. This treatment can achieve the function of expending blood vessels and proven the blood from clotting, so as to repair the kidney function.

The basic knowledge of Diabetic Nephropahty

Many people with Diabetes have a high risk develop into Diabetic Nephroapthy, How does it happen and what are the common symptoms of it ? Let’s have a look together.

Diabetes, particularly type 2 diabetes, has become so common that diabetic kidney disease (nephropathy) has leaped ahead of high blood pressure as the leading cause of kidney failure in much of the world.

Kidney failure is a serious matter: The kidneys’ job is to filter waste products and excess fluids from the blood circulating through our bodies. If the kidneys fail, survival depends on either dialysis or a kidney transplant.

High blood glucose levels can damage blood vessels all over the body, including the tiny blood vessels that do the kidneys’ filtering. When those tiny vessels are damaged, they can’t do the job correctly. High blood pressure can result and make the problem worse, damaging more blood vessels and speeding up the progression of kidney disease. Both kidneys are affected.

There are no symptoms in the early stages of diabetic kidney disease. Symptoms of kidney failure—fatigue, nausea and fluid retention—usually don’t occur until the late stages of kidney disease because the kidney can still adequately filter the blood even after extensive damage.

Usually the first sign that the kidneys’ filtration system is damaged is an excess amount of protein in the urine, known as microalbuminuria. This is not just an early sign of kidney disease, but a well-established risk factor for cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack and stroke.

Two tests—one using urine and the other blood—must be performed annually for early detection. The urine sample is used to screen for microalbuminuria. The standard urine dipstick used in doctors’ offices does not measure this—a special machine is required instead.
The blood sample is used to measure the level of creatinine, a substance normally present in the blood, which increases if your kidneys are not functioning properly. The blood sample results are then plugged into a formula that estimates your kidneys’ filtering capacity. The most commonly used formula is called the MDRD equation.

One cannot overemphasize how important it is to measure your blood creatinine and to use the MDRD equation to estimate total kidney filtering. The creatinine value alone can be misleading, as it must be interpreted within the context of age and gender. Patients often have more advanced kidney disease than their blood creatinine value alone suggests.

For this reason, the National Kidney Foundation strongly urges all physicians to use the MDRD equation; however, not all (besides kidney specialists) routinely use it. An accurate estimate of your kidney function is essential for your doctor to decide what, if anything, needs to be done.

With aggressive treatment and yearly testing, we can greatly slow the decline in kidney function and reduce the number of people developing kidney failure.

If you want to know more details about Diabetic Nephroapthy, you can send email to kidneyhospitalabroad@hotmail.com.