Can Kidney Problems Cause High Blood Pressure?

All the body's systems are interconnected to some degree; problems in one can create problems in another. The kidneys and your blood pressure are no exception. Not only can high blood pressure lead to kidney problems, but kidney problems can lead to high blood pressure as well. The kidney issues that can cause hypertension, or high blood pressure, are multiple, and the reasons varied.

Conditions

• Many conditions relating to the kidneys can cause hypertension. Some of these include polycystic kidney disease, glomerular disease, hydronephrosis, renovascular hypertension, aldosteronism and pheochromocytoma.

Sources

• Aldosteronism and pheochromocytoma are actually conditions of the adrenal glands, but the adrenal glands are located on top of the kidneys and have a large effect upon their function. The other conditions are actual issues of the kidneys, some hereditary and some acquired.

Impact

• Some diseases cause blocking of the arteries to induce high blood pressure, such as renovascular hypertension. The other conditions cause high blood pressure by impairing the function of the kidneys, such that they can no longer perform their duties of regulating blood pressure.

Treatment

• In nearly all cases, the hypertension is treated with diet, medication and exercise as with essential hypertension (that not resulting from a specific source). However, in cases like hydronephrosis and pheochromocytoma, when the underlying cause is corrected, blood pressure typically returns to normal.

Recovery

• All these conditions are treatable in a variety of ways, but even if the underlying condition is not treated, the high blood pressure itself can be regulated with normal treatment methods to bring it back within normal range. Many re reversible or completely curable.