High Blood Pressure and Kidney Disease

Although medications are very effective, lifestyle and dietary changes can help treat or prevent high blood pressure more effectively.

Modern medical advancements have significantly decreased the prevalence and severity of infectious disease as well as the treatment of acute, traumatic conditions. Pharmacological research has also gained insight into the management of chronic disease. Still, there is an epidemic of chronic, treatable diseases like stroke, heart disease, and kidney disease. Hypertension proves to be the underlying factor associated with these diseases. Hypertension is often referred to as the silent killer because of its indication in deadly disease, and the importance of monitoring ones blood pressure is vital. Lifestyle, diet, and genetic predisposition are all factors of high blood pressure. Chronic high blood pressure above safe levels, known as hypertension, puts elevated physical stress on the renal and cardiovascular systems. By controlling this factor in patients, healthcare providers can decrease cardiovascular events, improve health outcomes, and decrease overall mortality. Patient education is often overlooked in its role in the control and prevention of high blood pressure. This paper analyzes the causes and physiology behind high blood pressure as they relate to the current nursing interventions. The role of nurses is discussed in relation to patient education regarding high blood pressure, and educational approaches are analyzed.

Decreasing blood pressure or managing it to maintain it at a normal range can decrease the risk by double. The ideal recommended blood pressure is 120/80 and under. Decreasing the amount of salt in the diet, avoiding high cholesterol foods and eating more fruits and vegetables can decrease blood pressure (Newlin, 2014).

High blood pressure is a growing problem in today’s life Controlling it is the key priority.

High blood pressure increases your risk for heart disease and stroke, two leading causes of death for both Florida and the United States (Centers for disease control, 2017). High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is known as the “silent killer” because it often has no warning signs or symptoms, and many people do not know they have it. Hypertension damages blood vessels in the organs, reducing their ability to work properly (National institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases, 2016). About 1 of 3 U.S. adults—or about 75 million people—have high blood pressure. Only 54% of these people have their high blood pressure under control (Centers for disease control, 2017). Hypertension education, which focuses on controlling the disease with medication, diet, and losing weight, is important in preventing or delaying the progression of serious complications. Most people diagnosed with hypertensive disease will need to see a medical professional who will recommend lifestyle changes to help you control and prevent high blood pressure (Ignatavicius & Workman, 2006, p. 1742).

Lastly, blood pressure is associated with ones diet and lifestyle. It is amazing when one’s diet consist of a high intake of salt they will shows signs of hypertension. Studies have shown that people who did not use salt shown no signs of hypertension. Monitoring the intake of salt will improve blood pressure readings drastically although; it is not the only contributor to high blood pressure. Increasing activity levels has also been known the lower blood pressure readings.

After conducting a health history assessment and formulating a genogram for my client C.N, I have come to the conclusion that she is at increased risk for developing kidney disease. C.N is a 32 years-old African American female with a current medical diagnosis of Hydronephrosis, UTI, and Left Ureteral Constriction. Unfortunately she also has an extensive family history of kidney disease. Healthy People 2020 points out that genetic determinants have a large influence on the development and progression of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) and that although it is not possible to alter a person’s biology or genetics determinants; however, successful behavior modification is expected to have a positive influence on the disease given that

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (as cited in Kear, 2015), hypertension is a common, long term health condition that affects over one billion people worldwide and 76.4 million adults in the United States. Hypertension is classified as having a systolic blood pressure of or greater than 130 mmHg and a diastolic blood pressure of or greater than 90 mmHg (Kear, 2015, p. 182). As a nurse you will encounter many patients that are hospitalized with hypertension and co-morbidities related to. As this is a chronic disease, patient compliance, prognosis, and future healthcare cost are contingent upon treating this issue as it can significantly affect the patient overall health status. Hypertension is a “silent killer” as many people are living with hypertension and are unaware of having this disease process. The cause of hypertension may be multi dynamically related to lifestyle risk factors such as, diet, exercise, familial history, stress, occupation, and the list goes on. Managing hypertension is a multifaceted approach as it consists of a collaboration with multiple healthcare providers the doctors, nurses, dietitian, the patient, the family, as well as other environmental factors that affect compliance and adherence (Kear, 2015). Hypertension can lead to several debilitating diseases such as heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure just to name a few and it should be monitored and treated early to prevent any

Chronic Kidney Disease affects more than 10% of adults in the United States, and more than 20 million individuals may have this illness (National Chronic Kidney Disease Fact Sheet, 2014). Moreover, there are 26 million Americans beyond 20 years old with this ailment, which incorporates more than 940,000 adults in Michigan (Kidney Disease, 2105). Notwithstanding this, a combined populace of more than 600 million individuals in developing countries that can’t manage the cost of renal replacement, subsequently causing over 1 million deaths for untreated kidney failure (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015). Indeed, there are more than 80% of people receiving renal replacement therapy. Additionally, as assessed around 1 in 5 men and 1 in 4 women between the age of 65 and 74 and half of people over the age of 75 years old have Chronic Kidney Disease (Chronic Kidney Disease, 2015).

Blood pressure is defined as the pressure of blood as it’s applied to the walls of blood vessels when the heart contracts. Blood pressure is important to homeostasis in the body because it helps maintain temperature and proper delivery of nutrients to the body. The kidneys depend on blood pressure for helping it filter blood and they also control one of the mechanisms for regulating blood pressure called long term blood pressure control. When the blood pressure is low, the kidneys release substance/enzyme called renin. Renin causes the production of a chemical known as angiotensin 2 through this cascade of reactions. Then, Angiotensin 2 causes constriction of blood vessels which means the lessening of the diameter in the blood vessels. When blood vessels are constricted the blood pressure rises. Another gland also helps out. This is called the adrenal gland. In this process, the adrenal cortex on the outside of the adrenal gland releases a substance called aldosterone in the presence of angiotensin 2. This substance increases sodium reabsorption in the body. This also increases water reabsorption. In addition, the reabsorbed water increases the blood volume which also increases the

Foods for high blood pressure reduction include unsalted foods, low fat foods and foods high in potassium and foods that are high in fiber. Sodium is an enemy to hypertension. By itself, a high sodium diet will usually elevate blood pressure readings. Foods that are high in potassium tend to neutralize or even lower levels of sodium. So, can we put this all together into a diet that will help lower blood pressure? Yes, we can, and in this article, we will do so.

Point out the necessary lifestyle modifications needed to reduce the risk of developing or worsening hypertension from the risk factors in the literature

If you’re that person who enjoys sweets and just found out that you’re diabetic, what do you do? It’s an awful feeling just to think how are you going to stay away? You have this ritual of eating a donut or cookie with your morning tea/coffee. Or, you eat dessert with your dinner at least 3-4 times a week. You crave sweets before bed. What do you do? The first thing you do is start eating healthy. People with diabetes have a higher risk for heart attack and stroke. Eye complications – people with diabetes have a higher risk of blindness and other vision problems. Kidney disease – diabetes can damage the kidneys and may lead to kidney failure.

This module contained a lot of information on numerous topics. We started with hypertension, high blood pressure. Blood pressure consists of two numbers, the diastolic and systolic. Systolic is the larger number that reflects the amount of blood pressure when the heart is contracting. Diastolic is the smaller number that reflects the amount of blood pressure when the heart is at rest. Patients with Hypertension are at an increased risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke. A stroke is the sudden interruption of blood flow to the brain. Ischemic and hemorrhagic are the two different types. An ischemic stroke, the more common type, is caused by the blockage of a blood vessel either inside the brain or leading

Hypertension as defined by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2015 is “a serious medical condition. It happens when the force of the blood pumping through your arteries is too strong”. Hypertension is a very serious disease because of its complications. This disease may lead to heart failure and/or hypertrophy, and cause damage to blood vessels. Also, increases the risk kidney failure, stroke and may lead to death if left untreated. Hypertension is considered as one of the most common diseases that can be identified as the main cause of stroke and kidney failure. Hypertension usually present as one of a group of multiple illnesses always accompanied by diabetes, obesity, kidney disease or many other pre-existing problems