Some times hypertension can be induced by other conditions. One kind of condition is Glomerulonephritis secondary to hypertension. This involves a major problem in the kidney that leads to having high blood pressure.

What is Glomerulonephritis?

Glomerulonephritis is a type of kidney disease that obstructs your kidneys’ ability to remove excess fluids and waste. It can also be called glomerular disease. It can be acute, when there is a sudden attack of inflammation, or chronic, which the condition comes gradually.

This condition can be component of a systemic disease, such as diabetes or lupus. It can exist by itself too, which is a called ‘primary glomerulonephritis’. Treatment would highly depend on the kind of glomerulonephritis you have.

Signs And Symptoms

The most common symptoms of glomerulonephritis include dark brown-colored urine (from protein and blood), sore throat, reduced urine output, fatigue, lethargy, increased breathing effort, headache, high blood pressure, seizures (may be due to high blood pressure), rashes, weight loss, joint pain, pale skin color, and tissues fluid accumulation (edema).

These symptoms of glomerulonephritis might resemble symptoms of other medical problems and conditions. It would be best to consult your doctor for diagnosis.

Causes

There are various causes of glomerulonephritis. They include those related to immune diseases, infections, blood vessel inflammation (vasculitis) and scarring the glomeruli.

Causes related to infections include post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis, bacterial endocarditis, and viral infections like AIDS. Immune diseases that can cause this condition include, Lupus, Goodpasture’s syndrome, and IgA neuropathy.

Causes related to Vasculitis also include polyarteritis and wegener’s granulomatosis. Lastly, conditions that cause scarring to your the glomeruli can lead to glomerulonephritis. These conditions are high blood pressure, diabetic kidney disease, focal segmental glomerulosclerosis and chronic glomerulonephritis.

Glomerulonephritis and Hypertension

Your kidneys filter waste products and sodium through microscopic filters called glomeruli. When these tiny filters are inflamed, the condition is called glomerulonephritis. If you inflamed glomeruli can’t function generally, you may develop having high blood pressure.

The hypertension can still be treated with exercise, diet and medication. The condition can be treated with dialysis medication, or a kidney transplant.

Treatment

You can undergo medication treatment for your glomerulonephritis. Most medicine used are Diuretics, Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, Angiotensin II receptor agonists, Calcium channel blockers, and Beta blockers.

Complications

Having this condition can give rise to different complications. First, is acute kidney failure, since your waste products accumulate rapidly, you may need to undergo dialysis. Another complication is chronic kidney failure. This is a very serious condition since this means forever dependency on having a kidney transplant or dialysis.

High blood pressure is another complication. Since there is waste buildup in your body, then there is also an increase in the wastes in your blood that circulate through your body. Therefore, your blood pressure is in increased.

Nephrotic syndrome, the fourth complication, is a group of symptoms that accompanies glomerulonephritis. This includes having low protein levels in urine and blood, eyelid swelling, high serum cholesterol, and feet swelling.

If you have glomerulonephritis, it is recommended that you have regular checkups with your doctor. In this way, you can monitor if the condition is already giving you high blood pressure readings. If glomerulonephritis is starting to give you high BP, then it would be best to start learning how to manage your blood pressure.