Why is my nephrologist concerned about my low blood pressure of 100/74?

By Anonymous October 21, 2010 - 7:29pm

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I have right sided heart failure with the typical symptons along with chronic kidney disease. I am a 76 yr old female, still working as a tax preparer during tax season when my blood pressure does get a little high.

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virginia miers

Thank you for the information. Some medical jargon I can read so further information might be educational for me. Thanks Again, Virginia

October 22, 2010 - 9:54am

Cary Cook BSN RN (reply to virginia miers)

Hi Virginia

This is a tutorial for health professions but kind of walks through kidneys and perfusion: http://ccmtutorials.com/renal/pathphys/page_04.htm

Let me know if you have more questions. I hope this helps.

October 23, 2010 - 7:05am

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Cary Cook BSN RN

Hi Anonymous

This is one of those fine lines with multiple system illnesses.

You don't want your pressure too high because it strains your heart, but when your pressure is low, your kidneys may not be properly perfused. For the kidneys to work properly at their filtering job, they need enough pressure behind the blood to perfuse all of the tissue and capillaries in them. This is how they filter. If pressure is too low, they aren't able to work at their best, and that can have a secondary effect of possibly retaining fluid in other areas in addition to the poor filtering.

Poor perfusion will also mean lower blood return to the heart, and it can start this cycle of your body increasing blood pressure to counteract the low pressure in the kidney. Again, this would strain your heart.

I can refer you to some articles that explain in more detail, but they have a bit of medical jargon in them. If you want to discuss this further, please let me know. Thank you for writing.

October 22, 2010 - 7:07am