Blood pressure pills affecting kidney function

[Ziggy88]

Hi everyone, my 78 year old mother has recently started taking apo-candesartan 8mg for high blood pressure and her kidney function has now diminished to the point that her doctor is now sending her to see a kidney specialist. She has never had an issues with her kidneys and has been in pretty good health for her age. Has anyone had the same experience ? and if so can you please recommend any dietary / lifestyle changes that could help her kidney's recover? Thanks so much.

[userotc]

I do believe that my mum's CKD was caused by a BP drug and this research supports that sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Consequently she adopted a Nutritional Therapy (NT) protocol which allowed her to wean off BP medication entirely ~7y ago with her BP generally good without it. She has also been able to remain at stage 3 for 14 years 🤞🤞whilst drug-free, which we attribute to the therapy.

As with all successful therapies, NT should be personalised. Mum is now 68.

[Ziggy88 in reply to userotc]

thank you very helpful

[bumblebee_tuna]

it’s an ARB and that class of drugs is considered renal protective. I would go and see a nephrologist to get an opinion.

[Ziggy88 in reply to bumblebee_tuna]

Thank you

[userotc in reply to bumblebee_tuna]

My understanding is that it's better than ACE-i but there's uncertainties and careful monitoring is still needed (link below). Presuming you take it, do you believe you get that monitoring? So far, my mum's nephro has not considered these meds based on her normal BP but we have a decision to make if that changes.

ccjm.org/content/86/9/601

[Milli77]

Yes, I was prescribed several different medications, lisnsipril, losartan, and amlodipine, My grr went from 67 to 44 in a matter of two months. MY DO doctor's PA told me I had "CKD Stage 3B to live my life." I took myself to a nephrologist. His exact words were "your doctor did this to you". Combination of things, particularly the losartan potassium, changing medications, and probably never did have high blood pressure. Due to all of the above, I went into acute kidney failure. I immediately changed my diet to "kidney friendly". It took 2 years for my numbers to come back, and I am very thankful to God no permanent damage was done. Although I do have PTSD from it.

[Ziggy88 in reply to Milli77]

thank you

[barbara55109]

I copied this from a previous post I made. Somehow it broke the links, but you can google the article titles below or search for my original post.

You didn't mention what her eGFR score is. There is a wide range and if she has a higher score, at 78, that may not lead to any issues.

Age related kidney decline is not CKD and folks in their 70s and 80s with a eGFR in the 40s and 50s, with no underlying disease, are unlikely to ever sit in a dialysis chair or have their kidney function lead to death.

HBP is a underlying disease that sometimes leads to CKD. There appears to be mixed evidence and lots of disagreement about what drugs may cause kidney damage. The disagreement I've seen for HBP meds and statins are strong. There are other meds, like NAISDs, scanning contrast fluid, and other drugs where there is more universal agreement they lead to CKD.

While we do know, and many of us have experienced medical gaslighting, someone who is already past life expectancy with an eGFR of 57 probably doesn't need to worry about progressive CKD. Their Dr. is probably right to say, "nothing to worry about, completely normal." This can be difficult to hear. At 61 I don't like to think that I have 15 years left. I have way to many books to read and yarn to knit or crochet! SABLE - stash beyond life expectancy. My goal is to get to 76! Anything beyond that would be wonderful!

See the following medical journal articles.

"The study findings suggest that the current CKD definition that does not consider age-related eGFR decline may inflate the burden of CKD by classifying many elderly people with normal kidney aging as having a disease." "65 years or older and had eGFR of 45 to 59 mL/min/1.73 m2 with normal/mild albuminuria. In this latter group, the risks of kidney failure and death were of similar magnitudes to those of controls without CKD." Accounting for Age in the Definition of Chronic Kidney Disease jamanetwork.com/journals/ja...

The Kidney in Normal Aging A Comparison with Chronic Kidney Disease journals.lww.com/cjasn/full...

Structural and Functional Changes With the Aging Kidney pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/267...

THE AGING KIDNEY: PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Chronic kidney disease in the elderly: evaluation and management ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

An approach to treating older adults with chronic kidney disease ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[Ziggy88 in reply to barbara55109]

Thank you

[WildIris]

I've been taking losartan, another ARB drug for years without thinking. I also couldn't figure out why I had low sodium, low chloride, low osmality (concentration of electrolytes) on blood tests, not to mention several other low values, including creatinine, which raised my eGFR a bit. Also hair loss, and slight dizziness. Now I find out that all these can be side effects of losartan. My blood pressure is low to normal now, so I'm stopping losartan and keeping an eye on my blood pressure. Will see how it goes, though I'm only getting blood tests annually now since my eGFR went up, and all the other slightly abnormal values are not concerning to doctors. My GP just tests for hypothyroid, and I'm taking a vacation from seeing specialists (lupus, cardiologist, nephrologist) for now, enjoying this period of health, compared to how I used to be, at least. Not sure other ARB drugs have the same side effects, though I did read that losartan has been known to damage kidneys as well as protect them. I'll be 72 in July, I owe my relative health to a strict kidney diet, exercise and slow weight loss.

[Ziggy88 in reply to WildIris]

Thank you

[userotc]

Specifically for ARBs like candesartan, here's 2 other links that may be of interest:

ccjm.org/content/86/9/601

rxlist.com/angiotensin_rece...

(Note ref to stenosis for latter)

[Ziggy88 in reply to userotc]

Thank you

[ShyeLoverDoctor]

It’s very rare to see a return to higher kidney function, though I’ve heard of it.