HYPERTENSION

[mandijt]

Has anyone else found out that they have high blood pressure also? I take adalat to combat this but think it maybe a side effect of the medication i take for WG (azathioprine & tacrolimus).

[Essex-jill]

Can I ask do you have any kidney involvement ? If you do then this would explain why you have hypertension.

I have chronic kidney failure along with WG so have to take medication to reduce further damage to my remaining kidney.

Has your consultant not explained why you now have hypertension ?

you need to be aware what is the cause.

Best wishes

[BooBoo39 Volunteer]

Hi Mandjit, my blood pressure had always been text book 120/80 . When my current flare began in June i started on Prednisolone 50mg and whilst in hospital it was noted that my BP was high it has continued to be the case and yesterday at my weekly check up it is 150/120. My treating medic initially did not wish to intervene with further drugs and mentioned the hypertension was part due to the flare up but mainly down to the Prednisolone. He believed that other than my vasculitis i am relatively fit. But he has now said that we need to address the issue. I am seeing another consultant next week and if he does not advise me my usual medic will sort it at next weeks check up. Has your meds managed to sort your hypertension without any further side effects. And can you remember what level your hypertension was at prior to taking adalat?

Thanks

[mandijt]

Hi there

As far as i am aware i have no kidney involvement. 14 years ago whilst pregnant with my twins, i obviously had WG but it hadnt been diagnosed. I had been on 80mg pred then lowered to 20mg - i had pre-eclampsia which resulted in eclampsia and was put on blood pressure meds then. My blood pressure never really came down that much i dont think then when i started on tacrolimus it went back up and was told that they were the cause. My BP does go up when i have a flare up and the last reading was 170/100 mmHg. Before having the WG i did actually have low BP.

mandi

[PatriciaAnn]

I had high BP in the initial stages of treatment. Then it settled. Recently it shot up to 190/90 but settled down to around 160/85 ish. So I'm on BP meds again. Also my cholesterol increased for reasons best known to itself.

I'm on Azathioprine but not tacrolimus. I just think that whatever goes wrong with me is due to the meds particularly if I'm feeling well - they give us something to cure one problem and cause another. But that's just something we have to live with isn't it?

[John_Mills Volunteer]

Prednisolone can certainly cause hypertension and kidney failure can cause hypertension, but hypertension in iself can cause kidney failure, so it does need to be controlled.