Jess and I just got home from a run …I had noticed on his chart( halfway through ) that his bath was changed from a 3k to a 2k … sitting at home I looked at his last blood work and his potassiums was at 4.5 (normal) … took his BP and it was spiked to 182/110 P 73 this kid is still putting out urine. Is all this normal ???
Because he just started dialysis these symptoms of high blood pressure are standard for just about anyone starting dialysis. It may go down after doing dialysis sometime, but if it does not go down then the Nephrologist should and will prescribe blood pressure medications.
If he’s only doing 3x a week dialysis sessions his diet must be watched/controlled closely. However, if he’s doing daily-short or Nocturnal then improvements should be expected sooner.
Some people still urinate and that has an advantage of not needing to take so much fluid off while on dialysis.
Anyway, try asking the Nephrologist about the high blood pressure. Its not good to have high blood pressure long term. Keep en eye on stroke symtoms, even for his young age. I had a stroke in my teen years while on dialysis! …
Good Luck!
I searched the Internet for the effects of running on blood pressure and in general running lowers blood pressure. However, I saw a message on a message board on family medicine topics that a doctor responded to where the doctor said that blood pressure can be elevated for 15-30 minutes after a run but then it usually drops 20 points or so. You might want to measure his blood pressure before, immediately after, and 30 minutes or so later to see what happens with it and talk with his kidney doctor.
http://experts.about.com/q/Family-Internal-Medicine-969/Exercise-blood-pressure.htm
You might also be interested in reading this information for the general population and sharing it with your son’s doctor. It’s from the Medical College of Wisconsin and discusses managing blood pressure in active people:
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002350.html
Finally, here’s a link to educational materials including materials for patients on exercise and for physicians on prescribing exercise for people on dialysis:
http://www.lifeoptions.org/catalog/catalog.php?prodCat=booklets
Perhaps when your son started dialysis his potassium was low - maybe from not eating, maybe from vomiting, maybe being able to clear potassium through his residual renal function. Hemodialysis decreases residual renal function - don’t be surprised if his urine output drops steadily. A potassium of 2.0 meq is considered a standard bath. Most patients run on a bath of 2 K. Secondly, perhaps your son is “dry”; meaning they took too much fluid off. In this case the body will secrete a substance called renin - renin works to constrict the blood vessels in the body in order to try to preserve intravascular volume and keep enough blood going to the heart and brain. Renin will increase blood pressure. The renin response is usually a transient response. However, if our patients are and remain as hypertensive as that post dialysis, we give Clonidine 0.1mg to 0.2mg po and let the patient sit in the unit with us until the blood pressure comes down (after calling the physician of course). He may need to be fluid replaced during treatment if he stills voids quite a bit, using minimal UF. If the hypertension persists however, the neph should be right on this - there are many good effective BP medciations that can be prescribed. Stroke can be an issue, as stated before.