Urinary Disorders I - Essay Example

Urinary Disorder I Urinary Disorder I Hypertension is a medical condition whereby the blood exerts a lot of pressure to the walls of the vessels; this causes the hardening of walls of the vessels thus affecting their functioning. Hypertension plays a major role in development of many health related problems in elder individuals. Mr. Smith who is aged 60 years and has been suffering from hypertension for 20 years has developed edema due to destruction of small vessels of blood causing accumulation of fluid in the tissues. Mr. Smith has developed arteriolar nephrosclerosis which is associated with people of his age with hypertension, this condition is associated with hardening of walls of the arteries and arterioles in the kidney and failure in kidney functions, this is evident by the frequent headaches, swelling of the legs and feet, increase in weight due to edema, feeling tired, loss of blood through urine and many more other symptoms of nephrosclerosis (Izzo, 2008).

Due to this condition, there is obstruction and destruction of arteries and arterioles in the kidney. The nephrone which filters the blood in the kidney is destroyed leading to nephritic syndrome, this result in a reduction of proteins such as albumin in the blood which in turn causes the accumulation of fluid in the legs and feet, this is the major cause of swelling legs and weight gain (Izzo, 2008). Since there has been destruction of the nephrone, a lot of nutrients and proteins are excreted in urine together with traces of blood, this requires a lot of water for excretion which in turn results in dilute urine.

Blood is also lost in urine in people with this conditions thus they tend to develop anemia in the long run due to deficiency of blood, even albumin constituent in blood goes down. Metabolic acidosis is as a result of retention of the week acids which were to be excreted by the destroyed kidneys thus once they are retained they cause this condition. Treatment for this condition is by administration of antihypertensive drugs in an effort to reduce the pressure of blood reaching the kidneys; the other treatment is by undertaking a kidney transplant although it will not be as effective as the original (Izzo, 2008).

ReferenceIzzo, L. Joseph. (2008). Hypertension primer. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.