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Mild hyperaldosteronism

Messages
28
Does anyone have high aldosterone or a high aldosterone/renin ratio? My aldosterone is 365 or 395 (forget which) and my aldosterone/renin ratio is 146. I have had hyper POTS symptoms for years so I suspect/hope/pray that an adrenal tumour is unlikely (getting an ultrasound in a few days). I drink licorice tea very rarely but won't again.

I asked for this test re. diabetes insipidus symptoms, no doctor thought to test my aldosterone.

I wonder if there are other causes like stress, adrenaline surges, supplements, hyper POTS, adrenal fatigue, etc.? B12 or magnesium?
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Check the renal veins and arteries for stenosis when doing the ultrasound (has to be a Doppler U/S to check blood flow). Either of these can mess with the whole renin-aldosterone-aldosterone system and can cause POTS as well, they will often cause a bruit sound in the epigastric area too so have any doctor listen for this.
 
Messages
28
Check the renal veins and arteries for stenosis when doing the ultrasound (has to be a Doppler U/S to check blood flow). Either of these can mess with the whole renin-aldosterone-aldosterone system and can cause POTS as well, they will often cause a bruit sound in the epigastric area too so have any doctor listen for this.
Thank you so much. I will go back to the doctor and ask. He only did a requisition for adrenals and kidneys I think.

Is this different from Nutcracker syndrome?
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Thank you so much. I will go back to the doctor and ask. He only did a requisition for adrenals and kidneys I think.

Is this different from Nutcracker syndrome?
They will often do both a Doppler and Gray scale ultrasound when the kidneys are being investigated.

It's unusual to have a narrowed right renal vein but left renal vein narowing is Nutcracker Syndrome (if you are symptomatic, otherwise it can be Nutcracker Phenomenon).

Renal artery narrowing can have a few causes and may affect just one or both arteries. Renal Fibromuscular Dysplasia is one of the more commonly known cause of artery narrowing. Hypertension is a common symptom with this but not the case for everyone.

A narrowing just affecting one renal artery or vein can affect the whole renin-aldosterone-aldosterone system either way. Excess renin can be dumped by the kidneys (via urine) rather than becoming elevated in a blood sample
 
Messages
28
Thank you @kangaSue . You know a lot about this. I'm a bit freaked out about it. I also just found out that all my heart valves are (mildly) leaky, since 2008, and they didn't say anything and aortic valve sclerosis since 2015, again they didn't say anything until now. Getting another echo in October (and not short of breath or anything). I was okay with the heart thing but not the aldosterone thing for some reason.

I wonder if stress, POTS, magnesium deficiency or other hormones can cause this. At least mine is mild but my symptoms (thirst) increased since I found out about it! Best to think positive, trying to visualize everything is healthy.

Thank you again!
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
You know a lot about this.
I've got Nutcracker Syndrome (NCS) so have spent a lot of time looking into it because I can't convince any of the specialists that this is what causes me autonomic dysfunction and severe gastroparesis. I know of a lot of people who have POTS with NCS and found that both their POTS and GI problems also resolved in addressing the narrowed renal vein.
 
Messages
28
@kangaSue wow. So they don't do anything about it? Do you take medications to lower aldosterone or anything? How did other people's doctors address their narrowed veins?

I hope yours improves and you feel better.
 

kangaSue

Senior Member
Messages
1,851
Location
Brisbane, Australia
@kangaSue wow. So they don't do anything about it? Do you take medications to lower aldosterone or anything? How did other people's doctors address their narrowed veins?

I hope yours improves and you feel better.
I have the opposite problem, adrenal insufficiency, so low aldosterone and cortisol (but just within the 'normal' range for morning samples), renin is elevated though.

It involves a major surgery to fix Nutcracker Syndrome (several surgical options can be done, including shifting the whole left kidney) so I keep getting fobbed off in case they " do more harm than good" when I'm trying to solve a more atypical problem in having severe upper GI poblems rather than lower abdominal and pelvic symptoms more usually attributed to NCS.

I can find plenty of other people in the same boat but us anecdotes count for nothing when it's not documented in the medical literature as a direct cause and effect yet.