Medical Advice from Tina Turner

Just two months before her death, Tina Turner got very candid about her deteriorating health. In an interview that went out on Instagram, she looked back at how she had dealt (and sometimes hadn't dealt) with some of the health issues she faced, such as high blood pressure and hypertension. On March 9 2023, which just happened to be National Kidney Day, Tina expounded the details of her health decline.

"Show your kidneys love! They deserve it. My kidneys are victims of my not realizing that my high blood pressure should have been treated with conventional medicine."

It should be noted that after years on kidney dialysis, Tina received a kidney transplant in 2019 from her long time steady companion, Erwin Beau. Health improvement after the transplant was minimal to non-existent, as Tina did not improve after the complicated operation.

"I have put myself in great danger by refusing to face the reality that I need daily, lifelong therapy with medication. For far too long I believed that my body was an untouchable and indestructible bastion."

This statement refers to the fact that Tina was first diagnosed with the hypertension and high blood pressure back in 1978.

"I have been suffering from hypertension for a long time, got diagnosed in 1978, but didn’t care much about it. I can’t remember ever getting an explanation about what high blood pressure means or how it affects the body. I considered high blood pressure my normal. Hence, I didn’t really try to control it."

Then in 2009, Tina suffered a stroke, which seems to be the point, where her health took a turn for the worst. Here she elaborates. "After suffering a stroke in 2009 because of my poorly controlled hypertension I struggled to get back up on my feet. This is when I first learned that my kidneys didn’t work that well anymore. They had already lost thirty-five percent of their function."

At this point Ms. Turner started taking prescriptions for her hypertension, but the new medication made her feel sick, so at a friend's advice she turned to a homeopathic doctor, who took her off the heavy medication. Following, Tina describes how dropping the prescriptions was a big mistake.

"I never would have replaced my medication by the homeopathic alternatives if I had had an idea how much was at stake for me," she wrote. "Thanks to my naivety I had ended up at the point where it was about life or death."

Tina returned to the prescribed medications, but the damage had been done. Her health was so poor that eventually, she received the fore-mentioned transplant in a desperate attempt to prolong her life.

Nonetheless, Tina managed to reach the grand old age of 83, which is a few years pass the life expectancy of an American woman. (Life expectancy for American women is 79.4, but drops to 74.8 for black American women.)

Tina Turner Reminisces