Salt-sensitive hypertension means kidneys hold onto too much salt. When the kidneys realize the blood pressure is getting too high they try to get rid of salt. If they can't, in an ironic twist, blood pressure goes even higher to help literally force salt out of the kidneys. That approach eventually works but over time the high-pressure pounding away at blood vessels can cause heart attack, stroke and/or kidney failure, the type of end stage organ damage associated with hypertension, Dr. Pollock says.