HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
STRATEGIES FOR SOLVING THIS PROBLEM NATURALLY
“Less than 25 percent of patients with hypertension in the United States have their blood pressure under control, mainly because of inadequate or inappropriate therapy and noncompliance. Approximately one half of these treatment failures are related to factors such as cost and adverse effects of medication….” Drs. Suzanne Oparil and David Calhoun of the University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, from a 1998 article in the American Family Physician (Managing the Patient with Hard-to-Control Hypertension).
“Would you rather lower your blood pressure by changing your physiology to deal with the underlying cause(s), or would you rather mask the symptoms of the underlying cause by taking a pill?” – Dr. Russell Schierling |
For the record, not everyone will respond to natural methods. Neither this post nor this site are meant to diagnose or cure any diseases, but are for “informational” purposes only. No animals were harmed in the writing of this post. The stunts were the work of professional stunt men — do not try this at home. As always, consult your physician before using live ammunition.
Now that that the disclaimer is out of the way, let’s get down to business. And in order to do this, we will have to have a basic understanding of hydraulics. Let’s look at a simple garden hose for a moment. We’ve all used garden hoses before. What will create higher pressure in a garden hose? In other words, what can you do to make water shoot farther out of the end of the hose with more force?
- How about putting your thumb over the end of the hose to make the outflow hole smaller?
- What if we could somehow shrink the diameter of the entire length of the hose itself?
- How about using a hose that was more like a steel pipe (something like PEX, without any real give to it)?
- What about increasing the power / output of the pump?
- What if we could change the viscosity / thickness of the fluid going through the hose?
- What would happen if we could affect the temperature of the fluid or hose?
The truth is, all of these things have the ability to affect the pressure in the garden hose, and all can be modulated (not being an engineer, there are probably a few I have left out). Let’s start transferring this information over to the human body and talk about some of the things that have the ability to increase or decrease your blood pressure according to the things on this list.
RISK FACTORS FOR HYPERTENSION -vs- CAUSES OF HYPERTENSION
Dietary Salt is a touchy issue that seems to attract a lot of erroneous information, and I think that for the most part, doctors who tell patients to avoid Table Salt (sodium chloride —- NaCl) are getting it wrong. The peer-reviewed scientific literature is loaded with studies saying that salt is not nearly the health problem that it was once declared to be (HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE are a few examples of many — as always, do your own research). This would make sense in light of the fact that meat and other foods were, for centuries, preserved in the stuff. I do, however, believe that sodium can be problematic. Where does the majority of sodium come from? Why processed foods, of course. Once you learn a bit about MONO-SODIUM GLUTAMATE (MSG), you will see yet another reason it is important to read food labels.
“The link between salt and blood pressure is thought to date back to the 1940s when Duke University researcher Walter Kempner, M.D., became famous for using salt restriction as a means to treat people with high blood pressure…. Despite history, a brand new review of several studies from the past few decades related to blood pressure and salt intake suggests Kempner wasn’t right — that salt might not have as much of an effect on blood pressure and heart health as suspected.” Lisa Collier Cool from her December 6th, 2012 article called, “Disappointingly Weak Link Between Salt and High Blood Pressure”.
“In 1972, when the National Institutes of Health introduced the National High Blood Pressure Education Program to help prevent hypertension, no meaningful experiments had yet been done. The best evidence on the connection between salt and hypertension came from two pieces of research. One was the observation that populations that ate little salt had virtually no hypertension. But those populations didn’t eat a lot of things — sugar, for instance — and any one of those could have been the causal factor. The second was a strain of “salt-sensitive” rats that reliably developed hypertension on a high-salt diet. The catch was that “high salt” to these rats was 60 times more than what the average American consumes.“ The venerable GARY TAUBES (watch the video at the end of the link) from the June 12, 202 issue of The New York Times (Salt, We Misjudged You). |
Practically all lists of risk factors for Hypertension will include dietary fat as a culprit, and more particularly animal (saturated) fat / red meat. But is this really true? Again, when you look at the peer-reviewed literature on the subject, it seems that this is another of those salt-like myths that seems to be tougher to kill than the Hydra. HERE is one such example. Are there more? HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, are a few of many (HERE is an article from a heart surgeon not named Mehmet). So; if things like dietary salt, CHOLESTEROL, and red meat / saturated fat are not the cause of High Blood Pressure, what the heck is? It’s not like I haven’t spilled those beans on this already.
The major cause of heart disease (high blood pressure, High Cholesterol, etc) is UNCONTROLLED BLOOD SUGAR — the leading cause of Inflammation. That’s right, unless you have some sort of genetic issue from a young age, you can typically control your Blood Pressure with diet and lifestyle changes. Follow closely because not all diets or exercise programs are created equally. For instance, who here remembers the “High Carb / Low Fat / No Fat” 80’s and 90’s? Makes you wonder how many people died as the direct result of the Heart Association Diet and Food Pyramid? Here is the really cool thing. This same diet I recommend for people with High Blood Pressure (THE PALEO DIET) also happens to be the best way to eat whether your problem is Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, AUTOIMMUNITY, CHRONIC INFLAMMATORY DEGENERATIVE DISEASES, or any number of others (including your WEIGHT). Tightly / strictly / narrowly control your blood sugar, and watch everything improve at once. This is what happens when you get to the root of the problem instead of masking symptoms.
WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON SYMPTOMS OF HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE?
- SEVERE HEADACHES: As crazy as it seems, there are actually studies showing that HBP (or an increased pulse pressure — the difference between the high and low numbers) can actually decrease one’s chances of headaches. Be aware that this can be the result of a condition that would almost be akin to a NEUROPATHY in the brain.
- VISUAL DISTURBANCES:
- POUNDING OR ‘WHOOSHING’ IN YOUR EARS, NECK, OR CHEST / PALPITATIONS OR IRREGULAR HEARTBEAT:
- CHEST PAIN / ANGINA:
- FATIGUE / CONFUSION:
- BLOODY URINE / NOSEBLEEDS:
- BREATHING PROBLEMS:
NATURAL SUPPLEMENTS FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE
“I hear it all the time. Hey Doc; you got anything good for high blood pressure? I need to lose about 60 lbs; what have you got for weight loss? What about my heart problems? How about my stomach problems? What can you do for my hormonal problems, acid reflux, fibromyalgia, blood sugar, chronic fatigue, (insert your disease of choice here) ……cancer? The question that people really want answered is, “Hey Doc, What have you got that will cure all my health problems, make me lose weight, and keep me functioning in the bedroom, but allow me to keep eating the same crap, continue my same habits, and let me continue living the same self-destructive lifestyle that I have my whole life?” This isn’t health! This is the promise of modern medicine. Unfortunately, we are inadvertently being taught that health is not our responsibility any more. It’s something that our doctors (and now our government) are supposed to do for us.” From my WHOLE FOODS PAGE.
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For one, the NIH seems to be trying to conjure up the ghosts of the Food Pyramid by suggesting people eat between 6 and 12 servings of grains a day. The problem with this is that today’s grains are not the same grains that were being consumed by our great-grandparents (HERE). Not to mention, grain is what farmers use to pack fat on their cattle. You eat 6 to 12 servings a day, and eventually you’ll look like the offspring of the Goodyear blimp. DASH also allows up to 4 servings from a category labeled “fats and sweets“. Sorry, but it’s 2014. Equating fats to sweets in this day and age is about as distant from anything scientific as one could get. On top of all this, DASH wants you to, “put away the salt shaker“. I’ve already shown you that this is bad news (HERE is one more short example from my site). And the recommendations to consume low fat or no fat dairy each day? The whole thing reminds me of 1988.
All of this begs the question as to why our own government would not want its citizens on BP (other than the fact that they / we are now paying for most of it through taxes). In other words, why are tax dollars being spent on telling us what to eat, and what are the side effects of the medications used to lower Blood Pressure?
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS OF BLOOD PRESSURE LOWERING MEDICATIONS?
- DEPRESSION / ANXIETY:
- HEADACHES: This was one of the number one side effects of antihypertensive drugs.
- CHRONIC FATIGUE:
- DIZZINESS:
- PALPITATIONS:
- RAPID HEART RATE:
- DECREASED HEART RATE:
- LOW BLOOD PRESSURE / FAINTING:
- HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE:
- WEAKNESS:
- INABILITY TO THINK OR CONCENTRATE:
- SYMPTOMS OF CELIAC DISEASE, SUCH AS UNCONTROLLED DIARRHEA OR UNCONTROLLED WEIGHT LOSS:
- CONSTIPATION:
- DIZZINESS / VERTIGO:
- MALE IMPOTENCY: This was a top side effects of this class of drug.
- LACK OF SEX DRIVE: This can be male or female
- BREAST CANCER:
- INSOMNIA:
- ASTHMA:
- DRY HACKING COUGH:
- SKIN RASH:
- LOSS OF TASTE:
- WATER RETENTION / SWOLLEN ANKLES / SWOLLEN EYES:
- HEARTBURN:
- STUFFY NOSE:
- HIRTSUISM: Excessive Growth of Hair
- JOINT PAIN:
- DRY MOUTH:
- FREQUENT URINATION:
- BLEEDING GUMS:
- LOSS OF POTASSIUM:
- ODD OR METALLIC TASTE / LOSS OF TASTE:
- TROUBLE BREATHING:
- BLURRED VISION:
- MORE: To see the entire list of types and brands of blood pressure medications as well as their side effects, just do an online search.
Listen; I get it. You may end up having to go on antihypertensive drugs. Particularly if you have seriously abused your body for years and years or if you have Secondary Hypertension (Hypertension of a known origin such as ENDOCRINE PROBLEMS or Kidney Disease). But Primary Hypertension (aka Essential Hypertension or Idiopathic Hypertension — Hypertension of unknown cause) is 95% of all hypertension. The great thing about this is that you now know much more about solving this problem than you did just one hour ago. Continue to learn and make changes, and one day soon (with your doctor’s help of course) you may be able to get off the drugs. Or better yet, never need to start the drugs in the first place.