Lower Blood Pressure Naturally

You can resist such dangerous over-medicating by adopting common-sense, natural ways to lower blood pressure and maintain a healthy heart!

You may have heard about the marvellous new “polypill”, a single medication that combines statins to lower cholesterol, aspirin to prevent blood clots, and medications to reduce blood pressure. Some doctors along with the drug’s manufacturers see the polypill as a potential breakthrough in the prevention of hypertension and heart disease.

And to further their cause it seems that polypill backers arrange a media campaign at regular intervals to pave the way for the arrival of the new “miracle drug”. I first wrote about the polypill in my article Magic Bullet For Lower Blood Pressure & Cholesterol Is A Dud as a response to a pharmaceutical PR campaign in 2008…

But despite every criticism the polypill doesn’t die; it just keeps coming back. You can easily get cynical and say that what they’re doing is “preparing the market”…

You see, some doctors have become so convinced of the polypill’s benefits that they want to see them prescribed to every adult over the age of 50, whatever their blood pressure, whatever their risk of heart disease!

What a stupendous coup this would be for the drugs industry! Statins and blood pressure medications are already the world’s best-selling drugs but their sales would pale in comparison to a universal polypill.

Of course many doctors genuinely believe in the polypill’s medical benefits. They are justifiably frustrated with patients who promise changes in lifestyle but never follow through. Professor Salim Yusuf, a polypill proponent, argues that the focus on lifestyle has failed. He says, “Instead of saying ‘lifestyle first and drugs next’, why don’t we say ‘drugs is the basis’?”

But for every dedicated healer there’s a drug company rep. It’s no secret that relations between the medical profession (especially the upper echelons) and the pharmaceutical industry are way too close for comfort. And the insurance companies will surely fall into line too if they’re convinced that the polypill will reduce expensive treatment for high blood pressure and heart disease.

Lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, better circulation… what’s not to like?

What’s not to like are side effects, long-term health risks, and the expense and futility of over-treating millions of people who simply don’t need it.

What’s even more not to like is that the polypill is simply unnecessary: relatively inexpensive tomography and ultrasound scans are capable of accurately diagnosing atherosclerosis in those genuinely at risk.

This is not the criticism of some natural health guru but that of Dr. Allen Taylor, professor of medicine at Georgetown University. His response to the polypill:

It’s a waste of money… We would be doing a lot of good for a lot of people but also a lot of bad for a lot of people. In the end any pill, no matter how well compromised, will only be effective if the right person takes it.

Does anyone remember the Hippocratic Oath: Do No Harm?

What does it say about subjecting millions of people to damaging side effects and other long-term health risks for no medical reason (other than a statistical risk of about one in three of developing hypertension and/or heart disease)?

As usual, proponents argue that the polypill’s side effects are negligible, to which Dr. Taylor replies “baloney”. The side effects of just one component, statins (often described as one of the “safest” types of drugs), have been under-reported and include painful muscle spasms, cognitive disturbances and kidney damage.

Every drug has side effects; the combined effects of multiple drugs are as numerous as they are unpredictable.

Are we really ready to say that lifestyle has failed? Are we willing to accept the full implications of “drugs is the basis”?

I don’t think so. Let’s just look at high blood pressure, one of the greatest risks for developing heart disease. Most people have no idea how easy it can be to achieve lower blood pressure naturally through simple lifestyle changes in things like diet. Instead, they’re overwhelmed by draconian rules like dietary restrictions: no salt, no fat, no whole dairy, no real food.

Such regimes are usually doomed to fail. What’s more, they’re totally unnecessary! The best diet for lower blood pressure and a healthy heart is rich in whole, natural foods. It’s also balanced in food groups; many people still eat far too few fruits and vegetables.

Equally important is to dump the junk food, artificial ingredients and fake foods. These include so-called “healthy options” like cholesterol-free eggs, salt substitutes, low-fat and fat-free formulations, and calorie-free sweeteners.

In a similar vein, you don’t have to join a gym or start running when you can get many of the same benefits through a 15-minute-a-day slow breathing program. It’s a sensible way to build up to more ambitious physical endeavour while getting surprisingly powerful effects, especially to reduce your blood pressure.

Dr. John R. Lee, a noted family practitioner, writes in “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Blood Pressure”:

The most important thing I want to tell you about high blood pressure is that it can almost always be lowered with lifestyle changes…

But the conventional medical wisdom is that patients won’t make lifestyle changes, and so the automatic response to high blood pressure is to prescribe a drug that will reduce it.

I believe—and there is plenty of research to support me—that these drugs have just as good a chance of killing you as the high blood pressure does, especially if you don’t really need them.

John R. Lee, M.D.
Virginia Hopkins Health Watch

The final word goes to Dr. Robert Bonow, professor of medicine at Northwestern University: “We already have a polypill - it’s called exercise”.

Do you have high blood pressure (or does your doctor say you have hypertension)?

Do you dread your visit to the doctor and that moment when you have to remove your jacket or roll up for sleeve for the blood pressure check? (Oh Lord, is it going to be as high as last time? Is he going to insist on a prescription this time?)

If that sounds familiar you may be one of the many who are routinely diagnosed with high blood pressure through readings in the doctor’s office. You could be one of the thousands, maybe even millions, who have been misdiagnosed with the condition…

As a result, you may be prescribed drugs that can damage your health or quality of life simply because seeing your doctor makes you nervous.

In a bold move to eliminate this common mis-treatment, Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) has torn up the guidance sheet on hypertension diagnosis. From now they will require that high blood pressure diagnoses, usually based on office blood pressure readings of 140/90 or above, be confirmed by ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) and/or home blood pressure readings carried out by the patient.

The new guidance aims to eliminate or greatly reduce the frequency of misdiagnosis due to a common condition called white coat hypertension. The syndrome occurs when a patient’s blood pressure rises abnormally through natural feelings of stress, nervousness or anxiety aroused by a medical setting.

People with white coat hypertension will have normal blood pressure during routine everyday life; their high blood pressure is confined to the doctor’s office. The potential for error should be obvious, yet the NHS estimates that up to 25% of the 12 million people in the United Kingdom being treated for high blood pressure have been misdiagnosed.

Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM): A Better Way To Diagnosis Hypertension…

ABPM is a far more predictable method of diagnosing high blood pressure than isolated office readings as it tracks a person’s blood pressure on a 24-hour, round the clock basis. The subject wears an arm cuff attached to a small digital monitor unit often worn on the belt. The device measures the subject’s blood pressure at preset intervals throughout the day and even while sleeping.

The picture that emerges from ABPM is not only useful for diagnosing hypertension but also shows when a person’s blood pressure rises and falls and many other important factors. This can be useful for interpreting how different activities and other factors affect your blood pressure. It can even help to determine the best schedule for taking medications to lower blood pressure.

Self-monitoring of blood pressure in the home can also prove useful to prevent misdiagnosis of hypertension. While not as detailed as ABPM, blood pressure readings in a comfortable home setting tend to prevent white coat syndrome. Simple digital monitors for home use are affordable and reasonably accurate.

Short-term costs for longer-term savings (not to mention better health and peace of mind!)…

The only drawback in all this is that ABPM is much more expensive than the old “pull up your sleeve” routine in the doctor’s office. Medical centers and practices will need to make some up-front investment in devices to ramp up to the kind of supply they will need to provide ABPM to every potential high blood pressure patient.

But the long-term advantages are significant savings through reduced spending on medication and patient follow-up care. The NHS figures the new guidelines will be saving them considerable money within 5 years. If you’re under a private healthcare system or insurance plan that could be money in your pocket.

But the financial savings are nothing compared to savings in the human cost of misdiagnosis. High blood pressure is a troubling condition to live with, constantly hearing how it leads to heart disease, heart attack or stroke.

Blood pressure medications are not easy to live with either. They may be preferable to chronic hypertension (only when all natural methods have failed) but most patient’s struggle with their side effects. What’s more, every drug poses unpredictable risks to long-term health.

Side effects, long-term health risks: a fair trade to beat the worst consequences of hypertension… but what if you don’t even have the condition (like the millions of others who are misdiagnosed)?! What cost then?

What do the new U.K. blood pressure guidelines mean for you?

If you live in the U.K. your local GP will already be adopting the new guidelines. If you’re under a different healthcare system still using old-fashioned methods of diagnosis you should bring this up with your doctor if you are suspected of having high blood pressure.

DO NOT accept a life-changing diagnosis of hypertension based on doctor’s office readings alone. You owe it to yourself to get ABPM, even if you have to carry some of the cost yourself. At the very least, get yourself a cheap monitor and track your own blood pressure a couple times a day over a week or two. Keep a log of your readings and show them to your doctor, especially if they contradict his or her office readings.

If you’re already on blood pressure medication your situation is a bit more complicated. Assuming the medication is controlling your blood pressure, ABPM is pointless. But if you suspect that you were misdiagnosed you should also discuss this with your healthcare professional.

Your only possible recourse is a medically supervised, controlled reduction in medication along with frequent blood pressure monitoring. This can be a long, slow process, even with a cooperative doctor. But, again, you owe it to yourself if you think you may be taking medications without good reason.

FINAL WORD: More than three years ago I wrote about high blood pressure misdiagnosis in my article So You Think You Know Your Blood Pressure? and I urged everyone in this situation to insist on ABPM before accepting a diagnosis and treatment, especially with medication.

So I’m very happy to see the NHS adopt these sensible new guidelines (although I do doubt that my article played a role in their decision!). I hope that other health systems and insurance providers will follow suit. In the meantime, we all need to look after our own health interests and insist on prudent treatment at all times.