First, I want to thank everyone for reading and commenting on my first post regarding natural methods of treating hypertension. I appreciate your patience with the “two-part” beginning, and especially your understanding that it takes some time to fully develop the vast subject of alternative methods for treating hypertension in detail. I will post a new subject each week, and I will do my best to answer questions on each subject as we go forward. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to trot them out, and if you have helpful input on the subject, please also do not hesitate to chime in. Hopefully, we will all learn much together.
Second, I want to address a few questions again just in case some of you missed my earlier answers. We can lump these into appropriate“disclosures”. Again, I am not a doctor, and I cannot and do not give medical advice. I am just a guy who has studied alternative treatments for high blood pressure (and a whole host of other health problems) in depth, primarily in order to solve my own hypertension problem. Along the way, I learned a lot about holistic and natural approaches to good health generally. I also must admit that I learned a lot about physiology, the human body and organs, and not only the “medicine”, but also more natural ways to get and stay healthy. Many of the good health habits and therapies that I learned have been incorporated into my life as a result of my desire to live the best“quality of life” and be as healthy generally as is reasonably possible.
I was not paid for my “story” by anyone. I am not paid by anyone to write this blog. I do not receive any form of compensation whatsoever for doing this. I am hoping that I get a lot of good-human-being credits from the bookkeepers upstairs! I know that I already get lots of “feel good” rewards from readers’ comments. While I may talk about certain products that I have used and which were most helpful to me in overcoming my hypertension, none of the companies that I mention have compensated me in any way for mentioning their products. The bottom line is, if I don’t truly believe it, you won’t hear it from me.
Now to the subject of diuretics! I am focusing on hydrochlorothiazide today because it is a very commonly prescribed diuretic drug for hypertension. There are other diuretic drugs, but basically they all kick the kidneys into overtime to reduce fluid volume in the body. By reducing fluid volume, diuretic drugs also reduce blood volume which lowers blood pressure.
I had a discussion with Dr. Julian Whitaker regarding the use of drugs to lower blood pressure while I was at the Whitaker Wellness Center last year for my annual checkup. Dr. Whitaker’s opinion was that, despite the wide variety of expensive drugs with significant negative side effects and risks, simple diuretics still did about as good a job
of lowering blood pressure as any of the other types of hypertension drugs. In addition diuretics had about as few negatives side effects as any drug available. That may sound good at first blush, but you may want to reserve judgment on that one until you read a little further.
After having suffered some of the negatives side effects of hydrochlorothiazide (diuretic), fosinopril (ace inhibitor), and atenolol (beta blocker), I never ever take complaints of negative side effects from any of these drugs lightly. The side effects I suffered were almost unbearable, and they became the motivation to get off and stay off the drugs that reduced my quality of life significantly.
It is easy for doctors who see side effects as a necessary inconvenience, and for those who do not suffer severe side effects, to perhaps underestimate their impact on many people or to assume that side effects are just something people have to get used to and live with. Also, the side effects typically listed by the manufacturers really don’t emphasize the ill effects that some patients suffer. The “manufacturer’s listed and recognized” side effects for diuretics aren’t too many and really don’t seem to be all that bad – but then there are the side effects reported by patients. To shed a little more light on the kinds of problems many people suffer, just from hydrochlorothiazide for example, patients have reported the following: nausea, muscle pain, joint pain, tingling in extremities, muscle cramps, stomach cramps, shortness of breath, anxiety, rashes,
skin lesions, lack of energy, nervousness, heart palpitations, migraines, dizziness, and the list goes on……..you perhaps get the picture now? If you doubt any of this, or want to learn even more, here is only one of many educational links for you.
http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=75640&name=HYDROCHLOROTHIAZIDE
I am focusing on natural diuretics as one of the first natural alternative treatments to hypertension because diuretics, often prescribed by physicians, are one of the drugs for which natural alternatives exist. Natural diuretics have been used successfully by many during the longer process of getting off drugs. The first of the drugs that I weaned myself off was hydrochlorothiazide, and again, there were lots of natural foods and supplements to help get that job done. Many people utilize these natural diuretics long term as a replacement for diuretic drugs. Thankfully, for me, natural diuretics were a transition alternative while I tried and ultimately found all the other natural therapies that would allow me to get back to normal blood pressure levels without having to use diuretics daily of any kind. So, natural diuretics have a two-fold purpose, and they hold a place near and dear to my low-blood-pressure heart!
Let’s divide natural diuretics into two basic categories – (1) foods (with raw juices as a sub-category), and (2) food-based supplements. There are a significant number of foods that are natural diuretics. These include celery, parsley, cranberries, asparagus, artichoke, apple cider vinegar, melons, and others. So, with all that and more to choose from, what do you use? I have some favorites based on my own experience. I found celery to be very effective, as well as cranberry juice, and by that I mean pure cranberry juice such as R. W. Knudsen’s, not the Ocean Spray sugary “drink” stuff. Refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup were anathema to my maintaining healthy blood pressure levels and indeed to maintaining good health generally, so they had to go. I still drink a few glasses of “cranwater” almost every day which I make from Knudsen’s “just cranberry” juice diluted with water and with a little stevia added for sweetener. I drink several glasses of pure water each day also. The mixture I use for my cranwater is 4 ounces of Knudsen’s “just cranberry” to 20 ounces of water with 1/4 teaspoon of stevia powder.
When I first began to wean off the hydrochlorothiazide, I would also eat 3 celery sticks every morning. Then I got onto raw juicing, making our own fresh juices every day. I would juice 3 celery sticks, a couple of carrots, some raw beet, some spinach, and I drink a good sized glass of this juice every morning. The celery was the primary diuretic in this very healthy raw, fresh juice. I also enjoyed eating melons which are also served as natural diuretics. While I don’t do this daily anymore, it is a healthy regimen that I have stayed with at least a few times each week.
Some people can get an adequate diuretic effect with just foods. My blood pressure was high enough, and I was in a big enough hurry, that I couldn’t do it with just foods and juice alone. So, I began to also bring food-based diuretic supplements into my formula until I got a reduction in blood pressure similar to using hydrochlorothiazide. There are some exceptional diuretic supplements that really boosted the diuretic effects of the juicing and food diuretics that I was taking. My two all-time favorite diuretic supplements are dandelion leaf (not root) and juniper berries. During the course of my experimentation I also tried parsley, alfalfa, and some natural diuretic formulas by Natrol and Thompson which included such supplements as buchu, parsley, juniper, and uva ursi extracts. The formulas were effective, but the uva ursi in there bothered me, and after a while I really could sort of create my own mix with parsley, dandelion leaf, and juniper berries. Once I put that all together with my diuretic foods and raw juice, I could gradually get off of the hydrochlorothiazide completely. The gradual part was because I was also changing my diet, my exercise regimen, and incorporating lots of other therapies and healthy modalities into my daily life while still figuring out the right natural diuretic supplement mix for me. I was pretty sure it would take some time to remedy a problem that had been created over many, many years, but I was determined to do so.
One of the bad things that hydrochlorothiazide did, and one of the reasons I wanted off that drug, was that it created an imbalance in my electrolytes. Because of all the excess kidney work and urine output getting rid of fluids, I was losing important minerals, not the least of which were potassium and magnesium which are very heart healthy. The great thing that I found about dandelion leaf, and the reason I loved dandelion leaf so much as one of my supplements was that it was not only an effective diuretic, but it was also rich in both potassium and magnesium, probably the two most important minerals that hydrochlorothiazide depleted. My dandelion supplement by contrast actually helped replenish food based minerals in a very bioavailable way improving my electrolytes while also helping to lower my blood pressure. I thought, “what could be better”? In addition, the minerals that I was receiving from my raw juices and other natural supplements were really doing a great job keeping my electrolytes up naturally while I also still got rid of excess fluid and lowered my blood pressure with natural diuretics. So, my juice cocktail every morning was a fixed staple, and my supplements every day were parsley, dandelion leaf, and juniper berry.
The most effective dandelion leaf supplement I found is manufactured by Eclectic Institute and it is “Fresh Freeze-Dried Dandelion (Leaf)” capsules. Maybe it is the freeze drying process, I don’t know, but I have to tell you, I LOVE this supplement! This one and juniper berry were the most effective for me, and I added parsley for its diuretic and other good-food healthy properties. If I was traveling, I would take celery seed extract capsules as my celery for that day. I purchased the dandelion from Vitacost or Supersupplements online for about $11.00 per bottle along with the parsley and juniper berry capsules.
Eventually, I stopped taking hydrochlorothiazide altogether because the natural diuretics helped replace that function in a much healthier way. The change of diet, exercise regimen, and many other healthy additions to my life which we will talk about in depth in future posts eventually helped me eliminate all the toxic drugs for hypertension.
So, that was one of my first steps, utilizing natural diuretics instead of the drug diuretic. There is obviously much more to talk about when considering lowering blood pressure through natural alternatives. I plan to get to those many other topics in due course. For now, hopefully many will find something of value here on natural diuretics.
As always………all the best………naturally!
(65 votes, average: 4.62 out of 5)
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Thank you ever so much Mr.Carestia,this is eye opening I use to worry about side effects but just felt I did not have an alternative.I am first on your list when your book comes out and would love to be a distributor out here in Africa Ghana were hypertension is so prevalent. and a lot of us here need to be educated on hypertension.
Thank you Diana……….I only meant we would discuss enough topics that it will comprise a book……..I wasn’t serious about writing an actual book…….but maybe I should be? 🙂
All the best!
Yes, write a book! Get this info out there!
Yes, indeed I second that notion. There are some good references out there on Hypertension with some good and not so good information, but i think you could hit a “home run” based on some of the great up front info you are sharing with us. We never really hear the ugly side to the toxic drugs and from my experience they are as bad as you elude to. The doctors hush up the “ugly” side and take a quick fix approach to everything.
I am presently treating my BP (without medicine generally in range of 100-140 and with a dose of Covance (Losartan Potassium) – 50mg it is regulated between 90-130. But by taking this medicine every day in night at bed time, I am experiencing weakness day by day and can not get up early in morning. I also feel tiredness and pain feeling in my upper thighs and legs. I also feel exhausted which I regain only to some extent after doing a brisk exercise of jogging or yoga. Please advice me how to leave this allopathic medicine to save myself of its side effects by taking natural diets and other diet supplements.
Thank you, SP Vats!
The ideas in the articles are designed to try to help people with natural alternatives to treating hypertension. The things that I talk about in the blog are the specific things that I utilized in getting off of blood pressure drugs.
I am curious. What is wrong with BP between 100 and 140 without blood pressure drugs? Perhaps you should tell your doctor of the difficulties you are having and ask if it is really worth it to you to go from 100 to 140 down to 90-130 when you have to pay the price in ugly side effects that you are experiencing?!?
Hopefully the alternive, natural methods discussed here will be of assistance to you.
All the best!
Greetings D.,
Interesting to consider that HCTZ would of course mess with body chemistry balance. One of the major mineral depletions for a diabetic is for that of magnesium. As well, I know magnesium balance is important for heart health, as magnesium is partially responsible for the heart’s ability to relax – which would directly affect diastolic (lower) BP number. I’m on ZIAC 5/6.25 bisoprolol/HCTZ in the am and Benicar 40/12.5
olmesartan/HCTZ. I keep asking my dr if the HCTZ might not be so good for my kidneys & she just keeps reiterating “It’s such a low dose, it won’t hurt you.”. But then I quander: so if it’s not enough to hurt me, how is it possibly enough to help me either?? My eyes, ears and mind are open now. That is the only way the truth gets in!
Indeed…….and open mind is an active, useful mind!
All the best!
I do take HCTZ and am tired of it.I walk everyday and sometimes i get
shortness of breath as i am walking and i didn’t know why til now.
I guess it’s just a side affect.I try to eat healthy,but i would like to stop all
meds cause i know they all have side affects.I also take meds for Diabetes
and i want to stop taking them too,so i have live a longer life,these pills
are killing us,so Thank you for your info and i will buy your book as soon
as you let us know about it.Thanks,again
Hi irene….what I meant was that there would be enough information discussed here that it would be as big as a book! I did not mean that I would write a book………but, maybe I should?
All the best!
Thanks D!
YW, Don, and thank you!
All the best!
thank you so much for your information on natural diuretics.I have had adverse side effects of hydrochlorothiazide lately,so your natural substitutes are a welcome relief.God bless.
Thanks uloma. I am hopeful that these will be of help to many people.
All the best!
I am a Type I diabetic (15 years). My physician prescribed Benicar and a diuretic for BP control. My BP is generally in the 120/75 range while taking the meds. But my calves, ankles and feet are swollen and have been for 3+ years. Have you experienced extremity swelling and, if so, did your switch to natural diuretics “cure” this condition?
Hi DLS! Diabetes is a difficult disease so I am hearing you! I am wondering if you have a weight problem with your diabetes, as well, and also how old you are.
I am indeed familiar with extremity swelling although I have never experienced it myself, thankfully. I have known many people who are experiencing that difficultyand the other difficulties associated with diabetes. I believe that natural therapies are better all the way around, but I cannot say that I have first hand experience that shows natural diuretics are better than drugs for reducing swelling. Since I believe generally that natural is better, I would also lean toward thinking they would help reduce swelling better also. Again, that is just a hunch.
I am wondering if you are seeing, or have ever seen, a naturopathic physician for your diabetes? I have utilized chelation therapy to improve my circulation over the last several years, and one of the interesting thing is to talk to others who are in the chelation area to see how they got started, why the are also utilizing chelation, and what it has done for them. Many of these patients have heart disease and/or diabetes.
Chelation has signficantly improved my circulation. And I have talked to others during chelation therapy who have told some very convincing stories about their heart conditions, ciruculation, and and diabetes, and the improvement that they have seen from this therapy.
Your medical doctor will probably consider chelation to be inappropriate, unproven, a scheme of those quack naturopaths, or some other unflattering characterization. From what I have experienced with my own health, and what I have learned from other everyday, sincere and normal common folks like myself whom I have met and talked to while taking chelation, my humble opinion is that this is a very health improving therapy for those with clogged arteries and diabetes among other maladies.
If you saw a naturopathic physician experienced in chelation, you could get more facts first hand, have him or her address your specific situation, and decide for yourself what might help you going forward.
All the best!
Please clarify how taking celery can act as a diurectic as it is high in sodium. Three celery sticks about 6 inches long has about 100mg of sodium (or 3% of ones daily intake. The amount of Potassium is 300mg or 9% of the daily amount.
Hi Larry! And thanks for a GREAT question.
There is much confusion, disinformation, and misinformation about “sodium” and “salt” among a broad spectrum of people. This confusion results from definitions gone awry. So, we need to distinguish and clearly understand some very different terms to make sense of it all. Those terms are “sodium”, “sodium chloride”, and “salt”. These are three very different substances.
Let’s first take sodium. Let’s call sodium outside the body, “inorganic sodium”. Inorganic sodium in the soil is very unstable. When inorganic sodium in the soil is uptaken into the root system of a plant, it becomes stabilized by the process of photosynthesis, combining the elements of air, light and water to create “organic sodium”. The sodium found in celery is organic sodium, it is not sodium chloride (the bad stuff), and organic sodium is indeed very good for us.
The organic sodium found in celery and other plants is an electrolytic mineral. Some other electrolytes are potassium, magnesium, calcium, lithium and phosphorous. Sodium is found throughout the human body from birth. Our dependency on sodium to regulate various organs and metabolic functions is mind-boggling. It is found in every cell of our body. Having a symbiotic relation to potassium, the two create an electric charge that contributes toward cell life and energy. There is actually a pump-like action on every cell that pumps potassium in and sodium out. Sodium is found at work in the stomach, the gallbladder, the joints, and all of our cells. Even our very own DNA is mostly sodium.
Salt, or sea salt, is what is left from ocean deposits in ancient sea beds. It is full of trace minerals, usually more than 80 trace minerals, including sodium (good stuff).
Sodium chloride (bad stuff) is what has been pushed on to us as something that belongs in seasoning our foods and on our kitchen and dining room tables to eat. It is salt that has been stripped of all of its beneficial trace minerals and is stabilized by gas chlorine (more bad stuff). This becomes sodium chloride, and our bodies treat sodium chloride like the toxin that it is.
So, again, your question is a good one. I have even heard a doctor say that a hypertension patient should not eat celery because it had sodium in it. That was an absurd thing for a doctor to say in my humble opinion, and while the public is often confused by these terms, a doctor should never be!
Many people actually suffer from a sodium deficiency while at the same time consuming far too much sodium chloride toxin. A book could be written about the positive effects of sodium in the body including regulation of ph. If a person is sodium deficient, the body calls upon other stores for sodium, such as our bones and joints and then our very cells, and that is also a very bad thing.
So, to end this long story about sodium…….give me organic sodium!! Do not offer me sodium chloride! For seasoning my food, give me Himalayan rock salt for both its mineral and alkaline properties!
Before concluding this discussion on celery, let me also add that in addition to its diuretic properties, celery also contains active compounds called phthalides which can help relax the muscles around arteries and allow those vessels to dilate. This is another of the benefits that we are all looking for because its vasodilation properties create a little more room in the arteries and lowering lowering blood pressure that way also.
I hope this clarifies things, and all the best!
hi, d.c
is 100% cacao /cocoa also good mix with milk , hope it does not ve any side effect ,tks am beginning to see postive result from your previous blog tks tks
Hi Karen, and yes, I mix my cocoa with almond milk. I think Jason uses rice milk?
I am not a big fan of dairy, if you mean cow’s milk. Dairy has a lot of negative downsides when it comes to circulatory health. That is why I have pretty much eliminated dairy from my diet.
I am thrilled that you are beginning to see positive results from natural alternatives!
All the best!
Karen, I’m with D. Carestia in that I don’t use dairy. I also do not recommend animal protein of any kind as well as oils to maintain optimum vascular health. I use almond, rice or soy milk as an alternative.
Hi DC, I really would encourage you to write a book – to put all this valuable information in one easily accessible place. Could you let me know, in your opinion, what are the optimum levels of Q10 and magnesium that need to be taken? Currently I take 60 mgs of Q10 and 400mg of true food magnesium and use a magnesium oil as an after shower lotion. I use Himalayan salt but was also confused about the terms sodium and salt. I will be more generous with my Himalayan salt in future – I was barely using a sprinkle, and sometimes none at all to cut my salt intake which only comes from food, a little of which is not home made like crackers and humous etc. I am looking forward to your next installment.
Marie
Hi Marie, and thank you! I am actually giving the book some serious thought…….”A practical guide”.
I am not sure of your age, and I don’t know if you are taking ubiquinone or ubiquinol? I took 200 mg per day of ubiquinol for several months when I first started down this path, and now I take 100 mg every day.
Nothing in excess is a good motto. In moderation, sea salt is good for the human body!
I like to get up to 600 mg of magnesium citrate as my daily magnesium supplement.
All the best!
I have found your article very interesting as I am always looking for natural alternatives. I am currently on HCTZ and I would like to ween myself off. I tried once before to stop taking it and I just bloated up and held water. I got the Dandelion Leaf, Parsley and Junniper Berry to try. I noticed on the Junniper Berry bottle a warning that says not to use more than 4 weeks. I have read other places that Junniper berry can cause Kidney problems if taken long term. Do you take this long term or is it something that you use for 4 weeks and then go off of. Looking forward to your response.
Hi Ron!
I would take the parsley and dandelion leaf every day, but would take a break from the juniper berry as recommended. I also would take my morning fresh juice every day which included the diuretic 3 stalks of celery. I would also usually have melon and other diuretic foods for lunch/brunch.
The problem is with any diuretic long term. HCT is probably the worst for depleting electrolytes as it replaces none of them. The dandelion is high in magnesium and potassium, and celery has sodium and potassium. The benefits of the natural foods is that they help replenish electrolytes which are totally lost on the drug diuretic.
I also like my far infrared sauna for getting rid of excess fluid, and I am in there every day after my workouts, approximately 5 days per week.
My purpose in using the natural rememdies was to give me time for getting my diet, lifestyle, supplements, workouts/exercise, relaxation, and detoxification changes made so that I could pretty much just live, and with normal blood pressure, without doing much of anything by way of a special supplement program for hypertension. I still incorporate some of those things, but the underlying changes to the way I live have effected the necessary long-term changes. The long-term changes are really the key.
For making that transition, or even for life-long alternatives, if necesary, I still believe the natural therapies are far superior to toxic drugs.
We will talk about a lot more as we go forward. I am hopeful that you will find more things that might be helpful to put into practice.
All the best!!
Hi D , just finished reading your article and find it to be quite informative ! I totally agree with all you are say and now after fannying about with trying to lower my bp naturally and after suffering the mind blowing negative effects of horrible medication , i will start from today ( i am eating some now ) with the celery , parsley etc , i have a juicer , so no problem there !! and yes , write the book , will yuh !!!