In the fall of 2006, at age 57, I was admitted to the emergency room at our local hospital with blood pressure readings of 195/115. This was accompanied by chest pain, not because I was having a heart attack as it turned out, but because blood pressure that high can readily cause heart and chest discomfort.
The emergency room doctors immediately started me on Plavix to thin my blood as a precautionary measure to a cardiac event, even though my EKG, cardiac enzymes, and chest x-ray were normal, and they also began administering Lopressor by IV to bring my blood pressure down. Lopressor is a beta blocker and over the course of several hours of IV treatment, my blood pressure was brought down to normal levels in the low 120’s over 70’s. I will never forget the next morning after all that plavix – I just about bled to death from a few minor shaving cuts that just wouldn’t stop bleeding my blood was so thin!
Of course I saw my internist the next day during his rounds and he was quite concerned and adamant that I undergo a treadmill test and a cardiac ultrasound so that he could verify the blocked coronary blood vessels that he strongly suspected I had. After confirming my blocked blood vessels, he would then put me on the path to angioplasty or coronary artery bypass. After all, he had treated my father for those same maladies, and had referred him to a cardiologist for angioplasty when he was 63.
On the other hand, I felt that it was highly unlikely that I had blocked coronary arteries. After all, I climbed the mountain behind my home in Montana several times each week which was 45 minutes straight up without resting, and I had never experienced any chest discomfort during that climb. Additionally, from there I hiked another 90 minutes up and down to get back to my house. I did aerobic exercise, swimming, and weight training the other 3 days of the week. I took one day off each week just to relax from my workout routines. I also ate pretty right although I had always been a bit stocky and my cholesterol was a little over 200 with my HDL at a pretty low 36. (We can talk about cholesterol later on also!).
My internist was somewhat shocked to find that I was able to do the 13 minutes required on the treadmill relatively easily and that my cardiac ultrasound showed no signs of any blockage or any lack of blood supply to my heart muscles. My ejection fractions were enviable, and I was not considered a huge risk for a heart attack based on that testing. Yet, my blood pressure was high.
Shortly after my treadmill test, I was placed on a beta blocker, atenolol. This is a quite common beta blocker used by medical doctors to lower blood pressure in the U.S. (however, not so commonly used in Britain anymore). It also slows the heart rate, and just try to get a good workout on that stuff!!??!! It is VERY difficult to get your heart rate up to therapeutic levels with a good dose of atenolol on board. In addition, I felt just terrible on that drug. It made me physically sluggish, slow and hazy of mind and thought, and depressed. You would be surprised, as I was, at all the negative side effects reported by users of beta blockers as well as all the other blood pressure drugs.
As a result, my doctor switched me to an ace inhibitor, a tried a true oldie but goodie, fosinopril. But what’s with that freaking cough that comes with it every night?!? The ace inhibitor wasn’t quite as depressive on my mind and my system, but it didn’t do as good a job at lowering my blood pressure, so my doctor added a handy dandy diuretic to the mix, another common blood pressure drug called hydrochlorothiazide. Interestingly, my pvc’s (premature ventricular contractions) seemed to increase in numbers on these drugs. Oh, and they never stopped on the beta blockers either, also much to my doctor’s surprise.
I had side effects from the ace inhibitor/diuretic combination too. If you want to have some fun, just google “negative side effects of” beta blockers, ace inhibitors, and then diuretics. You will be quite surprised to likely find your own side effects listed and complained about by others just as I was.
Once you are on blood pressure drugs it is VERY difficult to get off of them. Excuse me if I believe that it is planned that way. The body begins to rely on the drugs to control blood pressure, and it experiences a “rebound effect” when someone tries to eliminate the drug. I assure you, I speak from experience on the difficulty of controlling hypertension without drugs once you have started taking them. Yet, I am very much into natural approaches to diet, life, and good health. I thought, “there has to be a better way” of controlling this hypertension that in large measure, in my case at least, was most likely caused by stress from a serious and very worrisome family event.
So, I set out on a long journey of study and discovery.
Do you have a story or tip living with high blood pressure that you would like to share »
(41 votes, average: 4.61 out of 5)
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You have no consideration for your audience if you have someone’s story that can help us and then say to be continued. You’re no different than a newscaster who says “There’s something in your dinner tonite that can kill you. More news at 10!”
I agree! This is a real tease. I wonder what his natural remedy is – perhaps Resperate?
Nope. Resperate is only one of a whole host of useful tools.
All the best!
ditto
I would have hard time trusting this person or any person who plays such games. Shame!
Hi Frederick, and hi to all those who complained about the “too be continued” aspect of my first article.
I want to assure everyone that I wrote and had planned for the first article to be published in its entirety. The editor suggested splitting the article into two parts because it seemed a little too long. I have never done a blog before, so that seemed like a logical enough idea to me. I also assure you that I receive nothing from this effort other than the satisfaction of knowing that I might be of help to someone like me. I am out to sell nothing to anyone, and again, I receive no compensation whatever from my contribution here. There are some things in life that indeed do deserve the “pay it forward” approach, and this is my only intent.
I also must emphasize that if someone wants to know what to do “right now” to “immediately” lower their blood pressure, then he or she is ignoring the fact that I worked on my own problem for two years before finally putting the puzzle together for myself. Hopefully, all of that effort can benefit some people here and save them a lot of time in their own journey. I would expect, nevertheless, that both time and real effort will be required. Just the process of weaning off drugs, if and when a person gets to that point, done properly, can take many weeks. If not done properly, the likely result is that the “rebound effect” will take you right back to a full dose of drugs after your blood pressure again spikes up! Been there, done that, until I got it right.
Lowerpressure.com now understands and apologizes for the problem of dividing up the article, and has added part 2 so that it is available immediately. They feel badly that their effort to try to make the article better by shortening it and breaking it into two parts has disappointed some people. I feel badly as well, as this is not my intention in any way, shape, or form. Some of you already know me from my responses to Dr. Rowena. Hopefully what you have already read will shed some light on my purpose here.
I hope to offer something of value on many topics that can be helpful to people. I wish someone had helped me save a lot of time when I was searching. My only hope, and my only goal, is that all of my research, experience, and knowledge might help someone else save some time in their efforts to get off these ugly bp medications if possible.
Each week I will talk about a distinct natural approach to controlling hypertension, and I am happy to answer questions. If you have topics you wish to have discussed, let me know.
I hope this helps explain my perspective and my approach to everyone.
I look forward to interacting with people on this blog and hopefully to being of some help. Until then……..
All the best…….naturally!
I’ve never taken a med that seems to help more than it hurts. I’m into natural remedies, and I’m anxious to hear anything along those lines.
From your article both 1 & 2 , I can say I understand where you coming from and we all thank you for yhe effort you put to get the desired result on controlling BP.
I am also working hard to get off the Drugs. So far I do not have any bad side effect but reading from other drug reviews on the same medications that I am currently taking , scares a Lot out of me. But since I have no other choice I keep it going hoping it s not going to harm me.
I do excercise regularly and my BP is well under control at least for now.
Natural remedy is all we craving for..
Stay tuned each week as we discuss the many natural rememdies that have worked!
To be continued when for goodness sakes! That isn’t nice. I want to know what to do witout the chemicals!!!! Please let me know what he did.
Your story reminds me of my own, we will regain control of our health!
So far very interesting and I can attest to the side effects of the medications – but you’ve left me in mid thought. Waiting for the rest of the story.
We shall all overcome this pharmaceutical plan to get us hooked up on drugs.
My blood pressure has been very very difficult to control, after 40 years of almost every combination of drugs, my BP is still around 140/85. I have a healthy lifestyle, aerobics daily, weights & Tai Chi / Chi Gong every day. My HDL is 67, total cholesterol 145, blood chemistry is excellent. My side effects with diuretic, beta blockers was so bad I have vowed never to use them again. I also tried & still practice alternative approaches. My strategy is to eliminate as many other risk factors & my doctor agrees that we don’t experiment with any more higher doses of BP drugs. I’m going for a stress test since 10 hears ago I had a heart attack & bypass. I open for any approaches & I will let you know results of stress test.
Check out Harry’s Rule from Younger Next Year.
HI There
Would just like to know, do you have any Root Canals or Gold fillings in your Mouth, or Gold, or have u checked your self for Mercury, or over load of Yeast in your stystem?
AS all these,s play havoc on your stystem.
To offer advice and then say “to be continued” is very inconsiderate. I will not waste time on a site like this. One can google so much info now that waiting with my breath held will not happen. What a disservice. If it is so great and lifesaving you would want to share it quickly, concisely and compassionately. Hope your nurses don’t do that with your care….”wait, wait, it’s my break time-hold that defibrillator!”
That is very interesting and we are waiting to read from you… To be continued
Please please share the rest of the story immediately. Why would delay sharing the action you took? Please very kindly share it right now.
My story is eerily similar.
It sounds like you had a lot to cope with, but the idea that your drug side effect problems are all some kind of conspiricy, well I am certainly interested to hear why you think that.
Well, I’d like to know more, I’m not on meds. Every time I’ve ever been to a doctor, it’s been high and I wanted med’s. They always tell me the same, diet and exercise. I’m under a lot of family stress. I’m very active always up early all day until night. A lady ask me this week when do you take a break. Well there is no time in my day. I do want to lose weight and wonder what size would I be if wasn’t active every day. I know it’s not the same as an exercise program. I guess I’d rather be working doing something that needs it. Pray for me, I am losing some, slowly. Size range 14-16, I loose inches , But seem to always wear the same size?
Even though many of us can relate to your situation – and would desperately like to know what you did, I believe you left us hanging because your next installment will be an attempt to try and SELL us something.
What happened to the times when we had good news that we just couldn’t wait to share with someone – because we cared?
That time is now, Leon. I am sorry it cannot be as condensed as many here, and I, would like. It is not just one thing that I did….it is many. Many things did not work for me that work for other people. Please recall that trying to identify the cause for your hypertension, when hypertension is multifactorial and has different causes for different people, is one of the things that I already mentioned. There will be more on it.
I would ask that you reserve judgment until we have discussed some specifics. Hopefully you will give future posts fair consideration, and I would be interested in your opinion of whether I “care” enough for the benefit of others after you do that.
All the best!
I 100% agree, I said some thing on the same lines the other day, why is he hanging the Carrot!!!, Marketing!!!
Your experience and feelings towards your treatment are very similar to mine, at about the same age I find my self in the jungles of Panama, except at that time I did have a few unhealthy habits, (smoking and drinking whiskey and eating a good amount of sweets and cakes and pasta and lots of salt) as a consequence I had a little tire around my waist but of strong body and imposed heavy physical demands on it and never having chest pains or being out of breath or having to quit.
After being in the jungle I returned to the capital to a hotel with a casino downstairs, it was inviting to some indulgences, good times with whiskey, cigars and being with the good ol boys.
One morning I wake up and when I am shaving I don’t feel quit right, I figured that after some heavy sweating in the tropical jungle I was dehydrated, no problem I said to myself, I got heavy on the bananas and more salt and fluids.
When shaving next morning my right hand feels a little clumsy, for three days I cant tell if it is my imagination or really there is something wrong until the third day when it became obvious to me that I was having a TIA, I went to the ER my BP was 220/120.
At the time I was taking Diovan but a little only when I remembered it, my BP was never that high. The doctor increased it to full strength, all my tests came normal, EKG, x rays, cat scan, ultra sound, lab work, no brain bleeding, no neurological damage, I stayed in the hospital for a couple of days, the BP did come down enough for me to come home, the cardiologist in Panama suspected my BP had something to do with salt but if I had to stay in the hospital I wanted to be at home.
Next Monday I started my doctor visit at a prestigious clinic, all the medical records I brought from Panama were discarded like toilet paper, the first day of doctor visit and lab work cost more than my 2 days of hospital stay and all those tests done by the cardiologist, neurologist, kidney doctor, etc.
Since my BP wouldn’t come down the doctor at the clinic kept adding more drugs to my list, I was on a beta blocker, Diovan, CCB, I cant remember the name now but a drug that tricks your brain into thinking you have too much adrenaline and therefore it shuts the production down, but my BP would not come down to 120/80, my doctor then concluded I had malignant BP, now that really worried the hell out of me, he told me to go to another clinic, I was going around thinking I had some mysterious malignant thing inside me causing unstoppable HBP, coupled with a cocktail of BP medicines causing all kinds of physical and mental side effects I felt like an schizophrenic dog hit by a car dog.
More tests done at another clinic, everything normal, more mystified looks of concern and more drugs added to my repertoire, as you can imagine by now I had an serious case of white coat syndrome, and mentally and physically crippled, it got to the point that I was scared to measure my own BP, I would listen to the little machine strain and I would think it was because my BP was getting so high it could not cope with it, get more tense and then quit and say error, wow I would think, now it really is got to be high, I would wonder what it was, 300 or more?
Now I would sit at home at night and wonder what my BP was now, then I could feel my BP climbing, worry some more, feel it more (BS you cant feel it) my pulse quicken, go and take a reading, the cuff tightening, then quit at 200 plus, now it really has to be high, now my heart is beating faster, I better go to the ER before I blow up, runt to it, it is 240, stay all night, more drugs, finally they brought it down. This episodes were becoming more frequent and worse.
Now like a dummy I changed dentists, my old dentist who I have seen for years never even asked about my BP, this new one asked if I had BP, I said yes, what do you take?. So and so and so, they roll this huge machine to take my BP, I am laying up side down at this stranger’s dental chair with the bright lights blinding my eyes with acute white coat syndrome with several assistants looking down on me like if I was some specimen from Mars, the machine humming and the doctor reading the numbers and nodding his head and saying this can’t be right, lets try again, crap I wonder what is it now, 500? I don’t know who is relaxed at the dentists chair, I would like to take his reading in front of a firing squad, what this idiot expects? He tells me he cant work on me, take care of my BP and when is good come back, on my way out they charged me 100$.
Now with uncontrolled BP and two more unwilling to work on me now I cant fix my broken tooth, more anxiety about my BP. Who, how, cant fix my tooth? By now I need a root canal, I find a woman doctor I explain the situation, she has such a relaxed attitude about, lets take your pressure, hmm, is a little high, you just a little nervous, relax, I will fix your tooth in a few minutes, next she announces done! All you need now is a cap, I leave all smiles, she is all smiles.
Later I had to use her services again, I find out she is also a pilot as a hobby, that explained to me her calm attitude.
Two years of doctors visits and endless hours of stressing over my BP I ended up and at the top clinic to find out what is causing my BP, to make my story short it was my salt levels being high.
Now days as you walk into a doctors office as they are asking your name they are putting a cuff in your arm, I resent that.
I quit smoking, I eliminated all the sugar junk, that caused my weight to drop and further reducing my BP, my calcium channel blocker is magnesium, hardly drink, avoid stress and got rid of all those awful medications and eat lots of fish.
Thank you for your story. I am hopeful that we will discuss some things that can help you even more as we go forward!
All the best!!
Just wanted to add the following comment, I never understood the rationale of adding a blood thinner or aspirin as a remedy for HBP, logic would say is nothing more that a risk for bleeding, specially for brain hemorrhage.
Now not too along ago in the news it was said the medical establishment was rethinking its recommendation on aspirin treatment.
Thanks Drew! I do not take aspirin every day. I do take a healthy dose of fish oil. We will talk about why in future posts.
All the best!
The purpose of the aspirin is to reduce the clotting ability of the blood. It is not a remedy for HBP and is not stated to be such. Instead it reduces the chances of a stroke. The vast majority of strokes are due to clots. People with HBP are at higher risk for stroke, especially if they are older, so the aspirin is an attempt to put the odds more in our favor.
Continued, you gotta be kidding!! When? If you were the least bit interested in me as a person and want to help, not just make a profit on me, you would have finished this story!!
Rich, please take a look at my in depth responses regarding comments like yours. The fact is, I am very “interested” in other persons, I have no wish to make a profit on you in any way, and it was the editor who chose to split the article up.
There is lots of specific information coming in future posts. I hope this information will be of assistance to you and people like you.
All the best!
This is a pre-requisite for doing business, period! What follows is…pay so much…to get the rest of the story.
Respectfully, the amount you will be paying is $0.00. I am not receiving any pay for trying to help people here, and I am selling nothing.
Please check back for future posts on specifics that can help control hypertension naturally, and all the best to you!
I’m shocked at to be cont’d….that’s stressful to those of us on these same medications for BP. I am in the process of cutting back on all Rx drugs after 2 stents 2 years ago. I’m taking charge with the Mediterrain diet, 2-3 days a week at the gym on cardio and yoga, awareness of stress in my life etc. We can learn from sharing experiences and that’s why I’m dissappointed with this site and the to be cont’d article.
Thanks, Jt. The many topics to be discussed can’t possibly all be treated in one short posting. Breaking up the article into two sections was done by the editor because it got too long already.
I applaud and agree with what you have done so far. There are lots more things that might help you, and hopefully we will find some in future posts.
The ideas I have to offer could fill a book on the subject. I am looking forward to people like you also sharing on those ideas, and hopefully many people can find some help in what will transpire here.
All the best to you!
It does not make any sense trying to relate a very useful information that intend to correct or safe a life, then just of a sudden without you conveying any message…but to be continued.
To be continued??? Are you kidding me?!? I would have hard time trusting this person or any person who plays such games. Shame!
Hi Singh, and everyone who was disappointed by lowerpressure.com’s decision to break the article into two parts, please go back to the top and read my response…..
All the best to you!!
It is a shame he wants to sell something. I have high blood pressure and I am trying too get it down. He just leave you waiting with to be continued. I need help I am on Lisinopril, now I hope it works. I have made some changes in my diet and taking the salt almost out. I have been under a lot of stress so I have also been working on that because I know that’s not helping. My blood pressure was 189/102 on 6/29/12 I have a doctors appointment in a week I hope it is down by then. If anyone know of a good home blood pressure monitor it would be appreciated if you would tell me where too get it!
Hi Rosa, and again, I don’t want to sell anything. In answer to your question, I like the monitors that will take 3 measurments and average them for you. This is referred to as MAM technology.
If you are going to take your own blood pressure with something other than the “average of 3 consecutive readings” type of monitor, they you may want to consider the Mayo protocol. After resting for about 10 minutes, take the first reading and write it down. Then stay rested for another 5 to 10 minutes, and take another reading. Do the same again 5 to 10 minutes later while remaining at rest. Throw the first reading out, and average the second two readings.
I hope this is of assistance to you, and all the best!
I do not see the big problem with “to be continued”. The man has a lot to say, it cannot all be posted at once. If someone has immediate needs for BP control, the web is filled with good information.
Thanks much, Scott. I am planning to take many issues on in depth……and as you say, that cannot be accomplished in one day.
All the best!
You said it took a long time to get off atenolol. Was a doctor helping you get off this medication?
Hi Glenda, and yes, a doctor did eventually help me to get off the medications. But as you may recall, I told my regular internist that I really couldn’t tolerate the beta blocker, so he then put me on an ace inhibitor and a diuretic. It was those medications that I had to ultimately get off of permanently.
My first effort was all on my own, after having read a protocol for weaning off of hypertension drugs in Dr. Sherry Clark’s book, “The High Blood Pressure Hoax”. In fact, I read her entire book among many others. She offered some very helpful ideas.
My regular doctor, the internist who had me do the treadmill and put me on the drugs, however, is not the one who helped me get off the medications. He was not supportive of my efforts to rely on such things as detoxification and other natural methods of controlling hypertension. He, in fact, was very opposed. He chewed me out so bad in the exam room one day that he gave me a rip-roaring case of white coat hypertension that I never have gotten over. So, I found another doctor to help me overcome my high blood pressure problems.
The most instrumental doctor for me in that regard was the one I found at Whitaker Wellness Clinic in Newport Beach, California. I give the Whitaker Clinic much credit for helping me accomplish my goals.
I had tried to wean off several times and could get down to miniscule dosages with good blood pressure readings. But when I stopped altogether, the high blood pressure came back. This is the rebound effect. I have my own suspicions about why this happens, but I don’t have the facts, so I really don’t push the issue. Let’s just say that the drug companies like to keep us on their drugs. It is that old “follow the money” explanation that keeps kickin’ around in my feeble brain! 🙂
I hated the beta blockers, by the way, and this particular drug is no longer all that favored in Britain. We will talk about that, among many other things as we go forward.
All the best!