Blood pressure lowering supplements

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  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    I took my blood pressure at the store today and it was 149/80 with a heart rate of 88. :frown: Not good. When I was young I always had very good numbers so I never paid much attention. Now I need to start tracking my blood pressure. While Googling for natural ways to lower blood pressure, I read about blood pressure lowering supplements sold at health food stores and on-line. None of the medical sites mentioned anything about the supplements, good or bad. So dear MFP experts, any advice, opinions or experiences that you can share? I read the label of one supplement sold at GNC and it had some pretty strange ingredients. Thanks!

    A couple of years ago, I was on the maximum dose two blood pressure meds (Micardis and Norvasc) and my B.P. still was not well-controlled. My doc said that I would soon have to go to THREE! That's when I got mad at feeling so crummy (had bad side-effects from both meds) and decided to do something about it with diet. I also had a problem with high blood sugar and I knew I was a prime candidate for Type II diabetes because I had had gestational diabetes and my brother is Type II. AND I was obese with gouty arthritis. I learned that eliminating sugar could get at all three conditions. Sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose and it is fructose that seems to provoke "metabolic syndrome" (high fasting glucose, high blood pressure and central obesity) in addition to causing high uric acid levels (high uric acid causes gout). So the first thing I did was to eliminate sugar and go lower carb. My weight started to come down and so did my blood pressure. When I started exercising more, it came down enough to eliminate the Micardis (I had more side-effects from it) and then I was able to taper off the Norvasc as well. I have been totally off both meds for about seven months and I have lost about 52 pounds and about 8 inches off my waist. I bought my own B.P. monitor and take my B.P. every morning. One thing I notice is that when my magnesium levels are okay, my blood pressure stays down. When they are low, my B.P. stays higher. Magnesium is essential for relaxing the walls of the arteries. I take two Epsom salts baths per week (Epsom salts are pure magnesium sulphate). When you are deficient in magnesium (and 85% of us are) you absorb the magnesium right through your skin and into your bloodstream. The sulphate is good for us too as we tend to be deficient in sulfur as well.

    I also take Co-enzyme Q10. Magnesium is also essential for the proper storage of potassium (adequate potassium levels lower B.P.) You should get your doc to take your B.P. by the auscultation method (considered by many to be the most accurate--depending on who's taking it). You can also wear a 24-hour blood pressure monitor to get a better picture of whether you really do have high B.P. or not. I'd go see my doc.
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
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    I never log water, so no reason to go back. I do drink water, but I don't measure or log.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
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    I never log water, so no reason to go back. I do drink water, but I don't measure or log.

    I don't log water anymore either but I probably drink double what I need a day. Are you sure you are having enough?
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
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    I took my blood pressure at the store today and it was 149/80 with a heart rate of 88. :frown: Not good. When I was young I always had very good numbers so I never paid much attention. Now I need to start tracking my blood pressure. While Googling for natural ways to lower blood pressure, I read about blood pressure lowering supplements sold at health food stores and on-line. None of the medical sites mentioned anything about the supplements, good or bad. So dear MFP experts, any advice, opinions or experiences that you can share? I read the label of one supplement sold at GNC and it had some pretty strange ingredients. Thanks!

    A couple of years ago, I was on the maximum dose two blood pressure meds (Micardis and Norvasc) and my B.P. still was not well-controlled. My doc said that I would soon have to go to THREE! That's when I got mad at feeling so crummy (had bad side-effects from both meds) and decided to do something about it with diet. I also had a problem with high blood sugar and I knew I was a prime candidate for Type II diabetes because I had had gestational diabetes and my brother is Type II. AND I was obese with gouty arthritis. I learned that eliminating sugar could get at all three conditions. Sugar (sucrose) is 50% fructose and it is fructose that seems to provoke "metabolic syndrome" (high fasting glucose, high blood pressure and central obesity) in addition to causing high uric acid levels (high uric acid causes gout). So the first thing I did was to eliminate sugar and go lower carb. My weight started to come down and so did my blood pressure. When I started exercising more, it came down enough to eliminate the Micardis (I had more side-effects from it) and then I was able to taper off the Norvasc as well. I have been totally off both meds for about seven months and I have lost about 52 pounds and about 8 inches off my waist. I bought my own B.P. monitor and take my B.P. every morning. One thing I notice is that when my magnesium levels are okay, my blood pressure stays down. When they are low, my B.P. stays higher. Magnesium is essential for relaxing the walls of the arteries. I take two Epsom salts baths per week (Epsom salts are pure magnesium sulphate). When you are deficient in magnesium (and 85% of us are) you absorb the magnesium right through your skin and into your bloodstream. The sulphate is good for us too as we tend to be deficient in sulfur as well.

    I must remember that about the epsom salts, I have some and it would be good for my aching muscles from weight training too as well as magnesium for the arteries.
  • SanteMulberry
    SanteMulberry Posts: 3,202 Member
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    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    I also read that listening to harp music for 20 minutes a day lowers B.P. (seriously).
  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
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    I've been on a low-dose BP med for about 5 years, since I was 39. My mom has two heart conditions, her brother died of a sudden heart attack, her other brother had bi-pass surgery. My BP is only slightly high, but my doc didn't want me to mess around. I agreed. With the med, my BP is quite normal and healthy. I've had not one single side effect from it in all these years.

    I am hoping, though, that losing weight will help me keep it low without meds. Just for the principle of the thing.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    Not true for everyone.
  • _noob_
    _noob_ Posts: 3,306 Member
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    Losing weight and cardio are probably 1 and 2.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    Not true for everyone.

    elaborate....

    People that have essential hypertension

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100/DSECTION=causes
  • ambrosij
    ambrosij Posts: 317 Member
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    WOAH I cant believe nobody has mentioned this...COQ10 is a supplement that can really help with blood pressure. Here is a link: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/coenzyme-q10-000295.htm

    COQ10 has actually been shown to lower blood pressure...amongst other things, in several clinical trials. Additionally, COQ10 is often given to heart attack patients following a heart attack and those who take it the three days following the heart attack have been shown to have a better recovery. I wont get into the science of COQ10 other than to say that it is a natural enzyme produced in our bodies...and that the amount of COQ10 our bodies produce has been drastically reduced by the modern medicines we take, as well as the food we eat. In fact, many medicines that make you sleepy do so because of the reduced COQ10 levels. I would of course recommend a high quality COQ10....HSN offers a great COQ10 by Andrew Lessman...the same one I take and the same one I have given to my Dad...who thinks vitamins and supplements are hocus pocus...yet he still seems to take the COQ10 religiously so Im guessing he feels different if he is not taking it. Anyhow...just my two cents.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
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    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    Not true for everyone.

    elaborate....

    People that have essential hypertension

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100/DSECTION=causes

    You're misunderstanding. Yes people can have hypertension at any weight. If you're obese with hypertension, or at a normal weight with hypertension, if you lose weight, hypersion tension will improve.

    That article is of a static variable, "person x has hyper tension" says nothing about weight loss.

    Weightloss wouldn't help someone with essential hypertension was my point. Not saying weightloss doesn't help those whom don't have essential hypertension, maybe it does, along with diet and exercise changes.
  • ambrosij
    ambrosij Posts: 317 Member
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    Hypertension can be 100% hereditary and stress related and have absolutely nothing to do with fitness level. I know friends that have a body fat percentage that cant really go any lower and they have hypertension...stress has MUCH to do with it. Losing weight is not always the answer.
  • ambrosij
    ambrosij Posts: 317 Member
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    Interesting question, if the hypertension was stress related...industry standards state that an air traffic controller is generally the most stressing job over a sustained period of time...then gaining pounds could make it worse if it were the only variable...but if the person were put on a Caribbean island somewhere, sipping mai tais all day and gained 50lbs in the process...there is a very good chance it could go down...but now we are talking symantics.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
    Options
    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    Not true for everyone.

    elaborate....

    People that have essential hypertension

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100/DSECTION=causes

    You're misunderstanding. Yes people can have hypertension at any weight. If you're obese with hypertension, or at a normal weight with hypertension, if you lose weight, hypersion tension will improve.

    That article is of a static variable, "person x has hyper tension" says nothing about weight loss.

    Weightloss wouldn't help someone with essential hypertension was my point. Not saying weightloss doesn't help those whom don't have essential hypertension, maybe it does, along with diet and exercise changes.

    A study done on essential hypertension:
    "Average blood pressure decrease obtained from the methodologically strongest studies was -21 mmHg and -13 mmHg, for systolic and diastolic measures, respectively. This magnitude change suggests that weight loss may be a clinically and statistically significant treatment."

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1649894/

    Well weight loss did zero for my hypertension last summer. So it doesn't work for everyone.

    I'm a bit confused by this article...by definition...essential hypertension means there is no observable cause for one's blood pressure to be high...therefore, if weightloss helped people lower their numbers...it would mean their weight was a factor...meaning it's not truely essential hypertension.
  • redraidergirl2009
    redraidergirl2009 Posts: 2,560 Member
    Options
    IF you lose weight your blood pressure will improve. All try some relaxation time like meditation for 20mins a day. Diet, 1/3 lean cuts of protein 2/3 vegetables with some healthy fats.

    Not true for everyone.

    elaborate....

    People that have essential hypertension

    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-blood-pressure/DS00100/DSECTION=causes

    You're misunderstanding. Yes people can have hypertension at any weight. If you're obese with hypertension, or at a normal weight with hypertension, if you lose weight, hypersion tension will improve.

    That article is of a static variable, "person x has hyper tension" says nothing about weight loss.

    Weightloss wouldn't help someone with essential hypertension was my point. Not saying weightloss doesn't help those whom don't have essential hypertension, maybe it does, along with diet and exercise changes.

    A study done on essential hypertension:
    "Average blood pressure decrease obtained from the methodologically strongest studies was -21 mmHg and -13 mmHg, for systolic and diastolic measures, respectively. This magnitude change suggests that weight loss may be a clinically and statistically significant treatment."

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1649894/

    Well weight loss did zero for my hypertension last summer. So it doesn't work for everyone.

    I'm a bit confused by this article...by definition...essential hypertension means there is no observable cause for one's blood pressure to be high...therefore, if weightloss helped people lower their numbers...it would mean their weight was a factor...meaning it's not truely essential hypertension.

    How much weight did you lose?

    20lbs so I was back within an acceptable weight range for my height at the time. Blood pressure remained the same.
  • sherrirb
    sherrirb Posts: 1,714 Member
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    The thing about doctors is that they insist on putting everyone on blood pressure medication (supplement). I saw what it did to my mother, I want to avoid the same path.

    No idea what the situation was with your mother but there are dozens of medications available for hypertension. If one doesn't work or causes you adverse side effects, you contact your doctor and ask him/her to switch you to something else. There is no reason to stay on a medication that causes you problems with the side effects.

    Hypertension is NOT something to mess around with.
  • JennyLisT
    JennyLisT Posts: 402 Member
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    I agree that you should speak to your doctor. I had a high blood pressure reading, so my doctor actually had me wear a 24-hour monitor. Turns out it was just that reading, but at least I know that.
  • DOit207
    DOit207 Posts: 7
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    I hear ya'! My mother and grandmother had normal blood pressures until in their fifties. My blood pressure has fluctuated.....I, too, did not want to start on the pills, so I talked to my Dr. (and he agreed) to give me time to get back into the gym (regularly) and to try to drop some weight. It seemed to have helped. I do have to tell you however, both my mother and grandmother suffered massive heart attacks. My grandmother's was fatal at age 77 and my mother survived hers at age 70. So, don't mess around. See your Dr. and tell him about your pill fears, together you should be able to work something out while under his/her supervision. And it is worth it to purchase your own blood pressure monitor so you can check each arm at different times of the day to see if there are any patterns. The ones in the store are not always accurate. Good Luck!
  • EvetteM41
    EvetteM41 Posts: 76 Member
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    I have High Blood Pressure. Not horribly high now . Because I have been taking meds for it. At one point it was 156/90 something. I am only 40. Last times I checked it was 130/80 and the time before was 124/72. I don't know much about the pills your talking about. But my advice is talk to your doctor and find the best solution for you. Losing weight & exercise does help.But it may not cure all.. I know someone stick thin and she still has high BP. But if there is a chance to make it better may as well right?
  • ecka723
    ecka723 Posts: 148 Member
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    The thing about doctors is that they insist on putting everyone on blood pressure medication (supplement). I saw what it did to my mother, I want to avoid the same path. I am exercising and am in healthy weight range. I did have high sodium yesterday and today, low the rest of the week. Are the machines in stores really in accurate? It seemed as good as I have seen in a hospital, but I am no expert on calibration. What's to calibrate? I like the cinnamon idea. That's do-able for me. One item I saw on the GNC label was grape seed extract, I make my own grape juice, with seeds and all. Perhaps that can help? Cinnamon coated, roasted grape seeds, anyone? LOL! Thanks for your help, everyone.:flowerforyou: So many things passed off/sold as healthy are not healthy at all. It's hard to sort out the truth. :sad:

    Any doctor worth his salt will listen to a patient first, and then will only put on medication if they have several high readings. If you are concerned, I would definitely speak to your doctor, and discuss with them about ways to lower your blood pressure.

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