By Todd Lee M.D.

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Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the measurement of the internal pressure inside your blood vessels (arteries, veins, capillaries, arterioles, etc.) If the blood pressure is high it can cause damage to the inside of the arteries resulting in plaques of cholesterol and damage to the kidney, which will subsequently make the blood pressure worse.

HTN or Hypertension (high blood pressure) is one of the most common diseases in the world, and 95% of HTN is from unknown causes...or is it? I’m going to quote this journal because the concept is so ridiculous that I can’t help it:

 

“Although no direct cause has identified itself, there are many factors such as sedentary lifestyle, stress, visceral obesity, potassium deficiency (hypokalemia),[8] obesity,[9] (more than 85% of cases occur in those with a body mass index greater than 25),[10] salt (sodium) sensitivity,[11] alcohol intake,[12] and vitamin D deficiency that increase the risk of developing HTN.[13] Risk also increases with aging,[14] some inherited genetic mutations,[15] and having a family history of HTN.[16] An elevation of renin, an enzyme secreted by the kidney, is another risk factor,[17] as is sympathetic nervous system overactivity.[18] Insulin resistance, which is a component of syndrome X, or the metabolic syndrome, is also thought to contribute to HTN”

So nothing causes it, but here are a ton of causes. ok??

By not expecting someone to take responsibility in their disease, and implying it’s random chance or “God’s Will” doctors have created a ignorant/dependant culture that believes the only treatment is a pharmaceutical drug. HTN is not caused by a HTN pill deficiency. But if we know what actually DID cause the HTN then we can treat the real disease, the one that gave the person HTN, whatever it may be. In almost all cases the disease is avoiding direct confrontation of the truth;  Being that most people in 2015 are willfully ignorant and lazy. Strong words, but they have tremendous merit!

 

I’ll address each cause and how it IS CORRECTABLE

 

1) Sedentary Lifestyle: you're lazy and out of shape so your body isn't that healthy.

Treatment: Stop being lazy. Go to the gym, Lift weights like bodybuilder, not anyone else. If anyone says “moderation is the key” then punch them in the junk.

 

2) Stress: Adrenaline is released in stress as well as noradrenaline. Noradrenaline prefers to bind to alpha 1 adrenergic receptors and this causes vasoconstriction. By decreasing the diameter of your blood vessels you increase the pressure. Think of putting a thumb over the opening of a hose. You see in your mind the water spraying out not pouring out right? Thats a good example of stress and blood flow/pressure.  

Treatment: Don’t be so stressed. Cut worthless people out of your life, then all the needy ones next. Then don't do things which will stress you out. Someone wants a favor and you don't want to do it? Say no. Get 8 hours of sleep.

 

3) Visceral Obesity: This is fat around your organs that will kill you.  

  Treatment: Lose fat

 

4) Hypokalemia: this is greek for low potassium. Potassium is an intracellular electrolyte, if this is low the sodium in the blood draws the water out of the cell and thus the person has fluid overload and increased blood pressure.

Treatment: Use Sea Salt, it has less sodium and has potassium along with all intracellular electrolytes.

.

5) Obesity: More than 85% of HTN cases occur in people with BMI over 25.  WOW. So there is no cause, but almost everyone who has HTN have high body fat in common. WOW. How can this not be clear?

Treatment: Lose fat

 

6) Sodium imbalance: Table salt and sodium suck all the water out of your cells (Muscles) and drags it to your vascular system driving up your blood pressure. Most  “physicians” recommend a “low sodium” diet, but this is garbage as well, the kidneys just keep what sodium you do consume and these low sodium diets don't work well.

Treatment: Sea Salt is a perfect balance of minerals and electrolytes for you, so use it and drink lots of water. if someone doesn't like it give them a Columbian neck tie.

 

7) Alcohol intake: There are a few biochemical mechanisms that cause this but in the end it’s pretty obvious, alcohol is worthless.

Treatment: Go to AA if your drinking is causing health problems, by definition if you're having consequences from drinking then you're an alcoholic.  

 

8) Vitamin D: Off the top of my head I would attribute this to either low testosterone from Vitamin D3 levels being to low. or to the function of vitamin D3 on the kidney and the kidney is involved in renin production which modulates blood pressure.

Treatment: 2000 iu Vitamin D3 every day

 

9) Aging: as you age things start to not work as well due to cells dying off to prevent them from converting to cancer cells. Over decades the tissues are brittle and the glands release less hormones.  in this case the vessels become brittle and weak, and the heart has to work faster and harder thus the blood pressure goes up.

Treatment: Implementing all the proper lifestyle changes to slow the process of aging. IE diet, supplements, training etc..

 

10) Metabolic syndrome, syndrome X, Diabetes type 2: these are sugar coated words which means that the person has so much bodyfat that it’s killing them. Every metabolic process in the body is clogged with bacon grease.

Treatment: Lose about 30 lbs of fat and your body will become insulin sensitive again, thus you will heal the damage you did to yourself.

 

Herbal remedies

 

Garlic:

Has been shown in clinical trials to decrease elevated systolic blood pressure. Not diastolic and not in healthy people. It does this through the action of Nitric Oxide It also increases Vitamin C and E levels in the blood providing indirect antioxidant activity. Additionally, it helps to treat Hyperlipidemia, (fancy pants for too much fat in the blood)

 

Annona Muricata:

This is a Caribbean herb which has shown an ability to lower blood pressure by decreasing peripheral vascular resistance.

 

Celery:

Chinese medicine has used Celery in treating HTN for millennia.  By mixing it with honey and having a tea of it 3 times a day for 1 week 14 of 16 test subjects experienced a decrease in Blood Pressure.  

 

Guan Mae Tong:

Helps with edema, rheumatic pain and hypertension.

 

Breadfruit:

Has been shown to decrease the size of of rat aortic rings by 20% when chemically stimulated to self constric. Implies that it would loosen already tight valves in humans increasing cardiac output and decreasing total peripheral resistance.  

 

Avena Sativa:

Is a form of fiber. Fiber, specifically soluble fiber, has been found to alleviate blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure issues.

 

Blond Psyllium:

15 g a day will lower systolic BP by 8 mmHg and diastolic by 2 mmHg.

 

Tea:

Black tea offers no benefits, but green tea and oolong tea have blood pressure lowering effects.

 

Lasaf:

Offers a dose dependent reduction in blood pressure.

 

Ajwain:

At 10 mg/Kg offers both blood pressure lowering effects and can slow the heart rate.  

 

Chaksu:

At 1-10 mg/Kg offers blood pressure lowering effects, at 10-30 also lowers heart rate.

 

Coffee Weed:

Offers BP lowering effects through modulation of Calcium channels which are important for muscular contraction including the smooth muscles of the blood vessels.

 

Black Bean:

Decreases systolic and diastolic BP with a dose dependant efficacy.  Doses range from 1-100 mg/Kg for this effect.

 

Karpuravalli:

This relaxes smooth muscle but inconsistently in different tissue. In the vascular system it works to lower BP.

 

Virginia Dayflower:

Has been shown to reduce the tension in guinea pig aortic rings by 20%, thus likely lowers blood pressure.  

 

Chinese Hawthorn:

A more complicated herb, it can lower blood pressure through NO pathways dilating vessels and has antioxidant properties to clean plaques off of arterial walls. Works in as little as 3 hours.

 

Swamp Lily:

Has the ability to increase respiration and as a secondary effect lowers blood pressure in asthmatics in particular.

 

Giant Dodder:

Decreases blood pressure and heart rate in a dose dependant fashion.

 

Carrot:

Has been used to decrease blood pressure due to its inhibitory effects on calcium channels.

 

Osbeck:

Operates through blockade of the alpha-1 receptor to decrease chronotropy and inotropy of cardiac tissue. This means it stops adrenaline from signaling the heart to beat hard and fast, indirectly lowering blood pressure.

 

Tilco:

Reduces body temperature, reduces blood pressure, and functions as a diuretic.

 

Pima Cotton:

Reduces blood pressure up to 35%.

 

Roselle:

Was equivalent to Captopril for blood pressure lowering effects.

 

French Lavender:

Works through acetylcholine activity to lower blood pressure.

 

Stone Breaker:

Is a Diuretic which reduces blood pressure.

 

Black Mangrove:

An indian herb used for curing skin disorders and treating snake bites, it also has blood pressure lowering properties through tannins in the leaves.

 

Tomato:

Has some mild antihypertensive properties through the action of Lycopene.  Lycopene is much more effective at lowering elevated systolic BP values when used in combination with standard western medicine.

 

Murungai:

Provides a very short decrease in blood pressure.

 

Cork Tree:

The latex of the leaf extract is a vasorelaxant and can cause a decrease in blood pressure. The effects are dose dependant and quite profound.

 

Basil:

Can lower blood pressure for about 2 minutes by altering calcium channels.

 

Harmal:

Dose dependant anti-hypertensive properties.

 

Nella Nelli:

Causes a dose dependant decrease in blood pressure in this one case more diastolic than systolic.

 

Maritime Pine:

An angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, this has a mild effect on lowering blood pressure.  

 

Kudzu:

This does many things and I included it in my Valhalla labs products Fenris’ Fury and Thor’s Hammer along with ToddLeeMD.com Pre Workout because of its natural growth hormone boosting effects. In addition to many other things it lowers blood pressure.

 

Pomegranate:

This became popular because of a study which showed a 36% decrease in Angiotensin converting enzyme activity and thus lowers blood pressure. However additional experiments in more controlled settings could not reproduce this effect.

 

Radish:

Has a dose dependant effect that lowers blood pressure through muscarinic receptor mechanisms.  

 

Reserpine:

An Indian herb used for snake bites and insanity, this was a classic example of an herb being used as a prototype for a medication. A side effects was a reduction in blood pressure and has been a standard for hypertension treatment for 60 years.

 

Scytopetalaceae:

Lowers blood pressure though calcium channel blockade arguably as well if not better than the prescription drug.

 

Sesame:

Decreases blood pressure and acts as an anti oxidant.

 

Sticky Nightshade:

Decreases blood pressure in hypertensive rats and in sedated rats but not in normal awake rats. effects are dose dependant.  

 

Chocolate:

Consuming cocoa may lower blood pressure by 5 mmhg. Many people think this means chocolate is good for you. Thats retarded.  The tiny amount of vasodilation it provides does not justify the sugar and fat in chocolate. Now adding 500mg of Cocoa to your coffee is a reasonable choice. This works through a Nitric Oxide mechanism for vasodilation.

 

Wheat Bran:

6g a day of wheat bran can produce a very mild decrease in blood pressure. Is it worth exposing yourself to Guten? Maybe. Gluten is coming back in fashion.

 

Cat’s Claw:

Used to decrease blood pressure by decreasing intracellular Calcium.

 

Mistletoe:

Either works through Nitric Oxide or an adrenal hormone mechanisms. But not a muscarinic one.

 

Ginseng:

this is more of a category than one herb, but it lowers blood pressure through activity on serotonin receptors.

 

There are more herbs out there which can help with hypertension but this list is a great place to start.  

 

Disclaimer

Nothing in this article or on this site should be considered medical advice or as an endorsement to violate any law of the country in which you reside.  The information given is for fun and entertainment purposes only.  All claims are 100% dependent upon proper diet and exercise.  Please consult a medical practitioner prior to any diet and exercise program.

References

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3210006/