From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
To follow my blog about Heart Health, from last week, I’m eager to tell you what I know to be true about high blood pressure. The first sneak peak I’ll share is that the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association changed the BP targets in high-risk patients to even lower values; less than 130 over 80, now making half the American population hypertensive and ripe for treatment.
Right beside the pharmacy you’ll find a blood pressure machine kiosk so you can check your pressure and get scared enough to have your prescription filled.
Let’s have a look at the information most folks are given about their “high blood pressure”. Then, as always, I’ll share my simple solutions.
What Dr. Google or an MD might say about High Blood Pressure
Google AI immediately puts forward the shocking statistic that half of adults in the US are hypertensive with high blood pressure, and that ¾ of them do not have this life-threatening condition under control. Add the words “leading cause of death” to any health information and of course that’s stress-inducing.
According to current Dr. Google, Stage 2 hypertension occurs when the BP is 140/90. In Europe, 140/90 is considered to be Stage 1 hypertension with any number beneath being considered to be “high normal”. Now, Stage 2 hypertension is when medication is recommended, and even at Stage 1 (130/90) if the patient has other heart related risk factors, drugs are often suggested to get things under control.
NOTE: Blood pressure medications are often prescribed for life and patients are cautioned to never take themselves off their medication.
Symptoms associated with High Blood Pressure
According to Google AI, high blood pressure is often called “the silent killer” because there are no true symptoms. That means, people may feel symptom free but be walking around with dangerously high, life-threatening levels according to mainstream medicine. Some people (not all) with dangerously high BP can have the following symptoms:
- abnormal heart rhythm
- chest pain
- dizziness
- difficulty breathing
- nausea
- vomiting
- severe headaches
- blurry vision
- anxiety
- confusion
- buzzing in the ears
- nosebleeds
High blood pressure puts people at risk for heart attack and stroke and other heart diseases. Poor eating habits, smoking, alcohol and drug use, and being sedentary increase the risk of developing high blood pressure.
Dr. Google considers high blood pressure to be a lifelong condition… for which you’d be prescribed lifelong medication.
Dr. Google might suggest medical testing
The only test for elevated blood pressure is with a blood pressure cuff. It’s recommended that people have regular BP readings starting from age 18.
Dr. Google might … I mean, Will, suggest drugs
According to Google AI, blood pressure medication falls into 8 classes: diuretics, Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs), calcium channel blockers, and beta-blockers, alpha blockers, alpha-2 receptor antagonists and vasodilators, each working to lower blood pressure in different ways.
Many people are prescribed several of these medications at the same time.
Or, they could take picometer-sized, stabilized ions of magnesium.
What I say about high blood pressure or what I call “magnesium deficient heart disease”
Here’s a snippet from my book Heart Health that explains my perspective on high blood pressure.
The Blood Pressure Spiral
Here’s a very common story from clients and customers and which I hear even more with this recent edict about lowering the criteria for diagnosing high blood pressure.
Jack goes to his doctor for his annual checkup, but he’s been under tremendous stress. The doctor finds that his blood pressure is a little high (because stress causes magnesium deficiency and tightens blood vessels). It’s been high in the past, so the doctor says it’s time to go on a diuretic drug. When he comes back next month, Jack’s pressure is higher. The doctor doesn’t know why, but it’s because Jack’s magnesium is driven even lower by the diuretic.
His doctor is convinced he’s “caught” Jack’s blood pressure just in time and has to get more aggressive. The doctor puts Jack on two more antihypertensive drugs. A month later, seemingly out of the blue (but because of lower levels of magnesium), his cholesterol levels are elevated and so is his blood sugar. The doctor, according to “recipe medicine” puts Jack on a statin drug and a diabetic drug. Both those drugs are known to drain the body of more magnesium.
And so the story goes, as more and more magnesium is lost, the symptoms of magnesium deficiency escalate into full blown heart failure. But the worst failure is doctors not understanding that they are causing magnesium deficiency heart disease. And that’s why doctors don’t think heart disease can be cured – because with their drugs, they expose patients to heart failure!
- Magnesium deficiency causes a dysregulation of the sodium-magnesium exchange, resulting in higher intracellular sodium and thus higher blood pressure.
- A relatively low magnesium level creates an intracellular imbalance between calcium and magnesium, which results in increased spasms in the smooth muscle of arteries and therefore increased blood pressure.
- Magnesium deficiency causes insulin resistance, which in turn causes hyperinsulinemia, resulting in hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia.
Mechanism Of High BP Due to Magnesium Deficiency
All doctors have to do is read the literature about magnesium deficiency. A review paper by Fox, et al, in 2001 described the reasons why magnesium deficiency is mistaken for hypertension.
- First, magnesium deficiency causes a dysregulation of the sodium-magnesium exchange, resulting in higher intracellular sodium and thus higher blood pressure.
- Second, a relatively low magnesium level creates an intracellular imbalance between calcium and magnesium, which results in increased spasms in the smooth muscle of arteries and therefore increased blood pressure.
- Third, magnesium deficiency causes insulin resistance, which in turn causes hyperinsulinemia, resulting in hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia.
Supplements for High Blood Pressure:
I’m reiterating my insights about supplementation from my previous blog about Heart Health for you here.
Vitamin C and Magnesium
Specifically, for heart health and high blood pressure, vitamin C improves vascular elasticity because of it helps produce collagen, a major component of blood vessels. Weak or fragile blood vessels can lead to bruising or in the extreme case, aneurysm. Weak or fragile blood vessels can develop tears that are then patched up with cholesterol. Excess calcium, riding around in the blood stream because there isn’t enough magnesium to keep calcium soluble and focused on the bones and teeth, will precipitate onto these cholesterol patches and cause plaque. I recommend food based Vitamin C as well as ascorbic acid and picometer magnesium.
Potassium
Potassium is cousin to magnesium, and they work together to help mutual absorption and function. We are eating less vegetables and fruits of late because of the popularity of the Keto, Paleo, and Carnivore diets, so we need to take picometer potassium.
Omega-3 fatty acids
Omega-3 fatty acids help make our cell membranes into the impervious coatings that they should be. Omega-6 vegetable oils undo all that leaving us with leaky cells. We work with an Omega-3 algae that also contains vitamins A and E, which are heart nutrients.
Methylated B Vitamins
Vitamins, B12, B6, Folate are methylated and break down and eliminate homocysteine, which is detrimental to heart health.
I know you’re reading this blog because you’re already tapped into the kind of information I share about illness and disease and their underlying explanations, solutions and interventions. And I know you’re likely frustrated because you’re in possession of this information that could help someone you care about. Please forward this blog to someone you care about who has questions and concerns about their blood pressure.
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future.
