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| Linda Hegstrand MD |
| Complete Wellness Ctr 2426 Burton Street SE Suite 3 Grand Rapids,MI 49546 616.464.0470 DrLindaCWC@gmail.com |
Blue Heron Academy |
Optimizing Blood Pressure Naturally
Linda K. Hegstrand, MD, PhD
The statistics are grim - 50 million Americans have high blood pressure/hypertension and 90% are headed in that direction.
That's one out of every three adults - and a third of those people are not aware they have a blood pressure problem because they "feel OK." Having high blood pressure is like having a lit fuse on a bomb that is waiting to go off. The New England Journal of Medicine, August 14, 2001, points out that "75% of all cases of high blood pressure are going untreated.." Untreated hypertension triples a person's risk of a heart attack and increases the danger of a stroke by 700%. Despite the new drugs, the death rate from hypertension has risen 36% in the past ten years.
Since blood pressure drugs only work for 27% of the people who take them, and nearly 75% of people quit their medications because of side effects, high blood pressure and heart disease together have become the biggest part of the healthcare problem in the US. As the numbers climb, so do our healthcare costs. But the cost that hurts the most is one half of the people we know and love will be affected by the problems stemming from high blood pressure and heart disease. Although those numbers are grim, read on to learn about optimizing blood pressure naturally, whether it is high or low.
Cardiovascular disease has more than 20 causative factors that can simply be labeled as a person's "diminishing adaptive capacity." Adaptive capacity is the ability of a person's body to respond appropriately to his/her environment.
Rising blood pressure is a warning light that shows a person's ability to adapt to the environment is faulty. The "check engine" light appears on the car's dashboard to help us avoid costly repairs. We heed those indicators! With that same urgency, we should listen to our body's cries for help.
Low blood pressure also may require attention. A person with low blood pressure is commonly congratulated because he is so far from the dangers of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease or, in other words, from suffering a blowout. Yet low blood pressure is not a panacea. It is similar to driving your car with the tire pressure so low that a person is running on the rims.
Blood pressure, an adaptive capacity, can be altered in either direction - higher or lower, hypertension or hypotension.
This raises the question: Why is the blood pressure high or low?
Answer: A person is losing adaptive capacity.
How to gain adaptive capacity and strength can be determined by analyzing a person's metabolic balances and determining what lifestyle changes, dietary changes, and nutritional supplements are needed to increase adaptive capacity. People are biochemically unique, therefore, an analytical assessment is essential.
Might the problem be blood that has lost its negative charge and is less fluid? Is there a chloride problem? ...kidney dysfunction? ...heart issue? ...chronic inflammation? ... or a combination?
These "check engine" lights or cries for help need to be analyzed from a broad perspective that gives balancing resources to systems inclined to do the right thing but in need of attention and nourishment to allow a wobbling system to re-balance. Most of the testing and analyses at the Complete Wellness Center are done in the Center.
While prescription drugs can cause a person to pass the blood pressure cuff test, the omega 6 fatty acids from polyunsaturated vegetable oils promote the chronic inflammation resulting in the body losing adaptive capacity. It is proper nutrition that enables the body to heal itself. Prescription drugs such as beta blockers and calcium channel blockers actually weaken the heart while lowering blood pressure by decreasing the pumping ability of the heart and making the heart beat more slowly and with less force. Legs feel weak and heavy. Dizziness may occur upon rising since the heart cannot pump the blood up to the brain on demand. These are some of the side effects that cause 75% of American to stop taking their medications. These medications are diminishing the body's adaptive capacity. What is actually needed is an increase in adaptive strength.
If the problem is overwhelmed kidneys, water consumption is the first remedy to add, while giving a soothing assistance to the kidneys, strengthening them. Specific amino acids, such as taurine, can be likened to cleaning the kidneys the same as changing a vacuum cleaner bag. The "carpet" of blood in the body is easier to clean after the kidneys' vacuum cleaner bag is changed. Arginine can increase vascular flexibility, making the heart wave flow more easily through the body.
The Complete Wellness Center is an educational and healing center helping people understand what choices will strengthen their adaptive capacity and improve their well being. Such choices will reduce or eliminate health challenges including hypertension or hypotension without prescription drugs.