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Tom Spradley's avatar

I wish my doc would provide more support on lifestyle changes before prescribing BP meds. Yes, she encourages a "better" diet, exercise, and stress reduction. But I had to do all the research on what that entails and try to separate EBM from myth and supplement marketing. Combined, a plant-based diet, 30 minutes of endurance training such as rapid walking, isometric handgrip training, some form of meditation such as using a resperate device to slow breathing rate and lengthen exhalation, and taking a tablespoon of ground flax or chia seed daily has lowered my BP from 155/40 to 125/25. Why did I have to wait until I had HBP to learn this on my own? Now at age 87 and in better health than my young doctor, is it necessary to take meds to get down to 120/20 ?

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H. Robert Silverstein, MD's avatar

I recently posted this on ACP's site: it is still relevant to today's discussion:

April 6, 2023 at 12:58 pm

ACP does a wonderful job of presenting including diagrams, documentation, and his own thoughts. Several years ago I discussed my Journal of Clinical Hypertension 2008;10: 885 published article on the benefits of using the Omron wrist blood pressure cuff. ACP took me to task as did the authors of the original article that my letter to the editor was in response to. Seems that ACP has come around to my position now with regarding to the benefit of wrist blood pressure cuffs. Verification is essential in any case. For about $40.00 one can obtain such a cuff on the Internet. As I said in my published article, I disagree with the concept of sitting quietly for several minutes before measuring your blood pressure: that has nothing to do with the realities of normal life. I say take your BP anytime of the day. The goal is 110-115/60-70 or even a bit lower, and if on treatment, definitely not above 125/80. Bear in mind that at the 95% level, hypertension is curable. In no sense of hostility, but as an invitation to the freedom of health, the health care provider must find out what the patient is doing to make their high blood pressure occur. Mosty it is diet, salt, and animal protein. Personally, while I believe almost anything except dairy products is acceptable once in a while, being 90+% ideally organic unprocessed whole foods vegan is the right direction to go for cure of HBP as well as resulting in the simultaneous prevention of multiple diseases. Recall I just said 90%, I did not say 100%: 90% = animal protein, such as wild caught fish or cage free organic eggs or a bison hamburger or steak at about a total of 5 times in 2 weeks if one is lean and trim which is difficult to obtain. Replace salt by using substitutes or the juice of half a lemon plus half a lime at the table to give that perfect salt flavor. All of this is an invitation to consider and medication, etc. therapy is available if one is not completely successful in the above goals. There is much more to say.

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