Readers Write:
From AS re two of my recent essays: “Why I Don’t Trust Statins” (in the Feb. 28 issue) and “What They Don’t Tell Us About Blood Pressure Meds” (in the April 4 issue)
Mark, you are so right about the medical field shrinking the qualification for high BP. In the 70s, when I was working in the ER, if someone’s BP was 140/90, the doctor would tell them to change their diet or lose some weight. They didn’t put them on BP meds.
Now, if the diastolic is in the high 120s or low 130s, boom, they prescribe blood pressure medicine.
In the emergency room one day, I took the resting blood pressure of a man in his late 30s. It was 80/50. Alarmed, I told the doctor. He asked me to see if the patient was a long-distance runner. He was. I told the doctor. He said that his resting pulse was that low because his blood pressure when he was running was probably down to 120/80.
“I guess his body thinks running 10 miles a day is his normal,” I said.
I thought that was interesting.
Since we’re on the subject…
I’ve been on BP meds for a long time. Gradually, over the last seven years, I lost about the same amount of weight as you did – 35 pounds. I suppose I had the same question you had when you decided to go off your BP meds. I asked my doctor if I could go off the BP meds. He said, “Why do you think it’s 120/80?”
Oh, and here’s another question. How do they treat stiff arteries or other causes of BP?
My Answer: You posed two questions that I’m sure anyone on BP meds might have right now if they have lost the kind of weight we are talking about. First, should they stay on the medication now that their pressure is in the healthy range? And second, is there anything that can be done once your arteries are damaged – when they are “stiff,” as doctors say?
Your doctor’s answer – “Why do you think it’s 120/80?” – seems logical. I got the same answer from my doctor after he put me on statins and my heart-related blood metrics moved into the healthy range.
But it’s not logical if he hasn’t taken in all the relevant inputs, such as losing a ton of weight and training your heart and lungs with intensive cardiovascular exercise.
I made the decision to wean myself off the meds (first the BP medication and then the statins), contradicting my doctor’s very conventional advice. I didn’t make that decision irrationally. I’ve been reading about natural ways to treat high blood pressure and bad blood metrics for 30 years, and I was well acquainted with studies that concluded it was possible to get back to good cardiovascular health through diet, weight loss, and exercise. (There are also natural supplements that are recommended, but I didn’t take any of those.)
The studies I remember seeing concluded that it is perfectly possible to lower systolic pressure by 5, 10, and sometimes even 20 points. That’s what happened to me.
I’m glad I disregarded my doctor’s advice (carefully), because now I don’t have to worry about the serious side effects which are, admittedly, rare. More importantly, I don’t have to endure the most common side effects, which are feeling physically sluggish and brain-fogged.
I’m not going to give you medical advice here – and I’m sure you wouldn’t take it, anyway, since I’m an amateur health expert at best. But if you want to see if you could do what I did, you’ll have to find a doctor who is a true expert in this area of medicine and also inclined to prefer natural cures to drugs.
And if you do find one like that, he’ll probably suggest that you do what I did: Wean yourself gradually off the drugs by lowering the dosage incrementally over time, checking with him regularly to be safe.
As for stiff arteries, the usual story is that high blood pressure damages arteries over time. Many doctors take that as gospel. But it’s a chicken-and-egg problem. There’s ample evidence that the stiffness often comes first – from eating badly and not exercising and becoming obese. (In other words, from the usual mix of inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress.)
If you take that view, as I do, you see the higher blood pressure as a perfectly sensible way for the body to respond to the stiffness of the arteries. (The problem with drug therapy is that there is little to no evidence that drugs restore arterial flexibility. What they do is lower the blood pressure number, which may be helpful in the short term, but doesn’t extend life because they don’t seem to fix the underlying mechanics.)
The body must get blood into the capillaries one way or another. If they are partially blocked, the heart must push harder. Thus, to answer the question I think you were asking: What can be done to repair artery damage naturally, rather than simply thinning the blood?
The answers I’ve seen from my side of the chicken-and-egg question are:
1. Keeping a healthy weight
2. Regular aerobic exercise
3. Regular strength exercise
4. Better blood sugar control
5. More whole foods
6. Fewer ultra-processed foods
7. An adequate consumption of potassium, omega-3s, and leafy greens
Remember, the goal isn’t to get a good reading in the doctor’s office. It’s to have the best cardiovascular health you can manage with the least downside over time.
