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Way back when I was fighting my high blood pressure, my doctor, my wife, my friends, and even the next door neighbor, sang me the same tune on having to go on blood pressure medications.<\/p>\nWay back when I was fighting my high blood pressure, my doctor, my wife, my friends, and even the next door neighbor, sang me the same tune on having to go on blood pressure medications.<\/p>\n
They wished me well. They didn\u2019t want to lose me. But as a natural health researcher (and one stubborn son of a gun), I decided not to give in till I\u2019d done my homework thoroughly.<\/p>\n
What I discovered about high blood pressure medications was so terrifying that I became even more determined to pursue a natural approach. <\/p>\n
Not only were the side effects scarier than a terror movie, many studies have found the medications useless at best to prevent diseases like stroke and heart attack. They may even contribute to the risk.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, there is no reason to believe that blood pressure can\u2019t be completely managed naturally without side effects. Scientists have yet to contribute a rise in blood pressure of more than 5-6 points to genetic causes. And that\u2019s in rare cases. <\/p>\n
Even if high blood pressure quote \u201cruns in your family\u201d it\u2019s more likely due to family lifestyle than to genetic causes. I was, for example, raised on a sheep farm and never saw fresh salad on the dinner table till I was a grown up. We worked hard day and night when needed and never complained. Even if my father had mostly turned to other business and the sheep farm was only a hobby for me, we kept in many ways the same lifestyle and mentality as had been for generations.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure you can find many similarities to your parent\u2019s and grandparent\u2019s lifestyles, even if the world has been completely turned upside down in the last fifty years.<\/p>\n
But the fact was that once I had been diagnosed with high blood pressure, I had made several drastic lifestyle changes to lower it. And although it had helped some, it didn\u2019t do enough to get it under control- far from it. In fact, I often said I\u2019d tried \u2018everything\u2019 and nothing worked.<\/p>\n
So why was I still resisting blood pressure medications?<\/strong><\/p>\n First of all, I\u2019m not telling you not to take medications. I\u2019m not a doctor. And you should never change your medication dose without consulting your doctor. The withdrawal symptoms of going cold turkey can be deadly. I\u2019m only sharing what I consider the truth for me.<\/p>\n The real deal-breaker for me was reading up on the side effects of blood pressure medications. I\u2019m not going to count them all (that would take pages). But some of the most common range from fatigue to risk of heart attack (wasn\u2019t that what they were supposed to prevent?). In the long haul they can even raise blood pressure, which means you have to take more blood pressure medications to suppress it again.<\/p>\n The main reason, however, for why I resisted blood pressure medications with such a determination was quite personal. As I mentioned before, I was raised on a farm. And I was raised with the old fashioned thinking that every man and woman should stand on his or her own feet. We should provide for ourselves with honest, hard-earned money. And we should not be dependent on anyone else. I just hated the idea of putting my life in the hands of my doctor and the pharmaceutical companies. No matter how kind-hearted my doctor really was. I just couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n I think that since you\u2019re reading this article and seeking natural methods to improve your health, you probably have a somewhat similar mentality.<\/p>\n The fact is that once you\u2019re on blood pressure medications, most people are on them for life. I later learned that it\u2019s quite possible to get off BP medications and use natural methods instead. But back then my doctor put it to me bluntly that once I took the first pill, there would be a pill (or two or three) a day for the rest of my life.<\/p>\n What\u2019s even worse is the mentality that we all have the tendency to develop once we\u2019ve entered the medical realm. We begin to trust and rely on the medications and not take as much self-responsibility. It\u2019s even been proven that people who take supplements tend to eat less healthy food because they trust the supplements will take care of all their nutritional needs (which they don\u2019t).<\/p>\n But through my writings and communications I\u2019ve also learned how many people are out there who are as terrified of this disease as I was. After all, high blood pressure has been determined to be the number 1 preventable cause of death in the world, according to the World Health Organization. Nothing else even comes close. And none of us are ready to die yet, are we?<\/p>\n And as with my example, people often claim they tried everything they could to lower their blood pressure naturally. I may sometimes sound harsh when I say \u201cno you haven\u2019t.\u201d We can always do more.<\/p>\n This website and the whole Internet are loaded with all kinds of free information on lifestyle changes that have been proven to work. I often suggest to people who say they\u2019ve tried everything that they make drastic changes for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. Maybe try to be a vegan for two weeks or go strictly on the cave man diet. Stick to it for some time because often things take time to work. If that doesn\u2019t help, try something else for a couple of weeks.<\/p>\n