High Blood Pressure

IMMUNITION™ Report©

Volume IV, No. 2 By Frank M. Jordan

Read an important Health Treatment Notice about personal health issues.

High Blood Pressure –

You Are the Problem and the Solution!

What is High Blood Pressure?

Blood is carried from the heart to all parts of your body in vessels called arteries. Blood pressure is the force of the blood pushing against the walls of the arteries.  When you have high blood pressure, or hypertension, the force of blood against your artery walls is too high for vessel wall strength.

High blood pressure can damage your arteries, heart, and kidneys, and lead to heart and circulatory health problems including atherosclerosis, aneurysms (small bulges) that form in blood vessels and strokes.

Level Systolic Diastolic
High blood pressure is: 140 or above 90 or above
Pre-hypertension is: 120 to 139 80 to 89
Normal adult (age 18 or older) blood pressure is: 119 or below 79 or below

53% of deaths from all causes are in part due to high blood pressure. High blood pressure is in reality a disease of the blood vessels and since blood vessels supply oxygen and nutrition to every organ of the body, damage to blood vessels can eventually lead to damage of any organ.

Atherosclerosis, sometimes called “hardening of the arteries,” occurs when fat (cholesterol) and calcium build up in the inner lining of the arteries, forming a substance called plaque. Over time, the fat and calcium buildup narrows the artery and blocks blood flow through the artery.

When atherosclerosis affects the arteries that supply blood to the heart, the atherosclerosis can restrict blood flow to the heart muscle, causing angina (heart pain), arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats) and other circulatory problems.

Plaque may damage the artery lining, causing blood clots that can block blood flow, which in turn may cause a heart attack and damage to the heart muscle. Atherosclerosis in the heart  or coronary arteries is called coronary artery disease.

When atherosclerosis affects the arteries that supply blood to the brain, it may cause a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or a major stroke.

Atherosclerosis can affect arteries in other parts of the body, such as the pelvis and legs, causing poor circulation, slower healing of skin injuries, and erection problems

High blood pressure, or hypertension, is called a “silent killer” because it does not cause symptoms unless severely high and, without a person’s awareness, causes major organ damage if not treated successfully.

Your blood pressure measurement consists of two numbers: systolic and diastolic.  The systolic measurement is the pressure of blood against your artery walls when the heart has just finished pumping (contracting). Systolic is the first or top number of a blood pressure reading.

The diastolic measurement is the pressure of blood against your artery walls between heartbeats, when the heart is relaxed, resting and filling with blood. Diastolic is the second or bottom number in a blood pressure reading.

If a person’s systolic pressure is 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) and the diastolic pressure is 80 mm Hg, blood pressure is recorded as 120/80 and read as “120 over 80.”

Millions of people whose blood pressure was previously considered borderline high (130 to 139 / 85 to 89 mm Hg) or normal (120 / 80 mm Hg), now fall into the “prehypertension” range, based on new, more aggressive high blood pressure guidelines from the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.

Recent studies show the risk of heart disease and stroke increases at lower blood pressures than previously realized; consequently, health experts lowered the acceptable normal range to promote more aggressive and earlier treatment of high blood pressure.  Prevention is still the key to good health.

How the Arteries, Heart and Hormones Regulate Blood Pressure

An artery’s ability to change size is the first mechanism for blood pressure control. Arteries can widen or narrow in response to various signals from the body. Your body uses hormones—chemical messengers that command your body to carry out certain functions—to activate the relaxation or tightening of your arteries.

Since blood pressure is the amount of force your blood exerts against artery walls, narrowing of your arteries increases your blood pressure because your blood has less room, resulting in the blood pressing harder against artery walls. By contrast, widening of the arteries creates more room for blood flow; therefore, the blood flow presses against the arteries with less force and blood pressure reading falls.

The circulatory system is similar to a water pumping system, where increasing the amount of water that the pump sends out increases the pressure in the system overall. The heart can vary the amount of blood pumped to some extent based on the body’s needs at a given time.

For example, when you are under physical or emotional stress, your heart will begin to beat more forcefully and rapidly. The changes in heart beat insure the body receives sufficient blood to satisfy increased nutritional and energy demands.

In a crisis or duress, the body requires extra blood volume, which delivers oxygen and essential nutrients to better equip the body to cope with stress.  At such times, the body may release adrenaline, a hormone that helps regulate and at times stimulate blood pressure.

The hormone adrenaline signals the heart to beat more rapidly and forcefully while also signaling the arteries to narrow and lose some flexibility.  Constant stress results in constant narrowing, loss of flexibility and eventually high blood pressure.  The body tries, but is often overwhelmed by these and other factors causing high blood pressure with attendant problems.

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

The exact cause of high blood pressure is often difficult to  determine. But several factors are known to increase blood pressure, including obesity, heavy alcohol use, family history of high blood pressure, high salt intake and aging. A sedentary lifestyle, high stress, low mineral intake including inadequate potassium and magnesium, low calcium intake, and resistance to insulin may also cause your blood pressure to rise. Chronic or acute pain also causes high blood pressure.

What are High Blood Pressure Symptoms?

As previously stated, often there are no warning signs or symptoms of high blood pressure, and you will not know you have it until a health professional takes a blood pressure reading or you do so personally with a “cuff” system.

If you develop severe high blood pressure, you may have headaches, visual disturbances, nausea, and vomiting.  Untreated extreme hypertension can rapidly damage the brain, heart, eyes, or kidneys, cause strokes or aneurysms and is a medical emergency that requires immediate hospitalization.

How is Hypertension Usually Treated?

If your blood pressure is in the prehypertension range (120–139 / 80–89 mm Hg), your doctor will usually recommend lifestyle modifications, including excess weight loss, regular exercise, alcohol limits, cutting back on salt and trans fatty acids, smoking cessation and implementation of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. The DASH diet is a low-fat, low-saturated-fat diet emphasizing the eating of more fruits, more vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods such as natural yogurt.

If you have high blood pressure (140–159 / 90–99 mm Hg), but do not have any organ damage or other major risk factors for heart, your doctor will recommend lifestyle changes and probably medications.  Natural aids and supplements are too often omitted while being important to resolution.

Most people with high blood pressure are given two or more medications, including a diuretic to lower their blood pressure.

Diuretics unfortunately also deplete needed potassium and magnesium, two minerals that often are already in low supply and often a cause of high blood pressure!  If prescribed any diuretic, be sure to supplement with a diet and circulatory formula that includes at minimum 600 mg of magnesium and  2,000 mg of potassium.

What about Needed Test and Natural Aids?

A frightening fact is the standard of practice guidelines do not require a physician to check your red blood cell (RBC) potassium or RBC magnesium levels before putting you on a diuretic, to see if these mineral deficiencies are causing your high blood pressure in the first place.

You must obtain an RBC Mineral and a Cardiovascular Risk Panel, both available from MetaMetrix (800-221-4640). The latter includes the amino acid homocysteine levels and other markers for early heart attack risk factors.  The “Serum” blood test usually used to measure magnesium and potassium is not sensitive enough to be accurate and will produce incorrect levels instead of actual Magnesium and Potassium levels. Intake Magnesium of 400-600 mg and 2-3,000 mg of Potassium daily, available in food consumption or as supplements.

L-Arginine is a simple amino acid needed for healthy blood vessel linings that nutritionally helps in the slowing of plaque growth while relaxing the blood pressure muscles as a vasodilator and blood thinner (do not use if on blood thinners such as Warfarin).  Two to four L-Arginine capsules of 600-700 mg twice a day are suggested with lower amounts after blood pressure reduction to normal levels.

CoEnzyme Q10 of 150-250 mg a day provides a potent antioxidant essential for heart muscle wellness, cell metabolism, plaque removal and proper oxygenation of the blood.  Add 500 to 1500 mg of Vitamin C and 400 IU of Vitamin E (eliminate Vitamin E if on prescription blood thinners) to protect the endothelial lining of the blood vessels from spasm and coagulation.

Add Cod Liver Oil of 1 teaspoon a day as a source for omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, or use a high quality supplement containing a proper fatty acid blend that is mercury free.  Phosphatidyl choline is still another inexpensive but very beneficial fatty acid for high blood pressure resolution with 2-3 gel caps daily suggested.  Vessel wall strengthening amino acids Lysine and Proline are also beneficial nutritionally. Cook with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, unfiltered, and use it on your salads (no corn oil!).  Use Stevia if possible for sweetening needs.

Add Silicon for protecting against artery plaque build up.  Add the clot dissolving enzyme bromelain with the natural immune booster MG Glucan (3-10 mg daily) to also attack plaque build up and to remove the plaque from the body through the lymphatic system. Seek formulas that combine various needed nutrients to both save money and time when confronting 50 bottles on your table top!

Aged garlic of 600-800 mg daily and a B complex vitamin with B6 of 5 mg and B12 of 100 mcg are suggested. Folate as folic acid of 200 mcg daily and lipoic acid of 30 mg are also beneficial. A good multiple vitamin with minerals and enzymes is needed daily.  Detoxify for heavy metals with an enzyme cleanse and use a Far Infrared sauna to remove toxins difficult to otherwise extract from the body. Don’t forget to control stress and emotions as blood vessels can burst with excessive suppressed anger and emotional stress.  Repressed anger and hostility produce inflammatory mediators that damage the walls of arteries and blood vessels.

Spirituality is demonstrated to produce calm and lack of stress, due to belief in hope and an eternal life free of health challenges.

Dr. Sherry Rogers MD in her book, “The High Blood Pressure Hoax” presents an enlightening expose of present treatment methods, combined with a guidebook for high blood pressure control (800-846-6687), including eating four stalks of celery daily!

High blood pressure does not have to be epidemic and you can begin today to be the solution – not the problem in your life!

About the Author:

Frank M. Jordan is a nutritional researcher with U.S. Patents issued or pending and a recognized expert in health and nutrition subjects, with focus on the immune response.

Reprinted by permission of Immunition Reports

The statements in this Report have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease.

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