Help for High Blood Pressure

[little monkey]

Dear Shelley,

I would like to ask your help for my dear, dear father who is suffering from high blood pressure.

I am currently in the process of reviewing his diet to see what I can do to help him out. It will have to be a gently gently approach, to begin with at least, so he feels comfortable with the changes.

His main symptoms are:
- high blood pressure controlled with drugs. It has been going for for about 10 years, but about 2-3 years ago he got very ill from it and was put on a lot of meds to control it. This is of most concern for his health, in terms of possible heart problems and risk of stroke.
- very, very aching legs (below the knee) at night that stop him sleeping. It is relieved by getting up and marching up and down (using the muscles to get the blood flowing). Also, if he lies down or even sits down for any length of time his feet start swelling up and becoming very painful. This is thought to be because his blood vessels aren't pumping the blood back very well on their own, and without the muscles working to help squeeze it back up, it starts pooling in the lower parts of the body.
- weakness and tiredness, also related to the medication he is on.

Other symptoms are:
- thin, papery skin that bruises easily
- hernia - operated on and now comfortable
- tummy pains at night - a trouble for decades, but now controlled by drugs
- blood tests showing liver stressed

He is on the following drugs
- levothyroxine - to help with hypothyroid
- a diuretic to reduce blood pressure
- something to reduce acid in the tummy, that now stops him getting tummy pain at night
- ACE inhibitor to reduce blood pressure
- small amounts aspirin to thin the blood
- a cholesterol reducing drug
- more aspirin if his aching legs get very painful

I realise all this sounds very serious, and it pains me so much to write it all out, I love him so much. I am working with him to do all we can to help him out. It is not feasible right now to stop the drugs, but I want to give him recommendations for his diet and supplements that will help him, and I hope slowly we might then be able to start reducing his drugs.

He is 76, a non-smoker and near tee-totaller all this life, is slim and exercised regularly. He now exercises moderately every other day, and walks a little every day.
He eats moderately and pretty well (traditional diet), the only problem is that his carbohydrates and sugar have been too high throughout his life.
He drinks a couple of cups of coffee (not too strong), and a few cups of weak tea per day. This perks him up enough to get on with his day.
His diet includes things like: banana, salad, eggs/sardines, homemade soup, a little bread and butter, fruit, veggies, fish, meat, and 1 slice bread/jam and a glass of milk before bed (a lifelong habit to settle his tummy). He has cake very infrequently as a treat.

I don't want to try and force him to do radical changes and make him miserable, but I think there are some simple and easy diet and supplement recommendations I could make to help make him more comfortable and keep him as healthy as possible.

Thanks so much Shelley, for any help and recommendations you can offer, it is very much appreciated.

L Monkey

[shelley]

He has to do what all of us have to do, so have him read this site. Best if he curtails his diet severely for awhile for best results ... what can I say? He's worse off than most of us here, you think he can get away wtih making two changes to his eating patterns and see real results? Might as well let him enjoy life to the fullest while he's here.

[eldoka]

Here my family tried these, and it helped.
Garlic, Onion, Cellery in your diet. Also black currant, and cocord grape
Also Omega 3 helps, and chromium supplement
Shelly what do you think?

[shelley]

could be great, but could interfere with the pharmeceuticals. You have to read up on everything you take and see what the core molecules are such as calcium, see which molecules, if any, mess with it.

[propaul]

Hi little monkey,

Re. your father with his high blood pressure.

I have suffered with diabetes, hypertension and emphysema for several years. I was on many medications, all helped but with bad side effects. I finally, after many consultations with MD, chiropractor, nutritionist and others, I came up with a plan which got modified many times until it worked. I described it in a short from on my blog titled “My Challenge” in the forum “Personal Online Journals”

If you want more details you can go to CureZone and read my treatment for diabetes type II. I have a link for you below.

It takes a lot of patience and perseverance to get past the bad effects of diabetes. Right now I am no taking any prescribed medication for my diabetes. I am stable at below 100 mg/ml glucose level. Just diet, exercise and supplements. I wish your dad a rapid recovery.

Propaul[url]

http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=23656