Okay, so I have high bp & Type 2 Diabetes and had a mild heart attack back in 2003, at the age of 37, also with a second blockage found in 09. It's been hard lately to keep BP under control. I have had two TIA's. I am on three meds Carvedilol, Lisinopril, and HCTZ. I am trying really hard to reduce my salt intake, but does that really help and if so how much does it help? I am trying to lose weight also and am seriously considering Gastric Bypass because I am only in early 40's and I am really getting scared of a possible serious stroke.I am 5'4, 240lbs. I listed my meds above..Carvedilol 12.5mg twice daily, Lisinopril 40mg twice daily, and HCTZ 25mg once daily.
lola - Hello there
ReplyDeleteWell, considering to reduce or stop consuming Salt in your meals it is a very good decision. It will help with your High blood pressure condition in addition to the medications treatment.
Regarding the Gastric bypass, you should be assessed by a Doctor and making sure that your Cardiologist knows about your thoughts. Not every one qualifies for Gastric Bypass, especially if you have a Pre-condition like Hypertension, Diabetes type II , previous TIA and MI's ( Heart Attacks).
It's unknown to me how good you are doing with your diet and and how healthy you are eating. Consult with your Cardiologist, let her/him know how you are considering the Gastric Surgery if you think you can not loose weight for whatever reasons.
This is my best advice to you and best luck. Green Vegetables, Removal of salt in your meals, replacing fish in your meals instead of meat is the best you can do at this point if you can not exercise.
Best Luck to you my friend
McGee - Believe it or not, part of your problem is the salt reduction. Contrary to what the medical profession says about salt, this is totally not true. Salt doesn't cause high blood pressure, combined with water, it helps to regulate the blood pressure.
ReplyDeleteWe were all endowed with common sense - it's the thing that keeps most people from walking in front of a train. The medical profession would have you abandon common sense in favor of their explanations - which, most of the time are completely wrong.
Using common sense, consider this - if salt was the cause of high blood pressure, why is it that even after having you eliminate salt from your diet, they STILL prescribe medication for you for the rest of your life? Common sense dictates that if salt causes the problem then simply by cutting back, it would fix the problem (remove the cause and the problem corrects itself - it works with every other form of physics, so why doesn't it work here?).
The reason it doesn't work here is because salt isn't the culprit.
Because "excess" salt has been found in hypertensive patients, the medical profession claims that this is the cause of the high blood pressure. The problem with this is that there are two ways of looking at this picture, and the medical profession chooses the one that's more profitable.
The "excess" salt isn't "excess" in the sense that the person has consumed too much (resulting in the needs to cut back) - it's "excess" in the sense that there isn't enough water to maintain the proper water/salt ratio in the blood.
The blood is made up of 94% water and salt.
When you get dehydrated and the cells become water deficient, 8% of the water in the blood and 26% of the water in the area surrounding the cells is borrowed to inject into the cells. This injection process uses pressure that is reflected on the blood pressure gauge. But the cells use fresh water and this water is combined with salt. Therefore, a hormone called vasopressin is used to filter the water that is used in the cells. Filtering the water leaves behind the salt concentration that is seen as "excess".
Thus, salt isn't the culprit in high blood pressure. It's the result of the water being removed to inject into dehydrated cells. The rise in blood pressure comes from the process needed to inject the water into the cells. And this step wouldn't be needed if the water levels in the body were correct.
Therefore, the underlying cause of high blood pressure is dehydration - you aren't drinking enough water, my friend - and by cutting back on salt, what water you are drinking is washing out more salt and other minerals (like potassium that is needed for blood pressure regulation, also).
You should add a little salt and drink more water (but never mix the salt with the water).
It sounds like you're drinking soft drinks and other water substitutes - leave those alone. They are big contributors to dehydration. Stick with plain water instead (even if it tastes nasty).
Click below to learn how to use water and salt properly to get your house back in order.