LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Hypertension

ARE HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS KILLING US?

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HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE DRUGS KILLING US?? I hear time and time again an almost identical phrase from patients when I ask about why they mark high blood pressure on their intake form…”It is under control with medication.”  I cringe every time I hear it.  Would you fall into this category?  If so, you need to understand this.

We’ve seen research linking the use of beta blockers to diabetes and stroke (on 95,000 patients!).  So now we see a study of combination of diuretics plus a calcium channel blockers (a common combination) have DOUBLE the risk of a heart attack.  Keep in mind that this is a population already at risk.  Doubling that is a scary thing.  Still think your blood pressure is “under control??”  Bottom line–lifestyle is the ONLY answer that won’t kill you first.  Exercise, high phytonutrient / low calorie diet, stress management..

Read entire article here

DOES YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE DRUG CAUSE CANCER?

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As if we didn’t have enough problems with the toxic world we live in. There are a very large number of chemicals that we are unconsciously exposed to. Many of these are well documented to cause problems. Many cause cancer. But what about the drugs we knowingly take in? Maybe we assume they are safe and won’t cause cancer.

 But what if they do? I know there are times that I sound like a broken record. It sometimes seems that I hammer on pharmaceutical approaches to disease and how damaging it can be. My goal, however, is to enlighten my patients to just how dangerous and wrong a society based almost exclusively on drugs to fix problems is. At the same time offer solutions to the problems for which my patients are taking the drugs.

All too often patients don’t want to make significant lifestyle changes. I think this is because they mistakenly believe that the drug they are going to take is going to actually help them prevent the chronic disease they are concerned about (i.e. statins for preventing a heart attack or stroke). This is rarely the case. Rather, many of our drugs do little to change the long term outcome; worse, they increase the risk for what we are trying to prevent or increase the risk of another condition.

In this case, several drugs used for management of blood pressure (angiotensin II receptor blockers, diuretics) increased the risk of cancer in general. Considering that another popular class of drugs for high blood pressure, the beta-blockers, increase the risk of stroke and diabetes, it doesn’t leave many drug options to control blood pressure that are safe. Thiazide diuretics have also been shown to increase the risk of stroke.

Luckily, many studies have found natural ways to lower your blood pressure.  These include:

  • Berry intake has been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Cocoa and tea have been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Biofeedback using the Resperate has been shown to lower blood pressure
  • Switching from daiy to non-GMO, organic soy milk

Of course, these are in addition to an overall anti-diabetic lifestyle that avoids refined carbs, omega-6 fatty acids and cuts overall calories while increasing activity levels.

BUT I DON’T HAVE DIABETES, RIGHT?

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I know I’ve covered this ad nauseam in previous posts, but it’s important enough to stress again.  It doesn’t matter if you have or have not been diagnosed with diabetes.  A large chunk of the US population (likely >60%) are prediabetic or diabetic.  So what’s the difference between the two?

Nothing as far as your blood vessels (and that means your heart and brain) are concerned.  I wish we’d get rid of the term “diabetes” and just tell patients if they are headed towards better or worse glucose control.  That’s all that matters. 

I would have to say that approximately ZERO percent of my patients who are prediabetic truly understand just how dangerous this physiological state is.  Some may never become diabetic because they will die of a heart attack or stroke first.  The others will acquire the diabetic label and then die of a heart attack or stroke (unless they are the lucky few that get kidney failure or Alzheimer’s instead).

Stop thinking you’re ok just because your blood sugar has not passed that magical number.  If you have abdominal obesity, elevated cholesterol or triglycerides, decreased HDL, high blood pressure, PCOS, menstrual irregularity, sleep apnea, elevated liver enzymes….the list can be quite long…you’re likely prediabetic and at the same risk as a diabetic.

We really, really, really need to bring the general public up to speed on just how dangerous the prediabetic state.  Mainstream medicine has failed miserably in this task.  This is also the optimal time to intervene with healthier lifestyles.  Of course, the REAL optimal time is before you ever have any problems so that your never develop the problems…

Read more…

SHOULD I TAKE ASPIRIN FOR MY HEART?

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There are a few things in society today that can be repeated with an almost mantra like quality when it comes to preventing heart attacks.  The first is that we need to lower our intake of sodium.  The curtains on this recommendation have recently been pulled back to reveal just how weak of a recommendation this is.  However, not nearly as weak as the other strong recommendation.

For many years now Bayer and mainstream medicine have led you to believe that aspirin is good for our heart and will protect against heart attacks.  While this may be true, the data is so weak as to be pointless.

There is, of course, concern over the dangers of aspirin.  These principally focus on bleeding events such as ulcers and strokes.  Rarely is it brought up that aspirin is suspected to increase the risk of pancreatic cancer as well.

So, as with any intervention, we need to balance the benefits with the risks.  Take broccoli for example.  It can lower your risk of any number of chronic diseases, and the strength of prevention of heart attacks is probably on par with aspirin.  But the side effects!  You know–the dangerous ones associated with broccoli intake like…I’m sure some will come to me in a minute….side effects of broccoli or on the tip of my tongue…Well, I’m sure I read about them all the time………

The point is that lifestyle changes have protective effects that far, far outweigh those of standard recommendations like avoiding salt and taking aspirin.  But we seem to be so darn soft on these recommendations that I don’t think society really takes them seriously.

Getting back to the current study.  Just how effective is aspirin at protecting a first heart attack?  Are you ready for this?

Treat 1,000 people for 5 years.  Do the math–this is an awful lot of money for Bayer…  Ok, so after these 5 years we’ve probably prevented hundreds of heart attacks, right?

Wrong.  2.9 people will have been protected.  Another 2.8 will experience major bleeds as a result of taking the aspirin.  These numbers flat out suck and again highlight our society’s morbid obsession with picking out the really bad interventions like lowering salt intake, taking an aspirin and taking statins and putting them up on a pedestal rivaling Mount Olympus.  All the while burying the real recommendations somewhere in the realm of Jules Verne

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BLOOD PRESSURE USING MEDICATIONS – IS LOWER WORSE?

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It is, of course, no big shocker that I am going to say that lifestyle is the only answer to safely lower blood pressure.  It should also be well known that the class of drugs known as beta blockers actually increase the risk of stroke and diabetes, and do not change the risk of dying.
 
The approach of blood pressure control with medication is lower is better.  But, as will anything using medication, when we begin to mess with our physiology, there is always a price to be paid.  This particular study looked at the benefits of lowering blood pressure below 130 systolic.  If you believe in mainstream medicine and that life is made better through chemistry, than this sounds like a reasonable goal.
 
However, while the risk of stroke was lowered by aggressive blood pressure lowering below 130, the risk of dangerous side effects went up 40%.  There was also no other benefit to the patient other than lowered stroke risk (in other words–a single intervention targeting only a single outcome-stroke, with absolutely no benefit to any other aspect of our health).
 
Contrast this to lowering blood pressure with lifestyle changes.  First, lifestyle will never bring you to a dangerously low blood pressure.  Dangerous side effects?  Only if you consider feeling better and looking better “dangerous.”  Single outcomes?  Lifestyle changes will cut across every other disease state in addition to lowering your risk of stroke.
 
Most case of high blood pressure stem from being prediabetic.  Manage the interplay between insulin and your cells with the right choices and you are well on your way to lowering your blood pressure.  That means exercise, more fruits / veggies, cut back on calories, increase intake of omega 3 fats while avoiding hydrogenated and reducing omega 6 and doing your best to avoid the toxic chemicals of the world we live in.
 

ARE YOU TAKING THIS BLOOD PRESSURE MED?

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I remember being at a child’s birthday party and speaking with an attendee.  Turns out this person was a pharmacist teaching cardiovascular drugs to pharmacy students.  One could assume that all they are teaching to new students is evidence based and devoid of dogma.

I asked her if beta blockers were still being used given their high risk of creating diabetes (about 22%) and stroke (about 12%).  The pharmacist was unaware of any such association.  Considering that the study I was referring to was in a cardiology journal and involved looking at 95,000 patients, I was sure it was a familiar one.  I was apparently wrong.  Despite the pharmacist / instructor in cardiology drugs’ lack of knowledge in this area, there is no longer any doubt that the beta blocker class of drugs used to treat hypertension creates diabetes and stroke (heck–isn’t that what we’re trying to prevent!!??).  Think of the “ol” drugs like atenolol or propranolol.

But dont’ worry if you’re still on this class of drugs.  This article finds that giving an ACE-inhbitor (think “il” like lisinoprol or captopril) almost counteracts the negative effects of the beta blockers.  What magic!  So, the bottom line is that, if you are written a prescription for a beta blocker that will increase your risk of diabetes and stroke, make sure you get your doctor to write that second prescription to counteract the side effects of the first.

Or……..you could cut out enriched wheat flour, hydrogenated oils and exercise more….

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0002914911010277