Although I am doing lots of research on how to lower my BP. My wife says I should go on medication.

We need a medical degree to understand your post. LOL.

BTW, are you a doctor?

for last 10 years I have had the coronary artery diseases.

I have been on ACE inhibitors for longer than I can remember, initially on Lisinopril, and now on Ramipril. So would you say that my GP has got this wrong?

About six months ago, the cardiologist did put me on a calcium channel blocker, Diltiazem, but that was to easy the angina pain. I have been on a complete plant based diet, many have been free of any angina symptoms, so I am wondering if I need Diltiazem any more?

many thanks for your help

Sean

most probably it is true that the cause may be genetic, but they say that with changes in lifestyle, we can combat this. I wonder if that's true?

I see that you are already doing meditation. I hear that, that's the best way to reduce the stress related BP. I wonder why it hasn't worked for you?

The causes of Hypertension are complex, some are still not fully understood. However, what is understood, untreated there is the very real potential for developing life threating complications. Current medical recommendations are that regardless of age or cause, treatment and risk reduction should start as early as possible to minimise the potential for damage.

Doctors only prescribe medications as a first approach if it is warranted by the patients diagnosis, this will include their existing medical history, age, sex, ethnicity, blood test results and other factors. Further, blood pressure medications are always prescribed in conjunction with recommendations to make changes in ones lifestyle in an attempt to manage hypertension with as few medications as possible.

This was not Ecpool's first post about his blood pressure, he has known he has had a problem for the past 5 years. He has already attempted unsuccessfully to reduce it through natural means; to the contrary it has increased over the last year. If changes in lifestyle were going to enable adequate management, then 5 years is more than long enough.

More importantly, He does not mention anything about his diet. Just because you are not over-weight does not mean you are on a good diet. How much salt and carbo intake will have a big effect. 

My point was that GP's always seem to opt for medication first, rather than to suggest a life-style solution. I know a number of people who have been diagnosed with hypertension and given a load of medication to take and all of them say that their GP's never suggested alternatives to them. Instead, put them straight onto medication and kept increasing the dosage until it had an effect. 

The side-effects of BP medication are very serious, and should not be taken lightly as they will lead to damage to other bodily functions. 

No one is suggesting not treating Hypertension, everyone knows that. 

But people are increasingly saying is that doctor isn't always right and the medical profession should be offer alternatives first and foremost before drugs. 

Alternatives include, Yoga, meditation, Acupuncture etc as well all the previous things I mentioned.

 You will know the GP offer a drug solution to the symptoms of Hypertension and never a cure. Even when given drugs, the high BP still persist and often require another cocktail of drugs to try and bring it under control again.

50% of the adult population is on BP medication,  Why?..They can’t all be genetic problems.

Why you mention genetic problems I do not know, I have never suggested genetic problems lie at the heart of all blood pressure problems.

Current figures for Americans with hypertension sits at 29% of the population, 50% of those (14.5%) are on medication to treat it. A significant number are overweight, and or suffer from poor diet. According to the American heart foundation more than 30% of Americans have a BMI around 30, no prizes for seeing the correlation.

The figure listing 50% of adults on medications includes temporary prescriptions. The figures include prescriptions for everything from aspirin and tylenol, to antivirals, antibiotics, antidepressants, food supplements, medical aids including items such as compression bandages, walking sticks, dressings, and so on. The only prescriptions excluded from those figures are contraceptives and products to help stop smoking.

There are no figures for alternative therapy suggested by doctors, which would suggest a narrow minded thinking by doctors about how to tackle BP problems.

I haven’t seen the other posts by Ecpools so can't comment on those. 

Despite some patients assuming the contrary, clinicians weigh the potential risks of a medication against the risks of leaving a condition untreated before dispensing any medication. However, where side effects do cause problems or become unpleasant, unless the prognosis without a particular medication is likely to be fatal they are changed for alternates, where alternates exist. Even the minority of doctors that are more interested in money than their patients welfare understand the benefit of keeping a patient alive.

Let me throw out some figures to put things in perspective: 7 of every 10 first time heart attack patients suffers from hypertension. 8 in 10 people experiencing stroke for the first time have hypertension. 7 of every 10 chronic heart disease patients suffer from hypertension. It is also a significant factor in chronic Kidney disease, and certain types of blindness.

WHO figures estimate every year world wide 7.5 million deaths are due to hypertension, and it is on the increase. Depending where you live in the world deaths due to hypertension can exceed 30% of all yearly fatalities.

On the other side of the coin, the number of patients who suffer serious longterm side effects from hypertension medication is miniscule by comparison. There are undoubtedly some dirty drugs such as amlodipine, however, even with these medications, thier efficacy far out weighs the risks associated with prescribing it.

In my case, making positive changes in my lifestyle helped reduce my hypertension, I was actually lower than ideal at this point, I was taken off amlodipine completely and this lead to a rise in blood pressure again, but not so high I needed the same medications at the previous doses. I now take Ramipril and Bendroflumethiazde for my hypertension.

Unfortunately, while poor lifestyle choices can contribute to hypertension, changing ones lifestyle is often not enough to return blood pressure levels back to normal, and the need for a maintenance level of medication remains.

That is simply not true and for you to say that, really worries me. Where did you get that statistic from ???

No one has ever said that hypertentsion does not cause health issues so I don't see the point of highlighting the sysptoms. My point is that medication is 

That is simply not true and for you to say that, really worries me. Where did you get that statistic from ???

No one has ever said that hypertension does not cause health issues so I don't see the point of you highlighting the symptoms. My point is that medication is not the only route that can be taken to alleviate hypertension, in the same way the medication does NOT cure hypertension.  Which is a point you seem to have missed again.

In regards to the few doctors that you say are more interested in keeping a patient alive, I would say that those doctors also know that another patient will come along straight after one dies. So there is no shortage of patients.

Unless you are a practicing medical professional, advising someone with high blood pressure to seek alternates therapies without medical support is not only wrong, it is reckless, dangerous, even potentially fatal.

Current medical advice is to begin treatment as soon as possible to avoid organ damage. No medication has such a high incidence of serious side effects that it is more dangerous than leaving hypertension untreated. I would suggest, that if you have a verified source that says otherwise you provide it.

For 95% of hypertension patients there is no single identifiable cause. Again, there is no “cure” for those patients, not medicinal, alternative, or voodoo. For those patients there is only management with the aim of reducing blood pressure, minimising the risk of long term damage. Further, due to the complicated nature of Hypertension, and its multiple causes, it is normal that a doctor may have to recommend a number of medications or combinations until settling on a treatment plan that works for the patient.

Seeking or suggesting alternative therapies is perfectly fine, if they work even better. Continued untreated high blood pressure is not. While it is unfortunate that some patients suffer side effects from medication, it is still safer, and in a patients best interests to start treatment using methods that work including recommended lifestyle changes. Then trying alternatives after first discussing them with the GP or consultant.

If a patent has questions they should be directed to a qualified medical practitioner, if they have doubts about the advice given by a medical professional, they should seek a second opinion or ask for a referral.

Should I see any further posts suggesting someone should not seek medical attention, or should ignore medications I will report it to the moderators and move on.

- "A medication as seemingly simple as paracetamol (tylenol) can kill in relatively moderate doses." Yes, indeed it can. Which is why I never touch the stuff, though that's irrelevant. All medications are potentially dangerous, therefore the medical profession should be making every effort to keep patients off medication as long as possible - for all conditions - rather than prescribing drugs as a first line of action, which is too often the case.

No one is disputing the necessity of medication for extremely high blood pressure - or any other life-threatening condition - but too many patients with only moderate hypertension are put on medication rather than being given lifestyle advice.

And:

- "...clinicians weigh the potential risks of a medication against the risks of leaving a condition untreated before dispensing any medication". Try googling: "How statistical deception created the appearance that statins are safe and effective in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease" together with Diamond and Ravnskov. That was published more than a year ago, and wasn't the first study with similar findings. Yet many doctors are still advocating prescription of statins for people with high overall cholesterol but good HDL:total ratio or, worse still, for people with normal cholesterol but one or two perceived risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

I have never said that a person should never seek medication.

What I suggested, if you can read, is that it should not be the sole or first course of action that a person should take. Can you understand that, otherwise there is no point in continuing to respond to your comments.

Doctors are not 100% right if they give medical opinion and a patient is entitled AND has a fundamental right to seek altrenative therapy.

Do you have a vested or financial interest in promoting medical drugs??  

This entire thread is about a gentleman who has suffered high blood pressure for 5 years. Who, in all that time not yet spoken to a medical professional about treatment and despite trying widely available lifestyle changes has been unable to control blood pressure which now sits at 170/100

Quote from the American heart foundation When BP readings rise to 180 or above for the systolic(top) number OR 110 or above for the diastolic(bottom)number, call 9-1-1 for emergency medical treatment immediately.

Read that again, and look at the blood pressure ecpool quoted, his blood pressure is 10 mm hg from being declared a hypertensive crisis.  Yet some here felt the need to dscourage him from seeking medication

I attempted to address these posts by directly quoting from several sources including the WHO, AHF, AMA and BMA and quickly ran into what can only be described as willful ignorance, despite this, I continued to address a particular poster, until I became tired with running in circles.

There are a number of identified causes for this, which may include; poor education, failure to understand the severity of illness in the absence of symptoms, a misguided or unfounded fear of medications, partial failure to comply fully with given instructions, financial constraints, and mental health issues.

Feel free to google “effects of non compliance in treating hypertension” the above quote was taken from a summary of an article in the British Medical Journal

Additional quotes from the american heart foundation, and I suggest a number of folks need to consider the first two very seriously

There is no healthy level of high blood pressure. Don't take life-or-death chances with this disease. Instead, take responsibility!

Don't make the mistake of assuming symptoms will alert you to the problem of high blood pressure.

If your blood pressure is 140/90 or higher, your doctor will likely prescribe medication in addition to lifestyle modifications. Follow your healthcare professional's recommendations carefully, even if it means taking medication every day for the rest of your life.

When a drug is no longer thought safe or is being over prescribed, medical practitioners, not laypersons decide to whom, how, and when to continue treatment with those drugs which may still have useful application in some circumstance.

That one or more drugs from a particular group are no longer deemed as useful or have been shown to cause more side effects than first thought is not an excuse to avoid seeking treatment. Many more drugs involved in the treatment of hypertension are prefectly safe and successfully treat millions world wide.

I was diagnosed with crisis hypertension with a reading of 211/107. My doctor instantly prescribed me with medication, which I took for 2 weeks. However, I instantly started to fell unwell and my body was not reacting well to the medication.

At NO time did my doctor tell me about the SIDE EFFECTS of the drug.

I stopped taking the medication and did some research on alternatives therapies and I discovered a wealth of information out there, pointing the way to alternative therapies for alleviating HBP.

I also discovered a wealth of reasons why people may have HBP, some of which includes things, like emotional stress, lack of proper sleep, poor diet, carbohydrates, certain key mineral deficiencies, lack of regular exercise and more. It’s all out there on the internet.

My doctor did NOT mention any of these me at the time of diagnoses OR ever since, instead he hammered the point that I have to take this for the rest of my life.

Armed this knowledge and information I was able to make my own choices and lifestyle changes that brought my own BP reading down to 143/91...THIS IS A FACT.

This was my experience and my way may not work for everyone, in the same that medication does NOT cure hypertension or guarantee to stop peoples BP from ever raising again, even when taking medication.

Have you ever wondered why people in remote 3rd world countries don't have these same health issues that we have in western society ???

Could it be something to do with the lifestyle and food that we eat ???

Or maybe you'll choose to side step that point and promote your own interest, which is fine but at least be honest about it. 

I am promoting choice and knowledge and letting people can make their own choices.

Which is something which it seems that you're not prepared to do.

My quotes were from some of the highest regarded and most authoritative sources available,with some points double checked with my wife, a clinical pharmicist.

Without wanting to sound rude, it is obvious from your comments you are exactly the sort of person who should not oversee their own treatments without medical supervision. Your doctor was quite right to start immediate treatment with levels that high, that you suffered side effects was unfortunate, but it may well have saved your life.

I will avoid entering into a debate about your treatment and experience as thats clearly a discussion that will go no where.

Contrary to your belief's and experiences, far more doctors make accurate assessments and treatment plans than do not, and many more patients on hypertension medications do not suffer serious side than do, these are facts available to anyone who wants to look.

You would not advise someone to stay indoors because some people are killed each year crossing the road; not only is fear mongering wrong it can be extremely harmful.

I see again you side step my question about 3rd world people’s health, but I'm not surprised about that.

You also side step my own personal FACTS, again not surprised there.

You clearly have a problem reading my replies. I never said the majority of doctors were wrong, but said quite clearly that they are not always right.

I WOULD advise someone to stop doing something, which is not helping them. So your last statement is somewhat irrelevant.

I could go on, but you would just side the facts yet again.