Hate blood pressure meds

Yes, I know of people who have done it, it takes a lot of discipline and most people

would rather take a prescription, but as we all know, they're not without side effects,

some donwright intolerable.  You can not be deficient in potassium blood levels and

expect your pressures to remain in the normal range if you have hypertension.  Beet juice extract (not more than 2 ozs) taken straight or mixed into water or a juice can be quite effective at keeping #s down.

Hi Julio,

I came off my BP medication through diet and some exercise.  I am a 70 year old lady, and my start weight was approx 86 Kg. 

I followed the 'Eight Week Blood Sugar Diet' which is really designed for people with Type 2 Diabetes.  I don't have T2D, nor was I pre-Diabetic.  But, for me, one of the benefits of the diet was that it also reduced Blood Pressure.

The whole basis of the diet is to eliminate sugar from your food and drinks - by this I mean 'added' sugar in foods like most fizzy drinks, cakes, biscuits, sweets, etc.  It's a low carb, high fat diet - and it really worked for me.

The diet is based on research being carried out at the University of Newcastle by Prof Roy Taylor and his team, much of which is being funded by Diabetes UK.   A book about the diet has been written by Dr Michael Moseley, and is available in bookshops and online. 

My weight dropped to 68 Kg and I'm still trying to lose more.  As I'm an 'oldie' I cannot exercise too much, but try to walk regularly - at least a mile or two each day.

Whilst on the diet my BP dropped to 116/68 and began to fall lower.  I regularly monitor my own BP at home, so I talked with my GP about coming off the medication, in case my BP fell too low.  My GP was entirely happy for me to do this, and congratulated me on my weight loss, and other lifestyle changes.  She trusts me to continue to monitor my BP and go back on medication should the need arise.

So it can be done.  But I suggest that you follow your GP's advice about taking medication until you have lost quite a lot of weight, and both your GP and you can see a noticeable, continuing fall in your BP to 'healthy/normal' levels.  

Hope this helps, and good luck.

I have often wondered if it is worth my while trying to stop the concotion of medications that I am taking for my BP.

?I am 65 year old male,  144 pounds, 5'8" tall with several medications, like ACE inhibitor, Calcium Channel blocker etc. I am also taking statins and few vitamin supplemetns like D3 and B12. I had Angioplasty done few years ago.

?I have a very helthy way of living, with diet consisting of veganism with no oil or processed food, exercise almost every day for an hour.

?BP right now is very normal, around 115/73. I am not sure when I started taking the meds, must be about 10 years ago.

?I would love to give up al least some, if not all the meds.

thanks