The author describes how he cured his own HBP.
Hi Folks,
I thought I’d describe my process of curing my own High Blood Pressure as a clinical case and guide for others. At 42 yo (I’m 50 now) I was diagnosed with essential hypertension. Both my grandparents had been diagnosed at this age and spent their lives, until they both died at 83, on a variety of medications. My blood pressures were running 160/90 routinely despite cholesterol of 140 and having exercised seriously my whole life.
My primary care physician said he wanted to put me on meds and that I’d “be on them forever” (maybe I should have taken them given the guarantee of eternal life?!). He thinks of himself as being “open minded” and “holistically” inclined. He assured me that he was on HBP meds and wasn’t able to beat it, and that nobody with my condition beats it (“sure I tried to change but I couldn’t, I was too busy”). He’s cynical and pretentious, so I got a new physician.
My basic orientation in life is that I’m not going to do less than everything I can do before taking a drug (or the “easy” was on anything). Drugs and surgeries should ALWAYS be the last resort, right? Minimally, I should do whatever it takes if I’m going to ask the same from my patients.
Initially, I prescribed myself the obvious things like Tian Ma Gou Teng Yin, and several other formulas. I cut out one hour of work a day and began going in at 8am instead of 7am. And I began meditating 15 minutes a day which was all I could stand. I cut salt out of my diet. And, I stopped doing Tae Kwon Do after 25 years and started running and swimming (better aerobic exercise). All these changes helped a little, but frankly it’s hard to say how much of that help was me just being conscious enough to see what I was doing to myself and to start backing away from my intensity of engagement with my own mind. One of the attributes of hypertension is the experience of having no room inside one’s self for one’s self.
The symptoms allowed me to now see the condition, and started to consciously relax, But the herbs self prescribed herbs didn’t help much. I’m wood constitution with liver and kidney yinxu, and the Tian ma seemed theoretically perfect. But it did nothing at up to 27 pills a day! After 1 year I had a breakthrough in meditation and began meditating 1 hour daily , a practice I’ve continued now for 7 years.
I went to see an excellent Chinese herbalist who gave me herbs (some of which included a large amount of gypsum) and these worked great for about 6 months lowering my BP to about 140/84. But, one can’t take gypsum forever.
Eventually these herbs stopped working. I then went to a TCM “expert” trained in China, 20 years of full time practice there, because she lived closer than the other herbalist, who was far more sophisticated, but hard to get to. I took her herbs (a simple variation of tian ma gou teng yin) and got 12 treatments (of course the same points every time) and this didn’t help at all.
At this point a friend recommended an aryuvedic formula from AYUSH HERBS called Carditone. Within 2 days my BP was 130/76. I took this at a dose of two pills a day for a week and gradually cut down to half a pill daily which held by BP to 130/70-80 for 4 years. The active ingredient in Carditone is an Ayruvedic herb called Rauwolfia Serpentina whose pharmaceutically recognized active alkaloid is Reserpine. Rauwolfia has been used in India for HBP for 700 years.
As a Western drug Rauwolfia was prescribed in dosages of 20-30mg daily for schizophrenia and 2-3 mg daily for HBP. In the higher dosages, 20-30mg, it gives Parkinson like symptoms (the thorazine shuffle). Carditone has, I’ve been told by the physicians at Ayush Herbs, about .05mg of reserpine/pill. An average dose is 1 pill daily. I never experienced side effects and I’ve never seen any in patients. I look at the herb as a way to buy time while a person makes serious changes in lifestyle. I used it 5 years with no ill effects. I’ll also point there are other natural alkaloids in the plant the might mitigate the side effects as well as other herbs in the formula (Rauwolfia serpentina, Terminalia Arjuna , Tribulus terrestis, Rose powder, Boerhaavia diffusa and Indian coral powder.).
It’s also important to differentiate signs and SX and treat the root. I eventually got down to 3 half pills weekly. During this time I meditated 1 hour or ore daily and ran 18 miles each week. For this 5 years I never had a BP higher than 140/80 and average was 130/76.
In Feb 2008 I did a 10 day silent retreat. The retreat was profound as I was doing practices 18 hours a day and in total silence for the entire time. I experienced a VERY deep letting go into the ground of being beyond the mind. Just prior to this I had a significant guasha session that really opened my heart and released a lot of stagnation in the area of GV 10 and 11 and the whole upper right scapula. I had the session because I’ve always experienced a lot of pain during longer meditations and was concerned about sitting for the 10 days. I had very little pain during the retreat.
I’ve not taken anything for blood pressure since 2/08 and my last measured reading two weeks ago was 122/72. Research suggest that it’s also important to have a flavon rich diet (Dark Chocolate! Or Health Concerns Flavonex) to increase elasticity of the vessles. Adding salvia to herb formulas is good too as it increases elasticity of the vessels. I took KAN herbs, Meridian Passage several months at a time in a low dose (8-16 drops one time daily) on and off for years.
I’ve had patients who were on many hypertensive drugs over a 12 year period and never had readings lower than 160/95. I’ve seen them go off all drugs and take 1 pill of carditone a day and maintain stable BP’s of (120-140/70-80). Of course, I’m also treating with acupuncture and teaching them to meditate.
Carditone is a strong herb and should only be used in the context of buying time to make the deeper changes needed. As general policy, I only use it when a person isn’t on meds yet and their physician has given them time to try other routes. First I’ll try other formulas based on pulse, tongue, and differentiation of sign and symptoms. If that doesn’t work then I’ll use the carditone. I’d say this herb should be considered as seriously as mahuang. In other words it’s an herb that is almost a drug.
Warm regards, Lonny
Visit me online at Nourishingdestiny.com
Disclaimer.
One should research this herb in detail to one’s own satisfaction before prescribing it or taking it. My intention here has been to relate my experience and I am NOT recommending that anyone else prescribe or take any of these formulas. Only those licensed to practice herbal medicine should do so. If you use any of this information to treat yourself, or treat or prescribe herbs to others, you accept full responsibility for the consequences. These are my experiences and your mileage may vary!