Thank you Karen. I just love You-tube too. I have watched your links and here is another for anyone out there with high blood pressure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0w7buQrnAw

My partner is monitoring his blood pressure several times a day while he is experimenting with his medication. When we are told by the medical profession “it’s dangerous to stop taking them”, I don’t know what to believe, but it’s worrying me.

The good news is that I have been on a ‘low-carb high fat’ diet for a while now and my health has dramatically improved. Since I was a child I have had problems with asthma and allergies and the summer is a serious problem for me. But this summer I haven’t had hay fever – it’s quite extraordinary! A few days ago I ran out of my Qvar inhaler and haven’t asked for another prescription. It’s a preventative medication for asthma and I hope I don’t regret that decision. Hay fever is the major trigger for my asthma. I’m hoping the absence of hay fever will make my asthma inhaler redundant.

During the last few weeks I have become interested in improving my gut flora by eating fermented food and this week I have taken to grounding myself with an earthing mat. Here is another great You-tube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11PC8AFrh5w

Taking responsibility for our own health is great, isn’t it!

With regard to high blood pressure I’d like to find out more about the German way of doing things.

Thank you so much for your help Karen.

Dear Lesley,

In light that blood pressure guidelines approx 40 years ago used to be 100 plus your age, and that this guideline has been steadily changed (downward) by people most of whom have direct financial to gain if you take the medication, I would strongly suggest two resources:

Utube video called: The TRUTH about high blood pressure and cholesterol…it’s apprx 45 minutes long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXe2xldWxtY . It talks about blood pressure being an adaptive function in your body, so if your kidneys are pumping more toxic blood, it may need to pump harder…if you are exercising blood pressure is higher; also Germans believe that treatement is needed to raise blood pressure if it is 140 or below.

Another utube video to review 7.2 minutes long: Death by Medicine by Dr. Joseph Mercola: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7_e_4AOsFo. Visit his website at Mercola.com.

An excellent and informative book to read: http://www.amazon.com/Selling-Sickness-Pharmaceutical-Companies-Patients/dp/156025856X. It is about how target numbers are lowered every few years to obtain more customers.

The reason why I strongly recommend these sources is because I started taking high blood pressure medications and had the following side effects: blurry vision, high blood sugar, constant thirst, DIABETES (switched to another bp med):, heart palpitations, cold extremities, hair loss, muscular pain (could not sit still for more than 30 minutes without increasing pain), joint pain, arthritis, sleeping problems, constant nasal drip, extreme hot flashes.

My blood sugar average was clocked at 503…I kept forgetting to take the high blood pressure medication and it came down to 145, got off of the diabetic medicine and it fell further to 142. I’m DONE with “preventative” care medications which need to be taken for the rest of your life!!!

As I recall, prior to being diagnosed with very high blood pressure, I had been on cold medicines, and lack of exercise. Cold medicines are toxic to the body, and perhaps this is why my kidneys were working harder. My current Blood pressure readings without medications are fine between 124 – 148 (often within the same 10 seconds of a reading).

Let me know if this helps. Best of health to you.

I agree on the price, Lesley! I think I managed to source from the only supplier who listed a copy at a readable price — which is why I snapped it up!
‘The Homocysteine Solution’ (Holford & Braley) might be a more affordable option. It has advantages of being written more recently and more in keeping with the average readers needs.
It is worth remembering that local lending libraries accept lender requests. It’s been my experience that they’ll often buy-into-service something that has pertinence to lenders needs. They might see Methyl Magic as being a bit special. The other service to think about is ILL.
ILL stands for inter-library-loan. So if a book is not is not in service, and if its not one they might ordinarily buy in, they search library services in other areas, and can make copies available for payment of a fee (£3.00 last time in my case).

Thank you so much Christopher for taking the time to reply. We have looked for the book you recommend and second-hand it’s outrageously expensive. Using information from lots of different sources it’s now much more possible to take responsible for our own health. That seems to be what we do on these blogs, with the help of a few people we trust.

You wrote in an earlier piece, “doctors cannot force patients to take medication they do not want to take”. Actually this is exactly what is happening with fluoridation of water (it isn’t the doctors made this happen). All the same arguments apply. A dubious benefit for a small percentage of the population (who would be better off if they cleaned their teeth and gave up sweet drinks) with detriiments to everyone. Thyroid function is depressed by take up of fluorine reducing take up of iodine. Fluorine is a neurotoxin and can cause dementia (it has a synergenistic effect with aluminium which many people have in their bodies from some deoderants). My water filter does not remove fluoride so I’m left with the expensive option of putting in a new system to avoid it.

The choice of the individual to protect their health seems to be under threat.

Best wishes

Jackie

This article can be viewed by subscription only. However, the initial paragraph contains the following premise:

“For those who don’t know, statins work by reducing the production of a substance in the liver (LDL or “bad cholesterol”) that can block arteries or cause clots…”

Doesn’t inspire spending a pound to read the rest.

Lesley,

a book by Craig Cooney and Bill Lawson may interest you. It’s called ‘Methyl Magic’. The book would have been a landmark publication in 1999. The core themes still hold good, whilst additional understanding has emerged in the intervening years. I think you would like.

The books title may sound a bit technical and off-putting but it is nonetheless quite readable. Something about the books prescription is that levels of something called homocysteine are more of a risk factor for heart disease than is cholesterol — and that should come as no surprise because cholesterol is very poor indicator for risk of heart disease. Cooney also claims that ‘methyl magic’ can reduce blood pressure. So what is ‘methyl magic’?

Billions of times every second biochemicals within you are interacting. These interactions are bit like debits and credits in book-keeping. The dealings are called oxidation and reduction, or ‘redox’ to sound hip. Think of it as if a large molecule of something or other must be progressively dismantled to release energy. It controlled burning of fuel, if you like. Many of these dealings result in what’s called reactive oxygen species, and these morsels must be rendered less reactive and damaging. It is a relentless game of goodies and baddies if you will.
Reactive oxygen species are rendered harmless by antioxidants, and there are four leading ways in which this can be done. ‘Methylation’ is prominent amongst the four.
The magic of methylation describes a process whereby an antioxidant that can spare a methyl (CH3) group donates it to a reactive oxygen species. The other name for a reactive oxygen species is free-radical. The good molecule hands over a CH3 group to the bad molecule and the bad molecule is placated.

Methyl magic is a delicate and important balance. If enough methyl donating antioxidants are supplied by diet and/or by supplements such that all the free-radicals can be neutralised then wellness is a prospect that may be preserved. But if some reactive oxygen radicals are not neutralised and get to persist then over time there will be additional wear and tear going on inside the body; the body ages faster and may trend away from wellness and towards chronic disease. One indication of methylation not working all the magic it should is a rise in levels of homocysteine.

In terms an average reader could follow Cooney explains how to restore and maintain methyl magic — which in turn is a positive step to preserve good health and deter ageing. Many a GP would be wiser for reading the book, and even the good people at NICE, I think.

Finally, I don’t think Cooneys advice upon saturated fats is as sound as it could be. Basically no evidence backs the notion that fat is ‘bad’ so there is no reason not to include it in the diet, having sufficient fat in the diet is another way to diminish levels of oxidative stress.

I hope statins are not added to the water supply!

The primary topic for discussion is why would anyone want to reduce their cholesterol levels anyway? I don’t think that’s a particularly controversial statement anymore based on (certainly) primary prevention studies and in the case of secondary prevention, the suspected (anti-inflammatory) method of statin’s action. However, if we start going down that discussion route, the “whole fat in the diet is bad for you” argument begins to unravel.

“At midday yesterday, in the middle of writing this, I took a break and walked down the hill to the GP’s surgery to pick up my prescription — two drugs for hypertension and one for cholesterol. The last is a statin and if the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) maintains its present stance many more of you will join me in popping one of these little fellows every night.”

Dave and I were friends at university. If even such a clear-thinking bloke can be taken in by the statination propaganda, then the “evidence-based medicine” approach has been hijacked very successfully indeed! He’s based his ideas on what’s come out of the “official” trials, without ever investigating the kludged results. Pity his article’s behind the Times paywall…

I wonder how many doctors realise just how statins work (blocking the mevalonate pathway) and just how many crucial reactions in the body are consequently hampered. If they did, would they still be happy prescribing them?