Machaon

Oh man...... what I wouldn't do to be able to down those pitchers of beer and buckets of wings again! The only question would be, How Hot the Wings! They used to put a baggie of ice right into our pitcher to keep it cold.

Why isn't life like that!? Why can't the best medication for High Blood Pressure and Heart Failure and Diabetes be a pitcher of beer and "Fire Hot" chicken wings, instead of Coreg, or Quinapril, etc. UGH!

I feel that, increasing the dosage of any medication has limited additional positive effects, and mostly just cause increases in nasty symptoms.

Since each class of blood pressure medication attempts to block or inhibit different body hormones (with the exception of drugs like Diuretics, HCTZ), it makes more sense, to me, to combine small doses of different blood pressure meds, rather than increasing the dose of just one.

Diuretics, like HCTZ, lower blood pressure by limiting the fluid in the blood and arteries, but have all kinds of nasty side effects. It's the same as the fluid in a water hose. Limit the water flowing through a water hose, and you limit the pressure in that water hose.

My blood pressure has been under control now for years, after being chronically high for many years. Before.... It seemed sooooo very difficult to get my blood pressure down to healthy levels, with a minimum of medication. Now it all seems so very simple, yet so very hard to do.

I have found out that, in my case, there is a direct and conclusive link between unhealthy diet, unhealthy metabolism and unhealthy blood pressure levels.

In order to keep my blood pressure down at healthy levels almost all the time, 24 hours per day, I need to have a reasonable balance of proteins, carbs and fats, and I need to limit the calories in each meal and for the day, PERIOD.

How one finds out how many calories they can consume can be "measured" by using the blood pressure gauge. If I consume too many calories, at any one meal, or for the day, my blood pressure goes up.

My blood pressure average for all of 2010 has been 121/69 based on 956 readings. Back as early as 2003, my blood pressure average was 151/96 based on 1032 readings. That means that, in 2003, my blood pressure all day long, and all night long averaged around 151/96. Why I am still alive, or hadn't stroked out, was just the luck of the draw.

I have found that, the proper diet for an individual cannot be found in any book or on the Internet. One has to find their own blood pressure lowering diet by tracking their calories and measuring the results through their blood pressure gauge. It is a lot of work and effort and giving up a lot of the fun foods. Only someone with life threatening health problems, like me, is ever going to be willing to go through what I go through each and every day, in order to keep my blood pressure down at very healthy levels. It is NOT fun. Buts.... OTOH, I do enjoy my six meals per day.

Also...... exercise, exercise...... and more exercise than that. The more exercise the better!

There are countless millions going through the same thing as you. Buts...... IMHO.... as long as the metabolism is not healthy, and as long as there are unbalanced hormones raging through one's body as a result of an inappropriate diet, manipulating medications and their dosages is just like play Russian Roulette. How does anyone know how a medication will work when that medication is encountering the complex levels of the 300+ body hormones? What happens when enalopril encounters the various different levels of body hormones at 9am? At 1pm? At 6pm? At midnight? Body metabolism, controlled via the Circadian Rhythm, is in a constant state of flux.

CCBs get both bad raps and good raps by your fellow patients on HealthBoards. CCBs also get both bad raps and good raps within the health care community. Who to believe? What to believe?

I was on Verapamil for a long, long time. It was my most effect blood pressure medication and made me feel better. Buts..... it came with all kinds of baggage. I stopped taking it a couple of years ago; and switched to Coreg.

First of all, since I am not a medical professional, nor have I any medical education or training, what I have learned about my own blood pressure and health problems might not be beneficial for you or anyone else. I have my own share of setbacks and questions and am constantly battling against my debilitating Heart Failure, Persistent Atrial Fibrillation and Insulin Resistance, while at the same time doing everything that I can do to maintain healthy levels of blood pressure all the time, 24 hours per day.

A 1/2 cup of low sodium, bran cereal with 1-2 ounces of soy or almond milk, plus one egg, sounds pretty good to me.

Regarding the tuna and yogurt? My own personal choice of seafood is a filet of low salt, low mercury Tilapia. Tuna is known to have an unhealthy level of mercury and other harmful things. Yogurt, for me, is too high in calories and sugar, so I don't eat Yogurt even though I love it. I also won't eat sugar-free foods, so I've got to stay all natural.

The beer and wine I cannot have because of the alcohol calories, and because of the additives. Alcohol is great at lowering the blood pressure over the short term, but after the body has to deal with the additives and alcohol-calories, the metabolism and the blood pressure can suffer.

I eat six meals a day at present. My menu keeps changing every week as I try to make it more enjoyable. My current target calorie for the week is 1300 calories (after fiber calories are discounted). That averages out to a little over 200 calories per meal. I wish I could do 300 calories per meal. Buts..... I can't. I'm stuck in this aging, dilapidated body and don't make the rules.

I hope that you can benefit from something that I posted and I apologize for the size of my post.

Take care..... be well; and best of health and luck to you!

__________________
Heart Failure, A-fib, Blood Pressure, Diabetes, Asthma much better by:

⇒ Avoid common and ordinary but unhealthy household items
⇒ Extremely healthy diet
⇒ Exercise
⇒ I LOVE COREG!!!!
⇒ SLIT