For those who have elevated or high blood pressure it is reasonable to ask the following question:
"Why not just take the medications prescribed by my doctor? If those medications lower my blood pressure, why should I do anything else?"
Modern medicine* has achieved some pretty spectacular things. Modern medicine can save the lives of people with severe traumatic injuries who would otherwise bleed to death. Modern medicine has discovered and created medications to treat infections, to prevent illnesses, and many other things. And yes, modern medicine has designed MANY different medications to lower elevated or high blood pressure.
*We define modern medicine as the conventional, allopathic medical system that dominates the US and uses pharmaceuticals and surgery as its primary interventions.
So again, if the problem is high blood pressure, and the medication the doctor prescribes lowers blood pressure, then nothing else is needed, right? The problem is fixed, isn't it?
At Choy Wellness our philosophy is that the high blood pressure IS NOT the problem and so simply lowering high blood pressure with medication isn't the long term solution. Instead, high blood pressure is a symptom of a deeper problem. So while it can be important, and even lifesaving at times, to treat the high blood pressure with medications that lower blood pressure, that is simply the first step in the healing process.
We only consider the problem to be fixed when the deeper issue is resolved and the body is able to maintain optimal blood pressure on its own.
Wait, what??? Yep, I'm saying your high blood pressure isn't actually the problem. It's not a new idea, in fact, you've already used this type of reasoning yourself. Most likely you didn't initially go into the doctor for high blood pressure. More likely you went in because you were having headaches, or your heart was beating too hard in your chest, maybe you were having nosebleeds, or some shortness of breath. But if your initial symptom was a headache and your doctor simply told you to take an Advil, when the headache was being caused by high blood pressure, that would not have been treating the real problem. The headache was simply a symptom of a problem.
High blood pressure isn't a deficiency of blood pressure medication!
Something else was causing the blood pressure to be high. Sometimes a substance the medication imitates is not being made in sufficient quantity by the body and providing an outside source of that substance normalizes blood pressure. But in this case, we have to ask why the body wasn't producing a normal amount of the substance. And sometimes, the way modern medicine lowers blood pressure utilizes a completely different mechanism in the body than the mechanism that caused blood pressure to be high in the first place! But either way, you can see, there was something happening in the body that was causing an elevation in blood pressure.
You may be wondering what causes high blood pressure. There are many causes but two common ones are thick sludgy blood (a very technical term :-) ) and blood vessels that aren't constricting and dilating appropriately. There are many others, this list isn't even close to comprehensive. And if you're starting to get the idea behind this post, you may be thinking, "ok, but what causes "thick sludgy blood" or blood vessels that aren't constricting and dilating properly?" And you're exactly right to ask this question. That's exactly what we do at Choy Wellness. We keep asking why until we find a solution.
The next question is, when do you STOP asking why. You stop asking why when you implement the change indicated by the answer to the last question and the body is able to maintain optimal blood pressure without any further intervention, or in some cases with the least invasive continued intervention. Ideally, if the intervention requires long-term commitment, it is an intervention that benefits health in many or even all ways, and not simply for the initial complaint.
For example, Mary presents to Choy Wellness with hypertension. Her doctor had put her on a medication but she is looking for alternatives as she doesn't like the way she feels when taking the medication, even though it is lowering her blood pressure. Through questioning, and review of her labs, we see that she has thick sludgy blood. So we ask why she has thick sludgy blood. There can be many answers to this question, but after asking some questions of Mary, we see that she doesn't drink any plain water, but drinks a lot of caffeinated and sweet beverages throughout the day. While these beverages technically have water in them, they have a lot of other stuff in them prevent them from being adequately hydrating. Mary begins drinking water as her primary fluid (she still enjoys a sweet caffeinated beverage on occassion) and after a few weeks she begins to see a reduction in her blood pressure. In fact, her blood pressure lowers to a point where her doctor decreases the dosage of her blood pressure medication, and then after a few more weeks has her stop taking it altogether. Despite no longer taking the medication, Mary's blood pressure remains in an optimal range. Additionally, her skin begins to look more healthy, she is experiencing fewer aches and pains, and recovers more quickly after exercising. So although this intervention will need to be continued to keep her blood pressure optimal, the intervention is not invasive, and it has positive impact on many aspects of Mary's life.
This is a great example of what we do at Choy Wellness. We seek the "first cause" of the problem and we look for the healthiest, most fundamental way to resolve the issue. We often find that the problem is rooted in a non-supportive lifestyle, and we assist our clients in correcting that. Sometimes, along the way, some additional support is required to return to a healthy state. But in everything we do, we seek long-term, holistic, sustainable solutions that provide lasting and exciting results!
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