Ok, ok... I am all for lowering blood pressure without drugs, whenever possible, using alternative medicine, obviously, but I am not sure I am ready to go this far.
Think about it, if everyone started relying on using this approach to lowering blood pressure, say, in a elevator, a car or some other tightly enclosed structure, could this not actually cause the blood pressure of other passengers, to increase? I know mine would.
So, I cannot recommend this alternative approach, as I feel it could BACKFIRE!!!
Seriously though, this article did remind me that often in medicine, the cure can be worse than the disease.
Bill Sardi, one of my favorite medical research writers, talks about this in the second article for today's Blog... If you take drugs or are thinking of doing so, for say, acid reflux, you may want to read his report.
Enjoy good health...
cw
The stink in farts controls blood pressure...
A smelly rotten-egg gas in farts controls blood pressure in mice, a new study finds.
The unpleasant aroma of the gas, called hydrogen sulfide (H2S), can be a little too familiar, as it is expelled by bacteria living in the human colon and eventually makes its way, well, out.
The new research found that cells lining mice's blood vessels naturally make the gas and this action can help keep the rodents' blood pressure low by relaxing the blood vessels to prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). This gas is "no doubt" produced in cells lining human blood vessels too, the researchers said.
"Now that we know hydrogen sulfide's role in regulating blood pressure, it may be possible to design drug therapies that enhance its formation as an alternative to the current methods of treatment for hypertension," said Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., a co-author of the study detailed in the Oct. 24th issue of the journal Science.
Snyder and his colleagues compared normal mice to mice that were missing a gene for an enzyme known as CSE, long suspected as being responsible for making hydrogen sulfide. As they measured hydrogen sulfide levels taken from tissues of the CSE-deficient mice, the scientists found that the gas was depleted in the cardiovascular systems of the altered mice. By contrast, normal mice had higher levels of the gas, thereby showing that hydrogen sulfide is naturally made by mammalian tissues using CSE.
Next, the mice were subjected to higher blood pressures comparable to serious hypertension in humans. Scientists had them respond to a chemical called methacholine that relaxes normal blood vessels. The blood vessels of the CSE-lacking mice hardly relaxed, indicating that hydrogen sulfide is a huge contender for regulating blood pressure.
Hydrogen sulfide is the most recently discovered member of a family of gasotransmitters, small molecules inside our bodies with important physiological functions.
This study is the first to reveal that the CSE enzyme that triggers hydrogen sulfide is activated itself in the same way as other enzymes when they trigger their respective gasotransmitter, such as a nitric oxide-forming enzyme that also regulates blood pressure, Dr. Snyder said.
Because gasotransmitters are common in mammals all over the evolutionary tree, these findings on the importance of hydrogen sulfide are thought to have broad applications to human diseases, such as diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
The research was supported by grants from the US Public Health Service and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research as well as a Research Scientist Award.
When the Cure Is Worse Than the Disease...
One way to build an income in private medical practice is to hook patients on drugs that continually require re-examination, testing and prescription renewal.
For example, blood thinners require prothrombin tests to determine how long it takes the blood to clot. Blood pressure pills require monitoring of blood pressure. And in the example above, once patients start taking acid-blocking medications they will find it is nearly impossible to stop taking them because withdrawal will provoke rebound acidity with throat-gripping pain.
Since the early 1990s it has been known that acid-blocking (histamine blocking) drugs commonly prescribed for heartburn create dependency. Withdrawal from the drug will create rebound hyper-acidity that causes the patient to reach for the antacid pills in desperation again. [1] , [2] To make matters worse, acid blockers may induce more, not less, disease. Stomach acid is a defense against invading pathogenic bacteria that enter the gut in food (foods are not sterile, but have low bacteria and mold counts that stomach acid normally kills). The habitual use of acid blockers may result in infection and even cancer. [3]
Most drugs don’t work, are inappropriate or are designed to make things worse.
READ MORE
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Christopher Wiechert's Healthblogger is for educational or informational purposes only, and is not intended to diagnose or provide treatment for any condition. If you have any concerns about your own health, you should always consult with a health care professional. If you decide to use this information on your own, it's your constitutional right, but I assume no responsibility. The views expressed on this website are those of the health professionals & scientists I list or my own opinions and are not intended to replace any medical advice you may require. The contents have not been approved by the Pharmaceutical Association, the American Medical Association, or the Food and Drug Administration. This website may present views diametrically opposed to the views of such organizations.
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