So here I am with my first post about my physical health. I have been experiencing blood pressure spikes. It has happened about two or three times a year for the past three or four years. Each time this has happened, I went to see my doctor and I was sent home for bed rest for a week with medication to bring it down. I wasn’t satisfied with taking just medication. I believed that there was more that I could do to help myself so I started researching online natural ways to lower high blood pressure, alternative ways, and even home remedies to lower blood pressure.
One home remedy that I found that I use when my blood pressure goes up is a cup of warm water, 2 or 3 cloves of chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 1 tablespoon of unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar (G/H/ACH). Down the hatch it goes and it begins working with the first cup. I have found that medication just isn’t enough to bring it down so I use the G/H/ACV drink to assist my medication. There are times that I drink the G/H/ACV concoction 5 times a day for 48 hours with only water in between and I continue my medication too right along with my warm water drink. By the middle of the second day, it’s down to normal. I call this “food as medicine”.
However, I want to caution you if you are taking any blood thinning medication such as Coumadin or Warfarin, do not use garlic. Garlic is a natural blood thinner and it will interfere with the Coumadin and Warfarin and other blood thinning medication which can be dangerous. You must talk with your doctor before taking garlic as a way to help lower your blood pressure so that the doctor can advise you if you are taking any medication that garlic may interfere with. Additionally, don’t throw away your pills and think that you can lower your blood pressure exclusively with garlic. I use it when I need it to assist in lowering my blood pressure when my medication needs a boost.
Last week when it spiked, it’s the first time that I actually got so dizzy the room was spinning—I couldn’t stand up or walk across the room. I called my son in the next room on my cell phone to tell him that I needed to go to the ER. It is the first time I actually went to the ER. While I was there, the doctor had an EKG, an MRI and some blood work done to see if I had any damage to my brain, heart, kidneys, etc. My blood pressure was 224/116 when I went to the ER. The diastolic pressure started coming down on its own, but the systolic pressure stayed up at 224 the whole time I was there. The doctor wanted to get the results of the tests before he did anything so when the results were negative, he then gave me a Clonidine HCL 0.1 mg tablet and within a half hour my systolic pressure came down and I was released to go home. I was really relieved.
The ER doctor talked with my doctor before I left the hospital. My doctor prescribed Clonidine HCL 0.1 mg to take, with the plan of seeing him within a few days. However, this medication combined with the Atenolol 100 mgs that I take, lowered my heart rate to the low 40s which can be dangerous too. The ER doctor told me to rest all weekend. Since seeing my doctor, I’m not taking the Clonidine every day, but he told me to take only one Clonidine pill if it spikes to 175 or higher again. I use a blood pressure monitor and I don’t wait until it get’s to 175 before I take my G/H/ACV. I drink the G/H/ACV when my blood pressure is 150 or 160. This way I will take the Clonidine when I absolutely need it.
Have you ever experienced blood pressure spikes? If you have, what works for you?