1. Know Your Condition First
Check your blood pressure with your family physician at regular intervals--high blood pressure usually has no symptoms. But uncontrolled high blood pressure can lead to damage of vital organs and the risk of heart attack, stroke, brain hemorrhage, kidney disease and blindness. Depending on your specific condition, your physician may prescribe any of the several blood pressure medications out there. These include ACE inhibitors, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, peripherally acting alpha-adrenergic blockers, angiotension II antagonists, vasodilators, centrally acting alpha adrenergics and diuretics (or "water pills"). Your physician may help you decide if you need herbal supplements as well. There is some evidence that high blood pressure may be controlled with herbs such as hawthorn, garlic, ginkgo biloba and mistletoe.
2. Take Hawthorn
The herb hawthorn increases the force of contraction of the heart and its output. As the blood vessels expand, the pressure comes down. It may also help decrease the amount of cholesterol lining the walls of your arteries. Ingredients in hawthorn such as flavonoids and procyanidins contribute to this blood pressure-lowering effect. A clinical study in Reading, U.K., was performed with 1200 mg herbal extract of hawthorn leaves, flowers and berries on 79 patients with type 2 diabetes over a period of 16 weeks. There was a significant reduction in mean diastolic blood pressure (2.6 mm Hg). No adverse effects were seen even if prescribed drugs were used in 71 percent of the diabetes patients in this study. Nonetheless, if you are taking cardiac glycoside drugs such as digitalis, you may want to consult your doctor for specific dose recommendations.
3. How About Garlic?
Your garlic is better taken raw than cooked, if you want to benefit from its blood pressure-lowering effects. Or you could try some garlic supplements under your doctor's supervision. Garlic expands blood vessels, and your blood pressure should be down in a matter of few hours. It can thin your blood just like aspirin. It can interact with other drugs such as aspirin, warfarin and pentoxyfilline or supplements such as vitamin E and gingko. If you have just had surgery, let your doctor know before taking any garlic. A 2008 review published in the BMC Cardiovascular Disorders reported that garlic preparations reduced both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in at least 11 clinical studies.
4. Mixing Mistletoe and Hawthorn
Nigerian folk medicine employs leaves of some mistletoe, such as Globimetula cupulata, to manage, control and treat diabetes mellitus and hypertension. An experimental animal study published in Cardiovascular Journal of South Africa (January-February 2007) by researchers at the University Of KwaZulu-Natal Department Of Pharmacology, in Durban, supported the folkloric and ethnomedical practices of mistletoe in reducing blood pressure and blood sugar. And according to German medical herbalist Dr. Rudolph Weiss, a cup of warm tea made from mistletoe along with hawthorn leaves and flowers taken twice daily may be good for mild hypertension.
5. Herbs Alone Not Enough
If you suffer from high blood pressure, you may want to understand that along with nutritional remedies, dietary supplements such as fish oil, coenzyme Q10 and folic acid, and medications, you should improve your lifestyle. Walking, stretching exercise and yoga and meditation can help.
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