Study reveals that everything we’ve been told about blood-pressure drugs was wrong
If you suffer from high blood pressure, you probably ran out of room in your medicine cabinet years ago.
Between calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, beta blockers and diuretics, you may be taking two, three meds or more to keep your blood pressure under control.
And it’s all because you’ve been promised that loading up on these hypertension drugs is the best way to prevent a life-threatening stroke.
But a major new study is singing a different (and frightening) tune. Researchers have proven that those trusted meds may more than double your stroke risk, even if they’re successfully lowering your blood pressure.
And you won’t believe who’s helping to sound the alarm.
AHA guidelines advise blood pressure patients to take “more than one type of prescription medication” if their doc says so, even if it means taking the drugs “every day for the rest of your life.”
And apparently even AHA’s former president finds that hard to swallow.
Dr. Suzanne Oparil, who once ran both the AHA and the American Society for Hypertension, has just co-authored a study warning that combining blood pressure meds could be a dangerous — and even deadly — idea.
The study tracked over 26,000 people for more than six years. And researchers found that taking even one blood pressure med increased your risk of a potentially fatal stroke by 33 percent.
Worse still, people who were taking three or more blood pressure drugs — which is shockingly common — were two and a half times more likely to suffer a stroke as those who controlled their blood pressure naturally.
In fact, the study’s lead author, Dr. George Howard from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said taking at least three blood pressure meds leaves you in just as much trouble as not treating your hypertension at all.
“We want to raise the issue that… relying solely on this [drug-centered] approach is going to come at a dear price of people’s lives,” he said.
And this isn’t the first big study to highlight the risks of blood pressure drugs. Not by a longshot. Other recent research has shown that older people taking blood pressure meds were more likely to suffer from dementia. And those who managed to achieve the lowest systolic (top) numbers showed the most memory loss.
Blood pressure meds can also cause life-threatening facial swelling, dizziness, falls, lupus and even glaucoma. And that’s just the short list.
Of course, having high blood pressure isn’t healthy either — it’s how you get to that lower reading that makes the difference. Howard, Oparil and their fellow researchers say that doctors need to start focusing on non-drug, early interventions.
Even if you already have high blood pressure, there are plenty of ways to bring it down without being joined at the hip with some of the most dangerous drugs out there — for life. Here are three easy things you can start doing today:
- Increase your potassium. Not only does potassium work to lower blood pressure, but previous research found that men who consumed the lowest amounts of potassium had a significantly higher risk of stroke. And it’s easy to find potassium-rich foods, which include bananas, chicken, lima beans and spinach.
- Ditch the fructose. Numerous studies over the years have linked fructose to high blood pressure. I’m talking about added fructose, mainly in the form of high fructose corn syrup found in so many processed foods, not the kind found naturally in an apple or a pear.
- Dust off your walking shoes. Exercise, especially brisk walking, is one of the best “drugs” you can take for hypertension, and it’s free (well, if you don’t count those expensive sneakers).
And one more thing: quit worrying about salt. Strict low-sodium diets have been proven to do very little to lower your blood pressure and they can even be dangerous for your heart.
Sources:
“Blood pressure pills fall short on stroke prevention” The People’s Pharmacy, June 4, 2015, peoplespharmacy.com
“Is blood pressure control for stroke prevention the correct goal? Stroke, May 7, 2015, stroke.ahajournals.org
