Blood Pressure Herbs

there are quite a few herbs and substances that work to lower blood pressure by different means

i guess its important to realise that high BP is a symptom - a kind of end result of one or more processes that are at work in the body - or more likely several of them happening at once, in people with chronic infections

so to some degree it depends on what mechanism or mechanisms are pushing it up

for example
-stress hormones like cortisol will drive vasoconstriction and higher heart rate and that will push it up- increased stress hormones are common in lyme and co - especially early on in the disease

- ongoing inflammation damaging cell membranes will also stiffen the blood vessel walls and that will also increase it - ultimately over the long term leading to foam cells and fatty deposits causing atherosclerosis

-there are also electrolyte balance issues that thicken the blood and raise bp

- the autonomic nervous system is coastally constricting or opening blood vessels and valves in the circulation system to manage blood pressure - cope with standing up and lying down etc - and we know in lyme and co there is some kind of autonomic dysfunction at work - hence POTS is common - but i wonder if it can also just get stuck in higher than it should be mode - not just lower than it should be when you stand up - i suspect this is another cause of high BP

then each of the herbs, supplements etc you can take tend to act on one particular mechanism

-hawthorn is protective to the heart as well as potentially lowering BP so that's worth trying

-knotweed is known to lower BP - not sure of the mechanism

- things like ashwaghanda and Rhodiola seem to reduce the stress response - so can be useful if it is chronically activated

-nitric oxide increasing substances can cause vasodilation and that can help lower bp - arginine is one - nitrate containing foods like beets are another

-high dose Omega 3 fats can also lower BP i think perhaps because its highly anti-inflammatory and also restores membrane flexibility

-then there are a bunch of things that are platelet inhibitors which - especially if activated platelets are driving hyper coagulation ( common in bart and similar infections) - can be helpful - aspirin is a common one - curcumin is another if i recall - and then there are things like pine bark extract - which all stabilise platelets( these are the source of many inflammatory chemicals in blood borne infections ) - stop them activating - thereby reducing fibrin formation and - aid blood flow that way - thereby reducing blood pressure

-fibrinolytic enzymes can help reduce excess fibrin is that is a part of the picture - see my microscopy slides for how i was able to visualise this - and see improvement after some weeks on bromelain.

obviously - other toxins like alcohol and smoking and processed foods, high sugar intake etc are all inflammatory - so these all tend to push it in the wrong direction

there may be clues that could point to which mechanism are at work
-any anomalies on CBC or other tests
-what are general inflammation markers like ESR and CRP like
-what is your insulin sensitivity like / blood sugar control (high blood sugar leads to inflammatory damage in the blood vessels)
-what is your BMI

high BP sounds like a simple thing - but what complex beasts we are!

ref ESR/CRP
my partner and i both had very low ESR and CRP even in the early stages of lyme and bart infection
infectious disease doctors told us we could not have lyme because of this
but it was just more ignorance
in the later literature its very clear that this is actually common in at least 50% of patients

these are generally pretty poor measures of inflammation - and in fact very low numbers in ESR are unusual in healthy persons - eg 1mm or less -
the ESR test is just a measure of how much sedimentation occurs in a blood sample that if lest in vertical tube - but very low numbers are and actually associated with fibrin problems - the excess fibrin actually helps suspend all the particles so they do not sediment out - so i would say v low numbers - not just high ones are actually significant

ref lumbrokinase
it is very powerful - and likely to cause strong herx like reactions - especially if taken alongside antimicrobials - (even much weaker fibrinolytic enzymes like bromelain are known to increase teh effectiveness of antibiotics dramatically - and lumbro is aroudn10x as strong tablet for tablet)

i had to stop taking it after 2 or 3 days the herx was so strong when taken alongside herbs and MB even though i was entirely accustomed to those antimicrobials before taking lumbro
i have had to start on bromelain - which still caused significant herx - before moving on to lumbrokinase

Nope it has been a chronic problem since I worsened 4 years ago. I don't take licorice and I do have a penchant for licorice tea but I have abstained from it and all hot drinks for some time. (This is year 4 without coffee and I'm probably never going back.)

I know Buhner references this effect it can have. When I am off the disulfiram I will try motherwort as it sounds like a good one and Traveler sang it's praises when we were in regular correspondence.

I am actively staying away from any hypertensive meds/herbs. Just hope it calms down. I'm glad it's on the lower end still.