High Blood Pressure
High Blood Pressure or Hypertension is very common, with almost 46% of US adults with this condition. Most hypertension is considered “essential” or cause unknown. We do know that keeping your blood pressure at 120/80 or less is important to keep your heart and blood vessels healthy. Our traditional/allopathic doctors will usually prescribe medications to treat our blood pressure if it is consistently elevated and especially if lifestyle changes such as dietary modifications, weight loss, and exercise do not help. These medications will likely help reduce the blood pressure and thus reduce the secondary complications of having high blood pressure such as trauma to your blood vessels, and even kidney damage. However, these medications may carry significant side effects so both the benefit and risks needs to be considered.
Functional medicine views hypertension as something that needs further investigation instead of just assuming that it is “essential” hypertension. There are natural medicines that can help significantly but our #1 goal in functional medicine is to discover the root causes of your high blood pressure.
A functional medicine visit for hypertension may include an evaluation for heavy metal toxicity, gut health, chronic infections, evaluating for insulin resistance, and liver health. Nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalances can be a significant factor in high blood pressure, as well as something as simple as adequate hydration and electrolyte balance.
If you are interested in a thorough evaluation for the root causes of your high blood pressure, schedule an appointment with Happy Minds Healthy Bodies to get the answers and help that you need.