HAWTHORN HELPS COLIN'S HEART RELAX

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High Blood Pressure: Lower It Naturally

HAWTHORN HELPS COLIN'S HEART RELAX

Dr. Sinatra offers another case involving Colin, aged 65, who came to him with a history of heart attacks and progressive heart failure. His problem was that his heart’s pumping ability was severely reduced. Colin’s blood pressure was 180/90, he was unable to tolerate most conventional heart drugs, and his mitral valve (one of the heart’s 4 valves) was leaking blood as a result of his high blood pressure. Colin had chronic shortness of breath and was unable to walk much without getting winded.

Dr. Sinatra started Colin on the Mediterranean diet, coQ10, magnesium, calcium, and potassium supplements, and hawthorn herbal extract (from hawthorn berries) beginning at 500 mg daily, then increasing to 1000 mg. Clinical studies have shown that hawthorn can help reduce blood pressure by reducing or blocking the constriction of blood vessels directly serving the heart. This is crucial because when blood vessels constrict, blood pressure rises. “I gave Colin hawthorn to reduce his blood pressure, strengthen his heart, and give him a good quality of life,” which means improved health without the unpleasant side effects of drugs.

Colin also began taking B vitamins, specifically 40 mg each of B1, B2, and B6, 40 mcg of B12, and 800 mcg of folic acid. “I recommend B vitamins for anybody with heart disease because they are the antidote to a condition we call hyperhomocysteinemia,” says Dr. Sinatra.

Here is how it works: Red meat contains methionine, an essential amino acid and protein building block. But if your system is deficient in B vitamins, methionine does not get broken down into simpler substances and instead forms homocysteine. Too much homocysteine contributes to premature heart disease and aging, explains Dr. Sinatra.

After about 6 weeks on the program, Colin’s blood pressure dropped to 140-145/90-95. There was less leakage at his mitral valve; he was not taking any conventional drugs; he was able to walk, play golf, and exercise more freely; and “he felt he was in terrific control of his life,” says Dr. Sinatra.

Often an individual with high blood pressure or heart disease suffers from depression and sexual dysfunction including impotence, Dr. Sinatra notes. Sometimes these conditions are caused by conventional drugs; other times, they result from diminished nutrition and unresolved emotional issues. To help shift the depression that can accompany heart problems, Dr. Sinatra prescribes the amino acid L-tyrosine. Getting a person off conventional heart drugs and onto a solid nutritional support program often completes the turnaround, he adds.

“When you empower patients with nutritional support, diet, and exercise, they have control over their destiny and develop a much greater optimism. When you have this optimism about participating in your health, you become alive sexually. I’ve seen this many times. I tell them I am not their doctor but their nurse. In other words, I will nurse them along and nurture their healing, but they have the power to get well.”

blood: is classified into 4 blood types or groups according to the presence of type A and type B antigens on the surface of red blood cells. These antigens are also called agglutinogens and pertain to the blood cells' ability to agglutinate, or clump together. Type O blood (containing neither type) is found in 47% of the Caucasian population; type A, 41%; type B, 9%; type AB, 3%. Another form of blood grouping is according to Rh-positive and Rh-negative types, based on the distribution of 6 different Rh antigens.

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