Are Blood Pressure Meds Killing Seniors?

Are Blood Pressure Meds Killing Seniors?

John was a senior with moderately high blood pressure. He took his blood pressure drugs faithfully because his doctor told him this could prevent a stroke or heart attack. But his doctor failed to mention two things.

First, at his age, blood pressure drugs statistically would not prolong his life – even for a few days. And second, his odds of having a stroke or getting a heart attack without taking blood pressure drugs were less than his odds of suffering a serious fall while taking blood pressure drugs. And indeed John was dizzy from his drugs, fell, and injured his hip. It wasn’t too bad, but he checked into the hospital where they told him he needed a minor surgery to “repair some damage.”

In the hospital one thing led to the next and John suffered acute respiratory failure, had a heart attack, then a stroke, and ended up brain dead. His wife lovingly had him disconnected from life support, and he was pronounced dead less than a week after his drug-induced fall. Which begs the question, why would any sane physician prescribe one, two, or even three blood pressure drugs to an 80-year-old. There can only be one answer – most physicians believe the tainted and contorted “scientific” results of medical studies that are paid for by the drug manufacturers.

Blood Pressure Medication Study Results

Well, one study spells it out pretty clearly. An article published online February 24, 2014, in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that if you are a senior, taking blood pressure drugs significantly increases your risk for serious falls. Serious falls are those that include hip fracture, broken bones, major head injuries, and joint dislocations. About one in ten seniors taking blood pressure drugs experience one or more of these falls.

And if you have already fallen once, and your physician still insists you stay on blood pressure drugs, your odds of another fall are doubled. These statistics don’t even take into account light-headedness, dizziness, impotence, weakness, chronic fatigue, heart failure, and “not so serious falls” like John’s, which killed him. About these falls, the study experts were quoted, “although non-injurious falls and minor fall injuries are associated with morbidity, we limited our study to serious fall injuries.” They did this because these drug-induced falls were equivalent to or worse than the strokes and heart attacks the drugs were prescribed to prevent!

Most Patients Are on Ten Drugs or More!

More startling information came out of this study. The more drugs you are on along with your blood pressure drugs, the worse your odds. The more blood pressure drugs you take, the worse your odds. And it turns out that “most patients are on l0-plus medications by the time they are 70.” Once you reach this level of medication, you don’t have much of a chance.

The final line to this article stated that the potential harm and death associated with serious falls and injuries from blood pressure drugs are about the same or worse than stroke and heart attack combined. So why bother. If you are a senior who takes blood pressure drugs and are already dizzy, weak, or light-headed, get to your doc ASAP and have your blood pressure drugs flushed. If he or she is stubborn, refer them to the Cochrane Collaboration, JAMA 2003, or the research quoted in this article.

There you will find new recommendations for folks over age 70, which state that if your blood pressure is lower than 170/100, you do not need any blood pressure medications.

Finally, if you are concerned about your blood pressure or your blood pressure drugs, practice the following. Combined, these simple techniques will do more to help you safely maintain proper blood.

 

1) Get daily exercise. This could be in the form of a power walk for 30 minutes.

2) Practice Deep Breathing. [Dr. Kimberly has some great info on deep breathing, contact our office for details.]

3) And take the following three supplements:

Cardio-Plus (6-9 daily), Min-Tran (6-9 daily) and Cod Liver Oil (3-6 daily) from Standard Process. This will do more for you than any number of wonder drugs or super potent blood pressure supplements of any kind. And, the side effects of this protocol are many – all health-enhancing, strengthening, and positive. [Dr. Kimberly will find the proper combination of all- natural, plant-based supplements for your individual condition.]

Decades-Long Track Record

Please follow my advice on this one. You see, I have decades of first-hand experience with thousands of patients. And I also have personal experience – John was a dear friend of mine. And years ago, my Dad keeled over head-first from his kitchen chair right onto the tile floor and nearly killed himself. It wasn’t his first fainting episode, but this one landed him in the hospital – a dangerous place indeed for an old guy. By the grace of God he survived – including endless invasive tests. Amazingly, even after all the tests, no one at the hospital could tell Dad why he was fainting. He was finally sent home with no answers, no changes to any prescription drugs, and no instructions related to diet, exercise, or breathing.

He finally called me.

After about 90 seconds we determined that a urologist had prescribed Flomax to Dad because “he had to get up once or twice a night to urinate.” At age 85! Well, Flomax works exactly the same as some blood pressure drugs – by relaxing smooth muscles in the body. This not only relaxed Dad’s bladder, but also the elastic muscles in his blood vessels. This side effect caused his blood pressure to drop too low, and he would faint. His fall and resultant hospitalization would have killed most other men, and thanks to God and because he was so tough, he survived that episode to live another bunch of years.

Now even medicine itself is warning you. If you are a senior at high risk – and most seniors are – takingblood pressure drugs, except in the most extremely severe case, is just not worth it.