High Blood pressure

[Lizzzygizzzy]

I have high blood pressure. I am going to start the cleanse and continue to take the BP medicine. Has anyone done this cleanse taking BP meds? Will the MC cause my BP to go up or down?

[trishaindenver]

you should continue to take your meds...and monitor your bp at home everyday- i am not sure what will happen with the normal saline washes though-

[Genniyah]

I'd like to know how others with bp issues are doing with the fast. My main reason for fasting was to wean myself off a beta blocker. Here's a copy of a post I wrote in another thread:

Hello, lemon-lovers,

Day 13 for me... and I'm feeling fantastic. I squeezed an orange this morning then decided to take my one-mile walk ... but felt so good at the end of a mile, I decided to go on the full 3-mile and 3-hill route. I just got back, cooled down, and feel better than ever.

I started the fast as a way to prepare my body to ease off hypertension medications. Well here are the results. I started with blood pressure of about 140/75 and during the fast cut my Atenolol (beta blocker) intake from 75mg to 50mg. I took my bp this morning and it was about 112/60, so if that continues after the fast I may cut that med to 25mg.

Right after my walk today I took my bp and it was 83/66. I walked at least 3 and 1/2 miles.

What worries me is my pulse rate. It used to be about 60 a few years ago when I took my EMT class and that was considered slow. Now it has been around 40-45 since before the fast, and this morning it was so low it didn't register on my bp machine! After the walk and a slight cool-down I was up to 75.

I heard from a friend that a pulse as low as 40 has caused some people to get pacemakers. I REFUSE to do that... I want so much to be healthy and get off these blood pressure medications. I will break my fast because I must, but I will not give up. I will be back. And for tonight I think I'll just take 25mg of the Atenolol since my pulse and bp have been so low the last couple of days.

I also take another bp medication, a calcium channel blocker. I've been taking these two medications for more than ten years, so I know my recovery will be slow, but so long as I don't give up I believe I have a chance of recovery.

Because of the meds I take (these and levoxyl for hypothyroid) I have a hard time losing weight. A few years ago I exercised and dieted for months and then hit a plateau at about 220 that lasted two months, then I gradually gained it all back.

Well with the Master Cleanse, I've already lost 12 pounds at least and am down to 223 again. YAY...!! And I hope to continue losing weight since I'm going to be walking nearly every day, just like I did today.

[Genniyah]

One more thing I want to add...

Before starting the fast I asked my pharmacist about it. He suggested not drinking the lemonade for an hour before or after taking my pills. Other than that, he felt the fast would be okay. I bought a digital bp machine from him so I could keep an eye on that during the fast without having to drop in at the clinic every day.

I didn't speak to my nurse practitioner about the fast until I was already on day 10 and had reduced my medication by my own judgement. She seemed very happy with my decisions and told me to stay in touch and as my bp drops she'll reduce the medications even more.

[Becky]

That's great to hear. I too am on Blood Pressure meds and want to get off. I was planning on doing the same thing, weaning myself off slowly. We both need to really watch what we eat (when we start eating) so it doesn't go up again. I'm on day 5 and plan on staying with it for 20 days hopefully. This time I'm trying to do it for my health not just weight loss. I'm happy for the weight loss too but I'm getting older and don't want to take more and more medicine like most americans do because of our diet. Keep up the good work!