" Why I'm quitting [ blood pressure pills and other medications after 20 years ] all meds after 20 years " ( a credible story )

OkAfternoon6013

Why I'm quitting all meds after 20 years.

[ "I've decided to taper off and quit my medications after being treated for hypertension for the past twenty years. While this may sound crazy, please hear me out.

Im a 50 yr old male, 6'0 and 168 lbs. I don't smoke, I recently gave up alcohol, and I eat a healthy diet and get a good amount of exercise.

I currently take Valsartan, 360 mg, which is the max dose. I also have a prescription for Amlodipine 10 mg, but Amlodipine makes my feet and legs swell, among other unpleasant side effects, and I don't like how I feel on it. Other meds I've tried are Losartan and Lisinopril, and Hydrochlorothiazide. Losartan worked for awhile and then it stopped. Lisinopril gave me a tickle cough that kept me awake at night. And the water pill wrecked my libido.

So why am I quitting bp meds? I'm quitting because I have come to the realization that a lowered bp through medication is not actually fixing anything. Hypertension is a symptom, not the disease. By lowering it with pharmaceuticals, we're not actually improving our health...whatever is causing our bp to rise is still going on inside us. I've also learned that people who treat their hypertension with meds still have heart attacks, strokes, and get heart disease. And by lowering their blood pressure with medication, most people become complacent, thinking that they've got their problem under control.

I've also learned that there are plenty of obese people with diabetes who never exercise and eat junk food all day, and they have perfect blood pressure. How can this be? My wife isn't diabetic or obese, but she doesn't eat that well and rarely exercises, and her bp is 95/50. Some people's genetics are such that their blood pressure stays low, regardless of their lifestyle.

Another thing I found interesting is how much lower the threshold for blood pressure treatment has become. it used to be considered normal to be 140/90, but Big Pharma can't make money off of normal.

And lastly, blood pressure is just one risk factor for heart disease, and the only one I have. I plan to eat right, stay fit, sleep well, avoid alcohol, get plenty of sunshine, and manage stress as best I can. I will continue to search for the root cause of my hypertension, as well as natural ways to normalize it. " ]