H2 reduce the pressure

kw: medicine, observations

My doctor tells me my blood pressure is too high. I've learned this much: when I am taking sufficient Omega-3 supplementation (three or four of a double-strength fish oil) and getting enough exercise, it tends to come in at about 130/80. When I don't, it is more like 150/90.

For years, the standard was that 140/80 was borderline high, but now "they" have a new standard of 120/70. It is my contention that this is a scam. My 105-lb (48 kg) wife's blood pressure is usually about 115/70, but I suspect it is nearly impossible for a man weighing more than 180 pounds (~80 kg) to get anywhere near the "standard" without medication. Blood pressure medications are selling for many billions yearly.

Nonetheless, I am under some pressure to consider medication, so I began to gather data. A quick check of a blood pressure drug list compiled in 2006 is, frankly, horrifying:

• 55 single-component drugs and 16 mixtures (and the list states that, in the case of the diuretics at least, it is "partial").
• 22 of the 55 are generic, so even twenty years ago there were at least two dozen drugs! Breaking things down a bit,
• 6 of 11 Diuretics are generic.
• 15 of 24 Adrenal Inhibitors are generic.
• 1 of 20 Calcium Antagonists is generic. These are the newest class.

I plan to next check into side effects and reported effectiveness of a sampling from each category, before I let my doctor make any recommendations. I am pretty sure that he doesn't even know there are 71+ choices out there, so I need solid info from the get-go. It takes a good BS detector to cut through the haze of drug company representatives' influence in an office that has at least one rep-supplied poster on every wall of every room. And my doctor is one of those with the fewest "trinkets" from these guys!

I am gradually training him to understand that I am not a "patient", a passive consumer of medical services. I am a customer, and he is a consultant, and I expect an active role in medical decisions. That means I need to know a lot. That's OK; learning is what I do best. Stay tuned.