Acupuncture and High Blood Pressure By Mrs Vera West
I have been dabbling with the thought of getting acupuncture for my bad back, lumbar spine arthritis, but I also have high blood pressure, given my advanced age and being constantly overweight. I saw this article about how acupuncture could help with high blood pressure, and it just might be worth a go.
“According to the results of a study, acupuncture is just as effective as drug therapy when treating high blood pressure (hypertension).
The study was conducted by researchers from the Jiaozuo Tongren Hospital in China.
For the study, researchers observed 51 patients with primary hypertension. The participants were randomly divided into two: an acupuncture treatment group and a drug control group. There were 27 individuals in the treatment group and 24 individuals in the drug control group.
The acupuncture group included 15 males and 12 females who were aged 37 to 72 years old. The average age of the group was 57.39 years. The patients in this group either had high blood pressure with systolic blood pressure 179.97 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or diastolic blood pressure 110.39 mmHg.
Meanwhile, the drug control group was made up of 14 males and 10 females aged 36 to 72 years old. The average age of this group was 59.14 years. The volunteers in this group either had high blood pressure with systolic blood pressure 181.95 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure 109.93 mmHg.
The researchers compared the effects of acupuncture therapy with the administration of nifedipine for the immediate reduction of high blood pressure levels in the participants who had primary hypertension. Based on the results of the randomized controlled clinical trial, both acupuncture and nifedipine reduced blood pressure by 30 to 40 mmHg.
The study showed that acupuncture and nifedipine offered different advantages for the management of high blood pressure. Drug therapy reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressures after five to 20 minutes, but acupuncture took longer at 30 to 60 minutes.
The researchers noted that there was no statistical difference between the effects of acupuncture and nifedipine for the management of both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
On the other hand, acupuncture significantly reduced systolic and diastolic pressures among the participants with extremely high blood pressure. Acupuncture moderately reduced systolic and diastolic pressures in the volunteers who had moderate levels of high blood pressure. The researchers said that acupuncture offers a clinical advantage since it can offer a “regulated lowering of blood pressure relative to the clinical needs patients.”
The study determined that nifedipine can excessively lower blood pressure, especially during the first use of the drug or if the patient is dehydrated once the drug is taken. Compared to drug therapy, acupuncture’s homeostatic properties suggest that it can be used to treat hypertension without any negative hypotensive reactions.”
While reading this, I did a bit of thinking about blood pressure. Laying down to think more clearly, I imagined the body from an engineering perspective, although I know nothing about engineering. How about removing blood to reduce blood pressure? I don’t mean cutting one’s throat, although that would solve the problem forever.
How about donating blood? So, I Googled, then gargled and surprise, surprise:
https://www.livescience.com/36420-blood-donation-metabolic-syndrome-obesity.html
“Some obese people may improve their health by donating blood, a preliminary study from Germany suggests.
In the study, obese people with metabolic syndrome who had blood drawn experienced a reduction in blood pressure, along with other changes that linked with a reduced risk of heart disease, the researchers said.
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of symptoms associated with heart disease, including high blood sugar, high blood pressure and low levels of "good" cholesterol. The syndrome has been linked with increased risks of stroke, coronary artery disease and Type 2 diabetes. The main treatment is weight loss.
The findings suggest doctors might consider blood donation as a possible treatment for people with metabolic syndrome who have above-normal iron levels (a common situation), said study researcher Andreas Michalsen, of the Charité-University Medical Centre in Berlin.”
Here is a systematic review of the medical literature on the modern day practice of “bloodletting”:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29959751
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5887646/
Perhaps the ancient doctors were not so wrong, after all.
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