One day I am going to be kicked off this forum for my crazy thinking but until then...

In this month's Alternatives newsletter, there is an article about celery and blood pressure. Many here take high blood pressure medicines, so I thought I'd share. The gist of the article was that a researcher's father had HBP and he noticed that it dropped after his father ate 1/4 pound of celery every day for a week. This is four ounces and actually not that much. The reading before celery: 158/96 and the reading after eating the celery for a week was 118/82. Celery has 3nB in it which apparently is responsible for the drop. Celery also apparently lowers uric acid which has been implicated in PD research.

The 3nB works by influencing the pdouction of various prostaglandins, acting as a vasodilator. The blood can flow easier with less pressure.

3nB also works as a diuretic, but much differently than regular diuretics. Most diuretics change the ratio of sodium to potassium by removing potassium along with excess fluid...this is why many docs script a potassium supplement when they script a diuretic. But 3nB does not deplete potassium, just the excess fluid. For those who have issues with potassium shifts, this could be very helpful.

The father was not reported as having PD, by the way, in case anyone is wondering, just HBP.

Taking this further, I seem to recall that Rick has noted improvement in his PD symptoms with a particular blood pressure medicine whose name escapes me, and correct me if I have misunderstood this. I am wondering if the lowering of the blood pressure also somehow might correspondingly reduce vascular compression in the brain, this all ties in with Dr. Jannetta's work. The artery implicated in his work is pulsing every time our heart beats and if it is pushing against the peduncle with high force, it would be more irritating (and we'd be more symptomatic) than if pressure were reduced, which would result in less forceful pulsing and less irritation and less symptoms....at least with this theory.

Has anyone noticed a benefit in their PD symptoms when they start or take HBP medicine?

We are going to try and incorporate celery more into our daily diet to see if we notice a difference and will report back.