Blood pressure, celery, and potassium shifts
 

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.

That's very interesting. I was recently put on Neupro,and had a bad reaction to it...a sharp rise in my blood pressure (systolic over 170) In response i removed the patch, increased my BP medication (Metoprolol)l from 25mg once a day to three times a day . One of the first things i noticed besides my blood preassure returning to normal, was an easing of my PD symptoms. In particular no tremor. I hadn't noticed any improvement at 25mg((i've been on Metoprolol a beta blocker for two years) I'm going to try 4 ounces of celery and a reduction of Metoprolol to 50mg. and see if i maintain the improvement. Thanks again for the info.

peridopril
 

This is getter interestinger and interestinger...

Rick posted a year ago about his improvement in symptoms by switching his high blood pressure medication to perindopril, which is one of two in that class that cross the BBB. His PD symptoms improved, as he reported here:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ssure+medicine

Thanks, Rick!

This makes total sense, assuming again that vascular compression is an issue in PD: if you have vascular compression in the brain, and take a hbp drug that does not cross the BBB, any compression inside the brain will NOT be alleviated because the drug cannot reach it, the BBB keeps it out.

Conversely, if you just happen to take a hbp drug that does cross the BBB, then any compression you have inside the brain WILL be affected, and you would notice an improvement in your PD symptoms, I would think.

Rick, if you see this, are you still taking the peridopril and if so, how are you doing? If not, what caused you to quit taking it?

Yes, I am still taking it as well as propranolol. The latter is another beta blocker and the perindopril is an ACE inhibitor. Both have research reporting their value in treating PD in addition to hypertension. Still another class with similar features are the sartins (losartin is one). It is a bit odd that the three distinct drugs would all do double duty in such a specific manner.

As to your question about if bringing your BP down helped the PD, I will answer it a little differently and say that the high pressures that I experienced (250/200!!) definitely made the PD worse.

Finally, about the blood vessels relaxing in the brain, you might be interested in researching a supplement called "vinpocitine". It is an extract from Vinca minor (periwinkle) and is used for that very purpose. I have yet to try it, but it seems to have a good safety profle. Available at the health food store.