Q. I have spent more than a year trying one kind of blood pressure medicine after another. I have suffered from all sorts of side effects, including heart palpitations and dizziness but the worst was depression. All I wanted to do was hide from the world, though I couldn’t do that because I had to work. I finally told my doctor that I would rather die than take any more medicine.
I seem to have weird body chemistry. I develop side effects or allergies to most medications. What kinds of natural approaches are there for controlling blood pressure?
A. You might be surprised to learn how many non-drug approaches can help against hypertension. Learning to breathe more slowly, for example, with the help of a feedback machine called RESPeRATE, can lower blood pressure. The DASH diet (rich in calcium, magnesium and potassium) can also help. Dark chocolate and grape juice make blood vessels flexible to adjust blood pressure.
We are sending you our Guide to Blood Pressure, which discusses non-drug approaches as well as medications that may be more tolerable.
