XTEND-YOUR-LIFE Newsletter
Issue - 9th July 2003
High blood pressure? Don't be fooled by the new 'guidelines'...
You have probably seen in the news over the last month or so the new 'guidelines' for determining a healthy level of blood pressure. It used to be that 120/80 was considered optimal, 120 - 129/80 -84 was normal and 130 - 139/85 - 89 was high normal. If your readings were over 140/90 you were considered to be at Stage 1 which was referred to as mild hypertension. Stages 2, 3 and 4 went up in various increments and they reflected increasing degrees of severity of hypertension.
But, this is no longer the case! Based on new USA guidelines if your blood pressure is in the 'normal' range with a systolic pressure anything above 120 you are now considered to be prehypertensive and should according to the new guidelines be taking "two or more hypertensive medications to achieve goal pressure".
So if you were previously healthy before this recent announcement with a systolic blood pressure between 120 and 140 I am sorry to say that you along with 45 million other Americans are no longer considered to be healthy! In fact you will be pressured to take a drug to 'restore your health'.
Frankly, I think that the new recommendations are nothing short of scandalous! Hypertension is NOT a disease to be treated by drugs…it is a SYMPTOM of an underlying problem. Treating it without determining the cause is dangerous and is akin to giving drugs to reduce a high temperature whilst ignoring the cause of the high temperature.
In fact just like treating the symptoms of high temperatures which can be fatal in some people so can the potential flow on effects from treating high blood pressure! If you have high blood pressure you have it for a reason. That reason is because parts of your body are lacking in blood and the extra pressure is needed to get it there. If you artificially suppress that pressure with drugs whilst ignoring the underlying cause of it you are on the start of a slippery slide down to permanent ill health.
You may be thinking "But, if these recommendations for blood pressure are supported by the government then it must be desirable to keep within them. After all the government independently reviews all the information before endorsing new health guidelines... doesn't it?"
The short answer is yes it should, but no, it doesn't…at least not in this case! I'll explain.
This will make you furious!
The new guidelines for hypertension are referred to as JCN-7. JCN stands for the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. The report that they issued was their seventh, thus the reference number JCN-7. All sounds pretty official and impressive, and given that the report was presented by government spokespersons at government press conferences as the latest government guidelines then it must have been well reviewed and debated... at least that is what you would think!
In fact that is what you should reasonably expect and indeed the law provides for this to safeguard the interests of the public! I quote the following excerpt from a paper by Paul Rosch, MD, FACP who is a clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College.
"The law requires that all important Federal rules, including guidelines that affect the public must be written and promulgated according to the Government Code. This code mandates formal selection of a committee, pre-announcement of all meetings, open meetings that encourage testimony from all interested parties as well as written records, all of which must be preserved in a special docket. Everything is then reviewed in order to provide a written discussion of all the relevant evidence leading to the final rules or guidelines that must be published in the Federal Register. In addition, if the published guidelines are not consonant with a logical review of the evidence presented, the recommendations may be overturned by legal action."
Rosch researched the JNC-7 report which is now the 'official' government guideline for hypertension and which has been issued to physicians and found that it is NOT on the Federal register and that in essence the legal system has been bypassed. Officials at the NIH (National Institute of Health) have admitted that the new guidelines were written by a non-government committee of 'experts' that they had selected and were therefore not subject to the Federal Register regulations!
The guide lines were published in JAMA the Journal of the American Medical Association, NOT the Federal Register. The committee established these new guidelines with NO public meetings, NO meetings were open to the public, NO public input was solicited and NO detailed records of committee meetings were kept!
I am sure you get the picture! Now, back to the issue of hypertension!
As I mentioned earlier, hypertension is a symptom not an ailment. By treating the symptom it is likely to exacerbate the cause. There are currently over 100 drugs being used to 'treat' hypertension and most of them are given to patients on a trial and error basis. How many people do you know that have been given multiple drugs to reduce their blood pressure... and how many have had adverse side effects?
If you have been diagnosed with 'high' blood pressure you owe it to yourself to learn as much as you can about it and also to TRULY determine if you do have high blood pressure. Most people are not aware just how much their blood pressure can vary. Temporary increases of 50% are not uncommon. These increases can come about just from a bit of tension combined with talking. It has been clearly documented that people who are considered to be hypertensive are really not although their readings are high.
When you go into a doctor's waiting room and you know your blood pressure is going to be taken and you are concerned about it, that itself can be sufficient to raise it enough to be considered hypertensive. Then when you start taking medication and go back for another check you will be even more concerned and the reading will be even less accurate often resulting in a higher dose rate... and so on it goes.
There is an excellent article about hypertension written by Paul Rosch whom I referred to earlier. I would urge you to read it in full. It's fairly long but full of good information. You can access it by clicking here.
The last page of his article is entitled 'Some thoughts on Pharmaceutical Finagling and Future Hypertension Research'... it's really worth reading! But, use caution, because if you are like me, it will make you mad and definitely raise your blood pressure!
So, be careful out there and question all recommendations when it comes to blood pressure medication AND do not ignore the CAUSE of the symptoms.
In good health,
Info about the editor.
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Important notice: All material provided within the newsletter XTEND-YOUR-LIFE is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not to be construed as medical advice or instruction. No action should be taken solely on the contents of this publication. Consult your physician or a qualified health professional on any matters regarding your health and wellbeing or on any opinions expressed within this newsletter. The information provided in this newsletter is believed to be accurate based on the best judgment of the editor but the reader is responsible for consulting with their own health professional on any matters raised within.
