Dr. Peat Is Right About Blood Pressure Higher = Better As People Age

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Nov 21, 2015
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Dr. Peat has said that higher blood pressure as we age is a good thing.

This is a complicated study, but it has been known, and there are a few good studies showing it, that among the "very old", higher blood pressure correlates with longer lifespan.

It's hard to find good studies as most are worthless drug company dross.

But Dr. Peat is right again.

This study shows that if a person has high blood pressure, lowering it with drugs may actually be a really bad idea. This type of study freaks out the PIs and so, for that reason I believe the abstract is written in a very convoluted way.

But pay close attention. Treating high blood pressure with drugs often lowers lifespan quite significantly.

The relationship of all-cause mortality to average on-treatment s...: Ingenta Connect

The SPRINT study demonstrated that targeting systolic blood pressure (SBP) less than 120 mmHg was associated with lower cardiovascular event and mortality rates. In the LIFE study, however, a lower achieved SBP was associated with increased mortality. Mean baseline SBP in SPRINT was 140 mmHg and a third of the population had a baseline SBP 132 mmHg or less, raising the question of whether the lower baseline SBP in SPRINT could in part account for these differences.Methods:

All-cause mortality during 4.8 ± 0.9 years follow-up was examined in relation to tertiles of achieved on-treatment average SBP in patients with baseline SBP of 25th percentile or less versus greater than 25th percentile value of 164 mmHg in 7998 nondiabetic hypertensive patients with ECG left ventricular hypertrophy randomly assigned to losartan-based or atenolol-based treatment. Average on-treatment SBP less than 142 mmHg (lowest tertile) and average SBP 142 mmHg to less than 152 mmHg (middle tertile) were compared with average SBP at least 152 mmHg (highest tertile and reference group).Results:

In the overall population, there was a significant interaction between baseline SBP 164 mmHg or less and average on-treatment SBP less than 142 mmHg in Cox analysis (χ2 = 15.48, P < 0.001). Among patients with baseline SBP greater than 164 mmHg, in multivariate Cox analyses adjusting for other potential predictors of mortality and a propensity score for having baseline SBP 164 mmHg or less and compared with average on-treatment SBP at least 152 mmHg, average on-treatment SBP less than 142 mmHg was associated with 32% higher mortality (hazard ratio 1.32, 95% CI 1.01–1.65), whereas average SBP of 142 mmHg to less than 152 mmHg was associated with 24% lower mortality (hazard ratio 0.76, 95% CI 0.59–0.98). In contrast, among patients with baseline SBP 164 mmHg or less, both average on-treatment SBP less than 142 mmHg (hazard ratio 0.60, 95% CI 0.36–0.99) and average SBP of 142 mmHg to less than 152 mmHg (hazard ratio 0.51, 95% CI 0.30–0.89) were associated with significantly lower mortality compared with average SBP of at least 152 mmHg.Conclusion:

Achievement of an average SBP less than 142 mmHg was associated with reduced mortality in patients with baseline SBP 164 mmHg or less but with increased mortality in those with higher baseline SBP in LIFE. These findings suggest that the lower mortality associated with a lower targeted SBP in SPRINT may not be applicable to patients with considerably higher baseline SBP than SPRINT patients. Further study is necessary to better understand these findings.
 

yerrag

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I've come to believe that high blood pressure is a good sign that the body is compensating for chronic conditions that puts our body's vital organs at risk of being subject to tissue destruction. People are motivated to immediately reach for the drug that lowers blood pressure out of fear.

The fear that's inculcated in us is that our blood vessels will burst, or that our kidneys will be destroyed by the high blood pressure. Whether that is true or not is something I don't believe anybody has ever verified.

I may agree with the former point, as I can very well imagine capillaries breaking and cause eyes to be red, but I don't think it is something that's life-threatening. Capillaries breaking can be compared to a steam system with very high pressure where a relief valve outgasses, as seen in pressure cookers. I've reached a blood pressure of 240/140, and luckily at that point I was able to find a way, thru information picked up in this forum, to begin lowering it. About a year from that time, my blood pressure has come down to, on average, about 175/117, and it is on a downward trend still. In this time, I have gone from CKD stage 1 to being out of it, as based on the urine ACR test (albumin-creatinine ratio).

As for the matter of the kidneys, it begs the question whether it is the high blood pressure that is causing the acceleration of kidney destruction, or whether it is the blood pressure medication that is doing much more harm. If the high blood pressure is an indication that the body is protecting the kidneys, wouldn't taking drugs to lower blood pressure end up removing the protection given to kidneys? I suppose the kidneys will eventually be destroyed if I made no effective effort to find the cause and fix the problem, and that is the fear that motivates us to take blood pressure medication. But what if taking medication actually increases the rate of destruction of the kidneys? Which is the lesser evil then?

It thus makes sense that as person ages, their blood pressure will rise, out of the body's need to protect the person, who has degenerated, as well as accumulated toxins over his lifetime.

It has been hard to not be lured into taking blood pressure lowering medication. Once, in attempting to donate blood, I was met with alarm when the nurses took my blood pressure. They were literally freaked out that my blood pressure (at that time) was 180/120, and they told me to remain calm (which I was, but they weren't) as they tried to convince me to go to the ER. It does not help also when friends and acquaintances would be so worried of my high blood pressure, and they wonder why I'm not having any headaches (never ever), much less that I'm surviving this putative crisis. At best, they are awed with this specimen- a freak of nature.
 

Jackrabbit

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Joined
Jun 29, 2018
Messages
172
I've come to believe that high blood pressure is a good sign that the body is compensating for chronic conditions that puts our body's vital organs at risk of being subject to tissue destruction. People are motivated to immediately reach for the drug that lowers blood pressure out of fear.

The fear that's inculcated in us is that our blood vessels will burst, or that our kidneys will be destroyed by the high blood pressure. Whether that is true or not is something I don't believe anybody has ever verified.

I may agree with the former point, as I can very well imagine capillaries breaking and cause eyes to be red, but I don't think it is something that's life-threatening. Capillaries breaking can be compared to a steam system with very high pressure where a relief valve outgasses, as seen in pressure cookers. I've reached a blood pressure of 240/140, and luckily at that point I was able to find a way, thru information picked up in this forum, to begin lowering it. About a year from that time, my blood pressure has come down to, on average, about 175/117, and it is on a downward trend still. In this time, I have gone from CKD stage 1 to being out of it, as based on the urine ACR test (albumin-creatinine ratio).

As for the matter of the kidneys, it begs the question whether it is the high blood pressure that is causing the acceleration of kidney destruction, or whether it is the blood pressure medication that is doing much more harm. If the high blood pressure is an indication that the body is protecting the kidneys, wouldn't taking drugs to lower blood pressure end up removing the protection given to kidneys? I suppose the kidneys will eventually be destroyed if I made no effective effort to find the cause and fix the problem, and that is the fear that motivates us to take blood pressure medication. But what if taking medication actually increases the rate of destruction of the kidneys? Which is the lesser evil then?

It thus makes sense that as person ages, their blood pressure will rise, out of the body's need to protect the person, who has degenerated, as well as accumulated toxins over his lifetime.

It has been hard to not be lured into taking blood pressure lowering medication. Once, in attempting to donate blood, I was met with alarm when the nurses took my blood pressure. They were literally freaked out that my blood pressure (at that time) was 180/120, and they told me to remain calm (which I was, but they weren't) as they tried to convince me to go to the ER. It does not help also when friends and acquaintances would be so worried of my high blood pressure, and they wonder why I'm not having any headaches (never ever), much less that I'm surviving this putative crisis. At best, they are awed with this specimen- a freak of nature.
Interesting to read this! I’ve been prescribed losartan recently because my bp vacillates between 120/85-155/110 and it seems to me the doctor did absolutely nothing to determine what could be the cause of this seemingly sudden rise. Typically I would have a reading in the 120/80 range, and I still do sometimes, but at times it spikes. My thinking is that my lungs aren’t working well and so my heart is making up for it by pumping harder to ensure oxygen gets to my organs, etc. I insisted on getting a referral to a pulmonologist. Anyway, it irritates me that they are focused on the end result of lower blood pressure, instead of why the blood pressure is raised. Two of the most unhealthy people I know have “excellent “ blood pressure (according to doctors.). They are both a bit older and neither of them has even the basic energy required for daily living. One of them is a severe alcoholic! The doctor probably doesn’t even realize this. I wonder if their stressful ways of living have made their hearts compensate by practically shutting down, like it can’t possibly keep up with the toxin/stress hormone load so it just doesn’t work that hard! I don’t know. I get migraines but I don’t seem to get them because of high blood pressure as I’ve had them even since my blood pressure was “normal.”
My doc also prescribed me a migraine medication that can make asthma worse, as well as an inhaler that can trigger migraines, so I’m certain she’s clueless. I also know that taking acetazolamide helped me sleep much better and my blood pressure went down for the brief time I took it, but good luck getting a doctor like that to prescribe it for continuous dosage. I told her I was going to Denver and would get altitude sickness, so that got me a couple of weeks worth. Enough to know it helps but not enough to help in the long run obviously! So frustrating. I’m probably going to need to order it from Mexico unless the pulmonologist is a slightly out of the box thinker and sees it as an option for sleep apnea treatment.
 

PecosRiver

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I've got low BP (105-110/90) - I'm 66 male. I've been increasing good salt, and feel better. What other Peaty things could I do to gently raise my BP?
 
OP
ecstatichamster
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Nov 21, 2015
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I've got low BP (105-110/90) - I'm 66 male. I've been increasing good salt, and feel better. What other Peaty things could I do to gently raise my BP?

How is your thyroid, your temperatures, your heart rate? Chances are you are hypo thyroid and increasing thyroid function and reducing stored PUFAs will be a great help I would think.
 

PecosRiver

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I'm on the Peaty fringe here, but about 6 months ago started the 'iodine protocol' (Lugols liquid about 12-15mg applied to scrotum with 3 grams vitamin c, selenium, and idealabs magnoil) and my temperatures shot up from a freezing 97 to 98.5 to 99. Sometimes my laser temperature reader starts buzzing and beeping because my temperature is over 99.5! This feels great. But I still get dizzy when I bend over to pick something up, and rising from a squat can make me dizzy. And a couple of weeks ago I passed out while driving (ER diagnosed it as syncope). Very scary.

All I know is that salt tastes great, and I've had my BP checked after raising my temperatures and that hasn't helped. Or maybe because I'm salting to taste I'm not using enough.

HR is low by Peat standards: 60 - 80. Usually in high 60's. I sometimes get to 80 with combinations of idealabs products (most likely the 3 drops of Androsterone), but I try to be sparing with their use and go a week or more between a 3-4 day usage period.

Over a year ago I was using idealabs T3 to raise temperature - and that didn't work. When I started the 'iodine protocol' I dropped the T3 because I didn't need it.
 

pauljacob

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Mar 9, 2018
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"Dr. Peat said this and Dr. Peat said that". I'm rather new to this forum and I'd really want to know where did Dr. Peat say all that wealth of information. Is there a repository of his research, work, and writings?
 

Gungajin

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Sep 19, 2018
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I've had this suspicion for quite a while, that higher blood pressure not necessarily is a bad thing. At 62, my blood pressure took a jump. For a while it went pretty wild, swinging between 150 and 170-80 even. When I consulted my GP he put me on an EKG which showed only green lights. So he told me not to worry, saying there's no sign that anything should be wrong with my cardiac system and that medication to lower the pressure might do more damage than good. I've been a chronic pain patient with reduced mobility, due to spinal damage, but otherwise quite fit and I feel healthy. Because I have to lie down for hours every day, since this is the only way my back can recover, my heartrate has slowed down considerable and I rarely get a puls over 60 bpm. Mechanically, it makes sense that my blood pressure therefore should be higher when the heartrate is lower. Once I manipulated my bloodpressure to 120 (beta blockers) but my pulse also fell to 48 and I gor very dizzy until I could raise the pressure again.

Until now I haven't had any problems and my blood pressure has stabilised around the 80/155. Still feeling healthy and fine ;-)
 
L

lollipop

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"Dr. Peat said this and Dr. Peat said that". I'm rather new to this forum and I'd really want to know where did Dr. Peat say all that wealth of information. Is there a repository of his research, work, and writings?
Yes. raypeat.com - click on articles.

You can go to toxinless.com and find a link to the podcast Ray Peat Interviews. @Dan Wich has uploaded all available interviews with Peat.

Here is the first one back in 1996:

http://www.toxinless.com/peat/podcast.rss
 

Hal_2001

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Feb 2, 2016
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"Dr. Peat said this and Dr. Peat said that". I'm rather new to this forum and I'd really want to know where did Dr. Peat say all that wealth of information. Is there a repository of his research, work, and writings?
Try Ray Peat Google raises many good articles. I always google ray peat plus what ever I want to know.
 

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