"Essential" Hypertension And Appreciating It For What It Really Is

[ecstatichamster]

How much K2 MK4 are you taking @yerrag ?

It seems this is essential to restoring flexibility to blood vessels. Also of course, very generous amounts of calcium and good D3 levels.

 

[yerrag]

How much K2 MK4 are you taking @yerrag ?

It seems this is essential to restoring flexibility to blood vessels. Also of course, very generous amounts of calcium and good D3 levels.

I'm taking 15 mg K2 daily, 10,000 IU D3. As for calcium, eating plenty of cooked greens, a glass of milk, and about 400mg calcium from eggshell powder - not insanely a lot though.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Dr. Peat has said he uses 2000 to 2500mg of calcium per day. I would try 15mg X 3 of K2 MK4 if your situation and see if that helps.

 

[yerrag]

Dr. Peat has said he uses 2000 to 2500mg of calcium per day. I would try 15mg X 3 of K2 MK4 if your situation and see if that helps.

How would calcium help a fibrotic condition? And how can vit K2 help? Doesn't K2 work more on blood vessels? Can it work on disintegrating fibrosis on the medullar interstitial space?

 

[yerrag]

CO2 bathing - have a unit from Steve of Carbogenetics, but haven't used it yet

From http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/32/6/1555.full :

Conclusion: CO2 treatment is capable of reducing peripheral vascular resistance. We hypothesize that CO2 is not only a temporal vasodilator but is also capable of activating vasodilation pathways.

 

[ecstatichamster]

How would calcium help a fibrotic condition? And how can vit K2 help? Doesn't K2 work more on blood vessels? Can it work on disintegrating fibrosis on the medullar interstitial space?

K2 helps tremendously. Yes it can. Increased calcium intake can cause the body to remove calcium from intercellular space and deposit into the bones.

 

[yerrag]

K2 helps tremendously. Yes it can. Increased calcium intake can cause the body to remove calcium from intercellular space and deposit into the bones.

Thanks ecstatichamster!

I'll try 15 mg of Kuinone tonight. I'll have to figure out the best way to take in that 2000mg of elemental calcium without relying on milk.

5 grams of eggshell powder would be equivalent to 2000mg of calcium, but it's impractical due to its taste. I used to sprinkle eggshell powder on the milk froth topping my coffee, but since I stopped drinking coffee, it's been tough incorporating eggshell powder (200mg Ca) into my food except for the breakfast sunny-side up egg. I eat 2 large servings of cooked greens (500mg) each day and a glass of milk (200mg), but all these would just be roughly 900mg of calcium. I can add 25g dried anchovies to my breakfast, and that would make it 1400mg. If only I can have nixtamalized corn and eat masa instead of rice for its calcium, but I can't because pretty much all corn is GMO. I suppose I can try making nixtamalized rice and this would be able to make up for the 600mg shortfall:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=foodsciefacpub

 

[Blossom]

Thanks ecstatichamster!

I'll try 15 mg of Kuinone tonight. I'll have to figure out the best way to take in that 2000mg of elemental calcium without relying on milk.

5 grams of eggshell powder would be equivalent to 2000mg of calcium, but it's impractical due to its taste. I used to sprinkle eggshell powder on the milk froth topping my coffee, but since I stopped drinking coffee, it's been tough incorporating eggshell powder (200mg Ca) into my food except for the breakfast sunny-side up egg. I eat 2 large servings of cooked greens (500mg) each day and a glass of milk (200mg), but all these would just be roughly 900mg of calcium. I can add 25g dried anchovies to my breakfast, and that would make it 1400mg. If only I can have nixtamalized corn and eat masa instead of rice for its calcium, but I can't because pretty much all corn is GMO. I suppose I can try making nixtamalized rice and this would be able to make up for the 600mg shortfall:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=foodsciefacpub

I used to just dump the eggshell powder in my mouth and chase it down with something to drink after every meal.

 

[yerrag]

I used to just dump the eggshell powder in my mouth and chase it down with something to drink after every meal.

I might do that as well. Thanks Blossom.

 

[Blossom]

I might do that as well. Thanks Blossom.

You’re welcome. You could put it in 00 gelatin capsules as well.

 

[Sheila]

Dear Yerrag
I am delighted to read that you are making progress. Journeys are always longer than we hope, but the good part is we learn so much, even if it is harrowing some times.
I'm just going to add a few things that occur to me if I may since reading your update. Feel free to ignore of course. What do I know!
You may recall from our private conversation earlier this year we discussed septic foci.
May I suggest you consider other places than just teeth. Although teeth, as we discussed, are one source, I often think they are a result of some a-priori issue. Essentially the mouth should be one of the stronger places. So I am thinking consider diverticuli or some other latent pocket... If you have laxity of tissue elsewhere, then I have learned to consider laxity of tissue internally as well, thus diverticuli outpouchings.
K2 and IR mat reaction - the improved metabolism could lower blood sugar quickly which might transiently lower blood pressure. I have performed quite a few tests with high dose K2, be careful for oxidative damage signs. I know what it should do, sometimes less is more, especially in delicate situations. Ditto your vit D supplementation, in my experience and observation, a lot of 'kidney patients' do badly on supplemental D. I suspect, but am not sure, that the added calcium uptake it encourages doesn't get used properly and does what it shouldn't according to theory.
Happy New Year to you.
Best regards
Sheila
PS. Sorry, forgot something. You may like to consider what using supplemental Vit C does to copper levels. I am not suggesting you supplement copper but copper is required IIRC to metabolism vitamin C. It is also a major anti-bacterial element in the body. Lack of copper is also implicated in laxity of tissues. But please don't add it to your 'stack' lest it topple over.

 

[yerrag]

Dear Yerrag
I am delighted to read that you are making progress. Journeys are always longer than we hope, but the good part is we learn so much, even if it is harrowing some times.
I'm just going to add a few things that occur to me if I may since reading your update. Feel free to ignore of course. What do I know!
You may recall from our private conversation earlier this year we discussed septic foci.
May I suggest you consider other places than just teeth. Although teeth, as we discussed, are one source, I often think they are a result of some a-priori issue. Essentially the mouth should be one of the stronger places. So I am thinking consider diverticuli or some other latent pocket... If you have laxity of tissue elsewhere, then I have learned to consider laxity of tissue internally as well, thus diverticuli outpouchings.
K2 and IR mat reaction - the improved metabolism could lower blood sugar quickly which might transiently lower blood pressure. I have performed quite a few tests with high dose K2, be careful for oxidative damage signs. I know what it should do, sometimes less is more, especially in delicate situations. Ditto your vit D supplementation, in my experience and observation, a lot of 'kidney patients' do badly on supplemental D. I suspect, but am not sure, that the added calcium uptake it encourages doesn't get used properly and does what it shouldn't according to theory.
Happy New Year to you.
Best regards
Sheila
PS. Sorry, forgot something. You may like to consider what using supplemental Vit C does to copper levels. I am not suggesting you supplement copper but copper is required IIRC to metabolism vitamin C. It is also a major anti-bacterial element in the body. Lack of copper is also implicated in laxity of tissues. But please don't add it to your 'stack' lest it topple over.

Hi Sheila,

A happy new year to you and thanks for sharing with me some possibilities that I haven't considered.

I looked up diverticular outpouchings, and I'm fairly negative on its symptoms. My gut health is something I don't have much of an issue with, although I occasionally take some activated charcoal to clean it of endotoxins, just to be on the safe side. Much more of an issue with me is my skin, since I have seborrheic dermatitis, and I also have keloids. The keloids are a form of fibrosis, and if my internals were just as prone to fibrous growth, fibrosis could be a condition in my kidneys which would be causing hypertension.

After a few days of infrared mat therapy and K2, I'm seeing that the benefits are only temporary. I'm dialing down my K2 to just 15mg per day, and I'm discontinuing the infrared mat therapy, as I've decided that it's like working out - both only give temporary relief in my blood pressure readings. Instead, I'm setting up my infrared light so I can get infrared light exposure. I did some research on the infrared mat, and found that I'm getting little of the benefit of infrared light in the region where most benefits would accrue, in the 630-670nm, and in the 810-880 nm region: Infrared Heat Lamps vs. LED Light Therapy Devices.

As for Vitamin D, I share your caution on not overdoing my intake. As it's currently the time of year where the sun isn't strong in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm using some vitamin D supplementation but will stop when the sun begins to shine its ray more radiantly in about 10 weeks. As for calcium, I'm making sure I have enough magnesium intake to go along with my increased calcium intake. Since my thyroid is fine, I'm fairly confident that none of this would put me at risk for calcification.

As for copper, I have lost my weekly supply of fresh sea shrimp for quite a while now (I don't buy farm raised shrimp or prawns) and it was a concern that I could miss out on copper. But I'm less concerned now as I eat internal organs of goat, and that would provide me with enough copper.

As for vitamin C, I did a C-Flush test yesterday and found my need for vitamin C has been reduced by 1/3, from needing 6.75 grams a day to 4.5 grams a day. This hasn't yet translated into improved blood pressure readings though. I still have to keep tweaking my protocol as I see fit.

I hope I can incorporate both red light therapy and carbon dioxide bath therapy to my daily routine, and that they would be synergistic with the supplements I'm taking. If there isn't much progress, I'll employ dry fasting, and then hope that the fibroids of the kidneys will be eaten up by autophagy during the fast.

 

[yerrag]

Based on this, I'm inclined to solve my hypertensive condition by addressing the putative fibrotic state of my kidney medulla. I'm considering a few options:

• the use of anti-fibrotic drugs such as cyproheptadine and lisuride
• the intake of suitable oral enzymes to dissolve the fiber. Serrapeptase comes to mind, though I have to see if it is suitable
• employing a dry fasting regimen, in the hope that the fibrotic mass would be eaten up, given that it has no further use anymore
• CO2 bathing - have a unit from Steve of Carbogenetics, but haven't used it yet

I have to add red light therapy to this list-

Low-Level Laser Therapy Decreases Renal Interstitial Fibrosis:

...we showed that LLLT had a protective effect regarding renal interstitial fibrosis. It is conceivable that by attenuating inflammation, LLLT can prevent tubular activation and transdifferentiation, which are the two processes that mainly drive the renal fibrosis of the UUO model.

The study, however, was limited to the scope of prevention though.

 

[yerrag]

Here is an articMle on tubulointerstitial fibrosis -

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2776335/pdf/hippokratia-13-224.pdf :

Tubulointerstitial renal fibrosis, characterized as a progressive detrimental connective tissue deposition on the kidney parenchyma, appears to be a harmful process leading inevitably to renal function deterioration, independently of the primary renal disease which causes the original kidney injury. Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) of tubular epithelial cells which are transformed to mesenchymal fibroblasts migrating to adjacent interstitial parenchyma constitutes the principal mechanism of renal fibrosis along with local and circulating cells. Proteinuria as well as hypoxia is included among the main mechanisms of EMT stimulation. TGFβ-1 through the SMAD pathway is considered as the main modulator regulating the EMT molecular mechanism, probably in cooperation with hypoxia inducible factors. Hepatocyte Growth Factor (HGF) and Bone Morphogenetic Factor-7 (BMF-7) are inhibitory to EMT molecules which could prevent in experimental and clinical level the catastrophic process of interstitial fibrosis. Interesting data emerge indicating that HGF and BMF-7 administration prevents the peritoneal fibrosis of mesothelial cells. Hippokratia 2009; 13 (4): 224-228

This strengthens my suspicions that the persistence of my hypertensive state involves the stiffening/hardening of blood vessels that keeps it from being elastic and able to constrict and dilate easily. The development of fibers around either the glomeruli or the tubular interstitial space are possibilities, and this is the result of epithelial cells that underwent a transformation into mesenchmal fibroblasts, in response to the cascade of responses originating from angiotensin II- which was the original response that signaled the chronic constriction of blood vessels. Since the constriction had been chronic, the resulting fibrotic mass on the ECM (extracellular matrix) had become permanent, and has in all likelihood become the primary cause of hypertension. The original cause, periodontal bacterial infection, had already been resolved, but the hypertensive state persists.

I'll go to a doctor in a day or two to get a prescription of ACE inhibitors. How responsive I am to the ACE inhibitor will give me an idea of how advanced the fibrosis is. If the ACE inhibitor manages to lower my blood pressure significantly, it will likely mean the fibrosis isn't that developed.

Either way, I will still continue with my planned protocol as in the previous post. It would seem, though, that I should put a strong emphasis on the use of systemic enzymes such as serrapeptase to reverse the fibrosis. I might add that along with it, I will be using dry fasts regularly, to allow for the fibroblasts to be eaten up by autophagy. Red light and carbon diozide therapy will be adjuncts to these. Cypro and Lisuride will still be used as well.

 

[rei]

Sometimes it is best to stop everything and let the body try sort it out. Fasting is a reliable way to lower blood pressure, prevent blood vessel calcification and it has many other benefits. Routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart, study suggests It might even treat calcification.

After about 2-3 days of fasting you can start introducing things while monitoring pressure to get a general sense on how things affect you and where the problem might lie. It might be even something as innocent as a multivitamin or grains. After maybe 5 such rounds of fasting you should have a pretty good picture if it is positively affecting your general condition, and decide to continue or not.

I realize fasting is seen kinda negatively on this forum and it very well might be if you are in good health and functioning optimally, but if you are not then it can be a miraculous intervention.

Combining the peat perspective with the fasting has in my opinion the potential to greatly exceed the effect size seen in most if not all studies.

 

[yerrag]

Sometimes it is best to stop everything and let the body try sort it out. Fasting is a reliable way to lower blood pressure, prevent blood vessel calcification and it has many other benefits. Routine periodic fasting is good for your health, and your heart, study suggests It might even treat calcification.

After about 2-3 days of fasting you can start introducing things while monitoring pressure to get a general sense on how things affect you and where the problem might lie. It might be even something as innocent as a multivitamin or grains. After maybe 5 such rounds of fasting you should have a pretty good picture if it is positively affecting your general condition, and decide to continue or not.

I realize fasting is seen kinda negatively on this forum and it very well might be if you are in good health and functioning optimally, but if you are not then it can be a miraculous intervention.

Combining the peat perspective with the fasting has in my opinion the potential to greatly exceed the effect size seen in most if not all studies.

Glad to hear that point of view. Have actually been considering that. Just not decided on what kind of fast to start with. A water fast or a dry fast or a urine fast. And then for how many days.

Would likely start with a water fast for 2 days, with another a week later of a dry fast, and then followed by a urine fast on another week. A fast would work for me as I don't have blood sugar problems anymore, which I think is a problem when fasting.

Fasting would be good in getting rid of some protein structures that are superfluous, useless, or outlived their use. I think that if I have fibrosis, the fibrous matrix can undergo apoptosis and the protein can be used up for energy during the fast.

 

[charlie]

Glad to hear that point of view. Have actually been considering that. Just not decided on what kind of fast to start with. A water fast or a dry fast or a urine fast. And then for how many days.

Would likely start with a water fast for 2 days, with another a week later of a dry fast, and then followed by a urine fast on another week. A fast would work for me as I don't have blood sugar problems anymore, which I think is a problem when fasting.

Fasting would be good in getting rid of some protein structures that are superfluous, useless, or outlived their use. I think that if I have fibrosis, the fibrous matrix can undergo apoptosis and the protein can be used up for energy during the fast.

For your consideration:
https://www.truthseekerz.com/Arnold_Rational_Fasting.pdf

and

https://www.truthseekerz.com/Arnold_Mucusless_Diet.pdf

 

[rei]

Dry fast and urine fast sound harmful to me, is there science behind them? Water fast with maybe 5 grams of sea salt daily is probably a good base to build upon. Personally i add a few coffees per day with a teaspoon of coconut oil/cocoa butter. The saturated fat will help negate most damage from fat cell released PUFA. Coffee increases apoptosis of old cells, eliminates hunger.

The IDM clinic has found that the worse a diabetic patient is the longer the fasting period needs to be to cure their diabetes, this is probably also true with other conditions. They also have found that transition to fasting is greatly eased by first going low carb / keto for some days. But personally i didn't find this necessary beyond the second fast.

 

[yerrag]

For your consideration:
https://www.truthseekerz.com/Arnold_Rational_Fasting.pdf

and

https://www.truthseekerz.com/Arnold_Mucusless_Diet.pdf

This is a century old and looks like sound advice, just like the bible. Thanks, Charlie!

Dry fast and urine fast sound harmful to me, is there science behind them? Water fast with maybe 5 grams of sea salt daily is probably a good base to build upon. Personally i add a few coffees per day with a teaspoon of coconut oil/cocoa butter. The saturated fat will help negate most damage from fat cell released PUFA. Coffee increases apoptosis of old cells, eliminates hunger.

The IDM clinic has found that the worse a diabetic patient is the longer the fasting period needs to be to cure their diabetes, this is probably also true with other conditions. They also have found that transition to fasting is greatly eased by first going low carb / keto for some days. But personally i didn't find this necessary beyond the second fast.

Because of the need to take things slow, and also to be safe, I agree that a water fast would be a safe way to start. I'm open to the other fasts though, but I can't cover much ground in reading up on the subject matter thoroughly. But I'm really interested in apoptosis of senescent cells. I'm also hoping that fasting can also get rid of fibrotic cells. The process of adaptation to stress creates fibrotic structures, but one the stress is relieved, these structures remain, but I hope fasting will eliminate them.

 

[yerrag]

The past 2 weeks I've been busy with the details of home renovation. Not that it's in any way finished, but this week I had a chance to catch up on my reading a little bit. Since my wifi network is now confined to a small section of the home (as the repeaters have been disabled), I was having to have the inconvenience of not accessing the internet in the room I had moved into to sleep. A nice inconvenience it turns out to be.

I was having to sleep in a wooden floor, which turned out to be pleasant. It's been awhile since I last slept on a wooden floor, and that was in my childhood years when me and my siblings just slept on thin mats on a wooden floor. I was still waking up during the night, but not for urinating. This made me think a lot. Could it be that without the wifi, I was urinating much less. I found myself urinating only once and sometimes twice during the night, and this was an improvement over having to wake up 3 times each night to urinate.

I'm only talking about less urination, which is a positive. The negative is that my blood pressure did not get any better during this time. I'm not bummed out though because I wasn't expecting it to get better, given that I had for 2 weeks and counting skipped on many supplements such as vitamin C and magnesium and calcium that were helpful in lowering my blood pressure. I was busy with odds and ends and I just kinda eased up on my supplements.

I'm trying now to see if there's a connection between my high blood pressure and any radiation exposure I've had. Since I've already confirmed that I'm hypovolemic, thru my RBC, hemoglobin, and hematocrit values, as well as thru my urine specific gravity (at 1.018, which makes me slightly hypovolemic; higher than 1.01 is the cutoff; I used a refractometer to test my urine specific gravity).

I'm making another change in focus now. If you will recall, I was going to test the use of enzymes such as serrapeptase to see if it could address what I suspect to be fibrosis causing my hypertension. But given that it takes months of serrapeptase intake to see results, and given that fibrosis is something I have yet to verify, I feel it better to direct my inquiry into something that's proven: hypovolemia.

It is accepted that hypovolemia leads to high blood pressure. So now, I'm looking into the causes of hypovolemia instead of the causes of high blood pressure. This helps me in identifying the cause as the scope is more restricted, and finding the cause and the solution would be easier.

In seeing how the absence of wifi has made be urinate less at night, I'm made to believe that emf radiation has affected my hormones, and this has led to an inability to control urination at night. This could be about vasopressin, or ADH (antidiuretic hormone) not being released by the posterior pituitary gland to control urination at night. Or this could be about my kidneys not neing responisve to ADH. Or this could be about the hypothalamus not producing ADH.

Any of the above is possible, but all of these may be secondary to the primary cause. Which is radiation. I have to keep a good log of my sleep, and see if I'm indeed urinating less at night, and by how much less. I'll also monitor my urine specific gravity, to see if there is an improvement that would be in the way of showing that I'm becoming less hypovolemic (currently at 1.018 and seeing if it would be lessened towards 1.01).

I feel strongly now that blood volume has an outsize effect on my health markers. If my blood volume turns from hypovolemia to normovolemia, I believe my blood pressure would become normal, my serum creatinine levels would lower as well (given the larger blood volume to spread the creatinine over, giving a creatinine value that is lower), and perhaps albumin excretion would lower because of the lower blood pressure forcing it out to urine).

My action plan for the near future would be:

1. try to find a doctor who will be amenable to giving me a prescription of vasopressin. "Try" indeed, as I don't see how any doctor would agree to listen to my analysis. A functional performance doctor comes to mind. May need to ask a friend for his contact info.
2. If unable to do #1, to take a serum vasopressin test
3. Continue to be wifi free at night while I sleep, and keep a log of my urination. And for more data, monitor sleep with my Sleep as Android app.
4. Monitor my urine specific gravity as a marker for my blood volume

I have given up on the thought that resolving my periodontal infection would lead to lower blood pressure (it has been 3 months already and I would be seeing the benefits of it already). It may still be a cause, but not the only cause. I have already given up on resolving my lead toxicity to relieve my hypertensive condition; it has been resolved but another cause remains. I'm experiencing first-hand how difficult it is to cure hypertension. It is a many-headed monster that requires a lot of patience and persistence to slay.

One more thought: 20+ years ago, I went to Boston's Lahey Clinic to have a keloid removed by scalpel and by radiation therapy. This keloid was like a large piece of grape hanging off my left earlobe. It was a successful operation. I no longer have this unsightly grape-sized flesh of an earring dangling off my ears. The radiation was employed to keep the keloid from growing back. I had researched this and contacted Lahey Clinic to have this operation. It payed off well. But now I wonder if the radiation I received would in any way have caused me to become hypertensive.

What if it affected my hypothalamus? What if it caused it to not produce vasopressin? Or what if it affected my pituitary gland, such that it would not release enough vasopressin? This would cause me to urinate more, and lose water and minerals that would be used to build blood volume. With low blood volume, more work is needed for the blood to circulate all over my body, and this would cause higher blood pressure.