Who Here Feels In Great Health At The Moment?

[kreeese]

Just starting on a more Peat friendly diet about 2 weeks ago. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster so far, but starting to make some nice improvements. The biggest thing for me was quitting marijuana. I didn’t realize how much it was messing with my hormones until I quit. Had Some serious withdrawals; headaches, anxiety, and bad insomnia. I don’t think I would have quit if I didn’t start this work, and everyday feels like I’m getting better. I’m still not getting the desired sleep that I would like, but I’m fairly optimistic. I had some bloodwork done, and my vitamin d levels are pretty low, and prolactin high, so I’m working on that. I went to the beach with my wife, and daughter today, and it felt great. I feel pretty damn good right about now, and about get busy with some seafood; oysters, shrimp, and some socializing with friends. So, I would have to say that right now is spot on. Super grateful for this forum, my family, and Ray’s work!

awesome...

 

[DaveFoster]

I must admit that I've never considered seeing a conventional doctor regarding my hypertension. I've been to a few naturopaths to no avail.

And I'm hesitant on drugs that would lower my blood pressure without addressing the underlying cause. The risk of having hypertension for an extended period is that it would eventually affect my kidneys. On the other hand, I have to weigh that against the risk of lowering blood pressure artificially (by that I mean without the body initiating it with its own physiological control mechanisms). The artificial method, to which conventional treatment ascribes to, fails to take into account the possibility that there are protective benefits to increasing blood pressure, as a maladaption, or an adaptation of the body to meet the stresses of an underlying pathological issue.

In my case, it is lead toxicity in my kidney, which produces oxidative stresses that needed to be addressed by uric acid, an antiozidant. The supply of uric acid would not be sufficient if my blood pressure were to be lowered, as the hypertensive condition is the result of constricted blood vessels induced to produce a state of hypoxia needed for uric acid to be produced.

It is possible that my hypertensive condition is saving me from further harm from lead toxicity. My approach would be to address the elimination of lead from my kidneys. On the short term, I would be adversely affected by the hypertensive condition. Possibly it affects my hair condition (becoming less full) and my libido, both of which are not necessary for survival. But I am shooting for the long term, as I resolve the issue of lead toxicity, which would eventually restore my normal blood pressure as well as my hair and libido.

The risk here is that if the hypertensive condition were left unresolved, it would possibly damage my kidneys.

It looks to me, from my initial hurried assessment, that Clonidine, much like other anti-hyperstensive drugs, would give me an immediate benefit of having lower blood pressure, but will cause me to lose the protection from oxidative stress. I may appear to be healthier on the surface, but worse off inside.

Not advising you, but a systolic of 220 probably damages your capillaries (and maybe organs), but I'm sure you're aware of that. It's not all or nothing either; you could lower it maybe 10 or 20 points (which assumedly wouldn't impair the lead detoxification too much and prevent from potential adverse effects from a systolic BP of 180,) but again, talk to your doctor.

It's an unfortunate situation, sorry you have to suffer through this. It probably provokes a great deal of anxiety having such a high BP. I remember when mine would reach 150/90 I would lose it; I couldn't imagine 180 or higher.

 

[Waynish]

Oozing with vitality :)
Good thread topic; reminds me of a troubling correlation - that those with more health problems seem to give more health advice. This should be taboo. There's nothing wrong with adding one's thoughts or research anywhere - but it seems like some of the same people giving extremely confident advice on "how to fix xyz" one day are posting about their life-crippling problems the next.

 

[Jem Oz]

Feeling damn good. Going on 3 years now. Prior to that I was horribly unwell. Very grateful to Peat and others for all their legwork. Life changing stuff.

 

[Blossom]

Oozing with vitality :)
Good thread topic; reminds me of a troubling correlation - that those with more health problems seem to give more health advice. This should be taboo. There's nothing wrong with adding one's thoughts or research anywhere - but it seems like some of the same people giving extremely confident advice on "how to fix xyz" one day are posting about their life-crippling problems the next.

I think it's the wounded healer phenomena. Sometimes people with health problems learn about health to try to solve their own problems and then end up sharing the information they've gathered with other people.

I find myself in that situation sometimes when coworkers, family or friends complain about health issues especially gut related! I can't help but share what I've learned but not in a bossy way. I just present information I've come across and what they do with that information is up to them. I think its nice when people can help one another out that way. People probably did that a lot more in the past before modern medicine.

I get your point about sick people giving health advice but I think sick people tend to help other sick people out of feelings of camaraderie. Especially on this forum it seems like people like to help others as a way of giving back when they have been helped. It's great. I find most people's input valuable even if it's just in appreciation of their kind gesture of taking time to post a thoughtful reply. I'd be willing to bet many sick people have been helped by other sick people.

 

[yerrag]

Not advising you, but a systolic of 220 probably damages your capillaries (and maybe organs), but I'm sure you're aware of that. It's not all or nothing either; you could lower it maybe 10 or 20 points (which assumedly wouldn't impair the lead detoxification too much and prevent from potential adverse effects from a systolic BP of 180,) but again, talk to your doctor.

It's an unfortunate situation, sorry you have to suffer through this. It probably provokes a great deal of anxiety having such a high BP. I remember when mine would reach 150/90 I would lose it; I couldn't imagine 180 or higher.

I appreciate very much your suggestions, Dave. It may come to a point where I would take you up on the Clonidine and see a doctor. I'm just not hopeful I can find a good doctor as most friends recommend doctors just like they recommend dining places. The longer the line, the better. With food, it's a good bet but with doctors not so. I can already expect a doctor to rush me to ER with such a high blood pressure, and then poke me with many instruments, and if not, tell me to take antihypertensive drugs. I could ask them about clonidine, but what is special about Clonidine that makes it different from all the rest?

It's been 14-15 years when I started having hypertension. It has gone up steadily until late last year, when I started on magnesium and Vitamin C. It gives me a lot of hope, just having the bp values go down, even if the levels are still high. It's a big deal to me, although most would just say 180/110 is still high, and give nary a thought that it had come down from 220/140 already. I'm a lone voice to think that the high blood pressure has so far been protective to me.

Last year I had reached a point where my urine protein/creatinine ratio went above range, and indicated stage 1 chronic kidney disease. As luck would have it, I learned about magnesium and vitamin C and started on using them. A month or two later, those values had returned to normal. My albumin, which is most of the protein being lost in urine, has also started to steadily increase, as seen in my serum albumin. Is this reason enough for me to continue on with this therapy? I think so. I guess it's a situation of me having come this far without the help of pharma drugs, and seeing some breakthrough, that I wanted to wait a little more before raising the white flag and using pharma drugs.

But don't get me wrong. I'm totally fine with pharma drugs when used with a proper understanding of the individual's context, with the aim to cure or to heal. I've come full circle with aspirin and find value in the use of cyproheptadine. I use synthetic vitamin C and I'm not hung up about needing vitamin C to be natural. I guess it would be hard for me to just go a doctor and just follow his prescriptive advice without knowing fully where taking his advice leads me. It doesn't matter whether the doctor is conventional, naturopathic, traditional Chinese medicine or Ayurvedic. Ray Peat has opened the door for me to ask, and that door will never be shut again.

 

[DaveFoster]

I appreciate very much your suggestions, Dave. It may come to a point where I would take you up on the Clonidine and see a doctor. I'm just not hopeful I can find a good doctor as most friends recommend doctors just like they recommend dining places. The longer the line, the better. With food, it's a good bet but with doctors not so. I can already expect a doctor to rush me to ER with such a high blood pressure, and then poke me with many instruments, and if not, tell me to take antihypertensive drugs. I could ask them about clonidine, but what is special about Clonidine that makes it different from all the rest?

It's been 14-15 years when I started having hypertension. It has gone up steadily until late last year, when I started on magnesium and Vitamin C. It gives me a lot of hope, just having the bp values go down, even if the levels are still high. It's a big deal to me, although most would just say 180/110 is still high, and give nary a thought that it had come down from 220/140 already. I'm a lone voice to think that the high blood pressure has so far been protective to me.

Last year I had reached a point where my urine protein/creatinine ratio went above range, and indicated stage 1 chronic kidney disease. As luck would have it, I learned about magnesium and vitamin C and started on using them. A month or two later, those values had returned to normal. My albumin, which is most of the protein being lost in urine, has also started to steadily increase, as seen in my serum albumin. Is this reason enough for me to continue on with this therapy? I think so. I guess it's a situation of me having come this far without the help of pharma drugs, and seeing some breakthrough, that I wanted to wait a little more before raising the white flag and using pharma drugs.

But don't get me wrong. I'm totally fine with pharma drugs when used with a proper understanding of the individual's context, with the aim to cure or to heal. I've come full circle with aspirin and find value in the use of cyproheptadine. I use synthetic vitamin C and I'm not hung up about needing vitamin C to be natural. I guess it would be hard for me to just go a doctor and just follow his prescriptive advice without knowing fully where taking his advice leads me. It doesn't matter whether the doctor is conventional, naturopathic, traditional Chinese medicine or Ayurvedic. Ray Peat has opened the door for me to ask, and that door will never be shut again.

Well, cyproheptadine will lower your blood pressure as well, but in the necessary dosages it can cause severe weight gain. Clonidine tends to lower the stress hormones, so there's a beneficial homeostatic mechanism there, whereas ACE inhibitors merely block the angiotensin enzyme (often with other effects.)

As far as drugs go, ACE inhibitors (such as lisinopril) have a fairly benign side effect profile, but people generally take these drugs for many decades, so they can cause some problems, mostly hyperkalemia (elevated potassium.) Taking these drugs and restricting salt intake can lead to some serious electrolyte problems.

Again, doctors won't do anything to your blood pressure without your permission, and if you walk in and insist on clonidine, they'll probably oblige you, as they'll weigh the potential of a hypertensive crisis from clonidine withdrawal (if you stop taking it) vs. an impending vascular event. Just think about it: if you were a doctor, and a guy showed up with a blood pressure of 180/110 (which merits an ambulance ride and immediately intervention), and he insisted on a relatively safe (albeit not first-line treatment for hypertension), and you refused him, that's ridiculous liability and a poor response by any medical standard. Hell, they sometimes prescribe clonidine for anxiety. You have a legitimate medical reason.

I'm not a doctor, and this isn't licensed medical advice, but the risk of lab abnormalities from a small dosage of an antihypertensive seems to be less than the risk of maintaining a systolic BP at 180. I'm sure doctors will find a middle ground and take into consideration your condition. There's a lot of demonization of doctors, and there's certainly reasons to criticize them, but if you find a good one (often the young and much older ones I find,) they'll hear your concerns and actually have a conversation with you. I would find a BP so high unacceptable. There's a reason doctors use antihypertensives to treat high blood pressure in the context of kidney disease: it's because your numbers are far too high by medical standards, and you should really evaluate the risk:benefit of maintaining a potentially fatal state vs. an increase in hypoxia. Although you're asymptomatic, you've mentioned having hypertension for fifteen years, so it's certainly worth looking into.

I've had horrible experiences combining clonidine and cyproheptadine; they assumedly lowered aldosterone too much and dropped my sodium levels. I felt like I was dying: screaming out on a stretcher in absolute panic.

Dr. Peat recommends thyroid to lower blood pressure, and he also recommends 5 mg K2 daily.

 

[yerrag]

Well, cyproheptadine will lower your blood pressure as well, but in the necessary dosages it can cause severe weight gain. Clonidine tends to lower the stress hormones, so there's a beneficial homeostatic mechanism there, whereas ACE inhibitors merely block the angiotensin enzyme (often with other effects.)

As far as drugs go, ACE inhibitors (such as lisinopril) have a fairly benign side effect profile, but people generally take these drugs for many decades, so they can cause some problems, mostly hyperkalemia (elevated potassium.) Taking these drugs and restricting salt intake can lead to some serious electrolyte problems.

Again, doctors won't do anything to your blood pressure without your permission, and if you walk in and insist on clonidine, they'll probably oblige you, as they'll weigh the potential of a hypertensive crisis from clonidine withdrawal (if you stop taking it) vs. an impending vascular event. Just think about it: if you were a doctor, and a guy showed up with a blood pressure of 180/110 (which merits an ambulance ride and immediately intervention), and he insisted on a relatively safe (albeit not first-line treatment for hypertension), and you refused him, that's ridiculous liability and a poor response by any medical standard. Hell, they sometimes prescribe clonidine for anxiety. You have a legitimate medical reason.

I'm not a doctor, and this isn't licensed medical advice, but the risk of lab abnormalities from a small dosage of an antihypertensive seems to be less than the risk of maintaining a systolic BP at 180. I'm sure doctors will find a middle ground and take into consideration your condition. There's a lot of demonization of doctors, and there's certainly reasons to criticize them, but if you find a good one (often the young and much older ones I find,) they'll hear your concerns and actually have a conversation with you. I would find a BP so high unacceptable. There's a reason doctors use antihypertensives to treat high blood pressure in the context of kidney disease: it's because your numbers are far too high by medical standards, and you should really evaluate the risk:benefit of maintaining a potentially fatal state vs. an increase in hypoxia. Although you're asymptomatic, you've mentioned having hypertension for fifteen years, so it's certainly worth looking into.

I've had horrible experiences combining clonidine and cyproheptadine; they assumedly lowered aldosterone too much and dropped my sodium levels. I felt like I was dying: screaming out on a stretcher in absolute panic.

Dr. Peat recommends thyroid to lower blood pressure, and he also recommends 5 mg K2 daily.

Thanks for a very thorough response and advice Dave. Let me ask around which physicians I can have a conversation with. I have thyroid and k2 from haidut. I've tried using Tyromix, it doesn't work as it increases my blood pressure just the same as when I practice Buteyko. My guess is that it helps increase oxygenation of my tissues, and my body is resisting that by compensating with tightening my blood vessels further. I dabbled with k2, but maybe my dosage isn't high enough to be effective. I should give it another try. In what way does vitamin k2 help?

 

[lollipop]

I think it's the wounded healer phenomena. Sometimes people with health problems learn about health to try to solve their own problems and then end up sharing the information they've gathered with other people.

I find myself in that situation sometimes when coworkers, family or friends complain about health issues especially gut related! I can't help but share what I've learned but not in a bossy way. I just present information I've come across and what they do with that information is up to them. I think its nice when people can help one another out that way. People probably did that a lot more in the past before modern medicine.

I get your point about sick people giving health advice but I think sick people tend to help other sick people out of feelings of camaraderie. Especially on this forum it seems like people like to help others as a way of giving back when they have been helped. It's great. I find most people's input valuable even if it's just in appreciation of their kind gesture of taking time to post a thoughtful reply. I'd be willing to bet many sick people have been helped by other sick people.

Very good post @Blossom Thank you for bringing up the wounded healer phenomenon. It is real and can certainly be exactly what another person needs. Sometimes people trust others who have walked in similar struggles more then people who have not.

 

[LUH 3417]

Very good post @Blossom Thank you for bringing up the wounded healer phenomenon. It is real and can certainly be exactly what another person needs. Sometimes people trust others who have walked in similar struggles more then people who have not.

I agree that it is a real phenomenon. It also speaks to the way health and healing involve sociability and the experience of personally meaningful connections with others. It’s reassuring to know there are thoughtful and kind people that exist in the world. Perhaps that’s the plus side of the internet; although we hide behind a screen, we still reach out in moments of openness and vulnerability.

 

[lollipop]

I agree that it is a real phenomenon. It also speaks to the way health and healing involve sociability and the experience of personally meaningful connections with others. It’s reassuring to know there are thoughtful and kind people that exist in the world. Perhaps that’s the plus side of the internet; although we hide behind a screen, we still reach out in moments of openness and vulnerability.

+1 I soooo agree

 

[Kyle M]

I do

 

[kreeese]

woke up today feeling great Its a national Holiday and I love cheat sundays anyway!! hahaa but yes feeling great indeed

 

[michael94]

I agree that it is a real phenomenon. It also speaks to the way health and healing involve sociability and the experience of personally meaningful connections with others. It’s reassuring to know there are thoughtful and kind people that exist in the world. Perhaps that’s the plus side of the internet; although we hide behind a screen, we still reach out in moments of openness and vulnerability.

Suffer ( Suf-Fer ) means to bring or bear out Wisdom or what is hidden ( mystical or occult ). Suf being related to Suf-ism or Suf-i... In Sufi mysticism, there are colors associated with different spiritual destinations. The penultimate of which is Black, a Black Light which is not seen but causes seeing.

Steven D. Foster ~ Photographs : The Departing Landscape website: The Light & Colors of Sufism

( Just a reference not promotion of all that is written )

Ok and
There is another meaning of suffer which is important to add, related to wool and torture, because suffering is not inherently good of course. But it is a way of winning by losing.

 

[LUH 3417]

Suffer ( Suf-Fer ) means to bring or bear out Wisdom or what is hidden ( mystical or occult ). Suf being related to Suf-ism or Suf-i... In Sufi mysticism, there are colors associated with different spiritual destinations. The penultimate of which is Black, a Black Light which is not seen but causes seeing.

Steven D. Foster ~ Photographs : The Departing Landscape website: The Light & Colors of Sufism

( Just a reference not promotion of all that is written )

Ok and
There is another meaning of suffer which is important to add, related to wool and torture, because suffering is not inherently good of course. But it is a way of winning by losing.

Fruit of the Loom

 

[yerrag]

Thanks for a very thorough response and advice Dave. Let me ask around which physicians I can have a conversation with. I have thyroid and k2 from haidut. I've tried using Tyromix, it doesn't work as it increases my blood pressure just the same as when I practice Buteyko. My guess is that it helps increase oxygenation of my tissues, and my body is resisting that by compensating with tightening my blood vessels further. I dabbled with k2, but maybe my dosage isn't high enough to be effective. I should give it another try. In what way does vitamin k2 help?

@DaveFoster I applied 3 drops of Kuinone spread out over a day. It did not work for my context. Improved breathing to retain CO2 using Buteyko method, using thyroid, and using vitamin K2 - all these methods end up increasing my blood pressure. These all end up improving my metabolism, either by directly improving oxygenation of tissues or by increasing the demand of oxygen.

But my guess here is that my body is resisting the increased flow of oxygen through my vessels by constricting my blood vessels as a result, leading to increased blood pressure. And the reason, as I've mentioned before, is that the hypoxic state, enabled by oxygen restriction, is needed to produce uric acid. Perhaps the hypoxic state is only localized to the tissues that need uric acid as an antioxidant to combat oxidative stresses locally, which in my case is the kidney, where toxic lead resides. No matter how localized the restriction is to the kidneys, it affects the entire circulatory system since the blood coursing through the kidney is vital and central to detoxifying the blood. Hence, its effect would be systemic on my circulatory system.

Clearly, I cannot approach this problem with the usual means to lower blood pressure. Improving the blood vessels ability to expand, due to reversing calcification, in order to inprove the blood transport capacity, isn't working. Improving the ability of releasing oxygen to the tissues, through sufficient CO2 in the blood, isn't working. Improving the oxygen transport efficiency of the blood, by making sure hemoglobin's oxygen carrying ability is maximized, hasn't worked. In fact, it may be a contributing cause to my hypertensive condition.

When I had mercury toxicity before, I wasn't hypertensive. I had 11 mercury fillings for my cavities. I was a fast sprinter, but I could not run more than a kilometer without being exhausted. When I removed those amalgams, and underwent chelation, and finally removed mercury from my system, I could run at least 5 kilometers without feeling exhausted, even with no training. This was because the hemoglobin was no longer carrying mercury in place of oxygen, and my blood was able to deliver oxygen maximally to my tissues. But not long after that, which I would guess to be a year although it's hard to say, I started to have higher blood pressure. I couldn't understand why I wasn't able to maintain my previous 120/80 blood pressure level.

Now I do. It was because my body had normalized to having the sub-maximal delivery of oxygen to my tissues over the years. It had gotten used to the low delivery of oxygen to my tissues, and had adapted to it. It was a maladaptation. As a result, the lack of oxygen was expressed by my skin's faulty healing response. I developed plenty of keloids on my torso and my shoulders. There was even one hanging from my left earlobe, which I was thankful to have been successfully removed after some research, when I went to Boston's Lahey Clinic to have surgically cut off and kept from growing using a pinpoint radiation therapy. Else I would have a piece of flesh looking a piece of grape hanging over my left earlobe.

The body would have slowly reverted back from its maladapted state to a regular well-adapted state, due to the restored oxygen-carrying capacity of blood. But it didn't. It would turn out that I still have toxicity, but this time it is lead. And it is in my kidneys. My body is an amazing system, it would now need to adapt to the presence of lead. Lead exposure leads to oxidative stresses, and these stresses would lead to kidney damage if left unchecked. The body had to produce enough antioxidants to protect my kidneys. And the antioxidant it produces in sufficient quantities is uric acid. To produce enough uric acid, it had to create a condition conducive to uric acid being produced. It needed hypoxic conditions in the kidney tissues. For that to happen, it needed to reduce blood flow, so that oxygen being delivered to the local tissues would be minimized. This required blood vessels to be constricted. This, to me, explains why I have high blood pressure.

It also explains why I cannot just take a drug to relieve my high blood pressure condition. It would go against my body's protection mechanism, which is doing the very thing I needed it to do - protecting my kidneys from being destroyed by lead toxicity. Taking plenty vitamin C is, to me, one good way to lower blood pressure without risking damaging my kidneys. It takes away part of the load for uric acid to be produced, as it would be a replacement antioxidant for uric acid. Vitamin C, along with magnesium, have also been shown to be effective chelators of lead. And this is the reason I am taking both of them, in order to address the very cause of my condition, by removing them slowly from my kidneys.

Taking magnesium, along with increased potassium, calcium, and sodium, is also important as having these electrolytes in sufficient quantities allow my body to produce more blood. This would also help lower my blood pressure, although I am doubtful that my body would just increase my blood supply without first addressing the lead toxicity, as the presence of lead is the presence of harmful oxidative stress, and more blood and more oxygen is not helping the cause of hypoxia. But given my putative sub-optimal blood volume, I would have to live without the benefit of optional characteristics such as an impeccable head of hair and a reproductive accessory of great endurance.

I'm still solving this riddle, and my context is one that not many practitioners would be specialized enough to handle. It is very much a solo flight for me. I hope I'm not being stubborn sticking to my method. I am open to suggestions, and do not have the luxury of throwing away well-meant advice. Sometimes, even the ones out of left field may just work. I may try Clonidine, if only because there may be a threshold of blood pressure where magnesium would be able to kick out the lead that is stuck in my cells, which with vitamin C is not able to reach.

This a rather long response, but one I have to make, if only by doing so I can get a clear picture of what I have as options going forward. Thanks for your help.

p.s. One thing that could really help is finding something that is anti-peat. This means something that can be used to throttle my metabolism so that the demand for oxygen would be lessened, or something that could throttle my oxygen supply. This would create less of a need to constrict my blood vessels. This protective goes towards the discussion of substances that give protective inhibition. So this may not be ant-Peat after all.

 

[DaveFoster]

@DaveFoster I applied 3 drops of Kuinone spread out over a day. It did not work for my context. Improved breathing to retain CO2 using Buteyko method, using thyroid, and using vitamin K2 - all these methods end up increasing my blood pressure. These all end up improving my metabolism, either by directly improving oxygenation of tissues or by increasing the demand of oxygen.

But my guess here is that my body is resisting the increased flow of oxygen through my vessels by constricting my blood vessels as a result, leading to increased blood pressure. And the reason, as I've mentioned before, is that the hypoxic state, enabled by oxygen restriction, is needed to produce uric acid. Perhaps the hypoxic state is only localized to the tissues that need uric acid as an antioxidant to combat oxidative stresses locally, which in my case is the kidney, where toxic lead resides. No matter how localized the restriction is to the kidneys, it affects the entire circulatory system since the blood coursing through the kidney is vital and central to detoxifying the blood. Hence, its effect would be systemic on my circulatory system.

Clearly, I cannot approach this problem with the usual means to lower blood pressure. Improving the blood vessels ability to expand, due to reversing calcification, in order to inprove the blood transport capacity, isn't working. Improving the ability of releasing oxygen to the tissues, through sufficient CO2 in the blood, isn't working. Improving the oxygen transport efficiency of the blood, by making sure hemoglobin's oxygen carrying ability is maximized, hasn't worked. In fact, it may be a contributing cause to my hypertensive condition.

When I had mercury toxicity before, I wasn't hypertensive. I had 11 mercury fillings for my cavities. I was a fast sprinter, but I could not run more than a kilometer without being exhausted. When I removed those amalgams, and underwent chelation, and finally removed mercury from my system, I could run at least 5 kilometers without feeling exhausted, even with no training. This was because the hemoglobin was no longer carrying mercury in place of oxygen, and my blood was able to deliver oxygen maximally to my tissues. But not long after that, which I would guess to be a year although it's hard to say, I started to have higher blood pressure. I couldn't understand why I wasn't able to maintain my previous 120/80 blood pressure level.

Now I do. It was because my body had normalized to having the sub-maximal delivery of oxygen to my tissues over the years. It had gotten used to the low delivery of oxygen to my tissues, and had adapted to it. It was a maladaptation. As a result, the lack of oxygen was expressed by my skin's faulty healing response. I developed plenty of keloids on my torso and my shoulders. There was even one hanging from my left earlobe, which I was thankful to have been successfully removed after some research, when I went to Boston's Lahey Clinic to have surgically cut off and kept from growing using a pinpoint radiation therapy. Else I would have a piece of flesh looking a piece of grape hanging over my left earlobe.

The body would have slowly reverted back from its maladapted state to a regular well-adapted state, due to the restored oxygen-carrying capacity of blood. But it didn't. It would turn out that I still have toxicity, but this time it is lead. And it is in my kidneys. My body is an amazing system, it would now need to adapt to the presence of lead. Lead exposure leads to oxidative stresses, and these stresses would lead to kidney damage if left unchecked. The body had to produce enough antioxidants to protect my kidneys. And the antioxidant it produces in sufficient quantities is uric acid. To produce enough uric acid, it had to create a condition conducive to uric acid being produced. It needed hypoxic conditions in the kidney tissues. For that to happen, it needed to reduce blood flow, so that oxygen being delivered to the local tissues would be minimized. This required blood vessels to be constricted. This, to me, explains why I have high blood pressure.

It also explains why I cannot just take a drug to relieve my high blood pressure condition. It would go against my body's protection mechanism, which is doing the very thing I needed it to do - protecting my kidneys from being destroyed by lead toxicity. Taking plenty vitamin C is, to me, one good way to lower blood pressure without risking damaging my kidneys. It takes away part of the load for uric acid to be produced, as it would be a replacement antioxidant for uric acid. Vitamin C, along with magnesium, have also been shown to be effective chelators of lead. And this is the reason I am taking both of them, in order to address the very cause of my condition, by removing them slowly from my kidneys.

Taking magnesium, along with increased potassium, calcium, and sodium, is also important as having these electrolytes in sufficient quantities allow my body to produce more blood. This would also help lower my blood pressure, although I am doubtful that my body would just increase my blood supply without first addressing the lead toxicity, as the presence of lead is the presence of harmful oxidative stress, and more blood and more oxygen is not helping the cause of hypoxia. But given my putative sub-optimal blood volume, I would have to live without the benefit of optional characteristics such as an impeccable head of hair and a reproductive accessory of great endurance.

I'm still solving this riddle, and my context is one that not many practitioners would be specialized enough to handle. It is very much a solo flight for me. I hope I'm not being stubborn sticking to my method. I am open to suggestions, and do not have the luxury of throwing away well-meant advice. Sometimes, even the ones out of left field may just work. I may try Clonidine, if only because there may be a threshold of blood pressure where magnesium would be able to kick out the lead that is stuck in my cells, which with vitamin C is not able to reach.

This a rather long response, but one I have to make, if only by doing so I can get a clear picture of what I have as options going forward. Thanks for your help.

p.s. One thing that could really help is finding something that is anti-peat. This means something that can be used to throttle my metabolism so that the demand for oxygen would be lessened, or something that could throttle my oxygen supply. This would create less of a need to constrict my blood vessels. This protective goes towards the discussion of substances that give protective inhibition. So this may not be ant-Peat after all.

No problem. Too much vitamin C can be hard on the kidneys.

 

[Luann]

Better now that I take care of myself.

I didn't do any K2, glycine, or enough salt or enough kcal for a long time. Still working on eating enough.

I did grow more than 3/4 of an inch and in the week since starting K2 (600 mcgs a day) I've had my eyelids even out - one always looked more closed than the other. My face used to be proportionately small for my body, more so in photos, but I've seen some pictures of myself lately that looked "normal" and pretty.

To me at least.

:)

 

[raypeatclips]

Better now that I take care of myself.

I didn't do any K2, glycine, or enough salt or enough kcal for a long time. Still working on eating enough.

I did grow more than 3/4 of an inch and in the week since starting K2 (600 mcgs a day) I've had my eyelids even out - one always looked more closed than the other. My face used to be proportionately small for my body, more so in photos, but I've seen some pictures of myself lately that looked "normal" and pretty.

To me at least.

:)

Was the K2 topically, or internally? Which product? Thanks!

 

[Luann]

It's a pill :) From "Vitamins Becase you are Worth it". Lol a little sketchy but hey. Just realized it's MK7.