It has been established by US health organizations like the National Institutes for Health and the Center for Disease Control that one in three Americans are sick with high blood pressure. The fact about high blood pressure is that it does not manifest a lot of symptoms, symptoms that may remain undetected for a lot of years. High blood pressure that has not been diagnosed is dangerous since it can result in devastating consequences like kidney failure, heart attack and stroke. So, if you have a strong suspicion that you are showing signs of high blood pressure, you need to have yourself evaluated by your doctor as soon as possible.
High Blood Pressure Treatments
There are a few treatments to handle high blood pressure with a drug regimen being the most commonly used and being the most effective for a lot of high blood sufferers in controlling their problem. Medications can decrease effectively, rapidly and substantially one’s blood pressure; however, as with all kinds of pharmaceutical drugs, takers may experience some forms of side effects. A growing number of high blood pressure patients are now seeking alternative treatment to avoid the intake of prescription drugs. One of the most effective alternative treatments for high blood pressure is acupuncture.
An Alternative Treatment Method – Acupuncture for High Blood Pressure
Treating high blood pressure using acupuncture is a very sensible idea to consider since it has been used for thousands of years in China in treating dozens of health conditions including high blood pressure with great success. Acupuncture involves the insertion of thin, sterilized needles at strategic points in the body in order to treat illnesses and remove pain.
Although the exact mechanics of how acupuncture works are a mystery to Western medical science, acupuncturists have been using this therapy for a wide array of sicknesses ranging from anxiety and stress reduction to infertility and addiction.
Newly done clinical studies have shown that acupuncture for high blood pressure basically works by altering the brain’s control of the respiratory system. This means that the requirement for oxygen is reduced enabling the heart not to work as hard causing the person’s blood pressure to decrease. One study has shown that acupuncture for high blood pressure is only effective when the treatment uses small electrical pulses.
These studies, however, merely involved animal experiments but the succeeding studies will be about acupuncture for high blood pressure tested in human volunteers.
An important thing that needs to be determined by acupuncturists is what parts of the body should the needles be inserted. In many studies regarding high blood pressure treatment, the acupuncture points selected were in the forearm and wrists of the human subjects. However, anecdotal evidence has shown that acupuncture for high blood pressure is equally effective when placed in other parts of the body.
You need to talk to your doctor for advice about natural forms of treatment that you can try to help lower your blood pressure. These may include dietary modifications that may involve avoiding salt or at least limiting intake of it since salt plays a huge factor in elevating a person’s blood pressure and eating more vegetables and fruits. Treating high blood pressure using acupuncture needs to be done as a complement to a more natural and definitive formula to control and lessen the problem. Be that as it may, high blood pressure treatment using acupuncture is an additional approach in fighting this extremely dangerous but very common disease. Regardless of what treatment you use to regulate your blood pressure, you need to make sure you avoid the things that exacerbate this life-threatening problem.
Jamie Catlett is a licensed and board certified acupuncturist in Jacksonville, FL and the founder of Jacksonville Acupuncture Clinic.