duplication of meds

[Art696]

Would it be consistant with standard treatment for slightly elevated blood pressure to prescribe at least four medications used for the treatment of high blood pressure?

[caregiver222]

Prescribing four medications for high blood pressure is consistant with the standard practice of medicine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

[caregiver222]

Prescribing four medications for high blood pressure is consistant with the standard practice of medicine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

[caregiver222]

Prescribing four medications for high blood pressure is consistant with the standard practice of medicine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

[caregiver222]

Prescribing four medications for high blood pressure is consistant with the standard practice of medicine in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

[caregiver222]

Hmmm. Four duplicate posts. It sounds like I have Alzheimer's, but I plead not guilty. Computer glitch. Reminds me of the computer Hal in 2001.

"Nothing can go possibly wrong."

[caregiver222]

Before I get thrown off the Med Help boardx for my sarcasm, let me state under certain circumstances four medications may be appropriate. For example, if a forty point reduction in the upper number is desired the physician may choose a cardiac limitation medication to drop the pressure twenty points, and a medication acting in another way to cause another twenty point drop.

That being said a long time ago I was briefly employed by a major drug firm and I was involved in assisting in the processing of NDA's (New Drug Applications) and writing CME's for physicians for a class of drug known as calcium-channel blockers. The drug company provided me with hundreds of studies, one of which found that 18% percent of patients could have their blood pressure resolved by simple calcium supplementation. I was specifically instructed never ever to tell that to any of the physicians at a CME.

So in the United States we are a nation of pill pushers, and physicians are often given quantities of drugs for free to pass out and provided with information from drug companies that is biased.

If you have slightly elevated blood pressure, before any medication is provided dietary resolution should be tried. A fresh organic garlic clove every day, 1000mg of an omega-3 and a calcium supplement. Take your blood pressure every day for three weeks and note the results on a chart. See if it goes down.

Only then would I try a single medication and evaluate the results over a period of a month.

A physician who prescribes four medications for "slightly elevated" blood pressure may not be incompetent. But such a protocol should raise a yellow flag.