Can I use hawthorne berry extract with blood pressure meds?
I want to try to get off Micardis and control my blood pressure with herbal remedies.
Tagged with: blood pressure • herbal remedies • micardis
Filed under: high blood pressure diet
Good idea, but i would consult your doctor first as because hawthorne already itself has blood pressure lowering effects on the heart the combination could lower your bp a bit too much. Try looking up some of the following on the internet as i know they are all surpose to be good for your heart & helping lower your blood pressure. Motherwart, garlic, selenium, magnesium, calcium. Good luck
yes.
Side-Effects
The herb is considered non-toxic. There are no known interactions with prescription cardiac medications or other drugs. Large amounts of hawthorn may cause sedation and/or a significant drop in blood pressure, possibly resulting in faintness.
Be warned that if you do take a digitalis prescription, this could elevate your blood level and should be monitored closely by your physician. However, no cases have yet been reported so far as we know.
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Alternative Names: Hawthorne, haw, may bush, may tree, may blossom, mayflower, quickset, thorn-apple tree, or whitethorn.
The leaves, flowers, and berries of hawthorn contain a variety of bioflavonoid-like complexes that appear to be primarily responsible for the cardiac actions of the plant. Bioflavonoids found in Hawthorn include oligomeric procyanidins (OPCc), vitexin, quercetin, and hyperoside. The action of these compounds on the cardiovascular system has led to the development of leaf and flower extracts.
Source
While there are over 250 species of shrubs called Hawthorn, Crataegus oxycantha (or sometimes called C. laevigata) is one of the more common species used medicinally. While the dried fruits (berries) are most often used, the flowering tops and leaves have very similar properties and are used with some frequency for the similar conditions.
Hawthorn is sold as dried berries, capsules and tinctures. Extracts are often standardized for one of two different chemical compounds: total flavonoids (usually calculated as vitexin) or procyanidins. An average dose is 200mg of an extract standardized for approximately 1.5% vitexin or 2.0% flavonoids.
Function; Reasons For Use
Hawthorn contains an abundance of flavonoids including hyperoside, quercetin, vitexins, rutin and more. A number of other compounds are also found in hawthorn such as proanthocyanidins, various vitamins and minerals, fructose, beta-sitosterol, xanthine derivatives and more.
Hawthorn is antispasmodic, sedative, and a vasodilator. Hawthorn may help the heart in several ways. It may open (dilate) the coronary arteries, improving the heart’s blood supply. It may increase the heart’s pumping force. It may eliminate some types of heart-rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). It may help limit the amount of cholesterol deposited on artery walls.
It is very good for treating either high or low blood pressure by strengthening the action of the heart; it helps many blood pressure-related problems.
Hawthorn is best known as a cardiotonic. Used frequently in cases of congestive heart failure and high blood pressure; it is the hyperosides and the vitexins (especially the vitexin-2 rhamnoside) that are present in hawthorn enabling it to effect these conditions. Essentially, hawthorn has been shown to increase the inotropic effect (contractile force), and increase the tolerance of the heart to lower oxygen (hypoxic) conditions.
As a cardiac tonic, it protects arterial walls. Studies have confirmed that the plant is a rich source of healthy chemical compounds, including procyanidins and the flavonoids rutin and vitexin, which have the ability to dilate coronary blood vessels — the vessels supplying the heart with vital oxygen and nutrients. It can normalize blood pressure and prevent palpitations and arrhythmias; it has also been used for support of cardiac failure, hypertension (high blood pressure), arterisclerosis (hardening of the arteries), angina pectoris (heart/vascular pain), and tachycardia (rapid heart beat). Cardiovascular effects result from taking the herb over a prolonged period.
Researchers in Germany recently gave hawthorn extract to patients suffering from congestive heart failure and found the patients experienced fewer overall symptoms and showed improvements in stamina and a reduction in blood pressure and heart rate during exercise. Hawthorn is good for arthritis because it helps stabilize collagen, the protein found in joints that are destroyed by inflammatory diseases. It also has antioxidant effects.
While many herbalists recommend the whole, dried berries, leaves or flowers; extracts are available in which the extract has been standardized to various amounts of vitexin rhamnosides. Look for hawthorn berries in products for the heart, or in products where flavonoid compounds would enhance effectiveness of the product.
Side-Effects
The herb is considered non-toxic. There are no known interactions with prescription cardiac medications or other drugs. Large amounts of hawthorn may cause sedation and/or a significant drop in blood pressure, possibly resulting in faintness.
Counter-Indicators
There are no known contraindications to its use during pregnancy or lactation.
Be warned that if you do take a digitalis prescription, this could elevate your blood level and should be monitored closely by your physician. However, no cases have yet been reported so far as we know.
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Heart, Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
If you remember from an earlier blog I was rushed out of C3 and a Bible study with blood pressure of 275/128, a calm heart rate of 108, and an irregular heart rhythm. My cholesterol was a whopping 315. To lower my blood pressure I took 565 mg of Hawthorn Berries six times a day. This dilates the blood vessels allowing a better flow of blood. I now take 1 capsule at bedtime. Along with the Hawthorn Berries I took (and still take) 450 mg of Cayenne to help the blood flow more efficiently through the veins and arteries. To lower my cholesterol and clean out existing artery plaque (which will also lower blood pressure by allowing the free flow of blood through the arteries) I went on a regimen of Omega 3 fatty acids, Red Yeast Rice, and Coenzyme Q10 (to regulate heart rhythm). I purchased an Omega 3 product where each softgel contained 300 mg of EPA and 200 mg of DHA (the main Omega 3 fatty acids). I started out taking four of these softgel in the morning and then again at bedtime. For three months I took 1,200 mg of Red Yeast in the morning and then again at bedtime. It takes the Omega 3s about three months to build up in your system and begin its wonderful work, but the Red Yeast Rice begins lowering your cholesterol the day you begin taking it. So each day I was taking a total of 4,000 mg of Omega 3s and 2,400 mg of Red Yeast Rice. You want to take half at bedtime because that is when the liver manufactures cholesterol. I no longer take the Red Yeast Rice as I have enough of the Omega 3s in my system and I no longer eat the junk foods that cause the trouble to begin with. I now take three softgels in the morning and then again at bed time. My cholesterol is now an optimal 147. I began taking 200 mg of CoQ10 in the morning. This gives you energy so you want to take this in the morning, not in the evening or bedtime. Not only is this good for your heart but it is also a great antioxidant. I now take between 30 and 50 mg, sometimes 100 mg, but rarely. I think I have only experienced an irregular heart rhythm twice in the last year. Though I have been on many prescription medications I have not taken so much as one statin drug to lower my cholesterol, it has all been natural.