High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is often referred to as the “Silent Killer” because many people do not realize they have it, which leads to an increased risk of stroke and heart attack.  Calling high blood pressure an epidemic would not be an understatement as 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. has high blood pressure and only half of those people have their high blood pressure under control.

​The exact causes of high blood pressure on an individual basis are difficult to determine, but stress, smoking, being overweight, a lack of physical activity, diet, age, and genetics can all be factors.

The Traditional Medicine Approach

Your primary care physician does what they have been trained to do, and that is to prescribe medications to combat your high blood pressure.  You may already be on one of these medications: beta blockers, ACE inhibitors, alpha blockers, vasodilators, ARB’s, calcium channel blockers, or central acting agents.

That’s it.  That is traditional medicine’s approach to lowering your blood pressure . . . drugs.

How Is Functional Medicine Different

Functional medicine is incredibly effective at curing high blood pressure because of our approach to the problem.  Rather than look for a drug to change your body’s natural functions, we tackle the root cause of the problem and figure out why you have high blood pressure in the first place.

Many people attribute their high blood pressure to genetics, but research is now finding that less than 1% of cases are a sole result of genetics.  While genetics may leave you pre-disposed to high blood pressure, your weight, nutrition, physical activity, and stress have all been found to be primary contributors to high blood pressure and those are all inputs that you can control.

The bottom line: the human body was not designed to have high blood pressure.  So high blood pressure is an indication of more complex imbalance in your body.

And let us not forget that rarely is high blood pressure present in a vacuum of no other conditions.  Most patients that come in to the Institute for Functional Health with high blood pressure also have high cholesterol, are overweight, and suffer from chronic fatigue and mental fogginess.

When you are prescribed medications to treat your high blood pressure, this does nothing to combat all of your other ailments . . . the ones that truly are making you feel terrible on a daily basis.

Our doctors are experts at analyzing your lab results, identifying the bio-markers and narrowing the range of acceptability.  We don’t have you take a pill to lower your blood pressure, but instead, we develop a whole body program to get you looking and feeling your best.

When you are eating the right foods and your body is happy with your inputs, you then have the energy to be more active than you have been in years.  You have an improved mental state where stress can be managed, and your weight aligns with your new lifestyle.

We are very proud of the results that our patients experience in lowering their blood pressure, but our proudest moment comes when all of these ancillary ailments are also cured and our patients are glowing with pride at their refreshed body and new lifestyle.