High Blood Pressure and "stuck energy"

Submitted by mb on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 8:01am

Dear Sir,

I have been suffering from High Blood Pressure for about 5-6 years and it has been getting progressively worse (i.e. higher) despite trying many different medications, diets, lifestyle changes etc etc.

I have meditated on and off for years and this last "phase" of meditation (approx 2.5 years) I have developed an almost permanent tingle in my mouth (behind my lower teeth) and sometimes into my throat.  The energy is mostly neutral and mild but sometimes "hot and spikey" and sometimes bitter and/or metallic and sometimes very strong.  It feels like a small ball of energy mainly under the tongue.

I have read on some yoga forums of someone who had high bp and after years managed to "unblock" the front channel (Conception Vessel) and this released the energy and the blood pressure settled down.

In terms of TCM I have tried quite a few treatment protocols for BP such as LV3, KD1, four gates with different herbs :

Gou Teng Wan

Yang Yin Jiang Ya Pian.

(not at the same time)

I also run regularly and this has the effect of calming the energy down and bringing the bp down temporarily.  I feel my breathing is not as easy though recently despite the fact that I am probably the fittest I have ever been.  (i understand ramipril can affect the lungs - dry cough etc).

I am not currently taking any herbs but am on medication off a regular doctor with little effect.

(Ramipril 10mg & adizem 120mg)

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Mark

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Comments

yyh_staff's picture
Submitted by yyh_staff on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 9:04am.

Before I get into a more

Before I get into a more lengthy discussion can you first answer two important questions.  First when you say that you "have tried various treatment protocols" - does this mean you are treating yourself?  If so, with needles or with acupressure, or both?  Have you actually had acupuncture treatment and herbal recommendations from a professional? 

Second with regards to your meditation, what exactly are you doing in your meditation and do you have teacher?  Many practices improperly done can cause all kinds of problems so you need to be careful.

mb's picture
Submitted by mb on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 9:37am.

I have had accupuncture

I have had accupuncture treatment by accupuncture professionals with / without herbs.

I cant remember clearly the protocols used but I do know that KD1 & LV3 have been included.

Although I gained some temporary relief I ran out of funds to have the treatments long term.

The treatment protocols I have mentioned I have self treated using accupressure but mainly on the limited number of points :

KD1, LV3, LI 4, CV22, GB20

(not all at the same time) do seem to have a positive effect.

I have tried the herbs (quite a while ago) with very small doses in the beginning and closely monitored the results.  I no longer take any of them as I do not want to risk any negative interactions with my medication.

I do vipassanna meditation at the moment and in the past have tried many different types to decide which practice suits me best.  I have had teachers in the past but have found that the focus has mainly been on the external forms, religion or organisation than helping guide my inner experience (so in my view not much help).  As such I have tried to self-regulate and use forums etc to help with progress.

I have no work at the moment so am really hoping for some self treatment if possible.  If not at least if I could accurately describe whats going on in TCM terms I may get more out of seeing a professional.  Due to my financial situation this would not be that frequent though.

 

Thanks

Chad Dupuis's picture
Submitted by Chad Dupuis on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 10:18am.

Well I'll try to help you but

Well I'll try to help you but obviously working with someone who can talk to you and physically diagnose/treat you is far superior.  You are right in not combining western herbs and western medicines as they both do the same thing.  The only time we do that is when the medicines are not working and we only combine them long enough to get everything under control and then to remove the medicine - and then later remove the herbs as the goal is not regulation, but to actually treat the condition.

You'll have to provide a lot more information if you want some help online.  If you read our acupuncture for hypertension page, which one of those diagnoses seems most related to you (in your opinion of course)?  What is your actually blood pressure reading generally?  What is the highest in the last 3 weeks (on meds)? and the lowest in the last 3 weeks (on meds)?  And what were the highest and lowest readings before you started western meds? And how long ago was it that you were not on any meds?

Chad J. Dupuis, L.Ac.
Yin Yang House Acupuncture and Wellness Center

mb's picture
Submitted by mb on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 12:32pm.

Hi Chad, Your help is

 Hi Chad,

Your help is greatly appreciated.

I'd just like to appologise up front for the length of this post.Sorry!

I have kept readings since September so I hope you dont mind if I use those figures.

My western medicine use started about 2008.  My readings were around 140ish, 90ish 
(but with high individual readings) before using meds.
I dont know how accurate these are though as I used to take my BP usually in the evening and
 much of the time I had been running
(I have noticed since I have kept a closer eye on things running bring it down temporarily).


Hope this dosent bore you as I have been taking readings very regularly.

My recent readings which are much more accurate (on ave) are:


22/09/2010 - 16/11/2010

With Meds
				Sys		Dia		Pulse
5mg Ramipril / 1.25 bb		150.73		91.68		59.86
Just 5mg Ramipril 		154.90		102.20		66.28
Grand Total			154.17		100.37		65.16


After running
				Sys		Dia		Pulse
5mg Ramipril / 1.25 bb		141.00		91.33		93.67
Just 5mg Ramipril 		140.29		94.69		86.73
Grand Total			140.33		94.52		87.09


18/11/2010 - 13/01/2011

With Meds
				Sys		Dia		Pulse
20mg Ramipril 			162.25		105.45		66.51
Nothing				158.88		106.25		68.84
20mg Ramipril + 120mg Adizem	159.69		102.00		73.29
Grand Total			161.10		104.90		68.31


After running

				Sys		Dia		Pulse
20mg Ramipril 			148.07		97.33		88.50
20mg Ramipril + 120mg Adizem	149.20		92.60		98.80
Grand Total			148.35		96.15		91.08


The nothing column above is when I had no tablets at all for 2 days.  It didnt go up significantly at all.

Its hard to say how effective any of these meds are as christmas stress and eating/drinking and making merry
might account for the rise in BP 18/11 onward on the new meds.

Although the most effective mix looks like 5mg Ramipril & 1.25mg Beta Blocker.
Also there seems to be an inverse correlation with pulse & BP.



In terms of TCM I believe it may be liver yang rising,
I have also wondered wether this energy may be rising "kundalini".

I used to suffer for a long time of distended headaches like "pressure in the head".

I get these occasionally now but not like I used too.

The energy seems to have "moved round" and now seems to pool around the throat.

(CV 22 seems to help to clear sometimes.)

If I do get a distended headache GB 20 can sooth the pressure.

I get bitter taste sometimes but also metalic.  Which leads me to think it could
have some lung related issue in the mix also?

I also think it may be rising energy because running "grounds" it for a while at least.

I believe that the meds I get from the doctor are just trying to treat the symptoms
and while the cause remains it will always go up again.

I believe I can confirm this as when starting new meds, I seem to get an initial 
lowering of BP then back to my "normal".

In meditation (blissfull) energy freely moves up the spine sometimes i.e. microsomic orbit
but then gets "pooled" around the head/neck area.

I have "backed off" - self paced my meditations since as I didnt want to make things worse than they are.

I really need to know how to clear this area I think so the energy can flow freely.

I get this energy whether I meditate or not. 

does this sound viable?

Sorry its long.

Mark
Feng Mei's picture
Submitted by Feng Mei on Thu, 01/13/2011 - 8:12pm.

self massage for HBP

first sit comfortable massage Du20 area 36 circles,

2, massage both Tai Yang area 36 circles,

3, massage Gb20 area 36 circles,

4, massage Gb8 area 36 circles,

5, massage St9 area 36 circles,

6, massage Pc6 area 36 circles,

7, massage Li4 area 36 circles,

8, massage St36 area 36 circles.

mb's picture
Submitted by mb on Fri, 01/14/2011 - 4:56am.

I will give this a

I will give this a try.

Many Thanks.

 

Mark