Case Studies

High Blood Pressure Treatment and What Happens Next

Kristen Sparrow • September 05, 2015

Relieving high blood pressure without drugs can be key in many populations, i.e. elderly people who can’t tolerate medications, men whose sex lives suffer with medications, women who would like to conceive  etc…
Case Study: A vital man in his 70’s working as a painting contractor would like to reduce his dependence on high blood pressure medications because of side effects.  He was able to come in with a minimal of consistency.  But nonetheless, his blood pressure has remained in normal limits in spite of decreasing and then stopping losartan.
The data here show his stress levels (LF/HF HRV readings)  during each treatment, and then over time.  Each group of columns represents an acupuncture treatment.
The questions I’m actively investigating are

  1. How does the patient respond to needling?  Though needling is a subtle stressor, it IS a stressor nonetheless.  How does the patient’s nervous system react?
  2. How does the patient’s stress level respond after needling?
  3. How does the patient’s stress level respond over time?

So this case reveals “a pretty picture.”
Fe.Fr 9.3.15The dark purple column is the stress level during needling. His response to needling gets more robust as time goes on, a good sign meaning more resiliency.
He also shows, over time, consistent drop in his stress levels each treatment after needling, another good sign.
He also shows controlled blood pressure in spite of tapering off of the losartan.
In this particular case, I didn’t alter his acupuncture treatment using a combination of TCM theory, documented stress reduction points, and hypertension protocol points.
A pretty picture indeed!
If you have high blood pressure, or know someone who does, show them this!