Hypotension/Bluthochdruck
Vergleich: Siehe: Krankheiten + Apoplexie + Herz + Blutdruck
http://www.carstens-stiftung.de/artikel/pi-blutspenden-gegen-bluthochdruck.html
[Zeit-Online: Richard Friebe]
Gefäße unter Stress
Bluthochdruck, in der medizinischen Fachsprache als arterielle Hypertonie bezeichnet, gilt neben Diabetes und Übergewicht als größte Epidemie der Gegenwart. Er ist nachweislich eine Hauptursache für Herzinfarkte, Schlaganfälle und chronische Nierenerkrankungen und spielt bei vielen weiteren Leiden eine Rolle. Leider bleibt er oft unbemerkt: Schätzungen besagen, dass mehr als ein Drittel der Betroffenen nichts von dem Blutdruckproblem weiß.
Wie hoch ist zu hoch?
Der Blutdruck wird stets in zwei Werten angegeben, man sagt "125 zu 90". Der höhere Wert entspricht dem systolischen Druck, der in der Anspannungsphase des Herzmuskels in den Gefäßen herrscht, und der niedrigere dem diastolischen Druck während der Entspannungsphase des Herzens. Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie betrachtet Werte von weniger als 120 zu 80 als optimal, bis 139 zu 89 sind sie normal bis hochnormal. Bei Werten über 140 zu 90 liegt offiziell ein Bluthochdruck vor. Das ist in Deutschland auch die Grenze, ab der Ärzte eine Behandlung einleiten. Manchmal reicht dafür eine Änderung des Lebensstils aus, oft verschreibt der Arzt aber auch Medikamente.
Die richtige Diagnose
Bevor man über eine Behandlung nachdenkt, muss eine verlässliche Diagnose vorliegen. Eine ein- oder zweimalige Messung beim Hausarzt reicht dafür in der Regel nicht aus. Inzwischen
gilt eine Langzeitblutdruckmessung als beste Methode, also ein 24-stündiges Blutdruckmonitoring mit einem Gerät, das Patienten mit nach Hause nehmen können. Wenn danach ein Bluthochdruck diagnostiziert wird, sollte der Arzt weitere Untersuchungen veranlassen, um mögliche Ursachen wie eine gestörte Schilddrüsenfunktion auszuschließen und nach vielleicht bereits bestehenden Organschäden zu suchen.
Senken ohne Medikamente
Vor allem Betroffene mit einem leicht ausgeprägtem Bluthochdruck können diesen mit einer konsequenten Umstellung des Lebensstils senken, ohne auf pharmazeutische Hilfe zurückzugreifen. Übergewichtige sollten versuchen, langsam und nachhaltig abzunehmen. Dabei helfen zwei weitere Strategien, die auch nicht übergewichtigen Patienten empfohlen werden: regelmäßige sportliche Betätigung und ausgewogene Ernährung. Wer als Hochdruckpatient sehr viel Salz konsumiert, sollte dies reduzieren. Alkohol sollten Menschen mit Hypertonie nur moderat trinken, Zigaretten am besten gar nicht rauchen. Wer unter Stress leidet, sollte versuchen diesen zu verringern oder den Umgang damit positiver zu gestalten. Genug Nachtschlaf scheint ebenfalls wichtig zu sein.
Behandeln mit Medikamenten
Wenn eine Änderung des Lebensstils nicht ausreicht, steht eine ganze Reihe pharmazeutischer Blutdrucksenker zur Verfügung. Dazu gehören zum Beispiel ACE-Hemmer, Betablocker und
entwässernde Medikamente. Der Arzt verordnet sie als Einzelpräparat oder in Kombinationen. Eine optimale Medikamentenauswahl und Einstellung des Blutdrucks ist jedoch nicht trivial.
Sie erfordert häufige Kontrollen und hängt oft davon ab, dass der Patient diese aktiv einfordert.
Nr. 30 Ch-k-sulf. + Nr. 1 Calc-f. + Nr. 15 Kali-i. morgens, mittags und abends, 4 Wochen lang, 4 Wochen pausieren und die Therapie wiederholen.
[Farokh Master]
It is very important that one should always treat hypertension not as a
disease but as an individual who suffers from hypertension. The classical
Hahnemannian method is always the golden rule
to follow. Hypertension in homoeopathic practice can be seen in two
ways, either you are invited to treat acute crisis of hypertension for which I
was lucky to have tremendous experience
or one has to treat hypertension chronically where lot of allopathic
drugs have been given and patient is not responding to increasing doses of the
drugs or having side effects of the drug and hence
he has come for homoeopathic consultations.
Unfortunately in our homoeopathic profession majority of the
homoeopathic practitioners allow anti-hypertensive drugs with homoeopathy only
that they themselves take anti hypertensive drugs
for their own hypertension, I know a homoeopath who owns a large
collection of homoeopathic medicines but for his own hypertension he prefers
allopathic drugs!!!!!
This is not right as allopathic drugs not only interfere with the action
of the homoeopathic remedies but also produce an Edito artificial layer of drug
on the vital force there by reducing the susceptibility of the patients. Sooner
or later one has to taper off the dose so that an ideal cure is achieved.
Miasmatically if one looks at hypertension, it can be classified as
psoric when the hypertension is purely due to an anxiety, nervousness or fear;
such hypertensions do not need treatment, simple
assurance or removing the circumstances from the patient’s life can
bring back the condition to normal, however if the situation persists for a
prolong period then one needs an antipsoric remedy.
The same hypertension becomes sycotic when there are arteriosclerotic changes
in the blood vessels bigger or smaller and also there will be an increase in
the level of low density lipoproteins.
This low density lipoproteins are the main lipoproteins that thickens
the arterial.
Syphilitic hypertension comes when the arteries are hard like a cord and
fragile so that they are prone to rupture or may get totally obstructed
producing different type of cerebro vascular disease.
The hypertensions I commonly see in my practice are syco-syphilitic in
nature where you see collection of cholesterol deposits in artery with tendency
to produce apoplexy.
Psoric hypertensions are seen by me but not so common.
Many times the person who suffers from hypertension is quite
asymptomatic and hence he will not give you many symptoms, the best bet in to
treat such hypertension constitutionally depending heavily on his pre
disposition and disposition, which includes his past, family history, his
physical and mental makeup and finally his general symptoms.
Never try to reduce the allopathic medicine all of a sudden as it may
produce severe aggravation. The method that I follow is that reduce 1/3rd
of the dose in the first 3 months and 2/3rd the dose
in the next 6 months and later on just totally stop the dose. Blood
pressure need not be monitor everyday but should be monitor with the same
instrument and at the same time once in 15 days
to know the effect of the homoeopathic remedies.
Never tell the patient to buy an instrument and measure it in the house
because this will make him measure his blood pressure every few hours which is
very bad. Many psoric or nervous individuals
keep an instrument in the house, you should always discourage such
practices as it damages and hampers the homoeopathic treatment. The biggest
failure in homoeopathy to treat hypertension is
that the homoeopaths are not able to find the right medicine which the
patient requires and hence the medicine given to the patient never brings the
blood pressure under control. Another cause
of failure is to consider hypertension as local malady and treat it with
drugs like Crataegus oxyacantha or Rauwolfia serpentine, physicians who are in
practice for more than 20 years I have seen
are doing this!!!!!
It is not good to take the rubric
GENERALS - HYPERTENSION from the repertory when you are treating a case
of hypertension because this will only bring common remedies which usually will
not cure the case.
CASE 1:
This is an interesting case of a man who was 65 years old, he came to me
with two complaints, 1st complaint was bunions on his feet and 2nd
complaint was fluctuating hypertension.
Here fluctuating hypertension means that for some days his blood
pressure will be quite controlled with allopathic medicines and for some days
his blood pressure suddenly shoots up, he has vertigo
because of that and it remains for few days and then again comes back to
its original position.
He was on calcium channel blockers i.e. Calcigard retard one tab two
times a day and he was on Lortazan phosphate 50 mg one tab 2x daily. So totally
he used to take two types of anti-hypertensive
i.e. four tablets a day but even with that his blood pressure used to
fluctuate.
He was a retired bank executive, retired from a very high post; he had a
strong family history of heart attack, hypertensions and cerebro-vascular
accident. He was a graduate from England later did
his accountancy examinations in India and from a very young age he was
successful, competitive, strong leadership qualities, egoistic, a good
organizer and a good performer. By the time he reached 40 years he be comes
second in the rank in hisbank and at the age 48 he becomes the chairman of the
bank. He was known for his discipline, he had an eccentric nature and hence
people were afraid to approach him because sometime the response will be good
and encouraging but sometimes the response will be too insulting and
humiliating.
His wife mentions that he does not believe much in medicine and he takes
medicine only out of a fear that he may have a heart attack or a stroke.
He will always argue and quarrel with anybody and everybody if things do
not go his way.
With vertigo he will always has to lie down with his eyes open, if he
closes eyes his vertigo becomes worse. For years together he complains of
ringing noise in the ear this happened when he was
swimming one day when he was also suffering from common cold, also
noises aggravate whenever he has cold and catarrh of upper respiratory tract.
He also gets nausea which is better by eating.
He is chronically a constipated person, stool is always soft. He has a
bad bunion on his feet near the toes; he repeatedly gets it operated or
scrubbed but it keeps on growing. They are extremely painful and as a result he
gets severe cramps in the feet.
His main concern was his bunions and not his hypertension when he
consulted me but when I offered him that homoeopathy treats the person as a
whole and your hypertension will be controlled
with the same medicine that I will use for bunions.
He wanted to challenge the effect of homoeopathy, he says “I have never
taken homoeopathy in my whole life and this will be a big challenge for me”.
When I examined him his blood pressure was 160 systolic and 98
diastolic. His skin was wrinkled; his pulse was very strong and large, thumping
on my fingers.
His wife said that he also suffers from rheumatism but there are no
modalities.
I tried various remedies: Ferr-met. Lyc. Sulph. and Lach., the first 4
months I could not control his hypertension as well as bunion because the
remedy that I selected was wrong.
Ferr-met. selected because he was competitive, quarrelsome, closing the
eyes produces the vertigo, ringing in the ears, nausea better by eating, cramps
in the feet, rheumatic pain and a strong pulse. But unfortunately Ferrum did
not help the patient.
Then I went to Lycopodium because he was very egoistic, competitive,
quarrelsome, constipation with soft stool, and it is a very important remedy
for bunions on the feet, rheumatic pain and
a strong pulse. Lycopodium did not help the patient.
Then I went to Sulphur because it shares many common symptoms with
Lycopodium.
Finally Lachesis was given because he had a tendency to refuse to take
the medicine. Lachesis patients specially chronic ones do not have faith in
medicine because they always feel that all the
medicines will do more harm to them so they avoid taking medicines. You
may refer to the rubric ‘MIND – REFUSING - medicine; to take the’ and you will
see Lachesis inside.
But unfortunately Lachesis also in different potencies did not help.
What is most important thing in this whole case is his egocentric
nature, e.g. he always felt that he is intelligent, successful and
knowledgeable, his eccentric nature, his nature to refuse the
medicine, as I mentioned earlier he only wants to take the medicine out
of fear and not out of his need.
I restudied his case from Encylopedia Homoeopathica and I saw that
Veratrum viride also covered many non hypertensive symptoms i.e. the chronic
picture. I had in the past never used this drug
as constitutional remedy. I started with Veratrum viride 30C in this
case and I went all the way up to 50M in next one year, I advised him not to
cut his bunion or scrap it or not to put some local medicines on this but allow
the bunion to heal from internally.
I also asked him not to take any laxatives for his constipation, I
advised him not to even regularly measure his blood pressure but come to my
clinic once in 15 days just to measure it.
He followed the rule very religiously and within nine months I could
chop out his Calcigard retard totally and his bunion became 50% less. In the
next 6 months I decreased his Lortazan phosphate
to half the dose that is 50 mg instead of 100 mg
and I asked him to continue this another 6 months. His vertigo was much
better there was no episode for last one year of any hypertension crisis, in
fact at the end of 14 month of homoeopathic treatment his blood pressure was in
the range of 140 and 145 instead of 160 systolic and the diastolic blood
pressure was in the range of 88 to 94. It never went to 98; this was a very
good sign.
His ringing in the ears which was his oldest symptom ever since he was
30 years old was coming less frequently, his nausea totally disappeared and the
last prescription of Veratrum viride that he received was Veratrum viride 50M
one dose every week. I never asked him to do any other therapy along with
homoeopathy because I wanted to see the effect of homoeopathic medicine in this
particular case.
As you know Veratrum viride comes from the natural order of botanical
family Melanthaceae. This plant is extremely similar to its sister plant
Veratrum album, basically this plant contains an
alkaloid known as Jervin and Veratroidine and they are very strong
cardiac sedatives acting directly on the heart or the nerves that supply the
heart. It reduces the force of the heart beat and there
by reduces the blood pressure. I have used this very successfully in pneumonia,
pleurisy, and rheumatism but the most important condition where I have used it
mostly on the constitutional
basis in the cases of chronic hypertension or in cases of acute
cerebro-vascular accident.
The most important thing is the concomitant of nausea, vomiting and
congestion, if you find these three things in a case of stroke or in a case of
an infraction or in a case of any cardiac complication
including hypertensive crisis then Veratrum viride is the drug of
choice. Like that you can use many remedies like Belladonna, Ferr-met. Gels.
Glon. Hell. Lach. Meli. Phos. Sanguinaria for an acute stroke but this
concomitant of nausea, vomiting and congestion is peculiar to Verat-v. only.
Another most important thing is the prostration along with a dry or
moist or white or yellow tongue. In acute situation the Veratrum viride patient
may be either confused or stupefied but in a chronic situation the patient can
resemble an egoistic person or domineering or dictatorial person who feels that
he has an infinite knowledge or he is a great person, he has lot of knowledge
and people should obey and respect him.
They are very thirsty like Veratrum album but many times drinking brings
on excessive vomiting.
Another very useful indication that I would like to share with you is
the pulse which usually very strong, the heart beat is very loud and the whole
arterial system is in a state of excitement.
CASE 2:
The next case is of a 55 years old woman; she had married and has two
elder daughters and one elder son.
She was a painter and housewife. Her husband was a businessman. She had
3 major problems 1st unstable hypertension, 2nd
alcoholism with early cirrhosis of liver and 3rd glaucoma.
These were her 3 main complaints; she was already on allopathic
medication for all the above complaints excepting alcoholism for which she was
taking no drugs. She comes to my clinic expecting
some miraculous drug to stabilize her blood pressure.
She was on beta blockers and she was also on the drug Verapamil 1 tablet
2x daily. She says that her doctor’s plans to change this drug as her liver
functions are getting deteriorated.
Verapamil is calcium channel blocker and it works by relaxing the muscle
of the heart and blood vessels. She wanted a substitute in homoeopathy for that
I said we do not have any substitutes
like that but we can treat your constitution as a whole for all the
above problems.
She comes from Gujarat, her childhood was very peaceful, her father used
to own farms and lands, there was no problem, and the upbringing was secured
safe and full of luxury. At a very early age
of 21 she gets married after marriage she stays within a big family
where lot of responsibilities come to her she was not accustomed and not
experienced to live her life in this way, and hence she
took time to adjust. By the time she was adjusting she gets pregnant and
she gets added responsibility and she now just cannot cope anymore.
This is the time when the hypertension starts in her life and this was
the same time when alcoholism also starts, she starts drinking alcohol to give
her courage and support.
Her husband was extremely busy businessman, they had everything that
money could buy but their life was full of stress managing such a large joint
family of 30 members living in large bungalow.
The relationship with husband was good but the husband was busy and
hence she could not discuss many things with her husband which she wanted to;
her problems her grief her anxieties. She is an extremely nervous person
but she has a bad anger, she can speak anything rudely on the face of the person
immediately.
Her biggest mental shock came early in her life when the husband was
diagnosed with the myocardial infarction this came as a shock, she suddenly
realizes that what will happen to her if he dies!!!
As she does not have that kind of capacity to run his business. Also
after being diagnosed with hypertension she was always worried about her health
that she will die soon because nobody gets cured
with hypertension.
She was always in an excitable and quarrelsome state, she has an
argumentative nature, she would love to fight, and was very obstinate in her
views.
When the pressure goes above 180 systolic and 100 diastolic she develops
a dull ache in the occipital region that surrounds the whole head gradually or
get the pain in the occiput ext. forehead and the eyes; and at that time she
has to lie down, she cannot do any household work at that time and she needs to
rest.
After the husband’s sickness they decide to stay separately but once she
stayed separately she does not maintain much relation with the relatives of the
husband. She has a weakness of the memory especially for the names.
This was the time when she develops glaucoma for which she is putting
Timoptol eye drops. Because of her abnormal liver function she has a constant
sensation of vomiting and nausea with a sour taste immediately after eating.
She is a known case of gastro-esophageal reflux for which she takes
antacids.
When she lies down in the bed she gets cramps in the calf muscles and
the feet become cold so she needs to cover her feet a lot with blanket. But in
general she is a hot patient and she likes cold air she likes cold air from the
wind she likes cold air from the winters she likes cold air from the
aircondition she needs a lot of cold air.
She has a desire for sweets and a strong aversion to meat. She was a
Muslim and hence aversion to meat was a characteristic because the Muslims are
basically me at eaters.
This was the history available to me when I first saw her in my clinic.
The cardiologist was worried that if she does not stop this tablet and goes to
a higher generation of the antihypertensive drug
she will invite problem. The cardiologist wanted her to take the tablet
Telmisartan.
When I examined her I saw her face quite suffering; The sides of the
tongue was red, her blood pressure was 165/98 mmHg.
To me she was very friendly and nice but her son and daughter who
accompanied her in my clinic (son was medical doctor) said that our mother is
very rude, she can speak anything on anybody’s
face if she is angry she does not care and these days she lives with the
fear that she will die because she already has an abnormal liver function test
with high liver enzymes and the cardiogram
changes shows ischemia.
I studied her case and I gave her a remedy Anacardium because there was
alcoholism, there was nervous excitement, her obstinate nature, wants to fight,
weakness for memory, dull pain in the head, sensation of nausea and vomiting
constantly, hot patient and desire for sweets. I put her on Anacardium but that
did not give her any relief so the next prescription I gave her was Opium.
Opium I prescribed basically because of the shock that she got after her
husband’s infarction, with history of alcoholism, nervous excitement, obstinacy,
heaviness of the occiput, glaucoma, the
sides of the tongue are red, constant nausea sensation, hot patient with
aversion to meat and desire for sweets.
I tried different potencies but it never helped. This time I was
thinking of a remedy which has a mental shock with alcoholism with excitement
but with strong fear of impending death, a person who
is quite different to her relatives with heaviness in the occiput that
extends anteriorly the sensation of nausea and vomiting with cramps in the
calves (in bed) and the coldness of the feet in the bed.
This time I prescribed her Sec. 30, I asked her to see me after a month,
I gave her 3x daily from the 5 cup method.
She responded very beautifully to Sec. after a month she said there was
a marked change in all her complaints including the cramps nausea, heartburn,
the sour taste, there was no episode of
hypertensive crisis, in fact she says twice she got her blood pressure
measured and the blood pressure was quite good, it came in the range of 150 and
the diastolic was in the range of 95.
I said - good that we never went to a higher generation of
antihypertensive drug i.e. Tab Telmisartan and we will now try to reduce your
dose of Verapamil by half and go to Sec. 200 for next 2
months.
Again for next 2 months I saw that there was more control in blood
pressure, headache and the cramps. I talked a lot with her and she said - for
the first time my anxiety levels have gone down,
my excitement levels have gone down and now I drink alcohol occasionally
or on a social occasion otherwise normally before starting homoeopathy I used
to drink alcohol 3 times a week.
I continued Sec. for 3 more months there by reducing the dose of
Verapamil to ¼. When I totally stopped Verapamil after 6 months I went to Sec.
1M and I told her to take 1M one dose every single day, later on I tapered off
Sec. from once daily to 2x a week. Her liver function test especially the GGTP
which was in the range of 150 or 160 or 180 almost came down to below100, her
SGPT which was in the range of 120 or 150 came down to 60 with homoeopathy, her
gastro-esophageal reflux was much better, the taste was normal, she was more
friendly and less angry, and there was
an overall improvement in her condition.
Sec. as you know basically a fungus, it’s a nosode? which is prepared
from the ergot.
It has been used by me in my practice in different conditions; mostly I
used it in gynecological conditions, neurosis and cardiovascular disorders.
What I see here is the great restlessness almost
like Arsenic album and they are quite abusive, rude and insulting to
others, this is very important aspect. They may be having a good heart but at
that particular time when they are angry they can
insult you a lot. They are always having a fear that they will die
because of their disease condition.
They are very hot, externally they may feel very cold but from with in
they are very hot. They crave for cold drinks, ice, acidic drinks, sour drinks,
they crave for sweets, sugar but the same time they
have a strong aversion to chocolate. They are usually worse in a warm
room and they do not like much covering. They have a history of alcoholism
which is very strong in them.
I have also found Sec. useful in chronic cases of vertigo.
Hypertension and Homoeopathic Management
[Shreekanta Ram]
By the term blood pressure people are inclined to think of a serious
disease of modern civilization. Due to modern stressful life hypertension has
become the “silent killer”. In certain pathological states the BP rises above
the normal figure, sometimes reaching such heights as to become a source of
imminent danger to life. This raised BP is not a disease by itself, but a sign
or manifestation of a pathological process. It is a measurable external index
of an internal malady. The rise of BP is a conservative or compensatory process
by which adequate circulation of blood is maintained in the tissues, in-spite
of increase resistance or obstruction to the flow of blood. If the BP would
fail to rise while the obstruction to the flow of blood is increasing, the
inevitable result would be death from failure of circulation.
High BP, which is also known as hypertension, seems to be more common in
modern times. It cannot be denied that modern civilization has brought in its
wake a great deal of adverse factors tending to raise BP. Intensive struggle
for existence associated with continual anxiety, greed, ambition,
artificial methods of living, want of faith in religion, intemperance,
irregular hours, adulterated and unwholesome food and many vices peculiar to
modern civilization
do play an important part in its causation. Moreover, with the discovery
of the sphygmomanometer, the detection of raised BP has become an easy affair
and therefore, more cases are brought to the notice of the profession today
than before.
Treating hypertension with anti hypertensive’s and sedatives appeals to
the logic of the common-medical practitioner. They are taught that those cases
of hypertension with no detectable cause may be treated as “essential
hypertension”, which in layman’s language is hypertension of unknown cause. The
followers of modern medicine use anti-hypertensives and sedative drugs to save
the patient from a possible, probable or rather certain catastrophe that would
take place if they were left alone. These antihypertensive drugs in the long
run may prove unhelpful if not actually harmful. Undetectable causes of
essential hypertension can be overcome by treating the sick individual as a
whole according to the laws of Homoeopathy, not by treating him in parts.
Hypertension
An elevated arterial pressure is called hypertension and is the most
important public health problem in developed countries. It is a common,
asymptomatic, readily detectable, usually easily treatable ailment that often
leads to lethal complications if left untreated. The prevalence of hypertension
depends on both the racial composition of the population studied and the
criteria used to define the condition. In a suburban population study, nearly
one-fifth of individuals have blood pressure >160/95mmhg, while almost
one-half have pressures >140/90mmhg. In females the prevalence is closely
related to age, with a substantial increase occurring after age 50. This
increase is presumably related to the hormonal changes of menopause. The ratio
of hypertension frequency in women versus men increases from 0.6 to 0.7 at age
30 to 1.1 to1.2 at age 65.
Understanding of the etiology of hypertension is far from complete but
there seems to be a strong familial and genetic predisposition and a number of
modifiable predisposing factors have also been identified. Several studies have
demonstrated the influences of:
Weight gain,
Insulin resistance
Salt intake
Alcohol use
Elevated haematocrit
Hypertriglyceridaemia and
Rapid heart rate.
Blood pressure is defined as the product of cardiac output and
peripheral resistance (PR).Hypertension is therefore said to be caused by
increased cardiac output and/or increased PR. Each of these primary factors is
determined
by a complex series of interactions. Increased cardiac output, though
involved in the initiation of hypertension, does not persist. The typical
hemodynamic finding in established hypertension is an elevated PR and normal
cardiac output. It is also suspected that heredity plays a role as a background
to most of these abnormalities, along with varying contributions of three
environmental factors: sodium, stress and obesity.
Factors involved in increased cardiac output:
1. Increased circulating fluid volume
Excess sodium intake and sodium
sensitivity: Excess sodium intake can cause hypertension by increasing fluid
volume and preload, thus increasing cardiac output.
Renal sodium retention-excessive
sodium retention by the kidney has also been proposed as an important factor.
Sympathetic nervous over activity- the sympathetic nervous system (SNS)
directly or indirectly dictates the state of cardiac output and systemic
vascular resistance.
Thus, excessive activity of SNS may increase the blood pressure.
2. Increased peripheral resistance,
The final common feature of established hypertension is a raised
peripheral resistance, which can be associated with both functional
constriction and structural vascular remodeling and hypertrophy.
3. Other pathogenetic factors-
Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinaemia are often associated with
hypertension.
4. Contributing factors ,
A variety of factors, such as foetal environment, plasma calcium, intake
of calcium and parathyroid hormone, deficiency of potassium or magnesium,
alcohol and physical inactivity are considered to be the contributing factors
in susceptible individuals.
Symptoms
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Blurred vision
• Chest pain
• Difficult breathing
• Palpitation
History of diabetes, asthma, heart disease, gout, drinking, smoking,
self-medication or use of oral contraceptives should also be brought to the
notice of the doctor.
Complications
In the beginning hypertension is labile, but in due course, it becomes
established hypertension. The complications are more common in higher blood
pressures. The accompanying arteriosclerosis may be the reason for
cardiovascular diseases in uncontrolled hypertension; Ischemic heart diseases
like angina pectoris, myocardial infarction or congestive heart failure. 50% of
patients die, 33% get cerebral strokes, 15% get renal failure. Renal failure is
more common
in hypertension with diabetes as the patients suffer from proteinuria,
which is an evidence of nephropathy.
The complications are classified:
1. Hypertensive complications;
• Malignant hypertension
• Congestive cardiac failure
• Aortic dissection and aneurysm
• Nephrosclerosis
• Cerebral hemorrhages and infarctions
2. Atherosclerotic complications;
• Ischemic heart diseases like angina pectoris
and myocardial infractions
• Sudden death
• Arrhythmias
• Cerebral thrombotic strokes
• Peripheral vascular diseases
Homoeopathy considers health as a state indicating harmonious
functioning of the life force. Disease is a deviation from health, which
develops when the life force is unable to overcome obstructions to its smooth
functioning.
It can be seen as the total response of the organism to adverse
environmental factors, internal or external, conditioned by constitutional
factors, inherited or acquired. This stands true for all diseases, including
essential hypertension.
A closer examination of the modern concepts of health and disease
accepted in the medical world today shows that they are coming closer to the
homoeopathic model. Perhaps nothing epitomizes this better than the etiological
concepts of essential hypertension, which is seen as a product of
“constitutional” and environmental factors.
Notwithstanding these similarities, there remain for the most part
significant differences in the concept of disease in both systems. The essence
of this difference is contained in the Hahnemannian statement: “there are no
diseases, but sick people”. Perhaps a more eloquent exposition is given by Dr.
Kent in his lecture on “the sick”. He says “the allopath thinks that the house
in which the man lives, which is being torn down, expresses all there is in
sickness.
In other words, tissue changes are all there is to the sick man. But
homoeopathy perceives that there is something prior to the results. It is the
man who is sick and has to be restored to health, not his body, not his
tissues”. Thus in the case of essential hypertension, homoeopathy focuses on
the patient with the hypertension, rather than on the hypertension itself. The
totality of various characteristic signs and symptoms exhibited by this patient
leads the homoeopath to the similar remedy. The similar remedy relieves the
totality of symptoms and with it the symptoms of an elevated blood pressure.
The homoeopathic management of essential hypertension like all other
disease conditions is based on the principle of similia. Being a chronic
disease, it requires constitutional, anti-miasmatic treatment. It is the
totality of symptoms which guides the homoeopath to the indicated remedy. In
the search for the similar remedy, homoeopathy lays emphasis on the
individuality of the patient
in aphorism 153 of the Organon. Hahnemann makes it clear that it is the
peculiar, characteristic and individualizing symptoms and not the common
symptoms that denote the similimum. Hahnemann also stressed the prime importance
of the mental symptoms in all physical disorders. He said that the mental
disposition and emotional reactions are to be particularly noted as they often
determine the remedy selection. This will apply naturally to cases of essential
hypertension where psychological factors play a significant part in the
causation of illness. While treating diseases with multiple miasmatic
influences like essential hypertension, it is also important that the remedy
selected correspond to the dominant miasm. This is very often found to be the
psoric miasm. Afterwards, the dormant syphilitic or sycotic miasm, as the case
may be, manifests itself and may call for appropriate changes in remedy.
Below are some remedies often used in managing hypertension:
Acon..: Tachycardia. Affections of the
heart with pain in left shoulder. Stitching pain in chest. Palpitation, with
anxiety, fainting, and tingling in fingers. Pulse full, hard, tense and bounding;
sometimes intermits. Temporal and carotid arteries felt when sitting. Great
fear, anxiety and worry accompany every ailment. Fears death but believes that
he will soon die; predicts the day. Fears the future, a crowd, crossing the
street. Restless with fullness, heaviness in head. Vertigo < on rising and
shaking head.
Adon.: Mitral and aortic regurgitation.
Chronic aortitis. Fatty heart pericarditis. Rheumatic endocarditis. Precordial
pain, palpitation and dyspnoea. Marked venous engorgement. Cardiac asthma.
Fatty heart. Myocarditis, irregular cardiac action, constriction and vertigo
with irregular and rapid pulse.
Adren.: Indicated in high arterial blood
pressure. Roaring in the ears due to high blood pressure. Palpitations and
Tachycardia. In the crude form, it causes constriction of the peripheral
arterioles resulting in a rise in blood pressure.
All-s.: Pain in the left side of chest
with dark urine. Darting pain in the chest which prevents sleep. Bounding of
the heart. It suits people who eat a great deal more than they drink. In the
mental sphere there is anxiety and impatience. Fears he will not recover; that
he will not be able to bear any medicine, fear of being poisoned. It is suited
to fleshy people and those used to a high standard
of living. Weeping during sleep. Swelling of breast, sensitive to touch.
<: change of temperature/open air (chest complaints); Reading,
walking (pains in limbs). >: sitting in a bent position;
Ant-t.. Shortness of breath. Difficult
respiration. Rattling of mucus in the chest. Visible and anxious palpitation of
the heart, sometimes during an evacuation. Palpitation with loose stool. Pulse
– hard, quick and small or weak, quick and trembling, small thread like,
imperceptible. Fits of vertigo with sparking before the eyes and dizziness when
walking. <: on sitting down/when seated/on rising from a seat/sitting bent
forward; >: sitting erect/from eructations;
Anxious about the future. Excessively peevish and quarrelsome.
Consequences of anger and vexation. Suicidal mania.
Apis.: Oppression in the chest, shortness of breath (ascending),
inability to remain in a warm room. Dull, aching pain on the left side of the
chest, near the middle of the sternum, with sensation of fullness and short
breath. Burning, stinging pain throughout chest. Marked edema. Sudden pain just
below the heart, ext. chest r. with suffocation. Very feeble action of the
heart, violent pulsations, shaking the entire body, intermittent beats. Region
of heart sensitive
to least pressure; rasping sounds of systole and diastole unmistakably
audible. Depression, feels as if about to die. Dread of death; sensation as if
he could not breath again. Aversion to tight things. Prostration leading to
fainting.
Great debility. Oedematous swellings.
Apoc-c.: Depression in the heart’s action,
controls dropsical effusions and produces diuresis. Low arterial tension.
Fluttering, darting pains, prostrated feeling in the cardiac region. Quick,
sharp, catching pain in the heart with palpitations. Pulse slow, labored,
irregular, intermittent, at times feeble and slow. Pulse quick, feeble when
moved. Fainting on moving the head. Heart action scarcely perceptible. Oedema
of feet, ankles and legs. Swelling in every
part of the body; cardiac dropsies, pulsating jugulars and general
cyanosis. There is aggravation on walking in the morning. Many of the symptoms
are aggravated after sleep. Patient is bewildered, nervous low spirited.
Dry tongue, immoderate thirst; but water disagrees, causing pain and is
immediately thrown out. Cannot tolerate food or drink, which is immediately
ejected. Excretions are diminished, especially urine and sweat.
Aur-met.: Syphilitic affections of the
heart. Hypertension due to valvular lesions and arteriosclerosis. Sensation as
if the heart stops beating for two or three seconds, followed by a tumultuous
rebound. Paroxysms of suffocation, with constrictive oppression of the chest
and bluish discolors of the face. Continuous aching in the left side of the
chest. Incisive pain, and obtuse shootings near the sternum. Sensation of great
weight on the chest; on the sternum. Difficulty in respiration at night.
Walking in the open air, require deep breathing. Pain in the region of the
heart ext. left arm to fingers. When walking, the heart seems to shake as if it
were loose. Sensation as if the heart stood still. Great sensitivity to cold.
Melancholy, hopelessness, profound depression, tendency to suicide and longing
for death are marked. Aggravation from emotions. Complaints after grief, fright,
anger, disappointed love, contradiction, reserved displeasure. Suited to
sanguine people with black hair and dark eyes, olive brown complexion and light
haired scrofulous people.
Bar-m.: Indicated in arteriosclerosis with
a high systolic pressure and a comparatively low diastolic pressure with
cerebral and cardiac symptoms. Hypertension and vascular degeneration (aged and
mentally-physically dwarfed people).
White blood corpuscles increased. Great weakness, which necessitates
lying down. Swelling of hands and feet. Loss of appetite. Stools white, hard
like stones. Great anxiety, with gastralgia, nausea and retching. Palpitations,
heart beats irregularly. Pulse is scarcely perceptible. Periodical attacks of
convulsions. Mania with increase of sexual desire.
Bell.: Violent of attacks and suddenness of onset.
Oppression of the chest in the morning. Cannot breathe in the room, > in the
open air. Violent palpitations which are sometimes felt in the head.
Palpitation of the heart when ascending. Trembling of the heart, with anxiety
and oppressive pain. Neuralgic pains come and go suddenly. Throbbing throughout
the body. Melancholy, with grief, hypochondriacal humour, moral dejection, and
discouragement. Desire to die and inclination for suicide. Sleepy but cannot
sleep. Sweat on covered part only. Belladonna is suited to the bilious,
lymphatic temperament. Light hair and complexion, blue eyes.
Carb-a.: High blood pressure with obstinate
occipital headaches. Great sensitiveness to open, cold dry air. Palpitation of
the heart, in the morning and in the evening and when singing in a public
place. Panting respiration. Atheroma
and aneurism. Numbness of all the limbs. Hard and painful swelling of
the glands. Weak digestion. <: eating/lying on the side/after shaving/from
slight touch/from lifting. >: lying hand on part/rubbing the eyes;
Con.: Difficult gait, trembling, sudden
loss of strength while walking, painful stiffness of legs. Great debility in
the morning in bed. Weakness of body and mind, trembling, and palpitation.
Indicated in Arterio-sclerosis. Excitement causes mental depression. Depressed,
timid, averse to society and afraid of being alone. No inclination for business
or study, takes no interest in anything. Vertigo when lying down, and when
turning over in bed, when turning head sidewise, worse shaking head, headache,
stupefying, with nausea and vomiting.
Dig.: Pulse weak, irregular and
abnormally slow. Weakness and dilatation of the myocardium. Cardiac muscle
failure. It stimulates the heart muscles and increases the force of systole.
Hypertrophy with dilation. Auricular fibrillation. Heart block and other
organic diseases of the heart. Least movement causes violent palpitations,
mitral disease leads to an irregular heart. Sensation as if heart suddenly
stopped. Cardiac dropsy. Audible palpitations. Oppression
of chest with cyanosis.
Gels.: Indicated in the heaviness in the
middle of the chest especially in the afternoon. Extreme and alarming
difficulty in breathing; extreme restlessness from threatened suffocation.
Stitches in the chest and region of the heart.
Weak, slow pulse of old age. Irregular heart beat, palpitation. Feeling
as if heart would stop beating if she did not move about. Pain in the heart
when rising from a seat. Pulse frequent, soft, weak, almost imperceptible.
Excessive irritability of mind and body. It is adapted to children and young
people of nervous, hysterical temperament, to irritable, sensitive, excitable
people. Dread of being alone. It has great muscular weakness and tired feeling.
Dizziness, dullness and drowsiness with all complaints. General depression from
heat of the sun with thirstlessness.
Glon.: Sudden and violent irregularities
of the circulation. Palpitation with dyspnoea. Cannot go uphill. Any exertion
brings on a rush of blood to the heart and a fainting spell. Violent action of
the heart, distinct pulsations all over
the body. Sharp pain in the heart. Severe stitches from the heart,
extending into the back. Purring noise in the region of heart when lying, pulse
intermittent. Sensation as if the heart would rise to the throat. Pains are
bursting, throbbing, pulsative, piercing, stabbing, gnawing. Laboured breathing
of the heart with oppression and fluttering. Vertigo < stooping/moving
head/in open air; Great weakness and prostration. Fear as if something
unpleasant would happen to him. Cannot bear heat around the head, cannot walk
in the sun, must walk in the shade or carry an umbrella; cannot bear heat from
a stove; great vertigo on assuming an upright posture, on rising from bed or
from a seat. Great sensitiveness to the least jar. Aversion to bright light.
Ign.: High blood pressure due to emotions,
disappointed love and/or grief. Fluttering of the muscles of chest. Throbbing
cardiac hyperaesthesia. Anxious feeling in precordia. Difficult respiration, as
if there is some weight on the chest, shortness of breath when walking. Feeling
of suffocation on running. Palpitation of the heart at night. Strong
disposition to be frightened. Sadness and concentrated sorrow with sighing.
Loves solitude.
Kalm.: Shooting through chest above heart
into shoulder-blade; pain in left arm. Stitches below breast. Indicated in
angina pectoris aggr- from every motion. Vertigo is aggr on stooping; on
looking down; on rising from a seat. Palpitation < bending forward and by
mental effort. Fluttering of heart. Palpitation, with anxiety. Suppressed
breathing, with faint feeling and dyspnoea. Severe pain in cardiac region.
Pulse- slow, weak, irregular, remarkably slow;
40-80. Numbness of the left arm. Arms feel weak, scarcely perceptible.
Limbs cold. Gouty and rheumatic metastasis of heart. Indicated in tachycardia,
sharp pains take away breath. Dyspnoea and pressure from epigastrium towards
the heart. Paroxysms of anguish around the heart.
Lach.: < walking up, sleeps into
aggravated restlessness cannot bear tight clothes. As soon as he falls asleep,
breathing stops. It is particularly suitable to those with a melancholic
disposition. Women who “have never been well
since the change of life”. Debilitated, weakened people. People who
cannot stand the sun and who are aggravated in summers. Tremors of the tongue,
frantic loquacity. Insane jealousy. Vertigo and pale face. Unquenchable thirst
desires: oysters, wine, coffee. The heart feels too large - cramp like pain in
precordia. Palpitation with numbness down the arm. Must have open air; <:
standing/stooping/motion. Shortness of breath, after a meal and on walking.
Pressure on chest as if from on weight. Stitches in the left side of chest,
with difficult breathing. Irregularity of beats. Fainting and giddiness.
Complaints chiefly during climacteric period sensation as if the heart is hanging
by a thread.
Nat-m.: It reduces blood pressure in
patients who have a craving for salt and who worry a lot. Suppressed anger. The
patient wants to be alone and any attempt to console, irritates beyond
endurance. Wants to be alone to cry. Very inclined to weep and be excited,
tears with laughter. It is a great heart remedy. Fluttering palpitation with
faint feeling, < lying down. Pains in chest dyspnoes on ascending stairs and
shortness of breath. Lancinating pains in chest
and sides of chest, with impeded respiration. Anxious and violent
palpitation of the heart at every movement of body, Tachycardia pulse intermits
on lying down. General dropsies and oedema due to salt retention. The throbbing
headache has its analogue in palpitation of the heart. It is suited to
cachectic persons, old people, teething children, anaemic, chlorotic people
with catarrhal troubles and emaciated people.
Plb-met.: Cardiac weakness. Cramp like
constriction of peripheral arteries causes hypertension. Hypertrophy and
dilation of the left ventricles. High blood pressure + constipation and
timidity. Complexion is waxy, pallid, greasy or shiny looking. Excessive and
rapid emaciation. Loss of appetite with violent thirst. Pressure on chest,
especially when breathing deeply or laughing. Pulse rapid, jerky, weak. Great
anguish and uneasiness with sighs. Anxiety with restlessness and yawning.
Weariness of life. Depression, wants to lie down. Throbbing in the entire body
after slight exertion. <: at night/exertion/excitement/from motion/drinking;
>: hard pressure and from rubbing;
Rauw.: This drug has come to the fore
only recently and has started receiving laurels in cases of high blood pressure
in its various degrees of intensity and acuteness. It has been credited with
quickly softening the action of the heart, thereby normalizing the circulation,
dissipating the violent congestion of head and heart, thus tending to bring the
blood pressure down, even from a frightening level. The violent congestion and
bursting throbbing headache quickly subside; hemorrhages from nose or somewhere
else stop quickly, giddiness vanishes, normal sleep is restored and the patient
soon feels tranquility. The drug has not yet been proven upon the healthy but
is being used clinically.
Term-a.: A great remedy for heart maladies.
Highly effective in cases of high blood pressure with vertigo, palpitation and a
sense of mental and physical exhaustion. It is a good remedy for diseases of
the heart, both organic and functional, angina pectoris, weakness and pain in
the heart.
Thuj.: High blood pressure (+ poor arterial
wall). Personal and parental history shows coronary thrombosis. Cramp in the
heart. Palpitations audible with nausea. Stitches in the region of the heart.
Pulse slow and weak in the morning,
in the evening accelerated and full. Swelling of veins. Patient is
anxious, apprehensions about the future. Music causes him to weep. Talks
hastily, very depressed, sad, irritable. Aversion to life. <: 3 h and 15
h./cold damp air/after vaccination/ excessive tea; >: rest/drawing up the
limbs/warmth/in open air;
Verat-v.: Induces fall of both systolic and
diastolic blood pressure. Auricular fibrillation. Valvular heart disease.
Beating of pulses throughout the body especially in the right thigh. Pricking
pains in the region of the heart with headache. Burning under the sternum.
Dull, hot, aching pain in the heart. Slow action of heart. Palpitation and
dyspnoea. Faintness and biliousness; when rising from a lying position, from
sudden motion. Pulse: slow, soft and weak, irregular, intermittent; suddenly
increases and gradually decreases below normal. Full blooded, plethoric persons
with depression and prostration and great fear of death, fears of being
poisoned.
Visc.: Feeling of suffocation when lying on the left
side. Stertorous breathing. Spasmodic cough. Arterial hypertension with
valvular insufficiency. Unable to rest in a reclining position. Oedematous
swelling of the extremities. Teeth chatter. Eyes sleepy, difficult to open,
lids heavy. Bowels obstinately constipated. Urine milky-white after standing.
Palpitation during coitus. Heart gives a throb and then a pause. Pulse small,
quick and very irregular, slow, full and bounding. Low tension due to dilated
blood vessels.
[Kohler (2004)]
Used a Homoeopathic Complex in the treatment of primary Hypertension in
adult males over a six week period and proved to be effective.
The complex was composed of Crat. Rauw. Lach. Nat-m. and Verat. Alle C 6.
[Fernanda Abrao, Brasil]
R.S.: "Hypertension is the result of astral hyperexcitability at
the level of the rhythmic system". In German, this pathology is called
hypertonie, that is, exacerbated or intensified tonus. We know cramping as a
constrictive action of the astral body on the muscles acting from outside as if
a hand were gripping them. To understand "hypertonus", imagine this
exacerbated astral tonus going deeper, as if it were generating exaggerated
tonus at the level of the rhythmic, or cardiovascular, system. Here we see that
this astral activity does not act from outside as it does in the case of a
cramp.
It is not my intention to diminish the importance of the pathophysiology
of hypertension. The comparison with a cramp is used only to get us closer to
the constrictive, tension element of the astral process - something which is
almost mechanical in the case of a cramp.
We find the causes of this astral tension of the rhythmic system in
psychic disorders, moral tremors which affect the human being as a creature of
soul and spirit. A simple and instructive example of the effects that a threat
can cause to our feeling life is fright. When someone is startled, a feeling of
abandonment arises, as if presence of mind abandons them. In other words, the
activities of the Ego and the astral body move out of harmonious relationship
with the physical-etheric body. These four bodies balance harmoniously in our
rhythmic system. The consciousness of our Ego dwells in our cardiovascular
system. If fright overcomes us, our capacity to react is impaired; the "shield"
of the Ego and the astral body does not fully protect us. As a result, fear can
invade us.
R.S.: Disorders of the rhythmic system are important in human beings
between the 2nd and 3rd seven-year periods as a cause of
hypertension. The 2nd seven-year period of life is the solar phase,
which is essentially a rhythmic one when the child suffers very little illness.
Dr. Holtzapfel: The aesthetic and artistic experience of the world and
the experience of beauty have their roots in this period. The child perceives
everything around it through its most genuine feeling; we can state
unequivocally that this feeling is an organ through which the child receives
the world and through which he goes out to meet it. In this way, traumas of the
soul from different sources will disturb the above-mentioned attitude of soul,
and the soul will absorb these elements during the process of structuring the
personality.
It is as if the activities of the Ego and the astral body are attempting
to settle on the base of the physical-etheric body, whose node of confluence is
at the cardiovascular level, but does not succeed
in doing so properly. Traumas are like frights in installments which
cause the Ego and the astral body to hover, thus making it difficult for them
to fit into the lower bodies like a hand in a glove.
The attempt to incarnate occurs more from outside, irregularly, in the
cardiovascular system, generating an increased tonus, hypertonus, or
hypertension.
R.S.: In a talk on the heart:
The human heart is a center where the cosmic forces and karmic
activation are interlaced. From the age of seven up to the beginning of
puberty/adolescence the individual etheric heart is born, originating from the
cosmic spheres of influence (fixed stars, zodiac, planets). Together with this
process there is a penetration of the astral elements (which were formerly
outside) into all the physical organs; and it is as if the heart is the central
point of this interiorization. These astral elements consist of karmic elements
developed during the prenatal life. And it is in the heart that this clash
between the cosmic-etheric forces and the karmic-astral forces takes place. The
ego joins this process in sympathy from the astral body, inscribing in the
astral body its aims and ideas based on which man carries out his actions...
Indeed, here there is complete union of the karma with the laws of the
cosmos... After death, the etheric body, upon dissolving in the starry cosmos,
hands over to the universe, as it were, everything that was created by karma on
earth.
This is an incomplete account of the lecture designed to illustrate the
importance of the cardiovascular system in the deeper context of the existence
of a human being.
Dr. Mees: Dealing with the heart, asks us to consider the muscular continuity
of the heart-aorta-arteries. Since the heart is the stage on which the
"dramas of the soul" are enacted, it is possible for a tensional
process to materialize in the arterial system. He also reminds us that it is
not only the heart that beats but the entire arterial system.
Dr. Walther Buehler: “Der Leib als Instrument der Seele in Gesundheit
und Krankheit describes the heart as the "perceptive" organ of the
arterial circulation”; it is the latter which really beats, leading the heart
to beat with it.
Hypertension and Sclerosis
R.S. and Ita Wegman: In the seventh clinical case of the Fundamentals of
Therapy it is stated that the excess astral activity not absorbed by the
physical and etheric bodies causes sclerosis.
Later in the book, they state "...the excess of activity of the
astral body also increases the activity of the Ego, which is manifested as a
rise in blood pressure." The correlation between sclerosis and
hypertension is very common (when deposits are observed on the walls of the arteries).
An excess of activity of the soul/spirit can be seen as the basic cause of
sclerosis; but it is interesting to note that the degenerative element can be
attributed to the astral activity whereas the Ego would be the harmonizing
element of this process - if it were in control. Here, however, the astral
element causes degradation, irregularity, constriction or hardening, which can
lead to hypertension, to more obvious metabolic disorders such as
atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis, or to less obvious ones.
In the same book, they refer to the medicine Scleron: "In
sclerosis, the organization of the Ego becomes very weak; it does not do enough
breaking down. As a result, the breaking down takes place only by means of the
astral body..." From this we see that both in sclerosis and in
hypertension there is a predominance of the irregular astral activity, poorly
controlled by the healthy activity of the Ego. The effect of Scleron is
precisely to give priority to the activity of the Ego over the astral body; it
is to fortify and intensify the activity of the Ego in the therapeutic sense,
attempting to dissolve the hardening or constrictive tendency of the astral
body.
Kidney Radiation
When the activity of the kidneys and adrenal glands is increased, the
resulting plethora can, in turn, lead to cardiovascular disorders and
sclerosis. The pyknic constitution and the choleric temperament have this
tendency.
People with a weak kidney radiation tend to have low blood pressure and
a melancholic temperament of the longilineous type.
R.S.: "The hypertensive patient is a hypotensive person up against
life." I think that, especially in the above case, this definition is
perfect if we remember that this type of person generally has little vital
energy, which affects the will, especially in the case of a low kidney
radiation.
Recent Research
Some very interesting research was recently performed by means of a
microneurogram in which the stimuli of the sympathetic (peripheral) nervous
system on the arteries related to hypertension was observed. The initial
conclusion was that the hyperactivity of this system (due to stress, emotions,
intellectual activity, etc.) caused arterial constriction, even going so far as
to constrict minor blood vessels. It further concluded that in hypertensive
patients the number of nervous stimuli remained high, even in the absence of
triggering factors.
From this, it is not difficult to understand the previously-mentioned
aspects if we consider the increased astral activity acting "from
outside", causing contraction in the arterial system through the channel
with which it has most affinity - that is to say, the nervous system.
Common name: chayote, vegetable pear
The possible therapeutic indications for this plant in the treatment of
hypertension are manifold. It has been studied and is used in Brazilian folk
medicine as an anti-hypertensive.
The plant itself has some interesting characteristics. It is a creeper
with green leaves the size of a human hand or larger, gripping tendrils, small
yellow or white flowers and a green fruit the size and shape of a pear. The
chayote is intensely green, including its fruit, typical of the purest plant
forces. This green is the element of water, of cold. The green fruit is edible.
When the fruit ripens, however, it becomes yellowish and fibrous with small
external spines and becomes inedible. The chayote's yellow or white flower is
tiny, even timid looking. Here, in the flower, the vital etheric forces are
hardly modified at all through astral intervention. Witness the chayote's tiny
flower on the one side and its watery, expansive fruit on the other.
Therapeutically, the leaves or tendrils are used as an infusion or the boiled
fruit, either separately or in combination.
Pigs fed the chayote fruit suffer from reduced sexual potency or even
impotence for a period of time. The relationship between the astral body and
sexual activity, in humans as well as in animals, is well known. The more
vitality a being has, the more energy it can potentially devote to a vigorous
sex life. This excess vitality, which is healthy in animals, becomes
pathological in human beings. The plethoric, hypertensive patient is the one
that might benefit by treatment with chayote. Chayote would counter this excess
vitality which "spills out through the pores." Will chayote work in
other forms of hypertension? Possibly. At present, I am acquiring further
clinical experience with it.
Vorwort/Suchen Zeichen/Abkürzungen Impressum