Acupuncture might be used to treat hypertension

Blood pressure is needed to maintain the circulation of blood in the whole body.

High B.P or Hypertension, is a condition in which the pressure of blood in the arteries is too high. Increased blood pressure in which systolic is above 130+/- mm and diastolic is above 80 mm of mercury.

Systolic blood pressure is the top number of your blood pressure reading, whereas diastolic blood pressure is the bottom number reading

As a general rule, you ‘are considered to be “hypertensive” if your blood pressure is constantly above the ideal range.

This is to help you understand better, when your blood pressure is taken, what’s actually being measured is the amount of pressure your blood is exerting against the walls of your blood vessels.
Let’s understand this with an example- Think of a balloon as it is being filled with water. You will see that the balloon stretches as more as more water is being put into it. As you continue to fill the balloon, you can see that balloon is thing out and eventually stretch itself to the breaking point.
Same is with blood vessels, they can burst if you let your blood pressure get too high and remain there unchecked. This is the severity of results.

Hypertension is classified as dizziness or Headache in TCM. Causes of disease are imbalance of the body’s yin-yang, functional disorder of organ and disorder of blood circulation.
Hypertension is a disease of unknown causes, it might be due to family history, stress work environment or due to some heavy illness of organ functioning or high dosage of medicines and steroids.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure can increase health risk of serious health issues which includes heart attack, stroke. Vessels bursting in the brain will make you suffer stroke, where vessels in the heart will make you suffer a heart attack or suffer complete heart failure.

Fortunately, HBP /hypertension can be easily detected, and once it gets detected you can consult your acupuncture therapist or acupuncturist.

The major pathologies associated with hypertension involve few main reasons as- Yang excess, Liver fire ascending, phlegm dampness and interior movement of liver wind according to acupuncture theory.

Lifestyle Changes to prevent & treat Hypertension (HBP)
1) Intake more fruits and vegetables in your diet
2) Intake more potassium rich diet

• Potassium rich diet includes
• Oranges
• Bananas
• Baked potatoes
• Baked beans
• Yogurt
• Bran cereals
• Raisins
• Figs
• Tomatoes

3) Reduce Salt Intake
4) Reduce or Manage your weight
5) Exercise and Yoga practice
6) Stop Intake of Alcohol
7) Stop smoking
8) Proper intake of Water (Keep your self-hydrated)

Note: -Do not start any treatment of High BP just after one reading. It may be due to some temporary causes, which resolves automatically without medicines

There are basically two types of hypertension-
a) Primary Hypertension (Essential hypertension) – In 95% cases it might be due to family medical history and due to stressful lifestyle and environment. According to acupuncture studies primary hypertension tends to be associated with an individual’s constitution

b) Secondary Hypertension– Rest 5% cases are due to some various conditions and medications can lead to this type of hypertension which includes-
• Renal Disease-Diabetes, nephritis, narrowing arteries of kidney
• Drugs- Birth control pills, Hormone pills, steroids
• Phaeochromocytoma- It is a Tumor of adrenal gland, which increase secretion of Hormone and leads to HBP
• Cushing syndrome- Through adrenal gland, it increases steroid secretion and leads to HBP
• Conns syndrome- Renin hormone secretion increases due to tumor in adrenal and leads to HBP
• Contraction of aorta – leads to HBP

There are several parameters to measure the cause of HBP and its treatment, as it varies person to person according to TCM studies.

If you are suffering from hypertension (High BP) and your condition is mild to moderate, then you can be completely cured with the help of acupuncture but, If you are suffering from severe hypertension then we can still help you to bringing down your drug dosage.
With no side effects and drugless therapy method, Acupuncture has proved very effective in such diseases such as hypertension.
Case Study
A 45-year-old male patient, visited the hospital complaining his hypertension since more than 10 years and was under medication along with high cholesterol, gastric trouble, shouting anger and bitter mouth taste medications.

After evaluation we diagnosed his sleep was not proper, taste likes were spicy, urine and stool were normal, Apatite was on higher side, Tongue was more towards redder side. Heat in Palms and soles
Acupuncture points were selected and was given treatment daily for 1.5 months, no symptoms left.
BP is normalized without medication; Cholesterol is in range with sound sleep with no gastric trouble left. He is completely cured. The patient was advised to avoid more spicy food.
Follow up observation for 1 year, he is leading healthy life with no relapse.