(Continued from last edition)
Case 2:
The next case involved an elderly woman in her late 70s. She had diabetes, high blood pressure, and was on three medications for blood pressure and two medications for diabetes. Her doctor had recently decided to start her on insulin due to difficulty controlling her blood sugar.
She was brought to my attention by her son and daughter-in-law, both of whom are medical doctors. They wanted to explore alternative options, including unconventional approaches, to avoid starting insulin injections for her.
From her history, it was clear she had been experiencing chronic constipation for over 40 years. She believed it might have started during her university years, as her bowel movements were often limited to once or twice a week.
Other relevant aspects of her history included arthritis and gastritis, for which she was taking additional medications. We recognised that “Ground Zero” was her gut system. Over the next two weeks, we implemented a series of treatment protocols to normalise gut function. Our nutritionists designed a meal plan to support improved gut health, which included a Gut Cleanse protocol, as well as prebiotics and probiotics to restore a healthy gut flora.
By the end of the first month, her bowel movements had improved to a daily frequency. After six weeks, her blood pressure showed noticeable improvements, allowing us to wean her off one blood pressure medications. By eight weeks, we had weaned her off a second blood pressure medication, and her readings were now in the 130-140 range. By the end of the third month, following the nutritional guidelines, she was down to just half the dose of a single blood pressure medication, with her systolic pressure between 120 and 130. During this time, she noted improvements in her sleep quality, a reduction in arthritis pain, and a boost in her energy levels.
Her blood sugar also showed significant improvement, allowing her to reduce her diabetes medication to just one. She admitted to having a sweet tooth, which made certain changes difficult, but she was in a much better place.
In cases where chronic gut imbalance or dysfunction exists, such as chronic constipation, inflammation in the gut can often trigger a bodily response, including elevated blood pressure. The body functions as a holistic system, and if the underlying cause is truly addressed and the client maintains the nutritional measures in place, overall health improves.
Case 3:
The third case was a woman in her 60s. She had multiple issues, including arthritis, recurrent headaches, chronic constipation, insomnia, stiff joints, and a sedentary lifestyle.
After evaluating her with a comprehensive wellness assessment, we first implemented a gut cleanse to improve her bowel movements. We then initiated movement therapy with the goal of restoring joint flexibility and encouraging daily activity to help her resume a more normal lifestyle.
By the third month, these improvements had taken effect. Initially, her blood pressure had ranged from 150 to 160 systolic, but by the third month, it had lowered to 110 to 120, allowing us to reduce her medications. We encouraged her to maintain regular physical activity, which included walking around her home daily, attending movement therapy twice a week, and having reflexology sessions once a week. She stopped being sedentary and now walks unaided, without her cane. She also reported that her mental clarity had greatly improved.
Of note in this case was the involvement of her daughters, who, concerned about her arthritis pain, had encouraged her sedentary lifestyle. Unbeknownst to them, this contributed to her physical and metabolic decline. When they first brought her to the clinic, they even asked if we could visit her at home, as they felt she could not walk. However, we insisted they bring her to the clinic.
Bottom line
These three cases illustrate that high blood pressure is not a disease in itself but rather the body’s response to a loss of its natural balance or “ease.”
As holistic and wellness practitioners, our focus is on returning the body to its state of ease and restoring it to its baseline of health—what it is designed to do in the perfection with which God created it. Today, we often drift away from the body’s natural state, but the path forward is to realign and come back to that perfection
