Co Q10 anecdotal report - My BP is AWESOME!

[Lisa0825]

My doctor told me several months ago that despite my protests, she was going to have to put me on meds, with my readings averaging about 145/100. After trying three types, and having side effects on all of them, I bought a home BP monitor and showed her that at home I was more like 133/88. Not great, but better than in the office, so I seemed to have a touch of "white coat syndrome". I bargained with her to keep me off meds as long as I checked it daily, kept exercising, and ate healthier.

Two months later, I was still at about 130/85. Then I read online that Co Q10 had shown in some studies to reduce BP readings by up to 10 points, after taking it for 6 or more weeks. I started Co Q10 3 months ago (100mg/day), and my BP is now averaging about 110-120/65-75.

Sure, this is anecdotal, and YMMV, but I think it is working for me.

[postulater]

1. Serving as your own control

Is sometimes the best type of medical research.

[Lisa0825]

2. Having worked in medical research in my past career, I

think I am pretty observant and self-aware. Before I started the CoQ10, I was exercising, limiting salt intake, and taking flax seed oil, all of which could have favorable effects. But after a couple months without much change, I added the CoQ10, and that really seems to have made the noticeable difference. In fact, I have stopped paying close attention to the salt intake, and the numbers have not gone back up.

[Chemisse]

3. That's really interesting.

The hardest part of trying something and determining if it has an effect, is removing all the other factors that vary in your life, diet, etc. It looks like you have a lot of control over those factors, which is helpful.

Now if you stopped taking it and the bp went up, that would lend further support (although there is the placebo effect to consider as well).

[Lisa0825]

5. Even if I did that, it would still be just anecdotal since I am the only subject.

I'm not trying to prove anything, which is why I worded it the way I did.

I'm just happy to have good BP without the meds that gave me side effects, so I will keep doing what I am doing.

The studies described in these articles carry much more weight than if I tested myself further:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17287847
http://www.ccjm.org/content/77/7/435.full

[Chemisse]

8. I didn't mean to challenge you.

I was just thinking aloud, so to speak.

Thanks for the links though; Coenzyme Q is intriguing.

[Lisa0825]

9. No worries - just thought you were proposing further testing :-)

I am just happy to have results similar to the tests done already

[bemildred]

4. Yes, I've seen that too.

I had much the same experience, including "white-coat" syndrome, but ignored rather than argued. I was very athletic when young, and I have an enlarged heart and my BP jumps around quickly, and I used to drink, and numerous MDs have "noticed" it. They fall into two groups, those who just prescribe 2-4 drugs to "try", and those who inquire first, and then don't.

I had similar results with Co-Q too, good stuff, esp. when you get older.

[Lisa0825]

6. I'm just so happy I found a way to control it without side effects!

Most of my life (I am 43), I could take whatever the doc prescribed and rarely had any problems tolerating drugs. But lately, I seem much more sensitive to prescriptions. I don't know if it is an age thing or what. So the thought of having to try one scrip after another until something worked was really bothering me.

Thank goodness for the internets!

[grasswire]

7. even if that's not what is helping your BP...

...the benefits of coQ10 are so overwhelmingly good!

I decided yesterday to up my dose. I take 200 mg day already, but plan to go to 400. It has made such a difference in my life already, along with magnesium.

I started taking it three years ago after reading Dr. Stephen Sinatra's integrative cardiology principles. His top four recommendations are coQ10, L Carnitine, Magnesium, and D-Ribose.

I also believe that coQ10 gave my beloved kitty two extra years after being diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. I told my vet I was going to give him coQ10, and I did. He outlived his prognosis by two years.

[HuckleB]

10. My anecdote.

My dentist began taking BP as a part of the regular cleaning. My BP was always high. Thus, I went to my MD. For some reason, when I went to see him, my BP was always quite good.

I have decided to forsake dental care in order to lower my BP.

(Yeah, of course I keed. I keed.)

[laconicsax]

11. It's because your dentist is part of the fluoride conspiracy.

The ADA won't tell you the truth, but the mind-control chemicals they add to the fluoride are designed to evaporate out of any solution and spread as an airborne toxin and as a result, dentist offices are saturated with the stuff.

The main side effect? Hypertension. Is it any coincidence that more people are diagnosed with hypertension now than say, 100 years ago? 100 years ago, they didn't fluoridate the water.

Don't believe me? It's all right here: www2.crazyconspiracytheories.com/batshit_insane/fluoride.html

in case it wasn't clear