Re: DASH question

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/30/06 9:41:09 AM, shahall@... writes:

Today will be my 12th day on the DASH diet and I've

averaged about 1800 mg sodium per day.  My BP has

consistently run 6-10 points higher since the day

after I started the diet.  I've made no other

lifestyle changes and my meds are the same.  Is there

a reason for this?  According to the book you should

see a significant drop in BP by two weeks.

Thanks,

a

Measuring BP the same?

Look at Ricediet.com

1800 may be too much salt for you.

May your pressure be low!

CE Grim, BS(Chem/Math), MS(Biochem), MD.

Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Geriatrics and Hypertension

Former Epidemiologic Intelligence Services Officer (Lt. Comdr.), CDC

Specializing in Difficult to Manage High Blood Pressure

Clinical Professor of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin

[Guest guest]

From what I have read about the DASH diet, it was based on a study of

about 500 adults and I bet not too many of them had

hyperaldosteronism. We don't know what caused their hypertension.

If it was from eating a high amount of sodium, I am sure it did lower

their BP but I don't believe that will work for everyone. That is

why I don't intend to try it although I try to eat as little sodium

as possible since I can't tolerate it. I know Dr. Grim promotes the

diet but I don't think it will help us. I have read that a low salt

diet raises the aldosterone level so it seems to me that if

aldosterone is our problem, the DASH diet won't help. I, for one, do

not trust these studies. There is lots of $$$ to be made on diet

books. I did look at the DASH diet and it is very similar to the

Hilton Head Metabolism Diet. I tried that several years before I

developed an aldosterone problem. I stayed on it for a couple of

months or more and did lose a lot of weight but don't remember that

it lowered my BP. At that time it was well-controlled with meds and

the dose was never lowered after I went on the diet and lost weight.

Every time I slipped the least little bit, I gained several pounds

back right away then lost it when I went back on the diet. It was

low salt, low fat, no refined sugar and high potassium.

I think that a lot of studies are engineered to reach a certain

result. If those people ate a high of salt diet, then the DASH diet

probably did lower their BP. Years ago, I worked with a girl who

liked a lot of salt. While we were at lunch one day, we all were

horrified to see her put 20 shakes or more of salt on spaghetti. I

never add any, it already has more than enough. She said that she

just loves salt. A few weeks after that, she found out that she had

very high blood pressure and she was in her early 20s. Take the

Subway commercials for example. I saw that guy on 60 Minutes or

Dateline and he said that before he started eating at Subway, he was

eating 10,000 calories a day. No wonder he lost weight eating at

Subway, but I'll bet it never worked for many other people.

I have found that diuretics raise my bp, too. It seems that anything

that takes sodium out of my body raises my bp. I tried Lasix a

couple of times and both times, my systolic pressure went up about 20

points within an hour of taking it.

Fran

>

> Today will be my 12th day on the DASH diet and I've

> averaged about 1800 mg sodium per day. My BP has

> consistently run 6-10 points higher since the day

> after I started the diet. I've made no other

> lifestyle changes and my meds are the same. Is there

> a reason for this? According to the book you should

> see a significant drop in BP by two weeks.

>

> Thanks,

> a

>

[Guest guest]

Yuck, I hate rice. Could never do a diet that contains a lot of rice.

> Rather make that PUBMED Kempner Rice diet.