Hi. Dennis here -- I've been on the LC way of eating for almost a year. My blood pressure dropped to almost almost normal during the summer. (12Os usually over mid 80s -- most times around 80). It has now risen back up there thes last few months (this morning it was 150/100 -- not long after I arose. It went down during the day but not a lot -- upper 140s by upper 80s or 90s) To be fair I wasn't working this summer so it could possible be work related (teacher).

Anyway I noticed on my last blood tests my potassium was flagged as low (3.4 -- the scale is 3.5 to 5.1 mmol/L). The last two blood tests it was 3.8.

I have taken potassium for many months (I am taking Nature Made Potassium Glutonate 550 mg 2X daily and I upped it this last month by adding an additional 1/2 pill per day (225mg).

As for blood pressure some years ago I was on Lisiniprill but it did nothing. The doctor gave me free samples of Edarbyclar which worked (perhaps too good) but after 1 year and 1/2 the free samples ran out and the cost was sky high so I dropped it. Also after getting diagnosed with diabetes last year I read Edarbyclar tends to raise blood sugars (that's the same year I developed diabetes). My blood pressure seemed to be doing steadily better after starting low carb -- raising significantly only at the doctor during an operation. last march it was 145 over 80 and the doctor wanted to put me on medications then. Like I said during the summer it was just about normal usually 124or 125 over 80.

I would really like to get the blood pressure down naturally as even the dentist balks at working on you now with elevated BP and I have white coat hypertension with the dentist so even a cleaning might be refused. I'd like to avoid medicine if possible (doctors throw out medications nonschalantly -- I would hate to get one that raised blood sugars again) but for a LC eater and diabetic the problem is that most high potassium foods are high sugar.

However people kind of freak about potassium supplements being really dangerous if you take too many.

So what are your experiences? What do you all think about the potassium I'm taking? Also any suggestions about blood pressure lowering foods? Any other ideas or observations? I have slacked off excercising the last couple of months-- could that affect BP so much?


Thanks for any help in this

Dennis