Low blood pressure

[Kevin60]

As part of his PD my husband suffers with low blood pressure. Can anyone give any advice on how to increase it?

[silvestrov]

When low blood pressure occurs it is possibly related to thyroid dysfunction (TD). And TD can worsen PD:

Hypothyroidism and Parkinson’s Disease

CASE REPORT:

"We report the case of a female patient who had been suffering from Parkinson s disease for 17 years and started to present on off fluctuations that did not respond to therapy. Hypothyroidism was observed and the hormone replacement therapy used to resolve the problem allowed the Parkinsonian fluctuations to be controlled."

TD is no more prevalent in PD than the general population but its symptoms can worsen or even be mistaken for PD. At the bottom, in the comments section, I posted Dr. Foster's theory of Parkinson's disease based off of iodine deficiency.

functionalps.com/blog/2011/...

Salt and licorice have been used to raise blood pressure through the years. Low salt levels are associated with hypo thyroid/adrenal disorders as is low blood pressure.

Why is low blood sodium a health concern for older adults? How is it treated?

"Hyponatremia treatments may include changing a medication that affects your sodium level, treating the underlying disease, changing the amount of water you drink, or changing the amount of salt in your diet."

mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...

Low blood pressure (hypotension) - Mayo Clinic

"Use more salt. Experts usually recommend limiting the amount of salt in your diet because sodium can raise blood pressure, sometimes dramatically. For people with low blood pressure, that can be a good thing.

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"But because excess sodium can lead to heart failure, especially in older adults, it's important to check with your doctor before increasing the salt in your diet. "

"Drink more water. Although nearly everyone can benefit from drinking enough water, this is especially true if you have low blood pressure. "

"Fluids increase blood volume and help prevent dehydration, both of which are important in treating hypotension."

"Wear compression stockings. The same elastic stockings commonly used to relieve the pain and swelling of varicose veins may help reduce the pooling of blood in your legs."

"Medications. Several medications, either used alone or together, can be used to treat low blood pressure that occurs when you stand up (orthostatic hypotension).

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"For example, the drug fludrocortisone is often used to treat this form of low blood pressure. This drug helps boost your blood volume, which raises blood pressure."

"Doctors often use the drug midodrine (Orvaten) to raise standing blood pressure levels in people with chronic orthostatic hypotension. It works by restricting the ability of your blood vessels to expand, which raises blood pressure."

mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...

Licorice extract:

Los dosage liquorice affects blood pressure

No cutting and pasting is allowed in this article because it is copyrighted content. It gives the range of tested licorice eaten by patients and to the degree it raised BP.

nutraingredients-usa.com/Re...

Panda licorice is real licorice because it has licorice extract as a component and most national brands like twizzlers do not - they use anise.

caloriecount.com/calories-p...

Licorice extract is available too:

Nature's Answer, Licorice, Alcohol Free, 2,000 mg, 1 fl oz (30 ml)

Warnings

"Caution: If you have high blood pressure, consult with your healthcare practitioner before using. Recommended use is for not longer than 4-6 weeks without consulting your healthcare practitioner."

iherb.com/Nature-s-Answer-L...

Liquorice – can it be used to treat Parkinson’s disease? "We want to establish how to protect these brain cells and thus prevent Parkinson’s disease using a component from licorice. Glycyrrhizin, the main component of liquorice, has been shown to interfere with the pathways leading to cell death, so is capable of protecting cells against neurotoxicity."

medicalresearchscotland.org...

From reading both the about PD/licorice and licorice/BP studies lower doses seem to be ineffective and there is not a time relationship with BP and licorice. Meaning the length of time licorice is used for BP does not seem to work. Rather a larger dose works for raising BP. Read the studies and you will understand.

With this posting I am on vacation and I hope this helps.

Rich

[laglag in reply to silvestrov]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[Kevin60 in reply to silvestrov]

Thank you for taking the time to reply he is already on fludrocortisone but will give the liquorice at try.