what herbs can be used to reduce high blood pressure?

Hello Msaerobic

Just as we cannot prescribe medication for you, we cannot prescribe herbal therapy for you. Herbs are just like medication, in fact most meds originated from plants and herbs. They can have side effects, adverse effects, and cause allergies. They can interact with foods or medications you already take. Natural does not equal harmless.

The best natural ways to lower high blood pressure are usually weight loss, dietary changes such as less salt, stress relief programs like yoga, and other exercise. These all have a direct effect on hypertension. No one who is unfamiliar with your medical history should suggest herbal remedies to you, and if they do I would be wary.

One source of credible information with studies behind it is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at http://nccam.nih.gov/. You can do a search for high blood pressure or hypertension and it will bring up a list of articles.

Again, the problem with treating yourself with herbs is you can hurt yourself. For instance, several commonly used herbs make you more likely to bleed. That combined with hypertension raises your risk of a brain bleed. So it is important to be monitored by a professional and discuss herbal as well as traditional remedies. That way if you have an adverse reaction or a great reaction, you and your health care team know why. In addition, if you have other health issues an herb that might help one condition could cause worsening of another.

I hope this helped. I do have some books on this sort of thing, and you can search the internet as well. I'm happy to discuss it further, but under no circumstances will I suggest what you should take, as that is out of the scope of my licensing. Thank you for writing.