September 8th.  A new week begins and it's a beautiful life.  First, a report on me.  As new supplements come in, I've added them to my routine, so I've been on this schedule for the last 3 days with great success.  After trying it 3 times now to get down to one 250mg Magnesium a day, I've come to the conclusion that for now, it can't be done.  I'm taking 500mg Magnesium a day, split into 2 doses.  Each time I tried to cut it back, lower leg cramps occurred.  With the extra Magnesium, that doesn't happen.

Some special notes here.  What you don't see in the above list is one very special enzyme.  It's not in the list because I've only started taking it the last 2 days (more on that later in mom's report).  The name of it is Serrapeptase.  I stumbled upon it when researching my mom's blood pressure.  Knowledge is not something we should hoard.  Share it and make a difference.  This remarkable enzyme I'm taking for 2 reasons.  One for my original problem of the breast cyst (it should be gone within 2 months).  Two, for the tendonitis in my ankles and lower legs that I now have due to the damage with Cipro.  The enzyme basically acts as a scavenger cleaning up debris in your blood. 

The other amazing discovery I've made this week is one more mineral called Silica.  The information at this link is quite remarkable.  I didn't order from them, I found a different brand at Lucky Vitamin (I'll add it to my list next week when it arrives).  The reason I want to add it is to properly heal my tendons.  Believe it or not, Silica helps the body to regenerate tendons.  The whole idea behind everything I'm taking is to help the body repair itself. 

So far so good.  Pain report is good.  The only pain I have now is still in my ankles and heels (caused from tendonitis) and sometimes in my wrists (more tendonitis).  Other than that, I am able to walk around all day with a few breaks in between.  I did purchase some lovely gel inserts for my shoes and that really has made a big difference (so now I'm gelin' as they say in the ad).  At night, obviously, is when the pain aggravates me the most.  The neuropathy at work with the nerves still a work in progress.  Again, all things will heal in time, hopefully before schedule.

NOW, time to report on my mom.  This section is very special to me and should be for anyone with high blood pressure.  I mentioned before the drugs my mother was prescribed.  This started about 3 months ago.  At that time she went to the Denise Woods RN (you know, the one to avoid at all costs).  She went due to a bladder infection (urinary tract infection) that she was unable to clear.  She has had these all her life off an on.  All her life my mother has been very sensitive to any insect bites (ants, bees, mosquitoes).  Keep that in mind as you read on.  She was prescribed Nitrofur for the infection, a new drug she'd not been given before.  With that diagnosis came an unpleasant bonus.  She was told she had high blood pressure and prescribed Lisinopril.  My mother has never had high blood pressure.  At that time Ms. Woods told her she was a "creeper."  Someone who's blood pressure goes up with age.  So, with blind faith in this woman she came home with the new medications and began taking them.  The truth is she never was told just what her blood pressure was at that time, so we don't know how 'high' it really was (but we will when the records come in).  Just one day on Nitrifur provided a toxic reaction.  Terrible, agonizing stomach pains.  I told her to quit.  BUT, my mother had read the insert and it said this 'may' be a mild side effect and to keep taking it, it would pass.  Let me tell you, it only passed at the end of the 7 days.  7 days of misery on the couch in stomach pains.  It was hard to watch and I kept telling her it wasn't worth it.  However, keep in mind she had a bad UTI infection and she was convinced this would clear it.  Now we know different, but then we were both ignorant.  She never did really clear the infection, still having difficulty peeing without a burning sensation.  So, flash forward to a week ago.  Three months on Lisinopril.  At that time she had been taking Cranactin for a week.  The Cranactin didn't seem to be working.  We didn't make the connection with Lisinopril at that time.  What we also did was go out and invest in a blood pressure machine for the home.  She had a slight sore throat and felt really bloated with stomach pains.  The stomach pains kept increasing.  I couldn't figure it out.  We had Cranactin and it should have cleared the infection.  We were treating a Urinary Tract Infection.  Well, after all the hell with what I'd been through I had a lot of time on my hands to dig on the internet.  I started researching the Lisinopril.  What I found was beyond scary.  This shit was made from a poisonous snake venom.  Who in their right minds decided snake venom would cure blood pressure?  Turns out a lot of people had a "mild" side effect of coughing, sometimes developing after some time on this wonder drug.  What would cause coughing?  It didn't add up.  I searched the boards but no one had any idea what this coughing was caused from.  Some had quit the drug and were still coughing, unable to get rid of it.  I didn't want to see my mom, as sensitive as she was, develop this coughing thing.  So we started with the blood pressure machine.  137/69 with a pulse of 91.  That wasn't good.  The stomach pain might explain the slight rise on the top number, but from what I'd read a wide spread between the two numbers was bad.  69 on the bottom was really low.  So I did some more digging and found this was what was referred to as Isolated Systolic Hypertension.  This can be caused in older people by hardening of the arteries (Arteriosclerosis).

Well, I was still confused on the stomach pains.  How did this relate?  In the meantime we decided she would try a new approach, quit the Lisinopril (because it obviously wasn't helping) and try a natural remedy.  I researched extensively and chose the best route to our goal.  Grape Seed Extract, C12 Peptide (which will come in today and she'll add), Methyl B12, Benfotiamine, and CoQ10 were the supplements that should accomplish this goal.  Because she'd been on the Lisinopril this should transition smoothly.  I was wrong.  I missed the most important piece of the puzzle.  Take all symptoms into consideration and trace them back to the drug.  

On day 2 the blood pressure was 131/66 with pulse of 106.  That was weird.  Day 3, 141/68 with pulse of 102.  The stomach pains were terrible, she couldn't move off the couch.  She told me when she walked across the floor it felt like her insides would come out.  I started panicking and went back to researching, asking in depth just what she thought the pains felt like.  Bloating, pain and she couldn't urinate without agony.  What on earth was going on here?  The answer will surprise you.  I typed in a million things on the search engines and found some people experiencing gastrointestinal pain from this drug.  So I wasn't looking for a bladder infection.  I was looking for gastrointestinal.  I found a report of an older woman who had been taking the same drug with a similar reaction.  They called it gastrointestinal angioedema.  So now I had a name to search on.  Next I found an article on angioedema and hives.  Well, I knew what hives were, but the angioedema is a more extreme case and can be life threatening as you swell up, constricting airways.  This sounded like an allergic reaction.  An allergic reaction to snake venom.  No different than if you were bitten by a snake.  Except there were no hives on the skin anywhere of my mom.  These were internal hives, hidden from view in the intestine and god only knows where else.  My theory is that if you develop this allergy (or are allergic from the get go) that the toxic venom builds up in your system, until eventually there's a major problem.  Thinking back, it did make sense, we just didn't recognize it for what it was.  So again, I researched and found the best course of action.  A little weed called Marshmallow (not you're campfire marshmallows).  Basically is coats your insides with a mucus that protects irritated surfaces and reduces inflammation.  Back to Houston to pickup this  wonder pill (not available just anywhere).  So, with us both being skeptical this would work, but desperate enough to try it, she began taking it.  By the end of day 2 we were both amazed.  It was working.  She could now walk across the floor without feeling the insides coming out.  Still tender and swollen, I told her she would only take this for a week to clear the hives.  It's been amazing.  At the end of day 4, she can pee without pain.  Thank you to Marshmallow.

With the hives under control and the bladder now responding to the Cranactin all should be good.  Not so.  We now knew the Lisinopril to be the culprit in all my mom's problems over the past 3 months, but we were not out of the woods yet.  By day five her blood pressure was on the rise.  I again researched, we again drove to Houston for another wonder pill, Serrapeptase.  As mentioned previously, this is the enzyme that holds such promise.  It would clear her blood vessels of the plaque built up, while also reducing the inflammation.  She began taking it that day.  I had already warned her it would take 3-4 days to kick in.  That night her blood pressure spiked up to 170/90 with a pulse of 96.  She had a horrific headache, what she described as liquid ice-cold fire in her head.  I was terribly worried, even offered to take her to the emergency room if that's what she wanted.  No, we would hang tight and call Dr. Shafi.  The guy is a saint considering I called at 3 a.m. in alarm and couldn't even remember his name.  I had given her a Bromelain (an enzyme made from pineapple) to try and counter the headache, but it was only started to work a little.  I explained the high blood pressure.  I told him the situation and he said to give her two more magnesium and a valium.  I remember her words, "I hope this guy knows what he's doing."  Well, he did.  By morning things were a little better, BP at 152/78 with pulse of 94.  She still had concerns with the headache and so did I.  Again the research and again I couldn't find much to help with the headache.  When a headache is caused by an underlying issue, you have to resolve the issue and the headache will go.  So my recommendation was to take the Bromelain just as the headache began and hopefully it would allow the Serrapeptase and the other supplements the time to work.  The only catch was she couldn't exceed the dosage, only 3 pills to spread out over the whole day.  She did so and that last night I went to sleep with much trepidation as to the outcome of this.

This morning, all clear.  BP was 138/80 with a pulse of 87.  Still high, yes, but it has stabilized.  Just a slight tension headache remained.  Nothing like the distress before.  We'll keep a watch and I'll keep this up to date as we go along.  Hopefully she can have her life back now without all the side effects by this natural approach to blood pressure.