What helps to lower blood pressure when it spikes?
A lecturer said at the 15th annual PKD conference that no matter what–generally by the age of 50 almost all of us PKD'rs will need to take medication to lower blood pressure due to our angiotensin-renin-aldosterone and sodium system going awry. I too needed blood pressure medication for about a year. I discovered that I required more and more medication in stronger and stronger doses to effectively control my blood pressure down to 100/60 - 110/70.
I got compulsive about testing my urinary pH. Blood pressure medication made me acidic. The more acidic I tested, the higher would go my blood pressure. Together with my doctor we slowly weaned me off blood pressure medication. I agreed to continue to monitor it daily as well as my urinary pH. As long as I tested with a urinary pH of 7.5 or higher, my blood pressure stays at 113/68 - 106/70 - 112/72 range.
I noticed it would spike, almost randomly, and always when I traveled to see my doctor. We thought it might be white coat syndrome, or fear of the doctor. When my naturopath told me about melatonin I understood that looking back, that my blood pressure spikes have occurred when I have traveled to different time zones and may have been related to lack of sleep. I have stopped melatonin because I noticed it gave me an indigestion like chest pain. AVOID melatonin if you take immunosuppressive drugs. Melatonin may help with jet lag. Use the smallest possible dose possible and split the tablet into fourths. The following day take a Vitamin B 6 and go for walks in the sunshine to reset your internal clock, your pituitary gland. If I have difficulty falling asleep I will less than 425 mg of magnesium taking it at night with 2 ounces of grape juice diluted in mineral water.

I had never had high BP until recently, when it went borderline and then up to high. Are there any side effects from Cozaar? Will I be able to reduce my dosage, ever? Is Cozaar the best BP med for us PKD 'ers?
Cozaar is a very good medication for PKD'rs. It increases the blood flow to cystic kidneys and decreases protein in the urine. Renin produced from PKD kidneys causes blood pressure to increase by a lessening of the blood flow to the kidneys. I found myself becoming more and more immune to the blood pressure lowering effects of Cozaar - some side effects are a cough that won't quit. I started with a half a tablet then continued to increase it to two tablets. I then switched to atacand another blood pressure medication that increases blood flow to the kidneys. My blood pressure was well controlled for a month, but once again started getting spiking. I stopped drinking caffeine free tea by Celestial Seasonings (this contains hawthorne berries which causes my blood pressure to spike) and I stopped honey vanilla chamomile (this one contains licorice - an herb which makes blood pressure spike). My pressure came down to 110/78.

What type of Celestial Seasoning teas did you get to lower blood pressure?
Teas do not seem to lower blood pressure, they raise it. All caffeinated teas will raise blood pressure and cause cysts to grow. Try this for more information Coffee & Tea alternatives. Many herbs said to normalize blood pressure, raise my blood pressure. By eliminating certain herbal teas by Celestial seasonings I was able to keep my blood pressure around 110/70. Prior to this, my blood pressure would spike until Isabel, a fellow PKD'r pointed out to me that certain of the celestial seasonings teas contain hawthorne, ginger, and licorice.
To lower blood pressure that is spiking detail to things that can increase spikes by avoiding foods that can cause a slight allergy, avoiding caffeine, taking prescribed blood pressure medication, daily walks, daily exercise, taking time for a little quiet during the day, eating vegan all help to maintain low blood pressure.
If you are taking cozaar or any blood pressure medication, keep well-hydrated by drinking water. I am reading a book called Water and Salt the essence of life and they recommend artesian spring water such as Fiji water filtered through the volcanoes (with a pH of 7.5). I am drinking local natural artesian spring water from filtered through the volcanoes of Mauna Loa called Hawaiian Springs
AVOID
table salt and use for those times when I need to bake non yeasted spelt bread, I use Himalayan sea salt crystals called Halite. Or if this is not available to me then I use Celtic sea salt or fleur de sel sea salt. My daily sodium intake is less than 1200 mg.
allergic foods such as: deadly nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers, tobacco, and belladonna). chicken, beef, pork, most nuts (the exceptions are almonds, coconut, and chestnuts), wheat, yeast, sugars, soy, and foods which cause blood pressure to rise and cysts to grow such as, caffeine, chocolate, decaffeinated teas, coffee, de-caf coffee. green tea, white tea, de-caf green tea.
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Herbs such as parsley, saffron, and hibiscus.
Plenty of sleep.
Exercise daily and try and take some time for myself. I find that when I am alkaline then my blood pressure is well controlled and I require no blood pressure lowering medication.
Self monitoring of blood pressure daily. I use an Omron Model HEM-605, a wrist BP monitor, which was described in consumer's report last year as being the most accurate in it's class. It has a memory so I just show it to my doc and he can see for himself what my pressure has been running for the past year. To Keep my blood pressure down I make sure I stay alkaline with a bedtime testing of my urinary pH 7.5 - 8.0. I eat raw parsley, put on a sandwich, sprinkle it in soup, top a salad with it, or put it in a juice. I ate raw onions and raw garlic
Turmeric and Blueberries are high in antioxidants. Turmeric is the herb and blueberries (or cranberries - same family) is the food with the highest anti-oxidant properties in it. These both are known as super-foods for their anti- aging properties.
I go for a morning walk early in the day. I find this brings my pressure down. If it is unusually high I take two blood pressure medicines (on the advice of my physician). If it is 130/90, I take two at bedtime so I have a good night's sleep. If my blood pressure falls below 100/60, I stop my blood pressure medicine. I try and keep it consistently at 110/70. If I notice it going up up up. Then I will drink nothing but freshly prepared juices. No non yeasted made me breads. The starch I will eat for the next three days is brown rice. I continue to juice almonds and cabbage juice. I will have additional vegetables that have been baked roasted or steamed. No added butter or salt. After three days my pressure comes down nicely and will be maintained for a long time. I think when I get over tired, this somehow shoots my blood pressure up.
With PKD the renin-angiotensin system increases and stimulates a hormone called aldosterone that causes the body to retain salt. So you have a combination of salt retention and activation of angiotensin, both of which cause high blood pressure in PKD. This is one of the reasons for removing native kidneys following a transplant. Sometimes the remaining PKD kidneys continue to produce renin-angiotensin and make the blood pressure difficult to control. 78% of PKD'rs develop high blood pressure sometime in their life. (for full reprint of the talk by Dr. Schrier [University of Colorado] June 1999 Extrarenal 1 manifestations of PKD 2 click here 3
Things to Avoid: (to keep blood pressure low)
• All Animal Foods: dairy foods (milk, cheese, butter, cream, ice cream), fish, meat, chicken, turkey, eggs, fried and greasy foods, margarine, and all other processed foods and animal derived products from your diet. (Read foods that destroy) These foods are laced with chemicals, pesticides, and toxins as well as high levels of saturated fats which have a very damaging a draining effect on the body.
• Salt, tobacco, caffeine, sodas, coffee, sugar, and refined white flour (breads, pastas, cereals- replace with whole wheat pastas, breads, and cereals). These products are extraordinarily destructive to the body.
• Medications containing Ibuprofen (Advil, Nuprin)

Are there any blood pressure studies on PKD?
The HALT PKD study is currently underway and they are asking for participants for this 5 year study. HALT PKD trial is conducting a blood pressure study to see if tight control of blood pressure is good and if these medications cause the kidneys to stay permanently perfused with a good blood supply Once the kidneys have a decreased blood supply this causes an increase in the renin-angiotensin aldosterone mechanism which hastens kidney failure. Read more under research.
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OMEGA 3, essential fatty acids.
Omega 3's lower cholesterol, diminish heart disease, an added plus for us PKD'rs. Daily I take a teaspoon of raw hemp seed oil. I drizzle it over my salad.
These are present in a very high ratio in flaxseed, fish oil and grapeseed. Fish oil makes my liver ache. I avoid oily fish such as salmon, tuna, ahi, mackerel, trout, catfish. I tried flax but the same thing; my liver grew and ached. I am now trying hemp seed to see if this will help raise my omega 3's and keep me healthy. Hemp seems to be a good oil as long as it is not used for cooking, only taken raw.
Another vegan source of omega 3's is walnuts, but alas, I have a slight allergy to walnuts and it is not an alkaline nut.
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HOMOCYSTEINE. Vegans need supplemental B12. I personally take folic acid, B12, B6, and vitamin C with rose hips. We with PKD have difficulties with high homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels have been linked to heart disease and high cholesterol, the # one killer of most of us who have PKD. This is easily corrected by taking Vitamin B12, B6 and folic acid daily for 90 days and to continue with this for life.

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Available on tape is a blood pressure lecture ( number 05) by Dr. Torres from the 13th annual PKD conference. A brief summary follows:
With Polycystic Kidney Disease PKD some of the things that occur with blood pressure rising have to do with inflammation within the renal blood vessels. These microscopic vascular lesions within the small vessels of the kidney are associated with essential hypertension and may be the hallmark of salt sensitive hypertension.
Salt Sensitive hypertension occurs in PKD. Some of the clinical features are:
1) Microalbuminuria (protein in the urine)
2) LVH left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH occurs in children and young adults even before marked hypertension is present).
3) Hyperurcemia (uric acid in the urine - gout arthritis)
4) Reduced nocturnal blood pressure dipping.
PKD'rs are non-dippers. This might be one reason to take blood pressure medication at night as well as in the morning or if it is a one time dose, take it all at night. Another reason would be there is increased kidney perfusion at night when we are reclining. And a third reason would be if dizziness would occur from a low blood pressure, this would happen at night while sleeping.
My yoga instructor said should I become dizzy after doing yoga, have some pure water. This worked.
Strict control of blood pressure 110/70 needs to be instituted before kidneys decline in their functioning. Tight control of blood pressure once there is the presence of renal failure makes individuals with declining kidney functioning worse.
Vascular damage starts in the kidney even before blood pressure goes up. Start treatment very early. Include non-pharmaceuticals such as: salt restriction, weight reduction, exercises, and avoidance of alcohol and caffeine. Address the risk factors of cholesterol and smoking. Optimal blood pressure should be attained. The only exception is someone with very advanced renal failure.
I have become aware of that if I remain alkaline, my blood pressure stays low. This could be due to a high potassium diet, yet others who have declining kidney functioning and are potassium restricted, have noticed that as long as they remain alkaline, their blood pressure stays well controlled.
From the very beginning of his study of PKD, Dr. Grantham, the co-founder of the PKD foundation, has observed that very early in life, there begins an inflammatory process with scarring of the renal blood vessels. His studies indicate that this is related to renal toxins. These trigger cyclic AMP, which causes microscopic little sacs to fill with fluid and become visible cysts. He has always thought if there were someway to stop the scarring, this would halt the progression of PKD.
A few known renal toxins include: caffeine, anabolic steroids, nicotine, acids such as in aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, chaparral tea, Ephedra, ginseng, star fruit, and more.

I started watching salt over 40 years or more when my Grandma had open heart surgery. So I was used to being w/o salt. Does this help with lowering blood pressure?
I avoid all salt in my foods. I eat foods that are high potassium. I am not potassium restricted. My ratio is 8:1 potassium to sodium foods. I read labels and avoid foods and snacks that lists salt , sodium or if it has a high sodium content. I avoid all canned goods, frozen foods, and pre-packaged items. I even go as far as to avoid foods high in sodium such as dairy, celery, seaweed, kelp, and more. One PKD'r has reported though he has 9% kidney functioning, he has avoided salt for many years and has normal blood pressure without any need for blood pressure lowering medication. When he questioned doctors about this, they attributed his - ness to his vegan alkaline diet.

I am going to avoid seaweed wraps. I have been trying soba noodles to control my blood pressure, which is difficult even with medicine (norvasc 5) sometimes it still gets around 145 over 89 which is too high being on meds. I tried everything naturally I could to bring it down but nothing seemed to work so I had to resort to this but then this isn't even working very well!

I have been having the same difficulty. Have you tried tossing all your salt out and replacing it with Himalayan pink crystal salt? I also tossed my can opener so I can't use canned goods. Using only 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt per day or the equivalent of 590 mg of sodium. If you bake your own breads and do not salt your cooking or baking, reserving the sea salt for that little bit of extra salt you would like to add to the foods after they are prepared, then you are on a low sodium diet, extremely helpful for PKD'rs. If you do not use the 1/8-teaspoon of sea salt, then toss it and start fresh the following day.
I have found a great little diet software program called Diet Sleuth. It is available for free trial for 30 days. I liked it so much; I bought it for $34. It will calculate the sodium, protein, fat, carbohydrates, calories, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, etc. once you key in what foods you have eaten. I eat fresh foods, mostly vegan vegetarian, maybe 50% raw. I keep myself alkaline, testing between 7.0-8.0. I go for walks. I exercise My blood pressure is now optimally controlled at 100/70.

An individual without PKD gets high blood pressure and they start spilling sodium in the urine. This is the body’s way of bringing the blood pressure down. With PKD this does not happen. Instead we PKD'rs hold onto salt tighter and tighter. This is why it is so important to limit sodium. I threw out all the containers of table salt and now I have Himalayan sea salt crystals (pink), or fleur de sel from the shores of Brittany or Celtic sea salt is another good sea salt. Table salt contains aluminum to make it pour freely. Canned goods, frozen prepared dinners ramen noodles, rice mixes, macaroni dinners in a box are filled with high amounts of table salt that contains aluminum. The brain tissue of people with Alzheimer’s disease has a higher concentration of aluminum. I have to walk daily to keep my blood pressure at the optimal level of 104/72.This somehow encourages new vessels to be laid down.