Increased blood pressure

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Catalin1a
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Increased blood pressure

Post by Catalin1a »

Dad has Alzheimer's. He is 80 years old. I started giving him some of the recommended supplements. He has a high folate deficiency, recently he started taking L-methylfolate from that day his blood pressure started to increase. Is it normal for this to happen? or maybe I did something wrong? does it need another supplement for the voltage to be at better values? last time the voltage was 170/83 and the pulse 53. If anyone has gone through something similar? (or can you give me an answer?). Thank you in advance for any information provided.
SBee
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Re: Increased blood pressure

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Catalin1a wrote:Dad has Alzheimer's. He is 80 years old. I started giving him some of the recommended supplements. He has a high folate deficiency, recently he started taking L-methylfolate from that day his blood pressure started to increase. Is it normal for this to happen? or maybe I did something wrong? does it need another supplement for the voltage to be at better values? last time the voltage was 170/83 and the pulse 53. If anyone has gone through something similar? (or can you give me an answer?). Thank you in advance for any information provided.
Hello Catalin1a and welcome to the site!
Thank you for reaching out with your question. I can appreciate your concern for your dad's high blood pressure. I am not able to provide medical advice, but I can share with you that older Alzhemier's patients may also have heart disease and high blood pressure. I encourage you to check with your dad's physician on any changes in his blood pressure and discontinue the use of the supplement until you've checked with his physician on its safety.

If you would like to learn more about Alzheimers and the ApoE4 gene, I can suggest the following tools/resources to help you gain the most from the site:

The Primer is a detailed and informative resource written by a practicing M.D. with ApoE4/4. It includes information about the biochemistry of the ApoE4 gene and offers a variety of research-based prevention strategies.

The How-To Guide offers tips on how to navigate forums and respond to posts including how to quote members so they get an email notification of your post. It also demonstrates how to use the Search function for topics, and how to subscribe to topics of interest in the forums.

Finally, Our Stories includes stories of other community members.

Please feel free to reach out with any additional questions and thank you again for connecting with us!

Warmly,
Sue
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SusanJ
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Re: Increased blood pressure

Post by SusanJ »

Catalin1a wrote:He has a high folate deficiency, recently he started taking L-methylfolate from that day his blood pressure started to increase.
Those blood pressure numbers look pretty alarming. I haven't read anything about L-methylfolate raising blood pressure (I wrote the methylation wiki page), but that doesn't mean it doesn't have that effect in individuals.

I would immediately stop giving L-methylfolate to him, and talk to your doctor. The dose might simply be too high. Other markers to check might be B12 status and homocysteine to understand how his low folate is affecting him. If B12 is low, research says start B12 supplementation first for a few weeks before giving folate.

And I would restart L-methylfolate at very low doses, like 200-400 mcg/day. L-methylfolate can bring on a variety of symptoms, so it's always smart to start low and work your way up to resolve an underlying deficiency. If starting low doesn't work, there are also other forms of folate that might be more compatible for him, like calcium folinate.

Let us know how it goes!
Catalin1a
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Re: Increased blood pressure

Post by Catalin1a »

Thanks Susan. Homocysteine 19,33 µmol/L (5,46 - 16,20) and 2,61 mg/L (0,74 – 2,19) , Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) ...379 pg/mL (3,10 - 20,50) and 280 pmol/L (7,00 – 46,40) Folate (vitamin B9) ... <2.20 ng / mL (3.10 - 20.50) and 4.98 nmol / L (7.00 - 46.40) , Free testosterone ... 2,080 pg / mL (2.15 - 13.69), 25-hydroxy-vitamin D… 12.0 µg / L (> = 30), FT3 (free triiodothyronine) ...1,78 pg/mL (1,88 - 3,18) and 2,74 pmol/L (2,90 - 4,90), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxal - 5 '- phosphate) 14.64 µg / L (8.70 - 27.20) and 59.25 nmol / L (35.21 - 110.08).
Dad received Optimized Folate L-Methylfolate 8500 mcg from LIFE EXTENSION.At the first tablet he had a blood pressure of 163/83 pulse 52 on the day he took the tablet, the last value measured on the same day was 149/73 pulse 53. He did not receive any medicine to lower his blood pressure. The next day the maximum value of blood pressure was 170/83, after measuring blood pressure received a blood pressure pill, the last value of the day was 147/77 pulse 51. After 48 hours he received the second L-Methylfolate tablet from the same company with the same concentration. The maximum blood pressure on the same day was 163/82 pulse 68, the last value was 118/65 pulse 62. The next day the maximum blood pressure was 150/77 pulse 52, the third day the first measured blood pressure was 170/83 in the morning around 10 o'clock. He received a blood pressure pill and his blood pressure dropped. I do not understand why the tension increases the next day or the following days. If there are questions that could clarify any issues I will be happy to answer, it is clear that I do not have an explanation for what is happening but I will collaborate until I come to understand what is happening and what I need to change.
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Re: Increased blood pressure

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Dad received Optimized Folate L-Methylfolate 8500 mcg from LIFE EXTENSION.At the first tablet he had a blood pressure of 163/83 pulse 52 on the day he took the tablet, the last value measured on the same day was 149/73 pulse 53.
That's a REALLY high dose- more than 10x a standard homocysteine lowering dosage.

I was having trouble understanding your dad's numbers, but if his homocysteine is truly 19+, it's quite elevated which is correlated with both heart disease and cognitive decline. Your Dad's B12 also appears to be quite low, which by itself can independently cause symptoms of cognitive decline.

To reduce homocysteine, methylated forms of B12 (methylcobalamin, 1mg), folate (methylfolate, 800 mcg) and B6 (P5P, 20 mg) are typically given together. (I included standard dosages, but you may want to follow Susan's advice and titrate up to these amounts given your dad's presumed sensitivity.) It's also very important to ensure that your dad has an optimal omega-3 level to cognitively benefit from homocysteine reduction. DHA is the preferred form. Many E4 carriers take 1,000mg or more per day. I hope you dad is working with a good physician who can offer guidance.
Catalin1a
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Re: Increased blood pressure

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Thank you Julie. I live in the capital of Romania, the capital of the country, Bucharest, together with my father. There are cultural and especially economic differences, the USA is a more evolved country. I read the book written by Dr. Dale E. Bredesen and tried to see where I could do various analyzes. After several verifications, I found that some analyzes cannot be done in Romania.
My father is a neurology patient. Prescription Alzheimer's drugs are:
Davia (donozepil hydrochloride) 10mg
Memantine (memantine hydrochloride) 10 mg
Piracetam (piracetam) 400mg.
I talked to the doctor personally and asked for tests for a certain mineral and she replied that if I want I can do it, but to know that if something is missing those are just some adjuvants and I can give them if I want , but the treatment is the one established by the tooth. I understood from this conversation that supplements do not have a great value, for the neurologist it is important to respect the prescribed treatment and that's it. The doctor told me that the drugs prescribed were to stop the disease, not to improve it, and that it was possible that my father's health would deteriorate over time.
I went to the family doctor on November 16 with blood tests done on my own initiative. The family doctor is a general practitioner, you must first consult the family doctor and if you need something specialized in another field, a referral is issued to a specialized doctor.
The family doctor recommended Zinc 50 mg, Vitamin D 4000 IU, B-complex, Coenzyme Q10 and Omega 3. Other recommendations: to consume a lot of water at least 1.5 l, to eat avocado, cashews, nuts, olive oil. I said I also bought Ashwagandha, the doctor said it was good and agreed to be part of the treatment. He said nothing about the active forms of vitamins. He recommended taking the B complex vitamins 10 days a month to take a break until the end of the month and to take another 10 day vitamins break, at the beginning of the month to take another 10 days of vitamins. I wonder if there are more days when he does not take B vitamins at all, than days when he is treated with B vitamins when Homocysteine decreases?
I did not stop the administration of B vitamins. Before switching to the active form of B9 (L-Methylfolate) my father received a supplement with 400 mg of magnesium, 600 folg folic acid, Vitamin b1 - 1.1 mg, Vitamin b6 - 4.2 mg and Vitamin ( B12 5µg, took 20 effervescent tablets.
I now have several supplements with the active formula of B6P5P), B9 (L-Methylfolate or (6S) -5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid, glucosamine salt), B12 (methylcobalamin). So far I have not heard a doctor tell me that there is a hope that it will be difficult but that his condition will improve, everyone thinks it will be worse and my mother thought the same. I'm the only one who thinks he's going to recover. I don't know if there are doctors in Romania who apply new treatments such as those proposed in the book written by Dr. Dale E. Bredesen and maybe there are others.
I need your help, please give me information, I do not try to avoid doctors so far I have followed the treatment prescribed by them and I still respect my father takes the pills recommended by Dr.Nacu Mihaiela Neurology, but it is not enough, I saw how his health of my father was continuously degraded. After reading the book written by Dr. Dale E. Bredesen I took zinc supplements 30 mg, Vitamin D 4000 IU & Vitamin k 150, Vitamin C 1000 and a supplement with magnesium 400mg, Folic acid 600 µg, Vitamin b1 - 1.1 mg, Vitamin b6 - 4.2 mg and Vitamin B12 5g. Dad is in a much better physical condition, it's a clear difference. Now it has more supplements and better quality.
How good would it be for my father to take B vitamin supplements (B6, B9, B12)?
In the previous post I made a mistake for vitamin B12 the result of the analysis is
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin) ... 379 pg / mL (187-883) and 280 pmol / L (138-652)
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