Hypertension : A Functional Approach

Hypertension refers to high blood pressure. Hypertension is not always caused by increased levels of LDL or low HDL. In fact, there are multiple clinical factors that could be contributing to a patient’s hypertension. 

Functional Diagnostics

Part of natural healing and using functional medicine as an approach to discover the underlying reasons for health conditions involves evaluating possible causes. To find what is causing a patient’s hypertension, functional practitioners need to consider:

• Magnesium deficiency 
• Depressed testosterone
• Bacterial infections
• Viral infections
• Mercury toxic exposure
• Detoxification compromise
• Taurine deficiency 
• Fatty acid imbalance 
• Kidney dysfunction 
• Antioxidant insufficiency 

Holistic medicine considers all of these possibilities, rather than only testing the patient for HDL or LDL. In fact, low HDL and high LDL are one of the risk factors for heart disease but out of 100 patients with heart disease, only 30 will have high LDL. This supports our reasoning for testing multiple different areas to ensure we get to the root cause. 

If a patient gets diagnosed with one of the above health-related issues, we focus on that area and begin to create a treatment protocol based on their individual results. 

Personalized Care Plans

When a patient first comes to us with medical concerns such as hypertension, we begin with a detailed history and requesting their medical records. After we review these items, we have extensive appointments with the patients to determine what lab work and plan benefits them most. This lab work checks for inflammatory markers which is often the lead cause of bigger issues. In our office, we also take advantage of the InBody 770 to obtain the patient’s anthropometric measurements. Anthropometric measurements are a series of quantitative measurements of the muscle, bone, and adipose tissue used to assess the composition of the body. This advanced machine also allows us to see the body composition of our patients and their visceral fat. Visceral fat is the fat surrounding the organs. The higher amount of visceral fat, the higher their risk for health issues and complications. The video and PDF below explains more about the InBody 770 and its clinical applications: 

InBody_E_Book.pdf

As you can see, there are many underlying causes of hypertension. Taking a functional approach requires time, but it truly wraps you in getting the best care possible. Functional approaches take a look at your health concerns from all angles, ensuring to consider all factors contributing to your health condition. 

Using these advanced machines like the InBody 770 we are able to get a full 360 of our patients. Anthropometric measurements along with lab work allow us to create personalized plans and help patients who are suffering from hypertension and other similar health conditions. -Kenna Vaughn, Senior Health Coach

Resources:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26990451/

Grisanti, Ronald. “Special Topic: Cardiovascular Disease and Inflammation .” Functional Medicine University 543A. 14 Jan. 2021.

GardnerCD,FortmannSP,KraussRM.Associationofsmalllow-density lipoprotein particles with the incidence of coronary artery disease in men and women. JAMA. 1996 Sep 18;276(11):875-81. 

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Online Functional Medicine Assessment: bit.ly/functionmed

Disclaimer

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional, licensed physician, and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the musculoskeletal system’s injuries or disorders. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.  Read More…

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, CTG*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

phone: 915-850-0900

Licensed in Texas & New Mexico