A doctor monitors the blood pressure of a patient inside the hospital. Image: stockvisual/Istock.com via AFP Relaxnews
MANILA, Philippines — Does drinking pineapple juice, eating garlic, and putting your medicine under your tongue help control high blood pressure?
Philippine Heart Center cardiologist and secretary of the Philippine Society of Hypertension (PSH) Gilbert Vilela disproved such home remedies and branded them as “myths,” more so “nonsense.”
“There is no direct relationship between pineapple juice and blood pressure control,” Vilela said on Tuesday during a virtual briefing organized by PSH to mark this year’s May Measurement Month.
“Lalo na yung kumain daw ng bawang, that is not true also. ‘Wag ka din maniniwala sa sinasabi ng iba na maglalagay agad ng gamot sa ilalim ng dila,” Vilela added.
(Especially the advise to eat garlic, that is not true also. You should also quit believing of putting your medicine under your tongue.)
“That’s a myth, you do not do that, sometimes it may cause more problems,” he explained. “We should stop that nonsense.”
Instead of doing those kinds of remedies, Vilela said a patient should instead run to the nearest physician when experiencing very high blood pressure.
“What is more important if you registered a very high blood pressure at home, or elsewhere, do not take anything, run to your nearest physician,” he stressed.
Neurologist and PSH treasurer Alejandro Bimbo Diaz, on his part, also dispelled the outdated rule of thumb that a normal blood pressure should be “your age plus 100.”
“Kasi nung araw talaga ‘yan ang paniniwala ng iba. Nagbago na ho yan, lahat ng tao ang hypertension … is 140/90 and above,” he said.
(Back in the day, that is what others believe. But it has already changed: All people will be considered as having hypertension if their [blood pressure] is 140/90 and above.)
READ: For Filipinos, high blood pressure guideline remains 140/90, not the US’ 130/80
Hypertension specialist and PSH President Deborah Ignacia Ona, on the other hand, also reminded hypertensive patients not to self medicate.
“Hindi po tama na kapag na-diagnose ng hypertension, kapag bumaba ay ititigil niyo na yung gamot… hindi niyo po siya ititigil nang kusa, kailangan may supervision ng doktor ‘yung pagtigil ng gamot,” she explained.
(It is not right that once you’ve been diagnosed with hypertension and your [blood pressure] gets lower, you could stop your medications. You should not stop it by your own volition, it should have a doctor’s supervision.)
“Kapag tinigil agad, usually biglang tumataas ‘yung mga blood pressure ng pasyenteng ‘to, ito ‘yung mga nakikita namin sa emergency room na sobrang taas ng blood pressure.
(Once the medication stopped, the patients’ blood pressure suddenly shoots up, and these are the individuals we usually see being rushed in the emergency room because of their very high blood pressure.)
According to the 2018 data from the World Health Organization, hypertension claimed the lives of 14,488 Filipinos.
Hypertension-related diabetes is among the leading causes of mortality in the Philippines, and hypertension is here to stay as a great health risk factor with its prevalence rate expected to increase from 26 percent to 29 percent of the world’s population by 2025.
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