We are living in the midst of an epidemic of high blood pressure (hypertension). The percentage of adults in the USA with hypertension approaches an incredible 33%. The percentage of those >65 (senior citizens) with hypertension is much higher. I easily found various estimates ranging between 50 and 90%. Even the lowest number of 50% is incredible. If you want to blame hypertension on genes, then you have to conclude that most people have bad genes.

I believe that most people are vitamin deficient and than most people’s immune systems struggle to fight off chronic, non-infectious bacterial infections. Ulcers and Lyme disease are two proven examples of chronic, non-infectious bacterial infections. In each of these cases, it took decades to persuade the scientific/medical communities that bacteria were the cause. Response to antibiotic treatment is slow. There is strong evidence that non-infectious bacterial infections contribute to several specific cancers and arthritis. I was surprised to learn that this type of bacterial infection is hypothesized to be a cause of literally every chronic disease.

Every tme the scientific/medical community reaches a consensus that a disease has a bacterial cause, the treatment is the same – low dose, long term (months or years) treatment with one or more of any number of antibiotics effective against this type of bacteria (tetracycline is a classic antibiotic effective against these germs).

One reason it takes so long to reach consensus is that the antibiotics often aren’t obviously effective against these very difficult to detect bacterial infections. Also, the antibiotics aren’t even trying to address an important root cause of infection – a weakened immune system and slowed healing powers. That’s why all of these diseases (ulcers, Lyme disease, cancers) are more prevalent with increasing age.

Super nutrition is often able to heal a weakened immune system and accelerate the natural healing powers of the body. Vitamins and antibiotics are proven under certain specific circumstances to work together synergistically. Taken together, they work much better than when taken separately.

If you have hypertension, you have much to gain and nothing to lose by giving vitamins and antibiotics a try. The risk free approach requires continuing with blood pressure medications until after the vitamins and antibiotics have been started. Blood pressure medication is fantastic and lowers the risk of many diseases by keeping blood pressure within the normal range. The best approach is to work with your doctor and follow his/her advice regarding blood pressure medication.

Here’s the simple antibiotic/vitamin protocol:

antibiotics as prescribed by your physician continued for at least one month
regular full-body sunshine as close as possible to noon
2000 mg of vitamin C two, three, or four times per day (more so long as you remain comfortable)
10,000 IU vitamin A pills, twice per week
250 mg time release niacin once per day
One per day 50 mg tablet of enteric coated TTFD (a special thiamine supplement)
One B-50 B-complex tablet twice per week

Sunshine is the biggest pain in the neck. I lie about one minute face down, face up, and on each side (4 minutes total) at the summer solstice (UV index 9 at latitude 40) and 4 minutes on each side at winter solstice (UV index 3). If you refuse to get in the sun, it is possible to use sunlamps. You should be able to get help at a tanning salon. Some salons can tune their lamps to get you maximum vitamin D in a minimal amount of time with minimal tanning (not the usual request, but they can do it). You can also take vitamin D supplements – but these are un natural and frequently cause uncomfortable side effects. If you choose the supplements, I recommend 4000 IU/day for effectiveness. Any more runs a really high risk of bad side effects. Any less runs a really high risk of being ineffective. I don’t like the supplements because even 4000 IU/day runs a really high risk of side effects as the weeks and months go by.

If this treatment isn’t obviously working after one month, it will not work and should be discontinued. If it is obviously working, you need a strategy to finish the treatment. I believe it will be rare to need the antibiotics for more than 3 months. The following doses of vitamins are typically more than sufficient to maintain good health in the absence of environmental insults (which occur far more frequently than we would like in the form of viruses, bacteria, and injuries).

the sunbathing I recommend but just once a week is enough
2000 mg vitamin C every day
250 mg time release niacin once per week
10,000 IU vitamin A once per week
50 mg enteric coated TTFD once per week
One half of a B-50 B complex tablet twice per week

Again, if you’re among the one third of adult Americans with hypertension, there’s much to gain and almost nothing to lose by giving the antibiotics and vitamins a try.