Pump the heart with circulation tips and natural remedies and you have the start of good health and disease prevention. Don’t weaken the heart with medications, but find the supplements and foods to strengthen it.
Dear Dr. S,
I suspect I have a blood circulation problem. What natural remedies can I use to improve this?
Anthony J.T.
Dear Anthony,
Thank you for asking this. Circulation is the most important part of health. Wherever there is a circulation problem, there will be disease, so I will give you some ideas:
The first part of circulation is the heart. It must be pumping well or there will be poor circulation. The best ways to keep the heart pumping well are the following:
- Exercise. This doesn’t require that you be a marathon runner, or even a jogger! Just get off your duff a few days a week and do BOTH resistance exercise (push-ups, sit-ups, and so forth), and aerobic exercise (running, jump rope, trampoline, and so forth).
- Magnesium supplements, 400-500 mg per day
- L-Carnitine, 1000 mg daily
- D-Ribose, a sugar for making DNA/RNA, about 1 tsp per day
- CoQ-10, about 100 mg per day
Circulation in the arteries is under pressure, and this is where plaque builds up and causes hardening of the arteries. If you already have plaque (this can be seen on ultrasound, or if you can’t feel pulses in your feet) you may need to find a doctor that does IV Chelation therapy, which cleans out the arteries. (Look up www.acam.org and click on “Find a Physician in Your Area.”)
Some people with poor circulation have a thyroid deficiency. You would need a skilled doctor to help you with this. In medical school, we were never taught how to help this problem, so you may need to go to a physician skilled in natural therapies on the previous web site.
Venous circulation often causes swelling in the legs. This will generally decrease in the morning and get worse over the course of the day. This is initially best treated with a couple of herbs:
- Horse Chestnut seed extract
- Ginkgo Biloba extract
When it is more advanced, it often requires that you use tight hose to keep the blood circulating.
I have only touched lightly on a few concepts of circulation. If you can find a physician who can help you ferret-out the exact nature of your circulation problem, the treatment will then be simple.
Dr. S
Dear Dr. S,
I have atrial fibrillation, for which I take Sotalol 160 mgs. I also take Avapro for hypertension 150 mgs, daily. I also have left bundle heart block. My questions are:
- Is it possible to reverse heart block using natural methods and diet?
- What foods do I need to reverse this whole story?
- Or, does losing weight do it (which is what I have to do)?
I really want to get off these tablets. I am taking turmeric instead of aspirin. Is that enough of an anticoagulant for someone with AF? I take 4 teaspoons a day. I would really like to hear your answer. I did not know who to speak to about this. Thank you.
Juliet N.
Atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia of the heart. The medications you are taking are only for control of the heart rate and don’t help. In fact, they weaken the heart over time. In this case, it would be good to get a doctor skilled in natural medicine to help you, but I can give you a few things to start:
- Take magnesium, 500 mg per day
- Take L-Carnitine, 500 mg twice per day
- Take Ribose, 1 teaspoon per day
- Take CoQ-10, 100 mg per day
- Take B12, 1000 mcg per day
These will help with the arrhythmia over time, and may even help the heart block. Exercise regularly: start easy and build up your intensity. Make sure your hormones are all OK. Sometimes a thyroid imbalance can pre-dispose you to arrhythmias. Get a doctor to help you with this.
The prevention of clots is a secondary issue. You are taking turmeric, which is OK. I would add a tablespoon of cod liver oil per day, and vitamin E, 800 IU per day. Eat garlic and onions as well.
