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Quotes about Beta-blockers from the world's top natural health / natural living authors

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"A cautionary note on the antihypertensive drug class known as beta-blockers: researchers who studied more than 143,000 nondiabetic patients who had high blood pressure showed that patients who took beta-blockers were much more likely to develop diabetes than patients who took ACE inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs). Calcium channel-blockers were in between: they were not as protective as ACE inhibitors or ARBs but more so than beta-blockers. Treating High Cholesterol Diabetics suffer heart attacks and strokes at a greatly increased rate compared with people without diabetes." - Steven V. Joyal, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease (Get the book.)

"But a new scientific study reveals that those beta-blockers prevent strokes only half as good as earlier scientific studies suggested. And more importantly, the risk for brain-infarct106 rises. In addition, more patients get diabetes when they take beta-blockers.107 However, high blood pressure responds quickly to a change in diet and exercise. Since this non-prescriptive method is not being used, the non-healthy life style, which was a risk factor for the disease, does not change." - Kenneth W Thomas, Ron Gilbert, Gerd Schaller, Side Effects: The Hidden Agenda of the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel (Get the book.)

"It's exceedingly common for classical musicians to take beta-blockers before performances because it prevents them from sweating and tensing up, which can really interfere with their ability to play. (It must be hard to play a trombone with stiff lips!) Sometimes people with panic disorder are treated with both imipramine and beta-blockers — the first to quash the fear and the second to relax the body. The real point of understanding how these drugs work is that they provide an explanation for how exercise works." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"Two commonly prescribed types of heart drugs—beta-blockers and calcium-channel blockers—also impair melatonin production. beta-blockers are often used to treat heart problems such as high blood pressure, angina, and arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms). They function by interfering with specific cell receptors called beta-adrenergic receptors, which results in relaxed heart rate and lowered blood pressure, but also suspension of normal nighttime melatonin production. The beta-blockers propranolol and atenolol are particularly damaging to melatonin levels." - Herbert Ross, DC with Keri Brenner, L.Ac., Alternative Medicine Magazine's Definitive Guide to Sleep Disorders: 7 Smart Ways to Help You Get a Good Night's Rest (Get the book.)

"The class of drugs known as beta-blockers, for example, was initially approved to treat angina and high blood pressure. Years later doctors found that beta-blockers also helped patients suffering from heart failure. Yet history has shown that drugs prescribed off label have also killed or harmed tens of thousands of patients. The deadly diet pill combination known as fen-phen was an unapproved use of the combination of two drugs. For years doctors have commonly prescribed potent drugs for schizophrenia to patients with Alzheimer's disease, even though the FDA has never approved such use." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.)

"Exercise serves as a circuit breaker just like beta-blockers, interrupting the negative feedback loop from the body to the brain that heightens anxiety. Back in 1982 a researcher named Herbert de Vries conducted a study showing that people with anxiety have overactive electrical patterns in their muscle spindles and that exercise reduced that tension (just as beta-blockers do). He called it the "tranquilizing effects of exercise." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"Medications that can interfere with T4 activation NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as Ibuprofen and Naprosyn), birth control pills, oral estrogen, chemotherapy (interferon, 5FU, tamoxifen, 6-mercaptopurine), most antidepressants and sleeping pills, beta-blockers, lithium, phenytoin, amiodarone, and theophylline. 5. Toxins, including pesticides, mercury, fluoride, radiation, alcohol, caffeine, cigarette smoke, and phthalates (chemicals added to plastics, often emitted when heating or microwaving plastics). 6. Thyroid antibodies These are discussed below." - Phuli Cohan, The Natural Hormone Makeover: 10 Steps to Rejuvenate Your Health and Rediscover Your Inner Glow (Get the book.)

"The second-most-common cause of ED is other medications, including antihypertensives, beta-blockers, antipsychotics, antidepressants, spironolactone (Aldactone), cimetidine (Tagamet), and finasteride (Proscar). Psychological or emotional concerns are the least common causes." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.) "The authors concluded that diuretics (but not beta-blockers, as was the recommendation at the time) should be the first line of treatment for high blood pressure. Most of the studies of antihypertensive medications have involved men. In the only study focused on women, 30,219 women with hypertension without heart disease were assessed for the relationship between antihypertensive therapy and outcome. Use of calcium channel blockers vs." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.) "Since beta-blockers inhibit heart function, if your heart isn't working right, they can sometimes cause heart failure, which would be associated with fatigue, chest pain, or a sudden weight gain caused by water retention. DRUGS THAT ACT ON THE ADRENERGIC RECEPTORS Alpha-blockers, including doxazosin (Cardura), prazosin (Minipress), and terazosin (Hytrin), block the alpha noradrenergic receptor in the heart and blood vessels. A related drug, called labetalol (Normodyne), blocks both alpha and beta receptors." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.)

"ACE inhibitors and other blood pressure lowering drugs (including beta-blockers), excess sugar and refined foods, large amounts of licorice, and physical and mental stress. 16. Sodium - depleted by narcotics, muscle relaxants, laxatives, diuretics, beta-blockers (blood pressure lowering drugs), aspirin, antigout medication, antifungal medication, antidepressants (especially SSRI antidepressants), AcetazolamideM (a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor), ACE inhibitors and other blood pressure lowering drugs, dehydration (fever, heat, diarrhea, vomiting). 17." - Dr David W Tanton, Ph.D., Antidepressants, Antipsychotics, And Stimulants - Dangerous Drugs on Trial (Get the book.)

"John's Wort (May induce the metabolism of beta-blockers resulting in reduced drug concentrations and decreased effectiveness of beta-blockers) BETAXOLOL HYDROCHLORIDE Kudzu (P. lobata may interfere with hypotensive agents) BILBERRY Anticoagulant drugs, unspecified (Enhanced anti-aggretory mechanism) Antiplatelet Drugs (Enhanced anti-aggretory mechanism) Salicylates (Increases prothrombin time; caution should be observed when used concurrently) Warfarin Sodium (Increases prothrombin time; caution should be observed when used concurrently) BISOPROLOL FUMARATE Kudzu (P." - Thomson Healthcare, Inc., PDR for Herbal Medicines, Fourth Edition (Get the book.)

"Heart-disease patients who were treated with a statin, aspirin, and beta-blockers had a better rate of survival than those who were not treated with these medications; the addition of an ACE inhibitor, however, yielded no additional benefit in terms of survival.28 As in the treatment or prevention of heart disease, you have a lot more control over your blood pressure than you may realize. High blood pressure is not inevitable. The cavemen didn't have it." - J. Douglas Bremner, Before You Take that Pill: Why the Drug Industry May Be Bad for Your Health (Get the book.)

"Calcium channel-blockers were in between: they were not as protective as ACE inhibitors or ARBs but more so than beta-blockers. Treating High Cholesterol Diabetics suffer heart attacks and strokes at a greatly increased rate compared with people without diabetes. People with diabetes almost always have high triglycerides, low good HDL, and high bad LDL levels, with a tendency to form small, dense, atherogenic (artery-clogging) LDL particles." - Steven V. Joyal, What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Diabetes: An Innovative Program to Prevent, Treat, and Beat This Controllable Disease (Get the book.)

"Another class of drugs, known as beta-blockers, also has been shown to be helpful. beta-blockers work by reducing the demand on the heart. Diuretics are often prescribed to remove excess fluid from the body, and digoxin is used to stimidate the heart. However, none of these drugs actually improves the health of the heart muscle; they merely allow the body to cope better with a progressively worsening situation. DR. WRIGHT'S CASE STUDY m rs. Helen Livingston walked slowly into my office and sat down carefully. "I'd like to sleep lying down for the years I have left," she said. " - Jonathan V. Wright, M.D. and Alan R. Gaby, M.D., Natural Medicine, Optimal Wellness: The Patient's Guide to Health and Healing (Get the book.)

"Years later doctors found that beta-blockers also helped patients suffering from heart failure. Yet history has shown that drugs prescribed off label have also killed or harmed tens of thousands of patients. The deadly diet pill combination known as fen-phen was an unapproved use of the combination of two drugs. For years doctors have commonly prescribed potent drugs for schizophrenia to patients with Alzheimer's disease, even though the FDA has never approved such use. Studies have shown these antipsychotic drugs, including Zyprexa and Risperdal, do not help patients with Alzheimer's." - Melody Petersen, Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs (Get the book.)

"Fortunately, beta-blockers?often prescribed by physicians to lower blood pressure in patients with hypertension—can help control performance anxiety and keep you cool, calm and collected when used in low doses. For more information on this drug therapy, ask your family physician. Warning: Although kava kava does not have narcotic properties when taken as directed, it is ill-advised to take the herb every day. High doses can be toxic to the liver. And even though kava kava is available over the counter, talk to your doctor before taking it." - Bottom Line Books, Uncommon Cures For Everyday Ailments (Get the book.)

"This was the first of a new class of drugs known as the beta-blockers. Its link with this condition - known medically as sclerosing peritonitis - was subsequently confirmed, and it was immediately withdrawn. I would like to stress that no other beta-blockers, still in common usage, have been shown to produce this devastating side effect. This experience, however, had a powerful effect on me. On starting in general practice five years later, I discovered many of the elderly and middle-aged male patients were on large doses of beta-blocking drugs." - Robin, Dr. Kelly, The Human Antenna: Reading the Language of the Universe in the Songs of Our Cells (Get the book.)

"Diuretics rid the body of excess fluids, and even sodium, and are often used as the initial therapy. beta-blockers reduce the heart rate and the amount of blood the heart pumps. Sympathetic nerve inhibitors reduce the blood pressure by inhibiting the nerves that cause blood vessel constriction. Vasodilators cause the muscle walls in the blood vessels to relax, and therefore allow them to dilate and widen. Angiotensin-convert-ing enzyme (ACE) inhibitors work to lower blood pressure by interfering with the body's production of angiotensin, a chemical that causes the arteries to constrict." - Tori Hudson, N.D., Women's Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine: Alternative Therapies and Integrative Medicine for Total Health and Wellness (Get the book.)

"In addition, more patients get diabetes when they take beta-blockers.107 However, high blood pressure responds quickly to a change in diet and exercise. Since this non-prescriptive method is not being used, the non-healthy life style, which was a risk factor for the disease, does not change. In fact, it is likely to get worse, and the hypertension pills become just another notch in the handle of the multi-pharmacy side-effect six-shooter. Now, let's look at the side effects of a few of the drugs we have discussed that can result in adverse health outcomes." - Kenneth W Thomas, Ron Gilbert, Gerd Schaller, Side Effects: The Hidden Agenda of the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel (Get the book.)

"Ulcer and digestive drugs (including Tagamet and Zantac in large doses) Antianxiety drugs (including Valium and Xanax tranquilizers) Antidepressants (including tricyclics, Zoloft and Prozac) Diuretics (including Lasix and hydrochlorthiazide [HCTZ]) beta-blockers (including Tenormin and Inderal) SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES (STD) • Double-Protection Spermicide I^ople who used spermicide gels, foams and suppositories may have been gaining more benefit than just contraception." - Bottom Line Books, Uncommon Cures For Everyday Ailments (Get the book.)

"CoQIO-Lowering Medication Coenzyme Q10 is lowered by common drugs including the cholesterol-lowering statins (Lipitor,Zocor,Pravacohl),beta-blockers (Toprol, Inderal), and antidiabetic drugs (the oral hypoglycemic drugs like Glucotrol and Mi-cronase). Coenzyme Q10 is made by the same enzyme in your body (HMG-CoA reductase) as cholesterol. So if you take a statin, you shut down your production of coenzyme Q10, which is necessary to make energy for your cells.2' If you are taking these medications, seek alternatives." - Mark Hyman MD, The UltraMind Solution: Fix Your Broken Brain by Healing Your Body First (Get the book.)

"The types of drugs that have been implicated in these reactions are aspirin, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and beta-blockers. Aspirin is found as an ingredient of many brands of cold and flu medications, and asthmatics should be careful to check the ingredients when buying them. A relative of aspirin, a salicylate, is found in some foods, and this can also affect sensitive people. NSAIDs are anti-inflammatory medications that are often prescribed for back pain, joint pain, swelling resulting from arthritis and gout." - Dr Ron Roberts, Asthma Controlled Naturally: Techniques That Work (Get the book.)

"Back in 1982 a researcher named Herbert de Vries conducted a study showing that people with anxiety have overactive electrical patterns in their muscle spindles and that exercise reduced that tension (just as beta-blockers do). He called it the "tranquilizing effects of exercise." Reducing muscle tension, he found, reduced the feeling of anxiety, which, as I've explained, is important to extinguishing not just the state but the trait of anxiety. 3. It builds brain resources. You know by now that exercise increases serotonin and norepinephrine both in the moment and over the long term." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.) "Sometimes people with panic disorder are treated with both imipramine and beta-blockers — the first to quash the fear and the second to relax the body. The real point of understanding how these drugs work is that they provide an explanation for how exercise works. As it turns out, exercise impacts the same pathways as these medications — it puts a safety on both triggers. PUSHING THROUGH THE PAIN For several decades, common medical wisdom suggested that patients suffering from panic should avoid exercise. It could be dangerous! Or so we thought, based on research from the late 1960s." - John J. Ratey, MD, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Get the book.)

"But if your extremities are chron- -Philippine proverb ically cold, it can be a reaction to certain drugs such as beta-blockers, thyroid medications, and drugs used to treat migraines. Cold fingers and toes that turn blue or white when exposed to the cold are the hallmark of Raynaud's disease (aka Raynaud's phenomenon), a circulatory disorder in which the blood supply to the hands and feet is reduced. Exposure to cold temperatures can precipitate an attack, but in some people stress can do so as well." - Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan, Body Signs: From Warning Signs to False Alarms...How to Be Your Own Diagnostic Detective (Get the book.)

"However, patients are prescribed beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, and a plethora of other drugs in combinations that I believe generally make them worse. Then there are drugs for heart patients. I don't think there's any reason to prescribe statin drugs.211 At my clinic we stop these drugs on sight - there are far safer ways to lower the cholesterol. According to a 211 Statin drugs: Statin drugs are a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels in people who are at risk with cardiovascular disease." - Kenneth W Thomas, Ron Gilbert, Gerd Schaller, Side Effects: The Hidden Agenda of the Pharmaceutical Drug Cartel (Get the book.)

"One study published in 1995 in the Lancet found that patients who received calcium-channel blockers were 60 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack than those put on either diuretics or beta-blockers. Nifedipine turned out to be the most dangerous of all calcium-channel blockers. Beta-blockers are hazardous, too. In 1998, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that apart from being ineffective, the elderly are more likely to suffer a sudden and fatal heart attack while taking these drugs." - Andreas Moritz, Timeless Secrets of Health & Rejuvenation: Unleash The Natural Healing Power That Lies Dormant Within You (Get the book.)

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