Is it okay to take an alternative remedy as well as a gp prescribed one. My mate is going to start taking,?

garlic tablets with her bp medication to help lower her raised blood pressure the other medication isn't working and she keeps forgeting to take her diuretic tablet, she takes them when she hasn't got to go out or when she can be bothered in my opinion. She hasn't taken any advice from anyone, she just asked at the health food shop what she can buy to help lower bp.
Answer:
It sounds as if your friend won't listen to anything she doesn't want to hear, and just suits herself regarding medication. In other words, a fairly normal human being! And most people seem to have high b.p. too. High b.p. is a real mystery. Some say lots of salt raises it - others dispute that. Some say garlic lowers it - that's also disputed. I have a brother who nearly died from high b.p. and he habitually used lashings of salt on his food, but he pointed me to a web-site that argues against the salt theory! Hum. Now he's on medication. About the single biggest cause, in my opinion, is stress. People with a relaxed, laid-back attitude to life are far less prone to high b.p. Then again, I'm NOT in that category, yet I have very low b.p.! So your friend should just do what she thinks is best, and maybe you could pray for her G.P?

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There are new studies out currently that now say garlic is not effective for blood pressure and heart disease.

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Get a good internist to treat her BP and forget alternative(horseshit) medicine. Garlic may lower cholesterol some but no BP

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While garlic is not an issue, it is always worth discussing (with a pharmacist or your GP) whether an alternative remedy is advisable in conjunction with a prescribed one. This is because of potential interactions, and some of these can be quite subtle (for instance, statins given for high cholesterol are not safe with grapefruit).In the case of garlic I know of no evidence for it lowering blood pressure, and the idea it lowers cholesterol has recently been pretty thoroughly disproved.

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