Just Ask Terry

Terry is happy to provide his opinion on diet and nutrition, supplements and lifestyle choices. This information is for educational purposes only. It is not meant to replace the advice of your physician and is not to be considered medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Should you have any concerns please contact your physician directly.

Q. Hello Terry, “I am writing on behalf of my dad. He has terrible arthritis and his doctor gave him a drug to reduce inflammation, but it elevated his blood pressure a lot! He already has borderline high blood pressure, so he doesn’t need something to make it worse! He went off the drug and switched to the special curcumin, boswellia, DLPA and nattokinase blend you recommended. He is having wonderful results! But now he is wondering if it is safe to take with his blood pressure problems. His blood pressure has not increased—he is just wondering about longer term. He also takes low dose aspirin every day.” —Laurie F., Toronto, Ontario, CA A. Dear Laurie, I am glad your father is having success with the natural formula. It will not raise his blood pressure the way the other anti-inflammatory drugs did. Therefore, I believe it is much safer to take than the class of drugs called “Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs” or “NSAIDS.” Not only does this class of drugs increase ulcer and GI bleeding risk, they decrease kidney function, which places a greater burden on the heart and increases blood pressure in sensitive individuals. I am unaware of any specific reasons why this formula would negatively impact the daily low dose aspirin he is also using, but if you have more specific concerns, I suggest you contact his prescribing physician or your pharmacist. Healthy regards! Terry . . . Naturally