Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Pharma’s Quiet Admission: We Often Do Not Know…
Dennis Miller, R.Ph. is a retired chain store pharmacist. His book, The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets, can be downloaded in its entirety at Amazon for …
Will Garlic Supplements Lower Your Blood Pressur…
Garlic is a foundational flavor in many cuisines. People around the world also use garlic medicinally. It has long held a reputation for being able to help fight off infections, from colds and flu to …
Blood Pressure Roulette: Is Finding the Right Dr…
Nearly half of all American adults have high blood pressure. That represents roughly 120 million people, and most will eventually be encouraged to take medication. But blood pressure roulette is an un…
Dangerous Drug Side Effects: Why We Tune Out the…
Why don’t Americans care more about adverse drug reactions? Perhaps we assume that bad things only happen to other people. Or perhaps dangerous drug side effects have become so familiar that we no l…
The Outdoor Prescription for 17 Minutes a Day
Human beings evolved as outdoor creatures, but nowadays we spend 93% of our time indoors, on average. What is that doing to our health? Training our eyes on screens instead of scanning the horizon can…
Lisinopril and Angioedema: A Life-Threatening Si…
Lisinopril is the most frequently prescribed blood pressure pill in the United States. At last count, over 20 million Americans take this ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitor daily. Except fo…
Can You Lower Your Blood Pressure with Food?
When the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association collaborated on new blood pressure guidelines in 2017, the cut-off numbers for hypertension got lower. That means a lot more …
Do Hasslers (Difficult People) Speed Aging and S…
Most of us know someone who makes life difficult. Scientists call these people hasslers (difficult people). Perhaps it's a coworker who criticizes everything and everybody. Or an aggressive sibling wh…
Health in a Hurry: Important Medical & Phar…
Health in a Hurry – March 13, 2026 Welcome to another edition of Health in a Hurry, our quick scan of medical news that might otherwise slip under the radar. This week we look at troubling pesticide…
Blood Pressure Measurements: Why the Doctor’s …
Health professionals often rely upon blood pressure measurements taken in the clinic to diagnose hypertension. If a patient has a blood pressure (BP) reading greater than 120/80 in a doctor’s office…
Home Blood Pressure Monitoring: Lifesaving in Th…
For decades, we at The People’s Pharmacy have encouraged readers and listeners to check their blood pressure at home. The advice wasn’t casual and it wasn’t trendy. It was rooted in solid scienc…
Do Antihypertensive Drugs Treat the Symptom, Not…
Dennis Miller, R.Ph. is a retired chain store pharmacist. His book, The Shocking Truth About Pharmacy: A Pharmacist Reveals All the Disturbing Secrets, can be downloaded in its entirety at Amazon for …
Show 1456: Beyond the Label: The Transformative …
Do you know someone who has struggled for years to meet deadlines or manage their time? Perhaps you have a smart friend who just never did well in school (or possibly at work) because they couldn’t …
Too Many Bad Blood Pressure Readings: How to Fix…
Bad blood pressure readings are far more common than most healthcare professionals will likely admit. Most patients want to be respectful. They do not want to get off to a bad start at a clinic visit …
DASH Diet for High Blood Pressure
For nearly 30 years, nutrition scientists studying dietary outcomes have noted that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat dairy products can help people control their blood pr…
Faulty Blood Pressure Readings Are Shockingly Co…
Blood pressure measurement used to be challenging. It required a doctor or nurse to use a device containing a glass tube with a lot of mercury. An inflatable cuff was attached to the arm of the patien…
Show 1450: Beyond Cholesterol: Rethinking Your R…
Heart disease is still our number one killer, even though 50 million Americans have been prescribed a cholesterol-lowering statin. Cardiologists pay a lot of attention to cholesterol in all its variet…
Using Multiple Tactics to Achieve Weight Loss
Excess weight has been linked to a wide range of undesirable health conditions, including hypertension, high cholesterol and prediabetes, which might become type 2 diabetes. Doctors frequently exhort …
Show 1447: Falls, Fractures and Fatalities: Surp…
This week, we start the show with an interview with epidemiologist Thomas Farley, MD, MPH. His essay in JAMA Health Forum (Aug. 8, 2025) describes why older Americans are dying of falls at an alarming…
Natural Approaches or Pharmaceuticals for What A…
Medical and pharmacy students must respect pharmaceuticals. They learn how drugs work (mechanism of action) and understand that the randomized controlled trials that lead to FDA approval are the gold …
What Are the Health Benefits of Cocoa Flavanols?
Do you think of chocolate as a sinful snack or a healthy bite? Chocolate candy itself probably should be considered sinful. It usually contains too much sugar to count as health food. The cocoa flavan…
How Helpful Are Beta Blockers After Heart Attack…
Beta blockers have been among the most trusted and most prescribed drugs in the pharmacy. This category of medications includes atenolol (Tenormin), bisoprolol (Zebeta), carvedilol (Coreg), labetolol …
What Happens When Minor Drug Side Effects Turn D…
Health professionals often categorize drug side effects three ways. First come the common complications of medicines. If 20 to 30 percent of patients complain of headaches or diarrhea after taking a m…
Rx for Disaster: Why Common Meds Are Silently Ki…
Americans are dying from an invisible killer far faster than their counterparts in rest of the developed world. These deaths are mostly unreported and ignored by the healthcare system. I am referring …
How Clean Indoor Air Could Benefit Your Blood Pr…
For years, public health researchers have been sounding the alarm about air pollution. Scientists have reached a consensus that exposure to air with a lot of fine particulate matter of the sort you mi…
Does Green Tea Interact with Prescription Drugs?
When you sit down to enjoy a beverage, do you think about whether it might affect the medications you take? Years ago, research on grapefruit juice showed that what you drink can indeed affect your pi…
Analysis Disputes Dogma that All Seniors Need St…
Several years ago the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) created a risk calculator that tells physicians and patients when someone should take a statin-type …
When Should You Take Your BP Pills? Morning or B…
When do you swallow your pills? If you are like most people, you get into the habit of taking all your medications and supplements at breakfast time. It's a routine that is hard to break. However, bed…
Show 1432: Lead, Lies and Lasting Harm: The Chem…
This week, the topic is lead. A hundred years ago, chemists discovered that adding lead to gasoline decreased engine knock and gave the cars of the day more power. It remained a popular additive for d…
More Americans Now Have Uncontrolled Hypertensio…
High blood pressure is a condition that makes people more vulnerable to complications such as heart attacks, strokes and even bad outcomes from infections such as COVID-19. Unfortunately, an analysis …
Could Aggressive Blood Pressure Control Save You…
A new study suggests that aggressive blood pressure control may have benefits for cognitive function. Scientists reached that conclusion from a large Chinese study published in Nature Medicine, April …
Online Prescribing: Convenience or Catastrophe?
For over a century, patients received medicines after seeing a doctor. First, you had to call to make an appointment. That usually took several days, but eventually you would end up in an exam room. T…
Is Your High Blood Pressure Reading due to Bad M…
One of the most fundamental measurements that is taken at almost every doctor's visit is blood pressure. After they weigh you, a nurse frequently will check your blood pressure. Is it within the "norm…
Purple Peril? Grape Juice Interaction Differs fr…
Have you ever been warned about a grape juice interaction with the heartburn medicine omeprazole (Prilosec)? I didn't think so. If you were to poll most pharmacists and physicians and ask them about s…
Helping Your Heart Means Boosting Your Brain
We have long suspected that taking care of your heart health with exercise, a diet rich in vegetables, fruits and whole grains, stress management and social interaction could also benefit your brain. …
Salt Substitute Can Cut the Risk of High Blood P…
Americans love salt (and we are not the only ones who do). However, doctors warn us sternly that sodium chloride (aka salt) raises blood pressure, and that, in turn, increases the risk of stroke. Publ…
Everyday Medications That Raise Blood Pressure: …
Have you ever felt as if you were driving with your foot on the brake and the gas at the same time? If you are caught in stop and go traffic, you know how frustrating it can be. It’s hard to get ver…
What Are the Most Common Symptoms of Long COVID?
One of the revelations from the COVID pandemic is that people can suffer debilitating symptoms long after they have recovered from the acute infection. Long COVID affects tens of millions of people wh…
Does Grape Juice Have Heart Healthy Benefits?
Over the years, readers have told us about using grape juice to manage a range of conditions. Some people mix it with plant pectin (Certo) to ease the pain of arthritic joints. Others report it soothe…
A Brand New Blood Pressure Drug: Tryvio (Aprocit…
It took more than 30 years, but we now have a new medication to treat hypertension. It is called Tryvio (aprocitentan). Will it make a big difference in the management of high blood pressure? Only tim…