Blood Pressure

High Blood Pressure, Sudden Spikes and Low Blood Pressure

Blood pressure is the pressure the blood puts on the walls of the arteries. It depends on the force of the heartbeat, how elastic the vessel walls are, the resistance in the tiny capillaries, and how thick the blood is. When the pressure climbs, the real question is what is driving it up. Forcing the number down without clearing the cause does not heal anything.

Understanding the Condition

What the Numbers Mean

A reading has two numbers. The top number (systolic) is the pressure while the heart squeezes; the bottom number (diastolic) is the pressure while it rests between beats. Dr. Christopher taught that there is no hard and fast rule: people differ, and heavy meat eaters run higher than those who eat simply. Know your own normal. My own normal runs low, somewhere between 106/60 and 116/64, so a top number in the 130s is high for me.

As a general guide, readings that stay at 130/80 or higher are considered high, and readings of 180/120 or higher are dangerous. Take your pressure sitting quietly for five minutes first, feet flat on the floor and arm resting at heart level, and write it down with the time. One reading tells you little; the pattern over days tells you a lot.

Four Things That Drive It Up

Diagram of the four causes that drive blood pressure up: thick blood, hardened arteries, clogged kidney filters and stress.

The four causes that make the heart push harder. Diagram drawn for H.E.A.L.

Thick, sluggish blood. Excess cholesterol and sticky, mucus-like waste load the circulatory system and thicken the blood. This usually goes hand in hand with a clogged bowel, which is why cleansing the bowel is part of purifying the blood.
Clogged kidneys. The kidneys filter all of the blood; there is no bypass. Their tiny vessels are about the width of a hair, and any pus or sediment there makes the heart pump harder to push the blood through.
Hardening of the arteries. When the body needs calcium, it pulls it from the walls of the veins and arteries as well as from the bones. The vessels grow hard and lose their give, and the heart is left pushing blood through a crimped straw.
Emotional stress. Stress can kill. It tightens the vessels and drives the heart harder. It is important to find ways to unplug and relax.

The first three are brought on by a poor diet, too little rest and exercise, and a lack of vitality in the body. That is why no formula works alone. You cannot be healthy while breaking the laws of health.

What Can Suddenly Spike the Pressure

A slow climb over months is one thing; a sudden spike is another. In my own life I have had three, each from a different cause (my stories are at the end of this sheet):

Salt. A single can of butter beans I didn’t check sent mine dangerously high overnight. Read the sodium on canned and packaged foods.
Dehydration. Too little water thickens the blood and the body fights to hold its pressure. A busy day when I forgot to drink put me in the ER.
Vertigo. When the head is spinning, the whole body goes into alarm and the pressure climbs with it.
Caffeine. Coffee, black and green tea, and chocolate narrow the blood vessels.
Decongestants and licorice. Many cold and cough medicines (look for “decongestant,” pseudoephedrine or phenylephrine on the label) push the pressure up. So can licorice in larger amounts, including licorice candy and some cough drops.
Pain, fear and panic. Fear of the numbers can push the numbers higher. Stay calm.

Low Blood Pressure

Some people run low, and for many that is simply their normal. Low pressure becomes a problem when it brings dizziness, lightheadedness on standing, fatigue or fainting. Dr. Christopher taught that low pressure, like high, comes from a circulatory system that is not working as it should, and that more oxygen is needed: deep breathing helps the herbs work faster. Dehydration can drop the pressure too, as can taking blood pressure medicine and herbs together as the body heals.

The Emotional Side: the Energy Work

Healing the whole person. We are body, mind and spirit, and all three must heal together. When one part is neglected, the other two cannot find complete healing.

Pressure in the body often mirrors pressure in the life: worry carried for years, problems never resolved, a heart always braced for the next blow. Learning to unplug, rest and trust is part of bringing the numbers down.

Louise Hay, in her book Heal Your Body, describes these patterns:

High blood pressure: a longstanding emotional problem not solved. Turn it around: “I joyously release the past. I am at peace.”
Low blood pressure: lack of love as a child; defeatism, “What’s the use? It won’t work anyway.” Turn it around: “I now choose to live in the ever-joyous NOW. My life is a joy.”

Emotional patterns quoted and paraphrased from Louise Hay, Heal Your Body (Hay House). These are not faults to blame anyone for; they are a reminder of how much the heart is carrying.

When to Call 911

Blood pressure is not something to play around with. “I might have been able to support myself at home, but the IV fluids put me back together much quicker. If you don’t have a game plan and lack the experience, your spiked blood pressure is a serious issue that needs to be taken care of.” Dara

Call 911 for a high reading with any of these: chest pain or pressure; shortness of breath; a sudden, severe headache; confusion or trouble speaking; weakness, numbness or drooping on one side of the face or body; vision changes; or dizziness with trouble walking. These can be the start of a stroke or heart attack, and minutes matter.

Get seen the same day: a reading of 180/120 or higher even without symptoms; a pressure that keeps climbing or won’t come down within an hour of your cayenne; a first-ever spike; or low pressure with fainting.

While you wait for help, cayenne in warm water supports the heart. Sit down, breathe slowly and stay calm.

Herbs are support alongside medical care, not a replacement for it.

Areas Affected & Opening the Way to Healing

High blood pressure is the heart working too hard to push blood through a system that is clogged, stiff or tight. Clear each cause and the heart no longer has to push so hard.

Opening the Way to Healing

1. Clear the blockage.

2. Get the healing nutrients into the area.

3. Let sunshine and fresh air cycle over and through the affected part.

4. Bathe regularly.

5. Move the area as much as you can.

6. Know which area is truly affected. The number shows up in the arteries, but the cause may be in the bowel, the liver, the kidneys, the vessel walls or the nerves. That is what needs clearing.

My Three Blood Pressure Formulas

I keep three combinations for blood pressure. Each goes after a different cause, and they can be used together. None of them is designed to force the pressure down; they clear what is driving it up. It normally takes two to three months for the pressure to begin to come down, and when it does, the numbers stay down, because the causes have been cleared. A common amount for each is ½ to 1 teaspoon in water or juice, up to three times a day.

Blood Pressure 1 (Calming Support). Built on Dr. Shook’s Calming Herbal Food Compound (valerian, licorice, buckthorn, speedwell, linden, rue and goldenrod), for when stress, physical or emotional, is pushing the numbers up.
Blood Pressure 2 (Arterial Support). Built on Dr. Shook’s arterial formula, heavy on buckthorn and senna, with sassafras, goldenrod, buckbean, black cohosh, poke root and cassia. It goes after the vascular system itself, and because the waste it clears must be carried out by the bowels, it keeps them moving. It is helpful for constipation too.
Blood Pressure 3 (Circulation Support). Dr. Christopher’s circulation formula (his BPE), led by cayenne with parsley, ginger, goldenseal, garlic and ginseng. Cayenne equalizes the pressure, bringing high pressure down and low pressure up, so this is the formula for low blood pressure as well as the boost to Blood Pressure 1 or 2 when a program needs a bigger push.

When stress and a vascular system that needs clearing are both part of the picture, Blood Pressure 1 and 2 work well together.

Matching the Help to the Cause

Thick blood and a clogged bowel: bowel cleansing, and liver flushing (the ELF) followed by a week of kidney flushing, so the body stays on top of the healing. Blood Pressure 2 keeps the bowels moving.
The kidneys: clear the kidneys well at least once. When the pressure has been ticking up slowly over days or weeks, do the Ultimate Kidney Flush (the Stone Dissolve Routine, on my Kidney Flushing sheet), an ELF for the kidneys. Keep up with the daily Hot Lemonade and Kidney Support afterward. For a sudden spike, a cup of burdock root tea helps the kidneys filter the blood.
Hardened arteries: the Calcium formula feeds calcium back to the body so it no longer has to pull it from the vessel walls. Kelp tones the vessel walls and is believed to help clear deposits and restore their elasticity; it can help normalize low pressure too.
Stress: Blood Pressure 1, and NFX to keep calm, especially when the numbers themselves are frightening.
Circulation: Blood Pressure 3, and cayenne on its own.
Vertigo spikes: the Brain Formula. It is mostly ginkgo, a vasodilator that opens the vessels; when cayenne alone could not touch my vertigo spike, the Brain Formula cleared it in minutes.
A weak or racing heart: Heart Formula (hawthorn) feeds the heart muscle and can be used alongside the blood pressure formulas.

Cayenne: the Equalizer

Cayenne runs the whole show. It increases the power of the heart, moves the circulation, and equalizes the pressure: if it is high, cayenne helps bring it down, and if it is low, it helps bring it up. I’d like to see a drug that can do both at once. To me, that is a gift straight out of God’s pharmacy.

Daily: work up to a teaspoon three times a day. A pinch with meals helps move the blood.
Hot Lemonade: in a 16-ounce glass of hot water, 1 teaspoon cayenne, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and fresh lemon juice and maple syrup to taste.
In a spike: 1 teaspoon of cayenne, or a few dropperfuls of the tincture, in warm water. Repeat about every hour while the numbers are up.

Food, Water and Daily Habits

Water, steadily. Sip all day rather than gulping a lot at once. I put lemon juice in my water and add a bit of Celtic salt once or twice a day; it goes down much better than plain water, and the salt keeps the sodium up so the water doesn’t wash it out. Distilled water is best for teas.
Garlic, regularly and generously. Dr. Christopher considered it one of the best helps for high pressure.
Wheat germ oil, a traditional source of vitamin E, long used to feed the heart and support healthy blood vessels.
Juices. For high pressure: celery, celery with garlic and parsley, dandelion, grapefruit, and pure tomato juice. For low pressure: beet, grape and pomegranate.
Cut back on salt from canned and packaged foods, caffeine, liquor, tobacco, mucus-forming foods and late hours.
Move and breathe. Daily exercise and deep breathing bring oxygen to the cells and help the herbs work faster.

Use With Care

Medication: keep taking your medication until your body shows you it no longer needs it. While you are on the herbs, check your pressure daily and work with your doctor as the numbers drop. The herbs and the drug together can push the pressure too low; dizziness or lightheadedness is the sign.

Hawthorn (Heart Formula): do not combine with any drug that slows the heart rate, such as beta blockers. Use cayenne alone instead.

Blood thinners: cayenne, garlic and ginkgo (in the Brain Formula) gently thin the blood. Keep that in mind if you take a blood thinner.

Licorice: can raise blood pressure in larger amounts. The small amount in Blood Pressure 1 is balanced by the other herbs, but don’t reach for licorice-rich formulas, such as our regular Pancreas Support, during a spike.

Blood Pressure 1: contains rue; not during pregnancy or if you may become pregnant.

Blood Pressure 2: moves the bowels strongly; start with the low end of the dose. It contains a small amount of sassafras bark and poke root: not during pregnancy or nursing, with liver problems, or in the week or two before surgery.

Level of Commitment

Gentle support. For borderline readings, an occasional spike, or low pressure: cayenne and the Hot Lemonade daily, water with lemon and a bit of Celtic salt, garlic, cutting back on salt and caffeine, daily movement and rest. Blood Pressure 3 for low pressure.
Focused cleansing. For pressure that stays high: the blood pressure formula that matches your cause for two to three months, bowel cleansing, a week of liver flushing followed by a week of kidney flushing, and the Ultimate Kidney Flush at least once. Keep checking your pressure and working with your doctor on any medication.
Incurables Program. For high blood pressure that has already damaged the heart, kidneys or vessels, after a stroke, or alongside kidney disease or heart failure: the full program, with medical care.

More Is Not Faster

These doses are set to what the body can clear. Taking more stirs up more than the bowels, liver and kidneys can carry out, and that is when cleansing starts to feel like poisoning. Healing the body requires steady, consistent nutrition and action, not a bigger dose.

People are different, and now and then someone reacts poorly to a particular herb. If that happens, stop it. What I offer here is a guideline. You are the one living in your body, so work with the Holy Spirit and the wisdom the Lord has given you to apply these supports in the best way for your life.

A Loose Healing Plan

A sudden spike (no warning signs): sit down and stay calm; cayenne in warm water or the Hot Lemonade every hour; Blood Pressure 1 if you have it; a cup of burdock root tea; NFX if you are frightened; the Brain Formula if vertigo is part of it. Recheck every 15 to 20 minutes and write the numbers down. If it won’t come down within an hour, or climbs back up, get seen.
Weeks 1 to 2: start the blood pressure formula that matches your cause; cayenne daily, working up; water with lemon and Celtic salt; cut salt, caffeine and junk food; start bowel cleansing; check your pressure daily.
Weeks 2 to 6: a week of liver flushing followed by a week of kidney flushing; do the Ultimate Kidney Flush at least once; add the Calcium formula and kelp for stiff arteries; walk daily.
Months 2 to 3: keep going. This is when the pressure normally begins to come down and stay down. Work with your doctor as the numbers drop.
Low pressure: Blood Pressure 3 and cayenne daily, steady water with a little Celtic salt, beet and grape juice, deep breathing, and stand up slowly.
All along: find ways to unplug and rest.

Stories from the Work

Dara’s Story: The Butter Bean Soup

I made a pot of scrumptious vegetable bean soup, and added a can of butter beans without checking the sodium. The afternoon and evening after, I didn’t feel well, but I wasn’t overly concerned. In the morning I woke with a headache, a little dizzy and lightheaded, and when I took my blood pressure it was in very serious condition. I won’t share how high it had gone.

Here is what I did: 1 teaspoon of cayenne in my morning drink of lemon juice and apple cider vinegar with distilled water, repeated every hour through the morning; 2 teaspoons of Blood Pressure 1 right after the first cayenne drink, then 1 teaspoon two more times before noon; my regular Echinacea; a rounded teaspoon of burdock root steeped 15 minutes, to help the kidneys filter the blood; and ½ teaspoon of NFX (then called NF) so I didn’t panic over the numbers on the monitor.

I went on with my day, except the treadmill. My head stopped pounding by midmorning. By 2 pm my pressure was 106/62, a little low for my normal. My body had removed the excess sodium and its effect.

Dara’s Story: Vertigo After a Tooth Was Pulled (2024)

After a broken tooth was pulled, I developed a severe case of vertigo, and it was affecting my blood pressure. Those spikes were serious. Cayenne had always cleared my occasional head-spinning episodes before, but this time it just was not working. My husband and I prayed, and I finally called the paramedics; the pressure had to be addressed.

One of the two paramedics understood herbs. Knowing the cayenne wasn’t working, he suggested an herb to dilate the blood vessels and asked what would be best. Ginkgo, of course. I took a full teaspoon of the Brain Formula, which is mostly ginkgo, and everything cleared in a matter of minutes. I also learned that any caffeine brings on my vertigo.

Dara’s Story: The Day I Forgot to Drink (October 2026)

I got so busy one day that I forgot to drink, and before dawn the next morning I woke dizzy, with my pressure shooting up. I held it down with cayenne, but it kept climbing back, and since my husband can’t drive in the dark, I went to the ER by ambulance.

On the way it reached 165/92. The attendant didn’t want to give me any water, but I told her I was not going to have a stroke just because she felt she had to keep me from drinking. I put four dropperfuls of cayenne in my mouth and washed it down with water. By the time we reached the hospital it was down to 136/70. She got to learn something about the power of cayenne.

While I was on the gurney, I sent my labs to Claude, and by the time the doctor came around I already knew I was fine, just dehydrated: everything was clear except low sodium. The IV fluids put me back together, and by that evening I was at 113/53, back near my normal. Now I put lemon juice and a bit of Celtic salt in my water.

A Member’s Story: An ELF for the Kidneys

So many of the great healing truths I have discovered have come from our members. One of our brightest members noticed her blood pressure ticking up without a real reason. She understood that clogged kidneys make the heart work harder to force the blood through, and she wanted an intense flush. Her idea was to use the Kidney Stone Dissolve Routine as an extreme kidney flush: an ELF for the kidneys. It brought her numbers back down. That is how the Ultimate Kidney Flush was born.

From Dr. Christopher: His Own Blood Pressure

From his middle twenties to his middle thirties, Dr. Christopher could not buy even a small life insurance policy because of hardening of the arteries and a tendency to high blood pressure. He began taking cayenne, working up to a teaspoon three times a day. At forty-five, applying for a large policy, he was examined by two doctors. One was astounded at the blood pressure of a healthy teenager; the other kept repeating the reading, sure his equipment was broken, because the chart said forty-five and the pressure was perfect. Near seventy, he let a pre-medicine student take his pressure in class, and it was still that of a healthy young man. He credited the mucusless diet and cayenne taken as a food every day.

Credited to Dr. John R. Christopher’s writings.

From Dr. Christopher: The Traveling Companion

A younger traveling companion asked about the cayenne and wheat germ oil Dr. Christopher took each morning. He had hemorrhoids, his mother had died of high blood pressure, and he had high blood pressure too. He began taking both. By spring his hemorrhoids had cleared, and at his checkup his doctor took his pressure three or four times and said, “This is supposed to be progressively worse. Your systolic and diastolic are near perfect. You don’t need to come back.”