Dear Nancy,

I have both problems but as far as I know they are completely unrelated so I deal with them separately.

With the high blood pressure I take meds for it to keep it down, I also take other actions that seem to help.

I excersize daily, 5-10 miles walking to wherever I need to go. I watch out for salt in my food. (I'm not always so good at this, but I try.) If I'm feeling a little salty, I either excersize a little more streuously, or I take very hot baths or sit in a steam room or a sauna to sweat out the salt. I try to keep the chemicals that end in 'ine' to a minimum (caffeine, nicotine, etc.).

Lastly, I take cinnamon every day. This one is a big help. The USDA has been studying this for about 8-9 years and they recommend 1/2 teaspoon a day for people with high blood pressure (they're also studying it for diabetes control these days). I've been in contact with the Doctor in charge of the study, his name is Richard Anderson and he's a real nice guy. You can put it in your coffee, tea, oatmeal, whatever. If you want to test whether it works, go to a local grocery or chain drug store where they have a free blood pressure cuff. Buy a bag of cinnamon Jolly Ranchers and then take your blood pressure. After you take your pressure, pop one of the Jolly Ranchers in your mouth and walk around the store doing your shopping for about twenty minutes. Then take your blood pressure again. The first time I did this I honestly thought the machine was broken.

It's possible your meds might be contributing to the problem, or you might be like me and you just picked the wrong parents and grandparents. Or maybe a combination of both.

Hope this helps.

Matt

PS, I'm a big fan of what's called Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon. It's a bit more expensive, but I like the flavor better than the regular stuff, and a bigger benefit is that it dissolves better in my coffee.

When I first started 1500 mg Keppra XR my blood pressure was higher but not too high.  My last appointment it went down to the standard for me 100/60.