In my clinical practice I have use hawthorn in different and various combinations. In combination with garlic and Cereus grandiflorus, it has proved extremely beneficial in the treatment of high blood pressure. A patient who comes to mind first saw me with a systolic of 180, a diasystolic pressure of 100 and a blood cholesterol level of 6.5 mm/1. The patient was a male, 40 years of age, slightly overweight, who complained of thumping in the chest at night which was keeping him awake. In conjunction with his medical practitioner, I placed the patient on a low salt diet with a combination of hawthorn dried berries (500 mg), garlic (200 mg of the dried bulb) and Cereus grandiflorus (40 mg 3 times daily with meals), for a period of 3 months. With continual monitoring, it was noted that not only had the patient’s blood pressure been reduced to 125/85, but the palpitations he was experiencing had completely disappeared. On examination of his cholesterol level, it was noted to have dropped from 6.5 mm/1 to 4.00 mm/1.

I have also used hawthorn in combination with a d-alpha tocopherol, for the relief of angina pectoris, on a number of patients. Because the ischaemic pain related to angina pectoris is a consequence of inadequate oxygenation of the myocardium, the ideal treatment of this condition would be to increase the blood flow in the coronary vessels and at the same time, decrease the myocardial requirement for oxygen.

As hawthorn is able to increase the flow of blood through the mycordium by dilating the coronary arteries (first observed by Ullsperger in 1951) and because hawthorn is a mild sedative, helping the patient to cope with the worry about their heart and the gripping pain that may come at any moment, it is an excellent herb to add to any cardiac formula.

The addition of d-alpha tocopherol (Vitamin E) to this formula is also valuable. It is a powerful fibrinolytic agent and antioxidant preventing the available oxygen in the blood from being converted into toxic peroxides. This action leaves the red blood cells with more oxygen and this of course, increases the availability of oxygen for the myocardium, resulting in a reduction of pain.

*80\26\8*

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