The Blood Pressure Pill That Looked Like Something Else
A friend on the pickleball court asked about a common blood pressure medication he was taking. Wanted to know if it was any good.
That question brought something back from nearly four decades of practice. A pattern most doctors have never been taught to look for.
During those years, a number of patients showed up with what looked exactly like celiac disease. Chronic diarrhea, weight loss, nutrient depletion. The full picture. They had been through rounds of testing, dietary changes, specialist referrals. Nobody could figure out why.
The common thread? They were all on a widely prescribed class of blood pressure medications called angiotensin receptor blockers, or ARBs. And almost nobody thought to look at the pill bottle.
This is one of those connections that does not show up in standard medical training. Most clinicians have never heard of it. But the patients who had it were suffering, and the answer was hiding in plain sight.
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Authored by Gerard Guillory, MD
Gerard Guillory, MD, is a board-certified internist who practiced for nearly four decades with a focus on functional, root-cause medicine. He is the author of three books on irritable bowel syndrome and the founder of It’s My Health, where he and his team put current health news in context and help members understand the underlying causes of chronic symptoms.
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