Hi David, I am interested in recommending the Osteoherb capsules to my mom, but she has lower blood pressure in general and has on occasion had orthostatic related syncopal episodes which have occurred first thing in the morning when she is just waking up and getting out of bed. She has taken steps to improve her hydration and electrolyte balance and gets up slowly out of bed, sitting at the side for a while and she has had no other issues. She has also been evaluated by a cardiologist and we have ruled out any other type of primary cardiac involvement. That being said, when you were going over the mineral salts in class, you instructed that the aquaretic effect of most of the mineral salts were not going to be strong enough to over-do, except maybe horsetail. I saw that horsetail is in the Osteoherb supplement. I am wondering if you thought it would be a contraindication for someone with low blood pressure to take it? Or, would it be beneficial to take something else along with it to balance that aquaretic effect? Licorice came to my mind, but I am so new to all this, I thought I would ask advice! Aside from recently being told she is heading towards having osteoporosis and being lactose intolerant, there is no major past medical history to note and she is not taking any medications. She typically eats a pretty balanced diet with plenty of fruits and veggies, takes a vit D supplement and makes sure to get some exercise by biking, walking and practicing yoga. I realize that this is a pretty minimal assessment, but just knowing my mom, she seems to tend to run a bit on the dry /warm side. I would really appreciate your thoughts on the safety of taking horsetail (and how much might be too much, dosing wise) in a patient with a history of orthostatic hypotension and some possible adjunct herbs to consider! Thanks so much for your time, Karen

Horsetail is only part of the formula, but it also contains Nettle leaf and Dandelion leaf which are also aqauretics. It is hard to say if it will significantly increase diuresis in your mother and thus decrease her BP. I can give no guarantees but if she wants to try it, take a low dose 1 capsule twice per day for a week or two and see if it worsens her postural hypotension. If it does stop taking it. If not it should be fine at least at that dose level.