Nearly one in three adults in the United States has high blood pressure. If you're one of them, you know going untreated increases your risk for heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.  That's why you're most likely taking medications to treat it. But a clinical trial in KELOLAND could mean tossing out your prescriptions.

High blood pressure is known as the silent killer because it often has no symptoms. And the only way to find out if you have it is to get your blood pressure checked.

Harlan Meyerink has taken multiple drugs to control his high blood pressure for the past 40 years.

“The pills weren't all bad, but they allowed it to bounce some, and I probably would have eventually had a stroke or something,” Meyerink said.

High blood pressure ran in his family and he's tried to get it down to a healthy level for years. That's finally happening, thanks to a clinical trial at Sanford USD Medical Center.

“This is still in a medical device trial run by the FDA. This is phase one of the clinical trials. We can't make any promises. We don't know what the results will be. But it would be our hope and goal that the blood pressure would be reduced and that Harlan and people like him then could be weaned off his medication,” Dr. Richard Lee of Sanford Clinic Vascular Associates said.

The Rheos Clinical Trial involves an implanted device that electrically activates the body's natural blood pressure regulation system.

It's implanted under the skin in the chest and two metal leads wrap around the carotid artery on each side of the neck.

“The stimulation of the carotid bodies will then lower the blood pressure through a central response,” Dr. Lee said.

Meyerink's had the device for three months.

“His blood pressure when he first came into the office was in the 240 over 110 range, and the last few times that he's been coming in to be evaluated his BP is in the 110 to 130 range. So it appears that it holds some promise for Harlan,” Dr. Lee said.

“You go to a doctor and you wind up getting pills and pills and more pills. But this is a solution that really worked,” Meyerink said.

You can get your blood pressure checked for free at this year’s Sanford Health and KELO-TV Health & Fitness Fair. It's this Friday and Saturday at the Empire Mall.

Clinical Trial Information