As for the salt-free diet for a month dropping one's blood pressure by 8 pts., that's nothing. Really, putting up with that for a month for 8 pts.? If you want to suffer without taste in your food for that long, that's up to you, but more than once I've had a measured 15 pt. drop by simply breathing long and slow for half an hour, and a measured 20 pt. drop by drinking celery juice (a natural calcium channel blocker).
In addition, (disclaimer, NONE of this is medical advice), maybe those who are sensitive to salt are not getting enough potassium. Do an internet search on the sodium-potassium pump.