. I think they are at a loss of what to do with me.... 
Elisha
This is a fascinating question, and one that I was introduced to in my medical school courses. We had, as a case study, a hypertensive individual that was also a habitual licorice consumer. That is the key: habitual. Having licorice once in a while is not damaging, but over time, licorice ingestion can induce pseudoaldosteronism. Aldosterone is the adrenal hormone that acts on the kidney, telling it to retain water and sodium. This hormone also induces the loss of potassium, which is exchanged for sodium in the kidney. Licorice contains glycyrrhizin, which is absorbed as glycyrrhetinic acid. Glycyrrhizin, inhibits an enzyme called 11-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, which converts cortisol to cortisone. Cortisol, but not cortisone, binds to the aldosterone receptor in the kidney and mimicks the effects of aldosterone, which could explain the effects of licorice - a buildup of cortisol, which is recognized by the body as aldosterone. In fact, in a study by Bernardi et al (ref 3), healthy volunteers given 814mg of glycyrrhizin/day experienced hypokalemia and increased body weight (apparently due to water retention) after 1-2 weeks.
OK, so licorice causes pseudoaldosteronism. What does pseudoaldosteronism do? Kidney retention of water and sodium lead to increased blood volume. Increased blood volume leads to increased blood pressure (think of it as turning up the tap on a water hose - the more water, the more pressure on the hose). Abnormally increased blood pressure over time is called hypertension.
As a sidelight, the hypokalemia (reduced potassium) induced by licorice due to the retention of sodium over potassium, can also be dangerous. Hypokalemia is usually tolerated well by most people and is often discovered incidentially with a blood test. If serum potassium drops too low, however, people can experience muscle weakness (due to altered resting potential of the muscle cells), polyuria (lots of urine), polydipsia (lots of thirst) and in some cases can cause cardiac arrhytmias and other EKG changes, due to altered repolarization and increased automaticity.
Here is a link to more:
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/hypertension.htm
hmmmm, interesting....I think I may give it a try.
The blood volume part I didn’t know, which I think would explain why when I take my nightly shot of Copaxone (for my MS) I end up hitting blood vessels and bleeding like a stuck pig.... that has not ever happened before, except in the last few weeks.
The Ritalin seems to be kicking in pretty well now but I am jittery all day...but my BP is running at 110's/70's so that is an improvement for sure.
Rj
I'm trying Aldo ..hmmm, maybe tomorrow? 
I'm getting some of my spearmint lifesavers today and give it a go with that
Gracie's mom - I've been diagnosed with MS for 5 years now. I had to have a brain biopsy as my first lesion was 3x3 cm and they thought it might have been a tumor from the MRI. Biopsy came back as demylating lesion (MS). Also, my lumbar puncture was abnormal and contained the occular bands that physicians look for an MS diagnosis. As far as I know I haven’t had a problem with my WBC's, this past year I have had low potassium levels. My blood pressure problems started last august and are the because of an autonomic disorder that I now have, I don’t know how I developed it or what brought it on but it is called Multiple System Atrophy or MSA for short. It is a neurological disorder like Parkinson’s disease but it messes with your heart rate and blood pressure and body functions. I had to have a pacemaker implant due to slow heart rate, mine dropped into the 20 beats per minute range. Blood pressure some days is fine others its 60's/40's or so low my cuff can’t get a reading and I am passing out due to the rapid change in blood flow, or orthostatic hypotension. But the MS isn’t what causes my blood pressure problems anyway. I hope you get the answers that your looking for soon...take care
Elisha