Posted on 01/06/2018 6:40:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
I don’t like them, but the doc put my mom on one after she had a stroke. So I dutifully give it her every night.
Why are we still using cholesterol numbers that show very little correlation with actual heart problems?
There's a great page on cholesterol myths by Dr. Uffe Ranskov, a researcher who "studied the studies." Dr. Ranshkov took all of the studies out there that said high cholesterol leads to heart disease and re-examined them. After taking out all of the high risk people from the studies -- smoking, obese, bad diet, sedentary lifestyle, etc -- Dr. Ranshkov discovered that the vast majority of patients who died of heart disease HAD LOW CHOLESTEROL.
he has a lot of data to prove his point on his website at:
I’m in that category, I’ll ask my cardiologist if he’s taking that stuff. Same age as me.
Im not that old, but a few medical people have tried to get me to take statins, I told them no way. They are pill pushers.
I think it’s goofy to take any medication RX or OTC that is not truly needed which are almost all of them since changing eating habits and sleep or exercise can usually make huge improvements.
The body wasn’t designed to work best with foreign substances that are not food. Just because a chemical drug in your system can get your lab report to read a certain number does not mean you have improved your health and also does not indicate if the side effects happening in your body from the regular use of Rx or OTC is creating some other issue.
God designed almost every persons body to work best ingesting food substances and water. There are very few real exceptions though every person you ask will say their body is different, needs lots of coffee, or need Rx and OTC, etc.
And I know someone who died at over 95 with a cholesterol of over 350. For years worth of blood work.
“Should a 76-year-old who doesn’t have heart disease....”
Everyone in that age range...like me... has something going on.
I’ve had friends who quit statins after scary and awful side effects-including hallucinations and suicidal ideation.
that said, I believe in people making their own choices about all things-especially since what may be okay for one may kill another-one size does not fit all, and each person knows their body better than anyone-after all they live in there...
I’ve never taken any drugs, and I will not-I don’t even eat processed food, sugar or frankenfood-physical job, and I workout 3x per week, natural supplements and remedies-the natural lifestyle is my choice and it works for me.
I said lipid profiles
HDL
LDL
and they most certainly are more indicative than not of a propensity for cardio ischemia
HDL as high as you can get it
LDL as low as you can
One new drug Repatha has shown promise at remarkable numbers and even reducing ischemia itself
The anomalies are some great lipid profile folks get ischemia early anyhow
And some hypercholestralemia folks don’t get ischemia despite horrible ratios
Repatha and for matter Lipitor reduce arterial wall inflammation which also contributes especially for those with bad numbers already
I was born with a malformed heart and an intramyocardial LAD and at intraseptal as well which means it’s pinched and occluded at D1 and D2
I’ve had two surgeries 14 years ago to clear and graft and may yet have another or an interventionist catheterization and if possible after that a stent or two unless there is too much blue meat downstream for it to matter
Which means I get the joy of dopey meds like high dosage metoprolol and lisinopril forever waiting for a coronary event that is unfixable
I’ve always been extremely active whilst knowing my limitations regardless
Pelham says I need to start acting my age lol
My doc is a Cleveland clinic fellow and head professor of cardiology at Vandy after they poached him from St Thomas
He’s at the forefront of studies on interventionist statin therapy
I’ll ride with him and I keep up too
When your health is what they call ominous you pay attention or should
But folks who eschew statins then don’t take them
I stopped the statin and took red yeast rice. My numbers looked good and my doctor said he liked that supplement!
The ratio numbers are better than HDL or LDL. But Homocysteine is better than those.
About 17 years ago a doctor wrote on my report that my HDL was too high.
it’s not so much science, it’s just a study with an agenda that was reached.
Study funders won’t keep funding studies if they don’t get the results they want. I was in five Rx studies (where I was to be paid) and they made it clear up front they would drop you from the study if they wanted to. They did tell me in a few studies that if my test numbers continued to go in a direction not favorable to what they wanted they would drop me and they did from one study. I finally decided I didn’t want to be part of such a scam.
We re all k2 deficient and d deficient so we should take both daily (or the equivalent of supplementing in sunlight and organs or fish eggs etc.).
Yep. I’ve been in a study too. They set up the parameters so strongly that they can’t not get their results.
There are literal billions of dollars made every year prescribing statins to “lower” cholesterol. The problem is that cholesterol is necessary for life, that it is synthesized by the body and that most forms of it in the body are either benign or helpful. Worse is that the standard three-panel test for cholesterol (LDL, HDL and Triglycerides) is worthless because the triglyceride number is not directly measured and only one subtype of LDL is harmful in the body! The only meaningful test is one that is much more expensive and thus rarely used. At the same time statins have a litany of side effects that are in and of themselves dangerous, including cognitive impairment and muscle damage(Rhabdomyolysis, Myositis), some of which can be permanent.
Cholesterol is necessary for cellular metabolism and there is no evidence that the presence of high blood cholesterol levels causes hardened arteries. There is, however, plenty of evidence that inflammation leads the body to respond by attempting to encapsulate the inflammed tissue — this is the ordinary and normal response that heals injuries. Many studies, including recent ones out of UCLA, indicate that cholesterol is NOT accumulating on the inner lining of arterial walls but WITHIN the walls itself. Considering cholesterol is a very poor infiltrator of tissue via blood, it appears it’s presence within the walls is a systemic/genetic issue causing said arterial inflammation.
Obesity is without question a major factor in heart disease and stroke. Obesity is also a major factor for high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes. In short if you’re fat the odds are all tilted the wrong way when it comes to your health in both coronary and stroke-risk factors.
Finally, statins also carry warnings that high blood sugar and TYPE 2 DIABETES are possible side effects.
One doctor explained that cholesterol (which is the mother of all hormones, so in and of itself is not “bad” - in fact, it is essential for life) is dangerous only if it gets damaged by inflammation in your body. Once it gets damaged, it becomes the plaque that clings to your arteries. He also said there is little evidence that - absent from heart disease - statins affect mortality in any significance. However, if one has has had a heart attack, it then becomes beneficial.
One other doctor suggested that donating blood twice a year is beneficial. Maybe because you will get rid of the damaged cholesterol by doing so? He did not explain why.
My cholesterol is around 250, and my doctor wanted me on a statin. My gut feel was that I did not need to do that since I exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet. But to make sure I was not deluding myself, I had a scan done on my carotid artery (I will be 67yo next month). Had perfectly-normal blood flow, so I believe I am good to not take the statin. I guess time will tell! Ha!
I heard that k2 actually helps clear your arteries from plaque. Would like to know if that is true or not. That said, I take k2 regularly, but it is the mk7 type.
I take a pretty major k2 supp but I’m not sure which it is, might have both in it? Not sure.
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