Posted on 03/02/2013 10:24:14 PM PST by neverdem
Revised guidelines for heart health are set to move away from target-based approach.
Soon after Joseph Francis learned that his levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol sat at twice the norm, he discovered the shortcomings of cholesterol-lowering drugs — and of the clinical advice guiding their use. Francis, the director of clinical analysis and reporting at the Veterans Health Administration (VA) in Washington DC, started taking Lipitor (atorvastatin), a cholesterol-lowering statin and the best-selling drug in pharmaceutical history. His LDL plummeted, but still hovered just above a target mandated by clinical guidelines. Adding other medications had no effect, and upping the dose of Lipitor made his muscles hurt — a rare side effect of statins, which can cause muscle breakdown.
So Francis pulled back to moderate Lipitor doses and decided that he could live with his high cholesterol. Later, he learned that other patients were being aggressively treated by doctors chasing stringent LDL targets. But Francis found the science behind the target guidelines to be surprisingly ambiguous. “You couldn’t necessarily say lowering LDL further was going to benefit the patient,” he says.
--snip--
Clinical trials have shown repeatedly that statins reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, but lowering LDL with other medications does not work as well. The benefits of statins may reflect their other effects on the body, including fighting inflammation, another risk factor for heart disease.
Krumholz’s scepticism is rooted in experience. In 2008 and 2010, the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes (ACCORD) clinical trial challenged dogma when it reported that lowering blood pressure or blood sugar to prespecified targets did not reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke. In the case of blood sugar, the risks were worsened...
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
Well, it's a good thing that eating flower petals, processed or not, is relatively uncommon these days.
Right on! But, when inflammation is left untreated for too long, it becomes self-perpetuating and leads to fibrosis. The only substance in nature capable of lycing away fibrosis are systemic enzymes. Are body only has a finite number. It is this fibrosis which is also a symptom of aging is what eventually kills us.
They have proven most of this theory, by studying Cystic Fibrosis patients.
Preventing or slowing inflammation and fibrosis is the key to living long and preventing disease. Remember, you cannot get systemic enzymes from food. Which is why some people live long and some do not. It is the amount of these enzymes they were born with minus the enzyme load from their lifestyle behaviors.
Keep on spreading the word! The truth will win the day!
In Great Health,
Actually, I do know all of that. The Pharma industry does not promote ANY type of alternatives or supplements usually, but because statins deplete CoQ10 it is recommended that you take it if you are on any statin.
Additionally, though testing is not required any longer, long term use can cause liver issues. Patients are told to look for body and muscle aches, as you mentioned. Memory problems are another issue listed as of last year, again because of potential damage to myelin.
They are not a drug I will take. Others should make the decision based on their situation, but I would do some serious research before making the decision.
Statins affect the function of all sterols, not only cholesterol but also vitamin D, your sex hormones, cortisone and even dolichols that keep the cell membranes healthy
As I said, we had pretty intensive training on the drugs. Reps are required to be tested on the drugs they sell. 90 is passing, 89 is a failing grade.
Great information. Too bad the Docs do not keep up to date with this info. I have been trying to expose this for over 15 years. The truth is slowly leaking out, no thanks to traditional medicine. Humanity will have to, eventually give gratitude to the alternate health field, and certain self-improvement guru’s for saving many of thousands of lives.
Keep spreading the word!
In Great Health,
I met a woman at a trade school who told me her cholesterol was 60. She was nuttier than a fruitcake, and she was depressed all the time.
I have heard before that very low cholesterol can lead to dementia and depression.
Any indication if those, when they occur and are attributed to statin use, are reversible? Now, what was the other thing I was meaning to ask about?
What are systemic enzymes?
Crystals don't form in solution until the concentration gets high enough to precipitate. There's too much solute or not enough solvent
Is it true that 50% of all heart attack victims have “normal” cholesterol levels?
IIRC, they're calling a total cholesterol under 200 normal.
So cholesterol is a predictor of heart attack but not a cause.
From that abstract:
“For all plaques, there were strong associations of CCs(cholesterol crystals) with PD(plaque disruption), thrombus, symptoms (p <0.0001), and plaque size (p <0.02). Crystal content was an independent predictor of thrombus and symptoms. In conclusion, by avoiding ethanol in tissue preparation, CCs perforating the intima were shown to be associated with PD. Crystal content was significantly associated with clinical events, suggesting that cholesterol crystallization may have a role in PD.”
Clinical events means becoming acutely symptomatic. The probability of those symptoms by chance is less than 1 in 10,000.
Who writes the tests?
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