Earl Dunbar wrote:
> Chuck, I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that you should do
> what you did, but I'd say that after having a triple bypass it was a
> pretty amazing, even courageous decision, and I applaud you ... and am
> really glad for the results.
I didn't view it as courageous... just the wise thing to do. The major
component of my cholesterol score was triglycerides. On a high carb
(low fat) diet my triglycerides were above 900. Switching to low carb
dropped my triglycerides to 200. The way total cholesterol is computed
is HDL + LDL + (triglycerides/5) so the 700 point drop in triglycerides
was a 140 point drop in the total. However, since my total cholesterol
was still "too high" I was put on a 20mg dose of Lipitor as well.
Amazingly enough (rest his soul), my physician did not understand the
role of triglycerides in the overall cholesterol score. This despite
the fact that he was an internist on the staff of the Harvard Medical
School at a teaching hospital.
>
> One thing I noted was that you said, "good red meat" ... with the
> emphasis on "good" for me. IOW, it's the same "old" story: quality is
> very important.
Wish I hadn't added "good". Today I am no longer afraid of cholesterol
or saturated fat. I don't care how much fat is on the beef or how much
butter is on the (green) veggies. The Inuit (eskimos) and Maasai don't
die of heart disease. They eat an extremely high fat diet and don't
even eat their veggies for fiber. :-)
>
> I do agree with Garth about it not being a "diet" for everyone. It
> likely wouldn't work for me. At one point in my life when I lost a lot
> of weight, I ate plenty of carbs. My cholesterol issues are genetic, so
> meds make the difference. I haven't tried an extensive regime of
> dietary control and herbs, etc., to see if I could replace the Lipitor,
> but I might look into that.
I have been on 20mg Lipitor since 1998. Ever since then I have been
plagued with muscle pains which have been gradually spreading from my
pectorals to my thighs and knees and now to other parts of my body.
Standard liver function and CPK level tests (check for muscle damage)
have never indicated anything wrong. However, recent research shows
that statin drugs are capable of causing muscle damage that does not
show itself in CPK tests. I've also been having memory problems with
the *names* of people and things. Maybe just old age but there is
growing suspicion that statin drugs can also cause memory problems.
Anyhow, after reading the book "The Cholesterol Myths" by (well
published) Swedish physician Dr. Uffe Ravnskov (three times now) I have
decided to stop worrying about cholesterol entirely and have taken
myself off Lipitor two weeks ago. Ravnskov's book basically says that
the cholesterol emperor has no clothes and he takes you into much of the
original research to show you how it is flawed and, in many cases,
downright dishonest. I found this very hard to believe until I
personally pursued two randomly chosen cholesterol related papers on
medline and discovered that I couldn't find the data in the body of the
papers to support the conclusions. I finally realized that the
cholesterol myth in now so powerfully embedded that, if you don't toe
the line, you don't get any research money.
I should make it clear that Ravnskov does not actually recommend going
off statin drugs. On that subject he concludes that statins are
actually working to reduce deaths from CHD by a modest amount. But he
maintains that the effect is most likely from reduction of inflammation
or some mechanism other than cholesterol reduction. The reason I went
off Lipitor is because of my own muscle and memory problems and growing
evidence that taking statin drugs, while reducing deaths from CHD,
increases the death rate from other causes. I've decided I'd much
rather go out with a massive heart attack than assume increased risk of
cancer.
Am I worried? Not at all. After you've read Ranvshov's work you will
understand that elevated cholesterol has never been shown by *any*
research study to be a risk factor (let alone cause) for CHD in men over
the age of 50 and has never been shown to be a risk factor for women of
*any* age. Furthermore, there's plenty of evidence to indicate that
reducing cholesterol in the elderly is contraindicated.
I'm trying to convince my father now to stop taking the Gemfibrozil that
his doctor recently prescribed for him. The doctor told him he was
borderline diabetic and he was prescribing the Gemfibrozil to help lower
his blood glucose level. In fact, Gemfibrozil is an old line
cholesterol lowering drug which has a side effect of *increasing* your
blood glucose level. The message is do your own research and think for
yourself. I'm upset that an 84 year old man who appears to be as
healthy as a horse and has never taken drugs is now having some
"intervention" worked on him which is likely to harm him rather than
help him.
On a related note of do your own research; at the same time I quit
taking Lipitor I also took myself (slowly) off a large dose (100mg) of
atenolol which had been prescribed by my cardiologist (also Harvard Med
School) to slow my heart rate (not to reduce blood pressure which was
already low). Sometime after starting on the atenolol about two years
ago I developed inverse psoriasis which has been growing progressivly
worse. The psoriasis was diagnosed by my dermatologist (also Harvard
Med School). While I was researching Lipitor I also decided to do some
research on beta blockers (atenolol). Turns out that beta blockers have
a side effect of exaccerbating psoriasis. Since stopping the atenolol a
week ago the severity of the psoriasis has subsided significantly. It
has been completely controllable using only over the counter
hydrocortisone cream instead of the prescription mometasoue furoate I
had been using. It seems to be continuing to subside and I have hopes
that it might even go away completely. Neither the GP, cardiologist or
dermatologist (all on the Harvard teaching staff) picked up on this or
warned of possible side effects.
Don't trust your doctors. Even the best educated ones. Do your own
research.
<http://www.thincs.org/>
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0967089700/qid=1125063510/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-9279265-7494304?v=glance&s=books&n=507846>
Chuck Norcutt
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