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nagasaki 
5:34 AM - BP 110/55. Heart rate 78. Pretty normal for me these days. Big event was mid month when I tripped and fell on a concrete sidewalk striking my right forearm against a sharp brick ledge on the way down with all my weight. It created a huge contusion that is still swollen and discolored two weeks later. No break thankfully. Had just had the results of my DEXA scan show my bones to be back in the normal range. That probably helped. So I'm told this will take weeks to heal as the blood spillage into tissue has to absorb at a snail's pace due to all the aspirin I take. It took an emotional toll as well, making me feel even more vulnerable than the Afib already did. The NP I saw in follow-up to the ER said I might have had a mini-stroke (TIA) drop attack. She's another proponent of statins (her preference Zocor) and ordered some bloodwork to check my liver enzymes. I'm still trying to figure out if red yeast rice extract is worth it since apparently the FDA took the lovostatin out of that used to be there. Guess whenever I check my lipids again there would be an indication. On other fronts, I stopped the senior group I was going to. Frankly, I feel way more frisky than those people in spite of the Afib and being 70 now. And I stopped therapy with the young woman who supposedly used John Sarno's methods. All she did was listen. I can't afford to pay $90/visit to tell someone my story. I already know my story for cripes sake. Looking forward to spring and grateful we've had a really mild winter this year (so far).
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This is going to be short. I lost the entry the first two times I tried. Right now at 7:45 pm my BP is 104/71 and heart rate is 84. Decided to do nothing about the hs-CRP reading of 6.5 followed by normal sed rate and lipid profile with LDL and HDL getting slightly worse. None of my various doctors seem to be the slightest bit concerned so I'm not even going to check any of it for a year. I'm even going to leave it up to my EP's office to schedule my 6-month checkup. If they don't I just won't have it. I'm pretty fed up. Started therapy with a young woman who uses John Sarno's technique for dealing with chronic back pain by approaching it from the psychosomatic standpoint. I like her so far but don't quite get how it's going to work. So far it's just your basic talk therapy. Had my kidney ultrasound for the year and apparently no change. Due for the annual DEXA next week. Feeling reasonably stable except for the usual less energy than I had before Afib.
BP 90/57. Heart rate 93. Been up doing housework. Usually the heart rate would be in the high 70's or 80's. Yesterday I tried power walking for 15 minutes to see how high it would go and it went to 101. I guess that's good.
So the big event this month is getting the results of an hs-CRP (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein) blood test done and having it be very elevated at 6.5. The range is <1 to 3. Anything over that indicates inflammation most likely in the arteries which can cause plaquing. However, I also got the results of a Lifeline screening of my carotid arteries that showed only mild plaquing not impeding blood flow. So I went to my naturopath for a second visit and the plan is to get a sed rate to back up whether the hs-CRP is a fluke or not (apparently various things can spike it) and then most likely just concentrate on bringing the inflammation level and also lipid LDL and HDL levels into better shape by diet and exercise. So an anti-inflammatory diet means cutting out: wheat, dairy, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, sugar, citrus fruit, pork, nonorganic eggs, shellfish, peanuts, coffee, juice, soda, processed food, fried food, chocolate, dried fruit, and onions among other things. What it leaves are most fruits and vegetables, other grain than wheat, soy products, cold water fish, nuts other than peanuts, seeds, legumes, free range eggs, avocados, etc. Even harder is to make myself exercise more. I feel fragile and tired and my back hurts most days.
So anyway the naturopath also suggested being back in therapy to be venting feelings since I don't feel like I can with family or friends, and some physical therapy and/or acupuncture/massage. Then check the hs-CRP again in 6 months.
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I'm glad you have strong bones! I found that lovastatin was gone from red yeast rice, too, although I came across something last week that mentioned a couple of brands that were "mavericks" (see below). Typical FDA Stomp and Stamp. I'll be interested in what you find in your lipid profile, although don't statins (and RYR) targey LDL's? Niacin (supplements, dairy, lean meat, poultry, fish, nuts and eggs) and exercise appear to be the best for raising HDL.
Here's the Red Yeast Rice expert (from Mayo, in July 2008)....
Another popular cholesterol-lowering supplement is red yeast rice. There is some evidence that red yeast rice can help lower your LDL cholesterol. However, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that the following red yeast rice products could contain a naturally occurring form of the prescription medication known as lovastatin:
Red Yeast Rice and Red Yeast Rice/Policosanol Complex sold by Swanson Health Products Inc. and manufactured by Nature's Value Inc. and Kabco Inc.
Cholestrix sold by Sunburst Biorganics
The presence of lovastatin in the red yeast rice products in question is potentially dangerous because there's no way for you to know what level or quality of lovastatin might be in red yeast rice.
buddhacat2
Sorry to hear about your fall and hope you heal soon. Good to hear you are coping withyour Afib - I keep having attacks every 5 - 7 days now - I'm realy gettng fed up! Sending hugs you way. xxx
Koetsh