Dear Med Lab.... thank you for the great message. I've read a little of what you said, but never could get the words out to tell the doctor. But will next time. Especially the part where Crestor doesn't save lives, so why the heck are doctors upset when we don't take Crestor, etc??? My personal wish is that every doctor who prescribes any type of medicine would look at boards like this and get more informed from this point of view and not the point of view of the pharmaceutial companies that fill their offices. Again thank you so much!!

Meadow, a word of encouragement. The Honolulu Heart Study turned the world of cholesterol upside down. In a nutshell, the study found that senior citizens between the ages of 70-90 with higher cholesterol had better longevity and fewer health problems than those with low cholesterol. This was not a small margin. It was too significant to be up to chance. Clearly the tide is changing.

Because you are on thyroid replacement hormone, it is important to keep a close eye on not only TSH, but Free T4 AND Free T3. If circulating levels of serum free thyroid hormone is sub-optimal, it can be reflected by an elevated lipid panel. For me, a 3 point drop in TSH lowered my trigycerides 800 points and dropped cholesterol 100 points. So you see, lipid metabolism can be product of thyroid hormone.

Best to you from Tyler Texas

Medlab1

Hello Med Lab and everyone reading this....

You really had great news for me and anyone else trying to lower our cholesterol while trying to assert our needs to doctors who have set opinions. One thing I found interesting in my own life is this. I finally went to a cardiologist because I was tired of hearing my doctor tell me I HAD to go on statins or I would die. The cardiologist was pretty much the same... but did say there is a lipid center in Philly that I could go to. I asked her for the name but she didn't know... I asked her then if she absolutely knew I had plaque blocking my arteries and of course she didn't know because none of those tests were ever offered. GRRR *s*. Anyway... doctors know what they know and not very often step out of that box to see what else is going on that might add to more successful stories. Many thanks... Flo

Meadow, you were very wise to ask your physician if you have plaque blocking your arteries. Most people might not think to ask that.

If you don't mind my asking, just how high is your cholesterol that the doctor wants to prescribe a statin?

Hi MedLab...

The last cholesterol count was 498, and the cardiologist said that was the record for his office. This doctor told me that I wouldn't have to worry about side effects from the meds, that I'd have a stroke first. Yikes!!! Next visit, I'll have ammunition to throw at him thanks to you. I'll let you know his reaction and if he still keeps harping on those statins.

I would be inclined to ask WHY is my cholesterol 498? Are your thyroid numbers where they need to be for YOU. TSH, FT4 and FT3? Does a problem really exist?

Tossing a statin into the picture just creates a rosy lab report.

You could always get imaging of your corotid artery, and have a nuclear stress test done to see if you have any evidence of cardiovascular disease. That would answer alot of questions.

If after those tests its proven you don't have heart disease, then adding a statin would be of no value. Even the drug companies admitt in print that statins will not prevent heart disease. ( gotta read the fine print)

You are female. And the only group to benefit from clinical trials from statins are middle aged men with high risk factors. Even then, 100 men had to take the drug for 3.5 years to prevent one cardiac event. Thats about a 2% benefit. Although statins do lower cholesterol, no female has even benefited from them, and nobody male or female in retirement age has benefitted either.

Whenever somebody has something to sell, the benefits tend to be overstated and the statin drug industry is no exception.

If you want to take something that will alter lipids, fish oil is a real winner. Without the risk of damage.

Keep me posted. I am very interested in what happens here.

http://www.askapatient.com/rateyourmedicine.htm

if you have time, open the above link to see how others rate drugs they're taking. I did this with Lipitor and it wasn't really surprising to see how many people had negative reactions.

Thank you Meadow. Here is another excellent site for real world patient experiences with drugs and their side effects.

Medications.com

Look at lipitor and Zocor. You will be glad you did.