High Cholesterol Support Group
High cholesterol is the presence of high levels of cholesterol in the blood. It is not a disease but a metabolic derangement that can be secondary to many diseases and can contribute to many forms of disease, most notably cardiovascular disease. If you have high cholesterol, join the community to find support and share your experience.
Its sad that the drug companies have us exactly where they want us. Fearing cholesterol.
A good friend of mine is a physician of 25 years. He never tested his cholesterol, except once during a pre- op clearance it got tested. Other than that, no interest.
Another friend of mine, also a physician works with rehab. Ends up seeing patients who have taken lipid lowering drugs and lost the gamble. They suffer from severe muscular problems. He is not thrilled either with these drugs.
Yet another friend of mine, (past physician) refuses to take statins due to deterioration of muscle tissue.
Although I am not a physician, I am surrounded by friends who all work in the medical profession. Doctors, Nurses, Med Techs. If any of them take a statin or watch their cholesterol, I am unaware of it. It rarely comes up in conversation. But when the subject does come up, they themselves won't touch the drugs.
I can honestly say that among my medical friends (50+ of them) the subject of cholesterol levels is not even an issue. Its simply not part of their lives.
Deposits in arteries are a concern. I am not minimizing that.
What I am saying is serum cholesterol levels are irrelevant in the development of coronary artery disease, heart attacks, or strokes.
There are about 30 billion reasons why they would disagree. This is what one of those reasons looks like: $
Even in respectable places like the American Heart Association, Mayo Clinic, and even respected schools like Harvard, money buys loyalty. No person, no organization, no one is immune.
The theory that saturated fat and cholesterol levels cause plaque build up took off some 40 years ago. The public accepted the theory. After all, it sounded so good, so convincing. But it was never proven outside of commercial interests.
Back then, researchers argued against the lipid hypothesis, noting that cholesterol levels were not really much different between those who developed artery plaque and those who did not. But the theory was so widely accepted by the public, a new market was born. People were willing to reach deep into their pockets to get rid of this evil villain called cholesterol.
If Saturated fat and cholesterol causes heart disease, then the Swiss would be in big trouble with their high fat dairy diet. They are not. They do better than many countries.
If we explore the real world, and do georaphic comparisons of population's dietary fat, cholesterol levels, and compare that data with death rates from heart disease, there is simply no relationship found. None at all.
50% of heart attacks happen to people with high cholesterol, while 50% happen to people with low cholesterol. With those numbers, who is to say it isn't the low cholesterol causing the heart attacks?
What I am saying is we the people INCLUDING MYSELF, accepted a theory as the gospel truth, and we ourselves created the market which now exists to the tune of $30 Billion per year in statin sales alone.
And nobody looked back to realize it was never proven outside of commercial interests. As a result, misinformation was handed down from one generation to the next.
And so here we are today barking up the wrong tree, and making the drug companies filthy rich.
Coronary artery disease thumbs its nose at cholesterol levels, and another victim with low cholesterol is laid to rest.
No, I don't have high cholesterol. Mine stays pretty low with the armour thyroid hormone I take. There is an inverse relationship between T# thyroid hormone and serum lipids.
Lowering cholesterol with statin drugs is NOT the same thing as someone who has naturally low levels of cholesterol. Artificially induced changes in lipid levels is just fooling ourselves.
Still, even naturally occuring cholesterol levels are a very poor predictor of a heart attack or stroke. Which way the wind is blowing is a better predictor of heart attacks than cholesterol levels.
Your right. It would be nice to have an honest world where it isn't complicated by money. Unfortunately thats not the case. Statins are wildly profitable grossing $29 Billion worldwide. People are very influenced by money. Money buys loyalty.
1) The most critical part of your body, the brain, is made of cholesterol.
2) There are studies the indicates that above 75 years of age, you should not low too much your cholesterol unless that you do not main early dementia.
3) The main trigger for clogged arteries is inflammation.
4) Inflammation it is detected by parameters like High Sensitive C Reactive protein (hs-CRP), Interleukine 6 (IL-6) , Alpha Tumoral Factor and Homocisteine.
5) If you have NO inflammation, then high cholesterol should not be a problem for your arteries.
6) If you have high cholesterol, before taking statines, you should check your thyroids, the problem might be there.
A different matter is when you already have a cardio vascular disease (CVD) with plaques in your arteries.
Those plaques are make of cholesterol and calcium ... then the most cholesterol you had the more clogged your arteries will be. In that situation I would try to reduce it (doctors will want your LDL below 70) and check your Vit. D levels to be sure that calcium is in your bones and not in the arteries.
Jesus
You are way ahead of the general population in your knowledge.
I would encourage you, and everyone else to read about the results of the ENHANCE trial.
The ENHANCE trial was a drug company funded study that set out to prove "lower LDL is better" in cardiac patients. The study backfired and the patients with lower LDL did not experience regression of artery plaque. The embarrassing results showed some patients plaque grew despite very low LDL cholesterol levels.
The drug company hid the results of the trial for almost two years before caving in to demands to hand over the results.
The "bad cholesterol" theory is falling apart.
It won't be much longer before we see high profile cardiologists stand up before the media and say WE WERE WRONG.
That just happened with the drug Niaspan as it FAILED miserably to prevent heart attacks and strokes in the AIM-HIGH trial. Despite artificially induced raised levels of "good cholesterol" with high doses of niacin, the niacin group did worse than the placebo. (Trial financed by National Institute of Health.)
Slowly but surely the world is waking up.
It gets even more fascinating. Most people don't realize the "cholesterol causes heart disease" theory was never proven.
But it was widely accepted by the general public that serum cholesterol levels caused heart disease, thus a HUGE market was born.
Those who sell cholesterol lowering drugs or cholesterol lowering supplements, and even Cherrios are simply cashing in on consumer demand.
Does serum cholesterol CAUSE heart disease? Half the heart attacks happen to people with higher cholesterol. The other half happen to people with low and normal cholesterol. ( Source CDC)
So you tell me, does cholesterol levels dictate a person's risk? Its a toss of a coin. You have a 50/50 chance based upon cholesterol levels.
What about "bad" cholesterol? It isn't all bad if its bad at all. In fact with out it you would be, well... dead.
Cholesterol is an important component of every cell. It gives cell membranes their structural integrity. Cholesterol is what the human body uses to manufacture steroid hormones. Sorry but no cholesterol, no sex. Cholesterol helps maintain the nervous system and the human brain is the one organ most dependent on cholesterol to function properly. Cholesterol helps form the bile acids we use for digestion.
And the marketeers call it "BAD!" Why?
I know why. Statins alone peaked at $30 BILLION in gross sales worldwide. Add to that all the cholesterol lowering supplements marketed worldwide. But wait, There's more! What about fees paid for Doctor visits to address cholesterol. What about the revenues generated for Labs checking your cholesterol? Its an entire economy of its own.
Trying to stop it is like stepping out in front of a freight train. You will get run over, and believe me, I get hit by that train daily.
I just had my annual physical, and my total cholesterol came back at 285 - a little high, but I am also an inactive person. I asked him about changing my diet, and adding exercise to my life (I am an inactive person), and he told me that it wouldn't work, and put me on Lipitor (which I told him I wouldn't fill without trying other means first). I'm 35, and do not wish to go on a daily med.
Your Doctor was flat out wrong. Limiting calorie intake and increasing physical activity most certainly does have an effect in lowering lipids in most of the population.
The limited calorie intake and exercise are where the cardiovascular benefits come from. Not the Lipitor.