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.
Both my husband and I have hereditary high cholesterol. He is 59 and I am 54. Our numbers are over 250.
We eat a fairly healthy diet. Don't eat in restaurants. Eat a lot of vegetables and have almost eliminated red meat
over the last ten years. Our HDL is great. Our LDL has been creeping up. We know our faults. We don't get enough physical
activity. We have a few food favorites like chocolate and cheese. We both need to lose 15 lbs. With my husband turning 60
our primary care physician has told my husband he is going on the emergency "get on statins asap plan". We are both anti-prescription minded. Our Dr. knows this. So we're petrified that either one of us will have a massive heart attack or a stroke. My husband's father
had several strokes in his 70's and his Mom who lived to 86 had stents and heart disease. My Mom has been on statins for years. She
has heart disease and tells us statins have kept her alive. Her Mom died of a heart attack at 63. Statins have destroyed my Mom's health. Muscle pain and weakness. The inability to walk. They have made her sick. She has been on every type for 25 years and now takes one lipotor per week which manages her numbers. We simply feel up against a wall. We wish the Dr. would look at the whole picture. I wonder what damage either one of us might already have if we do? Don't they check these things? Do they just give you a pill bottle and hope you make out good? I hate pills.
I am not real surprised that no one has replied because if you read the other posts on this Board they are few and far between. Before DS was revamped about a year ago, the HC Board was very slow; only two or three people that were active at least to some degree. I do not believe that anyone but me actively watches this Board anymore.
As for any help I am a little loss to know what to recommend. I am against the use of statins for the reasons that you mention; the side effects can vary from the unnoticeable (but still there doing their evil deeds), to the horrible. I can take just one cholesterol related pill and be in pain for hours, so none for me even if I believed in them in the first place.
You said that your HDLs were both very good; how about your trigs? My quess with your diet control and with exercising that your trigs are fine also (but, just a guess). In my case all my lipid panel numbers are bad and they have been for years; nothing makes much difference. Also, make sure that your PCP tests your HS-CRP, which is a measurement of inflammation in the body. Since inflammation is the likely cause of heart failure, a very low HS-CRP is a good indicator. Also, you may want to do a calcium scoring CT scan. There is some disagreement on the usefulness of this test, but it may give you some interesting information. Again using my test as an example (may mean nothing LOL), my lipid panel numbers are all bad, but my HS-CRP is excellent, and my calcium score was pretty good.
Have you ever come across a website called "spacedoc.com"? It used to be controlled by NASA Flight Surgeon Dr. Duane Graveline, but he died (thanks to Lipotor side effects) several months ago so I do not know if anyone is maintaining it. In any case, there is still a wealth of information available at the site most, if not all, written by doctors who are not on the statin train. Go over and take a look I think that you will find a lot of good information that may help, but at the least put your mind at ease a little.
https://spacedoc.com/
I also can not take PPIs or even H2 inhibitors any more. At one time I could, but now, no more than 3 or 4 days before they make me sick. Luckily, my reflux is no longer a big problem just once in a while. Then the celery, or an apple works great also.
Have you ever tried DGL Ultra to prevent reflux? If not let me know and I will explain. Acid Ease is also a good product to help prevent or stop stomach problems.
I am sorry to read about your problems, but I know your pain at least to a small degree.