Had my choloesterol checked for the 1st time last week
Im a 36 yr old male and my father,brother,uncle,cousin all
have high cholesterol.
Results:
Total: 365
LDL:268
HDL:57
Tri: 196

Dr said its not my diet, but hereditary.
Started me off with:
- Lipitor 10mg/day

Any thoughts, suggestions?
Thanks

I don't really have any suggestions as I'm learning as well.

My 54 year-old brother was tested 7 or 8 years ago and was told the same thing. (I don't remember what his levels were.) The doctor prescribed Lipitor too, and it brought all of his levels down to normal. (I think they were similar to yours.) He was told his is hereditary as well.

It's good that you're having yourself checked. My mother never went to the doctor for the past 30 years (too afraid she might hear bad news, how irrational is that?) and she had a major stroke 5 years ago (she's 80.) She can't walk, talk, or do anything for herself. Guess what? She had the stroke because she had high cholesterol and high blood pressure, both of which could have been remedied had she taken proper medication (she wouldn't even take aspirin.)

Anyway, because of this, I have myself checked as well, and my dr. recently prescribed Tricor for me as my triglycerides are 308. I want to get them down so here I am, reading boards.

Your setting a good example for your family, by watching your health. :)

ATR,

Your numbers are clearly too high - stay on the Lipitor...

My advice would be to also cut-back on saturated fats, avoid trans-fats at all costs (any food with 'hydrogenated' or 'partially-hydrogenated' in the ingredient list), and limit the white starchy foods (potatoes, bread, white rice), and keep sugar to an absolute minimum. Consume alcohol in moderation - but a glass of red wine a day may actually help your cholesterol levels.

Eat more foods high in fiber, and low on the glycemic index. Avoid foods containing cholesterol.

However, your doctor is right - for many high cholesterol is hereditary and may be hard to manage with diet and excercise alone.

Some supplements to consider:

CoQ10 - 100mg/day. This may prevent any problems with muscle-pain or weakness while on statins.

Vitamin-C (1000-2000mg/day) to avoid LDL from becoming oxidized, since oxidized LDL is most drawn into plaques.

Folic Acid - 800mcg/day - to reduce homocystein levels, a marker for inflammation. I'm of the school that believes that chronic low-level inflammation and the resulting inflammatory response are more important that cholesterol levels...

A baby aspirin a day - to further reduce inflammation, and to also thin the blood.

Cholestoff - this is a plant sterol/stanol product that works well if you take 2 tablets 1/2 hour before a fatty meal... It helps prevent absorption of cholesterol in the intestines from the foods you eat.

Your triglycerides are a little high - keeping your weight in check, and reducing your intake of carbohydrates will help lower them. They are easier to manage with diet than cholesterol.

Sweetlover - I noticed you are taking Tricor for triglycerides. If you are also taking a statin, be very careful to notice any symtpoms of sudden, unexplained and chronic muscle pain or weakness. The chances of this side-effect are magnified greatly when the 2 drugs are combined. I know this because I was on both, and within 2 months my arm muscles hurt so much that I could barely lift anything. I had profound weakness and exercise intolerance also. I started taking 100mg CoQ10 and stopped the drugs - but it took over a year for me to really recover.

HubbleRules
:cool:

ATR,

In addition to what Hubble recommended, I would also suggest you take vitamin E. While LDL itself isn't inherently bad (actually it is needed to transport fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamin E and CoQ10), it is subject to oxidation. Vitamin E can easily penetrate the LDL molecule and help prevent this damage from occurring. Although statins will lower your LDL, they will actually deplete vitamin E levels, rendering LDL even more susceptible to oxidation. So, I would strongly recommend that you supplement with at least 400-800 IU vitamin E. But don't use synthetic vitamin E!! Use only natural vitamin E, preferably one that contains mixed tocopherols. Better yet, look for a supplement which contains the entire vitamin E family, which includes both the tocopherols and tocotrienols.

ATR,

In addition to what Hubble recommended, I would also suggest you take vitamin E. While LDL itself isn't inherently bad (actually it is needed to transport fat-soluble vitamins, including vitamin E and CoQ10), it is subject to oxidation. Vitamin E can easily penetrate the LDL molecule and help prevent this damage from occurring. Although statins will lower your LDL, they will actually deplete vitamin E levels, rendering LDL even more susceptible to oxidation. So, I would strongly recommend that you supplement with at least 400-800 IU vitamin E. But don't use synthetic vitamin E!! Use only natural vitamin E, preferably one that contains mixed tocopherols. Better yet, look for a supplement which contains the entire vitamin E family, which includes both the tocopherols and tocotrienols.


Arizona,

THanks - left Vitamin E out by accident. I take it myself (I've been taking 400IU of Ester-E, plus 200IU of natural E along with my CoQ10).

HubbleRules
:cool:

Hubble,

Yes, I've heard that Ester-E is supposed to be pretty good. For some reason, the mixed vitamin E with tocotrienols that I was buying from Puritan's Pride has disappeared off the radar screen, and I was not able to order it again :confused: . I can't understand what happened. They had just come out with that complete form only a couple of years ago. Anyway, now I'm using a similar product called Tocospan, which I got from Epic4health.

I think that in order to derive the most cardiovascular benefits from supplements, they should be used in combination with one another, especially the antioxidants. For example, vitamin E combined with selenium produces a synergistic effect. In fact, you'll notice in the Puritan's Pride catalog that they even offer them in combination. And vitamin C is also a very important part of the team. Ample amounts of vitamin C can regenerate vitamin E which has come in contact with free-radicals, actually enhancing its effect.

Hubble,

Yes, I've heard that Ester-E is supposed to be pretty good. For some reason, the mixed vitamin E with tocotrienols that I was buying from Puritan's Pride has disappeared off the radar screen, and I was not able to order it again :confused: . I can't understand what happened. They had just come out with that complete form only a couple of years ago. Anyway, now I'm using a similar product called Tocospan, which I got from Epic4health.

I think that in order to derive the most cardiovascular benefits from supplements, they should be used in combination with one another, especially the antioxidants. For example, vitamin E combined with selenium produces a synergistic effect. In fact, you'll notice in the Puritan's Pride catalog that they even offer them in combination. And vitamin C is also a very important part of the team. Ample amounts of vitamin C can regenerate vitamin E which has come in contact with free-radicals, actually enhancing its effect.


Arizona,

I still take the high-dose vitamin-c - usually about 3-4grams/day in 3 doses - plus the vitamin-e...

I've noticed that my allergies are a lot less troublesome now than they were a year ago - before I started taking the vitamin-C..

HubbleRules
:cool:

ATR,

You will get a very substantial drop in your cholesterol, especially LDL and TRIGLYCERIDES. Wait a month or two to retest and tthen have a live function panel and a CPK (creatine phosphokinase) run as a precaution against an adverse reaction.

Think twice (and perhaps three times) about adding megadoses of vitamins E and C to your statins. Some fairly good evidence is surfacing that is showing an adverse outcome from the combination of these 'antioxidants" with statins like Lipitor. THey are proving to be worse than innocuous. The American Heart Association is less than enthusiastic about these vitamins.

Randomized trials have not been kind to antioxidants
During the last two years, a number of randomized trials using antioxidant vitamin supplements have finally been reported, and the results have generally been disappointing. Because of the failure of randomized trials to demonstrate a benefit from taking antioxidants, both the American Heart Association and the Institute of Medicine have released recent statements saying that, while a diet rich in antioxidant vitamins seems prudent, there is insufficient evidence to recommend using supplements of of vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotine, selenium, or other antioxidants to prevent heart disease.
The latest study suggests the possibility of harmThe study from the University of Washington, reported last week, brings up the possibility that antioxidant therapy may do more than merely fail to halt the progression of coronary artery disease. This new study suggests the possibility of harm.
In this trial, patients with coronary artery disease who also had low levels of HDL cholesterol were randomly assigned to one of 4 groups: 1) low-dose statin and niacin therapy; 2) low-dose statin and niacin therapy plus a cocktail of antioxidants; 3) a cocktail of antioxidants without statin and niacin, and 4) placebo. The cocktail of antioxidants consisted of vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and selenium. The study results showed that the increase in HDL levels seen in patients receiving statin-niacin therapy was eliminated when they also received the antioxidants. That is, in these patients the antioxidants were potentially harmful.

As it turns out, this "negative" finding is less than statistically perfect. (The finding that antioxidants would reduce HDL levels was not postulated ahead of time by the investigators, but instead was discovered in a routine review of their data, bringing up the possibility that the reported finding was a random data error instead of an actual physiologic phenomenon.) But the primary endpoints of the study also suggest that antioxidants blunt the benefits seen with statin-niacin therapy. (While patients receiving statin-niacin had a 4% reduction in coronary artery blockage, those who received antioxidants in addition to statin-niacin had a 7% increase in blockage. In contrast, those receiving antioxidants alone had a 15% increase in blockage, and those receiving placebo had a 34% increase in blockage.)

The bottom line: this new study seems to validate the unpopular stance on antioxidant supplements taken by both the American Heart Association and the Institute of Medicine.

You still need to be very careful of the cholesterol lowering medications. Instead of looking at those numbers , have a CPK test, homocystine, Lp(a). Lp(a) is probably the most important...and Lipitor is known to raise Lp(a). Also the CPK test can be fine and there is still damage from the statin medications. Still your HDL is good, and some cholesterol experts now think that you should only try to increase ones, HDL, and leave the rest alone. People do have strokes unrelated to cholesterol. Also, the cholesterol medications say that they are not know to prevent heart disease or stroke....

Here's a study reported in the British Medical Journal on the relationsip between statins and Lp(a):

http://heart.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/89/8/893

I'll repeat the conclusion:

Conclusions: Long term statin treatment significantly lowers Lp(a) in FH patients. However, this reduction was unrelated to changes in intima–media thickness and casts doubt on the importance of Lp(a) in the progression of atherosclerotic disease in these patients

Think twice (and perhaps three times) about adding megadoses of vitamins E and C to your statins. Some fairly good evidence is surfacing that is showing an adverse outcome from the combination of these 'antioxidants" with statins like Lipitor. THey are proving to be worse than innocuous. The American Heart Association is less than enthusiastic about these vitamins.


The AHA has been spreading around this kind of propaganda for years, if not decades. They are always so quick to put out these vague reports. They have always been an anti-vitamin organization. For all I know, the people in these so-called studies were already half dead, or in generally poor health. The fact of the matter is, their interests are entirely embedded in the pharmaceutical companies. If you do a search on vitamin C and vitamin E, you will find much information, and even studies which would suggest that both these vitamins are quite beneficial to heart health. Are you suggesting that we should ignore this? If the AMA feels this way, and if their statements are based on findings similar to that last vitamin E fiasco that they called a "study", then I can't say that their idiotic statements are the least bit credible.

I'm suggesting nothing.
What the STUDIES are suggesting is that megadosing with ascorbic acid and tocopherols is not beneficial to cardiac health. In addition they are detrimental to people taking statins and niacin to control cholesterol.

When they start an AVA perhaps this imaginary group will finance some studies that might show the benefits of vitamin megadosing. It hasn't happened yet, though.

Of course there is supporting evidence that clearly shows that vitamin E is highly beneficial to cardiovascular health.

For example, the Harvard-based Physician's Health Study showed in 1993 that men who take just 100 IU of vitamin E daily have nearly half the risk of coronary artery disease as men who get less than 7 IU daily.

The Cambridge Heart Antioxidant Study looked at 40,000 men who already had heart disease. The study found that vitamin E kept the disease from getting worse. The men who took at least 400 IU of vitamin E a day cut their risk of a nonfatal heart attack by 77%!

A 1996 study from the University of California School of Medicine showed that taking just 100 IU of vitamin E a day substantially slowed the progression of coronary artery disease in men who already had it.

The Nurses Health Study showed in 1993 that women who took vitamin E supplements for two years cut their risk of coronary artery disease in half compared to women who didn't take the supplements.

Had my choloesterol checked for the 1st time last week
Im a 36 yr old male and my father,brother,uncle,cousin all
have high cholesterol.
Results:
Total: 365
LDL:268
HDL:57
Tri: 196

Dr said its not my diet, but hereditary.
Started me off with:
- Lipitor 10mg/day[/U]
Any thoughts, suggestions?
Thanks



Re-checked for the 1st time since diagnosis:
Results after 3 mos on the 10mg/day of lipitor:
Total: 178
HDL : 49
LDL : 109
Tri : 92
:D :D :D

ATR

Wow, GREAT JOB, ATR!! Them's is sum good-lookin' numbers!! :D

ATR,

That's an incredible decrease for only 10mg of Lipitor - congratulations!

By the way, did you also change your diet, or your exercise level?

HubbleRules
:cool:

Yes, changed diet to low fat/cholesterol.
Try to use treadmill 30 min/day 5-6 times a week
and lift some weights.
Also have lost 20 lbs.

I was quite shocked with the amount of drop in numbers. Almost want to have them re-test to make sure there wasn't any mix-up.