Should I take cholesterol medicine?

[JJ]

Yes, it is the same thing, one of us spelled it wrong. I'm not as up on these meds. as alot of folks here, but all I know is I am very sensative to meds. and alot of stuff doesn't agree with me. For now, I take oatmeal each morning, a multi vitamin with another 500 vitamin C, plus a 1/2 tsp. of ground cinnamon, the stuff U buy at any grocery store. Try to watch my diet, especially carbs, as I have b een getting a lil bit of higher readings lately on my glucose, and cinnamon is suppose to help, and also help your LDL and Trigs.

We were never ones for fast food joints, or alot of processed foods, way too much junk in them. After supper I take a Calcium pill, garlic, and another 500 C, plus now we are taking Fish oil. WE took it before, but then stopped, so I asked hubby's dr. last week about it, and he said he would recommend taking it again. As I told you, sometimes our numbers are darn good, other times they are a bit high, but all we can do is try.

If your mom has no trace of blockage, she does sound like my girlfriend, as without statins her TC is always around 300, and with statins it only goes to about 235, and she has been on Lipitor 80 mgs. for years, but recently switched over to Vytorin. Last test she had her TC was still 245, and her Trigs were also high, not crazy high, but for being on a statin, higher then her dr. wants, something like 230, plus her HDL is always low, around 38-42 tops. That for a woman is considered low. You just have to wonder if some folks just need that much cholesterol, as she really is very faithful to taking her meds., just gets digusted they don't do much for her.

Keep us posted how it goes....

[NHone]

JJ it makes you wonder doesn't it. My mother consistiently ran at 255-260 for years.. She had 2 angiograms during the 12 year period. clean as a whistle arteries. Her heart doc said she would never have a problem. She went to a neurologist because of balance problems and weak legs. (have since found out it was side effect from Imipramine, given to her because or urinary problems. However the urinary problems (urge incontinence) were from the excessive amount of calcium the doctor was having her take). That neurologist put her on Zocor and diltiazem (cartia at that time). Within 2 years she was in a wheelchair. Another year later she had to have triple bypass surgery because her plaque became unstable. She is off all cholesterol medication now.. because when they put her back on the Zetia right before surgery, she started to go down hill again. Her problems were not related to the heart surgery. It was the proximal muscle weakness rearing its head again. Its funny how i can now plot on a graph every time her cholesterol got less than 230. I didn't even need to know what she was taking, I could tell by her decline. WHen i matched up the cholesterol medication, decline and cholesterol numbers they all matched. Her biggest decline came with the switch from zocor to lipitor, and her doctor doubling her diltiazem to 240 mg LA twice per day. She went from shopping by herself to a wheelchair in 4 months. I was reading a recent study in Canada that was very comprehensive. They found that statins decreased heart attacks and strokes aby 1.4 percent. That means that 71 people with high cholesterol would have to be treated with statins for up to 5 years to prevent just one heart attack or stroke. On top of that they found that serious side effects caused by the drugs was increased by 1.8 percent. Also found that Statins are NOT for use with Congestive HEart Failure. In fact a lower serum cholesterol level was associated with a poorer prognosis in congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure is not the same as coronary artery disease, although many doctors put them into one catagory as heart disease. This could spell death for many people. It is funny that no drug company has had a trial that treated people with congestive heart failure. In fact they were excluded.

[JJ]

NHone, so sorry to hear about your mom, that must be horrible for her to deal with as well as you. I truthfully don't know what to believe, as like I said, I know folks with high numbers who are fine, others that are not, and vice versa. My only problem is, if I am taking any drug that makes me feel lousy, then I doubt it can be doing my body any good. I know I am super sensative to meds., so figured it was me, but also see others that have similar problems.

They put me on Cipro once for a sinus infection, Holy moly, what a lousy reaction I had to that. I can take Amoxicillan no problem, yet Cipro drives me wacky, heart palps, breaking out with a rash, the whole nine yards, so now I tell any dr. I go to, do NOT even think about putting me on it.

As I have said before, we are all different, so if anyone can take statins or any other med and feel fine, go for it, if U feel lousy and your quality of life is messed up, get off it and see how U feel. Hubby's cardio guy always tells us, if the quality of your life is messed up by any drug, it isn't worth taking, and yes, he believes in statins, but will not force anyone to take them if they feel lousy. I have had drs. refuse to treat me if I refused to take any cholesterol drug, and I noticed one sort of got a very cold attituded towards me after I said I couldn't take them. Ahh the medical profession, don't lose some of them!!

Have a great day, and TTYL.....

[rapiniluvr]

I talked to my mom today. She said her doctor put her back on Tricor, a prescription niacin, and welchol. I strongly suggested that she go see a heart doctor. I don't know if she will take my advise. She had some kind of scan done to her heart to see if she had hardening of the arteries and her number was 65. Not 65% blockage some other number, I'm not sure. At her age I think some hardening is normal? Also, I went to the library and got Dr. Ornish's book. It is very interesting. [removed] It seems like the kind of book someone in my family should own. I bought some Niacin from the store yesterday. They are 100mg. I think the back of the bottle said that was 500% of the daily allowance. It seems like a lot. Will Niacin hurt me? I need to do some more research on that. Thanks guys for all of your feed back. It is all very interesting and helpful to me.