Hi Everyone..A little Help

[FH in SD]

Hi,

I have been lurking around this newsgroup and this topic for awhile now and appreciate all the help and advice that you guys have given. I am going to see my doctor again next Tuesday since I had my most recent blood tests last week. He knew his schedule was booked so he wanted me to see ANY doctor in his office asap...never a good sign...

Anyway, I am 39, 6'1, 185 lbs. 17% body fat and both my parents have high cholesterol. I run 4-6 miles 2 to 3 times a week and my work out routine consists of 5 sets of 130 push ups, 5 sets of 50 lb curls, 15 reps, a whole bunch of sit ups and other exercises. My resting heart rate is 55 and my BP is 130/85. I don't smoke.

My dad a cardio event last year at age 68. He had an illiatic anuerysym (sp) and upon further tests they found that his left coronal artery was completely plugged but had been bypassed by veins.

My mom has extremely high cholesterol and she, as well as my dad, are both on statins.

Anyway, it's been awhile since I looked at my last numbers but they are something like this:

TC: 345
HDL: 62
Trigs: 275
I forgot what my ldl is but I know that it can be figured out from what I have listed.

I just had my first test in June of this year.

My doctor initailly just wanted me to try 1500 mg of Niacin a day but I told him that I wanted to try statins.

After ten days of 10 mg of Lipitor, I won't be taking statins again. The joint pain was so bad that my whole exercise routine was completely undoable.

So I have been taking the Niacin since but apparantely it's not working to well since he wanted to see me asap.

I don't eat any refined sugars at all but my diet is not the best. Before my blood test I always thought that if I kept the weight down and the activity up, I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted. Anyway, I just wanted to change or try one thing at a time so I pretty much just kept eating whatever I wanted since my last blood test.

I guess the good news is that both my parents are still alive and are actually doing real well for their age. My dad's cholesterol is under 200 now.

So what would you suggest that I ask my Dr. prescribe me? He has never steered me wrong and has always been spot on with his diagnosis. I thought that maybe I would try Zetia.

From looking at some of Dr Mercola opinions, I think that if I can get my total down to 280 and keep my hdl where it's at, I might be okay. I don't know what to do about the trigs.

Anyway, I just hate thinking about the next Dr's appointment but I do value your advice. I guess this is just a way of venting for me...

Thanks in advance

[Uff-Da!]

What we don't know at this point is whether the urgency with regard to you seeing a doctor is related to the cholesterol & triglyceride numbers or whether it is a problem of liver enzymes becoming elevated. If the later, you may be taken off Niacin therapy, so it is a whole new ball game.

I've also been on Niacin therapy at my own preference, (the doctor had been talking statins) but my numbers were never nearly as high as yours. The therapy is working so well that my doctor asked me for information on where I order the particular OTC sustained release one I use so she can recommend it to her other patients. I am, however, combining it with a fairly strict diet, as well as added phytosterols.

I would strongly urge you to read the book The 8-week Cholesterol Cure by Robert E. Kowalski. This will give you a much better understanding of the complexities of diet. It is written in layman's language, but gives plenty of references to the scientific studies to back up his conclusions.

Diet, however, only contributes a typical 20% to the total cholesterol numbers, so it alone is not going to be any magic cure. However, with numbers as high as yours and with problems with the medications, at least it is one part over which you do have more control. You could be causing further harm to your body by not paying more attention to it. Reduce saturated fats and increase soluble fiber are the big points, but again, I'd urge you to read enough about it to have a better picture of how it all works together.

[NineLives]

Vytorin is a combination of the drugs Zocor and Zetia. You might have better luck taking the combination drug. When you say you eat whatever you want what foods exactly are you talking about?

[rahod]

Originally Posted by FH in SD

Hi,


So what would you suggest that I ask my Dr. prescribe me? He has never steered me wrong and has always been spot on with his diagnosis. I thought that maybe I would try Zetia.

Zetia alone won't be enough....BUT it has the advantage of allowing you to use LESS STATIN (Zetia is NOT a statin)! You could try Vytorin (20mg Zocor and 10 mg Zetia combo)..but I would ask your Dr to let you try..(I know, you'll get flack from this board on Crestor ) 5mg Crestor ...splitting a 10mg... with 10 mg Zetia. That combo will expose you to LESS statin, but should bring your total down to 200. I take 10mg Crestor with 5 mg Zetia and went from 250 to 145 with NO problems. If he won't allow Crestor, then try 5 mg Lipitor with 10 mg Zetia.

Good luck!

[hunter44]

I wouldn't ask my doctor for any drugs. Your trig level indicates a high carbohydrate intake. You can't change a lipid profile in 8 weeks, it takes about six months of diet. Your excercise program is excellent. Reduce your carbs and keep doing your research. Good Luck. If you are not taking Omega-3's you should. One to two tablespoons of Carlson's fish oil or cold pressed flax seed oil.