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I'm an M.D. and let me first say this is not medical advice :). I long ago called bunk on the mainstream view on cholesterol and cholesterol lowering drugs. I t
by gmarx 11y ago
I'm an M.D. and let me first say this is not medical advice :). I long ago called bunk on the mainstream view on cholesterol and cholesterol lowering drugs. I think there will be a time in the future when doctors look back on it with a "what the heck were we thinking" kind of retrospective smugness.
That stated, familial hypercholesterolemia is a different thing and it's no joke. It's been a long time since med school but I think in this case the cholesterol gets high enough that it actually is a plumbing problem. That is your arteries will get gummed up with all that extra cholesterol.
By all means do your research but don't let denial prevent you from treating this properly. Listen to your doc or get a second opinion
- boothead 11y agoThank you for your perspective. I am very wary of treading the "mainstream medicine doesn't know shit and drugs are bad" path, and for that reason I very much appreciate a contrary view. My plan is to give it a few months and see if fixing some of my sub optimal lifestyle makes a difference or not. I figure if I fix my sleep, cut the sugar and other crap and if necessary change my SFA to PUFA ratio and it doesn't get much better in 6 months then I'll have to take the pills. But I owe it to myself to try first.
- pkaye 11y agoHow is you tryglyceride levels? That should be easy to change with just a diet alone. I believe it is due to consuming excess calories than you really need.
- boothead 11y agoTrigs were fine. Overconsumption is certainly one more thing for me to look at.
- teslabox 11y agoBroda Barnes book [1] says, iirc, that high cholesterol levels are basically diagnostic of hypothyroidism. Usually people's superficial thyroid lab #'s look fine (TSH), but their body is not properly activating T4 -> T3. [1] https://books.google.com/books?id=TJXf2ZqoxUIC https://books.google.com/books?id=TJXf2ZqoxUIC
- boothead 11y agoYes, when I demured on the statin it occurred to my doc to check thyroid function (seems the wrong way round to me). My levels were fine.
- mendelsd 11y agoDefine "fine"... reference levels of TSH for example are controversial [0]. The HUNT study in Norway (which followed 25,000 healthy Norwegians for 8 years) found death rates 69% higher amongst women with TSH 2.5-3.5 mIU/L than amongst those with TSH 0.5-1.4 mIU/L [1] (via [2]). [0] http://tpauk.com/main/the-tsh-reference-range-wars/ http://tpauk.com/main/the-tsh-reference-range-wars/ [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443261?dopt=AbstractPlus http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443261?dopt=AbstractPlu... [2] http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/thyroid-more-evidence-that-%E2%80%9Cnormal%E2%80%9D-is-unhealthy/ http://perfecthealthdiet.com/2010/07/thyroid-more-evidence-t...
- pkaye 11y agoAre there some tests we can do to identify this issue?
- gmarx 11y agoFair enough