Greendawn,
I had a massive heart attack almost three years ago. In 2002, I was told I had one year to live unless I had at least two or three quadruple by-pass operations. I had elevated Cholesterol. They found 17 clogged arteries caused by LDL, the bad cholesterol. My count was fairly low at 207 compared to the 600 to 800 they see in normal heart attack victims.
However, it is vitally important to note that the problem is with the RATIO between LDL and HDL. Odrade noted this:
My last test, this week, was 214, 80 HDL, 134 LDL,
Notice that her HDL is 80. The normal healthy women will have an HDL of 50 with an LDL of under 180. A healthy man will have an HDL of 40 with an LDL under 150. Odrade's HDL is very good because it is very high compared to her LDL of 214. Whereas my HDL at the time of my heart attack was 20. Currently my HDL is 50.
Inflamation is the other component that is a vital factor causing heart attacks. Those with high HDL, gained especially through eating a diet high in sea food, such as salmon, or taking high doese of fish oil will lower the risk of inflamation and raise HDL.
The body normally passes most of the cholesterol it takes in, but those with heart disease must be careful about taking in too much cholesterol. The reason is that our livers tend to use and make additional cholesterol and dump it into the blood stream where it collects in the arteries. Heart disease is but one result, as there is also peripheral artery disease where cholerterol collects in the leg arteries and elseswhere.
Statins, which I take under the label Lipitor, are very good for humans, and are proven not only to help heart patients, but also help prevent alzheimers. There are side effects, but they are not common and are easily eliminated. I have been taking Lipitor for three years, and I am doing fine. Any medicine has potential side effects. Even taking an aspirin or a common anti-biotic can be death dealing for some few people. Humans do not all respond the same way to treatments. But the risks for most people are worth it compared to the alternative of doing nothing. FDA approved drugs in the vast majority of cases have very low incidents of bad side effects, such as 1 in a million in many cases.
Is the drug industry being greedy at our expense? Sometimes they do get careless. But largely, they understand that if a drug causes harm, they can lose everything. Also, the majority of the people who work in these industries care about helping people with good medicine. To bring a medicine to market take at least tens years at a tremendous capital cost and loads of research and testing. But, the effort most often pays off.
Current medical science employes both modern medicine and supplemental treatments. To keep my heart healthy and avoid a by-pass operation, my doctor has me on two kinds of blood pressure medicine, Lipitor, vitimins including a small does of potassium, aspirin, and fish oil. Currently, my heart disease appears to be no longer progressing. Time will tell if I am doing the right things, but it seems so for now.
I would never advise someone to avoid a statin simply because of certain possible side effects. Rather, they should work closely with their doctor and determine whether this is a good treatment for their body, or if they need to deal with it in other ways.
Jim W.
