[Brian]

Hi everyone, my doctor has just precribed Crestor 10 mg which i am concerned about the very possible side affects of these drugs, i did question my doc about the side affects but he is of the opinion that the risks of side affects are minimal compared with benefits obtained from Crestor as far as heart attack & stroke go, i have only taken these drugs for 3 days but still i am not convinced that they are as safe as he reckons.
On my usual forum [the PN board], MrsD was kind enough to point me to a link that a doctor says that Crestor 10mg is 10 times stronger than people normally need, i am more convinced now these drugs are very dangerous and i am not going to take any more, so i am looking for any sugestions for alternatives to Statins.
thanks
Brian

[watsonsh]

Red Yeast Rice. MY cholesterol is down almost 50 points from 273 to 225 as of last week. Since the 273 I tweaked my B vitamins to add in a P5P and also added in R-lipoic acid which is supposed to benefit your liver. Not sure the R-lipoic affects cholesterol but since you liver makes it I figured it might help.

Good luck!

[mrsD]

contains statin like compounds, so it is not totally benign.

So attention to the liver and to CoQ-10 is a good idea.

I am doing red yeast rice + no flush niacin and taurine (taurine moves cholesterol out of the gall bladder). I will be having my
tests within the month, to see if things are lower for me.

Crestor was NOT designed to be a first line drug. But they are marketing it as such to make $$. Also for people who have slow liver metabolism it can be very dangerous. This was discovered after it came out. Most of the people are of Asian descent, but not all...so it remains something to watch out for.

http://www.fda.gov/CDER/Drug/advisor...tor_3_2005.htm

Crestor and Lipitor are the only two remaining brand name statins in the USA.

[watsonsh]

Thanks mrsd I will look into some of the things you mentioned.

I was very happy with my numbers this week.

Cholesterol 225
HDL 68 up from 60
LDL 128 down from 153

Trigs 145 (from 298 - thanks lovaza!)

My cholesterol/HDLC ratio was good at 3.3 down from 4.6 at its highest this year

I have also added in some diet and exercise as well.

Do you think the metformin influences it as well?

And I have to say the numbers improved with the added P5P...B vitamins help liver function no?

Its funny but I see alot of my metabolic issues often come back to the liver.

[mrsD]

my cholesterol dropped considerably below 220 while I was
using Glucophage. Just that intervention, and my EFAs.

As we age it goes up...this is part of aging, and not
necessarily bad. People with higher cholesterol readings
have a lower death rate.

If you search Dr. Kendrick on Google you can read what he thinks. He says statins have no beneficial effect for women.
(among other things)
In fact statins increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke. That evidence is mounting every day.

[Brian]

Well after googling Dr. Kendrick i came across this -
http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=822300 , were he says

" The protection provided by statins is so small as to be not worth bothering about for most people (and all women). The reality is that the benefits have been hyped beyond belief. " and also -

" In fact, what many major studies show is that as far as protecting your heart goes, cutting back on saturated fats makes no difference and, in fact, is more likely to do harm ". also this -

" Added to this, the biggest ever trial on dietary modification put 50 million people on a low saturated fat diet for 14 years.
Sausages, eggs, cheese, bacon and milk were restricted. Fruit and fish, however, were freely available. I?m talking about rationing in Britain during and after World War Two. In that time, deaths from heart disease more than doubled. "
[/I]
Certainly makes one think, my doc said my total cholestrol was 5.0, i asked what my LDL cholestrol was and he said 3.5, i didn't get to ask about my tricyclerides unfortunatly, but i know last time it was 1.3.

Brian

[jarrett622]

Originally Posted by Brian

Hi everyone, my doctor has just precribed Crestor 10 mg which i am concerned about the very possible side affects of these drugs, i did question my doc about the side affects but he is of the opinion that the risks of side affects are minimal compared with benefits obtained from Crestor as far as heart attack & stroke go, i have only taken these drugs for 3 days but still i am not convinced that they are as safe as he reckons.
On my usual forum [the PN board], MrsD was kind enough to point me to a link that a doctor says that Crestor 10mg is 10 times stronger than people normally need, i am more convinced now these drugs are very dangerous and i am not going to take any more, so i am looking for any sugestions for alternatives to Statins.
thanks
Brian

I can understand your hesitation. I already have PN I certainly am not going to risk taking anything that might make it worse. High cholesterol be damned. I have high cholesterol. I believe it was from a medication I was taking. I also finally quit smoking and am treating this with fish oil and other supplements. As soon as I can afford another doctor visit I'll be getting my cholesterol rechecked. That will tell me more than anything else. If my levels haven't come down at all then I'll be worried and will look at other treatments. Cause according to my doc my levels were very high, very bad. We'll see. I need to get the exact numbers from her.

There's much much more to cholesterol than just numbers.

[Brian]

Well since posting the original post i have done a lot of reading about LDL cholestrol & there is strong evidence that LDL cholestrol is needed to repair damage, it seems that inflamation build up is the real cause of blocked arteries which leeds to heart attack and stroke.
So my question is, what does one do to address the inflamation issue ?
I do take Vitamin C, E & R- lipoic acid for their antioxident properties & why take Niacin or other non statins to lower LDL cholestrol.

thanks
Brian

[mrsD]

you can also choose foods high in natural ones. Blueberries,
pomegranate etc.

The VLDLs, like triglycerides are more dangerous than LDLs.
So keeping them down is better too. Fish oil will do that.

This website gives a food inflammatory graph:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/v...roducts/2357/2
This example shown for broccoli is pretty interesting.
Notice it is high in potassium, good in magnesium and moderately anti-inflammatory!

I love this site... it is really good for helping to choose foods good for you.

[Brian]

Thanks MrsD, that is a great site as well.

many thanks
Brian