You're right.

I don't fret over that cholesterol reading either....nor do I expect my ovaries to work any more....(heaven help me if they did)....I assume my thyroid is stuttering too....LOL, thing is....I am definitely NOT as sharp as I used to be.

I am 55, look better than some one this sick should....and I am not chewing my fingernails over the future...will do my best, but that is all any of us can do.

I am one of the healthiest 'sick' people I know....I am not one of the sickest healthy people I know.

It is actually not to bad outside right now...must be sitting around 20 but the wind stopped....yesterday, it was colder, and I just about blew to Buffalo. Would have been quite the trip.

--and the dust-up over Zetia and statins combined with Zetia of the last few days, points up the pitfalls not only of changing medical "standards", but how the standards get that way.

Mrs. D's description of how "normal" cholesterol levels have changed is a case in point--and quite often, these numerical standards change after assaults by pharmaceutical companies--not necessarily medical researchers with no ax to grind--that convince doctors and lab analysts of the "necessity" of some different range/level.

I too remember when a total cholesterol level below 200 was considered okay--it wasn't that long ago. Now, at most labs, the normal range for total cholesterol tops out around 160. And, for people who've already had adverse myocaridal events, many docs want to get it down to below 100. I have a heart surgeon friend (did two bypassses on my dad--I also tutored his son for SAT's, LOL) who believes this, and thinks everyone should be on a statin--he and I have some really interesting (though good-natured) arguments when I start claiming levels that low would interfere with vitamin d manufacture and absoption and would not provide a proper environment for the myelin sheathing of nerves to repair. (And I think vitamin D deficiency may well be a bigger problem than cholesterol levels at this point--I've yet to see convincing evidence that high cholesterol alone raises the risk of heart attack without concommitant high triglyceride levels and inflammation, represented by c-reactive protein levels--in fact, I believe, though I can't find the studies right now, that the latter has the highest correlation with myocardial events.)

For those who are worried about high cholesterol levels due to diet choice--not the ridiculous numbers some people have due to hereditary conditions (and this is not THAT common), I always suggest trying fish oil, fiber, and niacin first--all of those have long histories of reducing cholesterol levels. But the benefit won't be much if individuals can't reduce inflammatory levels and keep their triglycerides down (though the latter is helped greatly by proper essential fatty acid intake).

To me, this situation represents the whole rabbit hole modern pharmaceutical marketing takes us down--find, or redefine, a condition that is amenable to phramacological manipulation, whether it's a major health condition or not, tailor a new drug, or older existing one, to the condition, even if studies don't necessarily and unequivocally show the drug to benefit that condition, express surprise when taking said drug produces other conditons, tailor a drug to THAT condition . . .and so on etc., ad infinitum.

We become overmedicated, and deleterious interactive effects from these drugs . . .well, they can't be traced to/blamed on any one source, so the pharma companies, and physicians, are off the hook . . .

I'm not saying all drugs are bad--there are many, many that are life-saving, designed to fight obvious illnesses. But something's wrong when we start using such powerful substances without clear direct evidence not only that they are effective, but that there was a problem to begin with.

I will put this up again.... everyone should look at this YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8SSCNaaDcE

NO correlation of cholesterol levels with heart disease!
Studies show this fact. International studies.

More on MONICA:

http://www.forces.org/evidence/files/cardio.htm

http://blog.wellnesstips.ca/blog/index.php/?p=134

http://www.westonaprice.org/askdocto...olesterol.html

low cholesterol and increased risk of death from cancer:
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/71/2/569
and this was understood as far back as 1981?
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...52C0A967948260

AND drum roll... Cholesterol for DUMMIES!
http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/Dumm...l.id-1520.html

AOL had this as a featured article on the welcome page, today:
http://news.aol.com/health/story/_a/...00010000000001

The new AARP Bulletin has an interesting article....any one in AARP should be getting this issue soon, if not, perhaps you can find one at the library...the article is too difficult to scan on...however, here are some excerpts that are rather shocking:

"In fact, one drug industry study, for instance, showed that when a drug rep got one minute with a doctor, the doctor's prescriptions for that drug increased 16%. With three minutes 52%.....each day more than 101,000 drug company reps, one for every five officed-based physician-call on the nation's doctors. Primary care physicians have on the average 28 interactions a week with drug reps, according to a 2005 report by the Health Strategies Group, a consulting firm for manufactures of health care products."

"Even so, Congress is considering a bill that would require big drug companies to report gifts to doctors worth 25$ or more, or face substantial fines. The legislation would set up a national website so patients could learn which doctors were taking gifts and fees from drug companies."

"Right now the public has no way to know whether a doctor's been given money that might affect prescribing habits," said Sen. Chuck Grassley R-Iowa who with Sen. Herb Kohl, D-WI, introduced the measure last year."

"I think all the trend lines are pointing in one direction showing us we have real problems," says Harvey V. Fineberg MD., president of the Institute of Medicine.

AARP Bulletin January-February 2008, vol. 49 No. 1 www.aarp.org/bulletinI have seen first hand what these drugs reps bring in...and had the pizza for lunch....and I am not a prescriber. They bring in lunch for the whole office, vitamins for the crew, naughty pens that have springs in them to illustrate what the male performance enhancement drugs do......yes it is quite the party at some places.

When I went back to work after years of being out of the loop, the workplace was unrecognizable, and disgusting. I am not in health care any more. I do not miss it. This was not what I spent 4 years in college learning to do. This is not helping patients, it is making money and having a laugh at their expense.

Just a thought.......Are there any other non-statin meds, currently on the market,
used for cholesterol reduction, other than Zetia?
What would be my options if Zetia were too controversial (or taken off the market),
and my doc wanted me to switch ...just to be on the 'safe side' ?

There are the fibrates... they are toxic too. Tricor, gemfibrozil
And Niacin -- RX niacin Niaspan

I found more on Dr. Kendrick... 5 videos of a recent seminar he hosted.
Nov 2007...

Part 1:
http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=G6vciYc9OWSxx9DgMCWr_g

Part 2:
http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=Ud5IomS6OH6J0Y8y3jmAiw

Part 3:
http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=j3RyPH38jKvx3OFfno6jXg

Part 4:
http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=hgY9SZFFgL2pJuzQUOt48A

Part 5:
http://www.blinkx.com/burl?v=W0HwxgQEyX7JMDAWVABmvA


And not all doctors agree with the heavy use of cholesterol drugs.
Here is a member list for THINCS:
http://www.thincs.org/members.htm

There is also Red Yeast Rice extract....however some from China are contaminated with real statin drugs=lovastatin (Mevacor)
There are some USA suppliers.. Doctor's Best is one brand that claims to be from US raw material.
Some people find this is adequate for them. But the active ingredients are similar to statins so some statin
warnings are in place for this herb. (liver function, etc).

I drink a small jar (2g equivilant) of plant sterol every day. The following website should be of some interest Bob. I believe that you have these drinks and that sterols and stanols are also found in some of your spreads as we have in the UK. I also take 1200mg of high quality fish oil each day as well.
http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc/40002453/

Tony

in our Health News Headlines today on NeuroTalk:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20080116...erstatedreport

Some day soon I hope we will see a similar review for the studies on cholesterol meds.

Antidepressant Effectiveness Probably Overstated: Report

There is more, the article is long, and it is worth reading the whole thing!

--from today's NY Times that summarizes some of the contoversy around the cholesterol-lowering drugs, especially whether that lowering is actually linked to lower risk of myocardial events:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/bu...l?ref=business