What is the most effective way to lower Cholesterol?

[LookingGood!]

cutting Lipitor pills in 1/2 or taking it every other day???

Can lipitor lose its efficacy if cut in half? Will it the drug lose its integrity?

Can lipitor be taken every other day and still be effective? Does anyone do this?

Thanks,

LG

 

[LookingGood!]

cutting Lipitor pills in 1/2 or taking it every other day???

Can lipitor lose its efficacy if cut in half? Will it the drug lose its integrity?

Can lipitor be taken every other day and still be effective? Does anyone do this?

Thanks,

LG

 

[Guest]

docJ has some great advice there.

You guys already talked about diet & exercise as well as statins. Now let me try to lace some game. How about trying bile acid sequestrant therapy? Cholestyramine is one of them. I think these would be more effective than statins, but I am not sure if that is true.

 

[LookingGood!]

docJ has some great advice there.

You guys already talked about diet & exercise as well as statins. Now let me try to lace some game. How about trying bile acid sequestrant therapy? Cholestyramine is one of them. I think these would be more effective than statins, but I am not sure if that is true.

Is this over the counter? Prescribed by an md?

If the cholesterol is not being made in my liver then how does this help? Furthermore, how can one find out if the problem is coming from the liver or the digestive tract? PLEASE elaborate more on this.

thanks

 

[Guest]

docJ has some great advice there.

You guys already talked about diet & exercise as well as statins. Now let me try to lace some game. How about trying bile acid sequestrant therapy? Cholestyramine is one of them. I think these would be more effective than statins, but I am not sure if that is true.

Is this over the counter? Prescribed by an md?

If the cholesterol is not being made in my liver then how does this help? Furthermore, how can one find out if the problem is coming from the liver or the digestive tract? PLEASE elaborate more on this.

thanks

The sequestrant works by binding to bile acids in the intestines which blocks its reuptake into the body. This means that more bile acid will be excreted by the body.

Bile acid is a major biproduct of cholesterol, the cholesterol in the liver can be converted to bile which is then stored in the gall bladder. It is released after a fatty meal to help emulsify fats for absorption. The bile acids are mostly recycled and reused with a small amount excreted. By using the sequestrant therapy, the bile acids are not easily recycled, hence you lower plasma cholesterol since it will be converted to make more bile.

 

[LookingGood!]

Well here goes my au natu'ral regimen I will attempt

1200 Red Yeast Rice
20 MG Policosanol
200mg CO Q 10
1400 mg Plant sterols
Hope

Goals:
150-180 TC
<130> 50

 

[CCS]

Ideally, what should HDL levels be? LDL levels should be less than 90, I read in this thread.

 

[docj077]

Ideally, what should HDL levels be? LDL levels should be less than 90, I read in this thread.

Depends if you're a man or a woman, but the general consensus is that any value less than 40 mg/dl is low. As for LDL, it should be less than 100, but there is talk of lowering it down to 90.

 

[docj077]

docJ has some great advice there.

You guys already talked about diet & exercise as well as statins. Now let me try to lace some game. How about trying bile acid sequestrant therapy? Cholestyramine is one of them. I think these would be more effective than statins, but I am not sure if that is true.

Bile acid sequestrants are great, but a person needs to be aware that they actually decrease the absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Also, if you're taking other drugs along with the sequestrants, the drugs must be taken either one hour before or 3-4 hours after the administration of BAS.

Somebody else asked in this thread, so I'll just give the values for each class of drug with respect to their effect on LDL, HDL, and triglycerides. I'm only going to give which class of drug works the best on each of the above.

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors - LDL- (-)18-55%
Nicotinic Acid - HDL - (+)15-35%
Nicotinic Acid & Fibric Acids - Triglycerides - (-)20-50%

HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors can be up to twice as effective when compared to bile acid sequestrants (15-30% decrease in LDL) or drugs like Ezetimibe (Zetia)(18% decrease in LDL)

 

[astral week]

here is a NEARLY FOOLPROOF METHOD. it's hard but very simple. run. run a lot. start off slow, but try to run almost every day. there may be drugs that can lower your cholesterol, but running (or any good cardio like swimming, cycling, etc.) has countless benefits as well as lowering cholesterol, and has no detrimental side effects. Ask any doctor; what they will always say is "diet and exercise". Both me and my father have naturally high cholesterol, and we both run religiously ( i run cross-country and track), and since we've started our cholesterol has plummeted. my father also has had great results from oatmeal, actually. If running or other cardio isn't working, do it more. It only helps you in the long run, excuse the pun.

 

[LookingGood!]

Running is not good for people with bad knees. Only a select group of people can run as much as you say.
Diet and exercise may help some but that only accounts for 10-15% of ur overall cholesterol profile.

 

[LookingGood!]

Ideally, what should HDL levels be? LDL levels should be less than 90, I read in this thread.

Depends if you're a man or a woman, but the general consensus is that any value less than 40 mg/dl is low. As for LDL, it should be less than 100, but there is talk of lowering it down to 90.

I am hearing conflicting reports with the numbers you are providing Doctor.

<100 LDLS for patients with 3 or more risk factors
<130 is for patients with 0-1 risk factors
130-160 is acceptable levels for most healthy patients

Jeez < 90 would sell alot more drugs to support Mr Bush's war :x

 

[docj077]

Ideally, what should HDL levels be? LDL levels should be less than 90, I read in this thread.

Depends if you're a man or a woman, but the general consensus is that any value less than 40 mg/dl is low. As for LDL, it should be less than 100, but there is talk of lowering it down to 90.

I am hearing conflicting reports with the numbers you are providing Doctor.

<100 LDLS for patients with 3 or more risk factors
<130 is for patients with 0-1 risk factors
130-160 is acceptable levels for most healthy patients

Jeez < 90 would sell alot more drugs to support Mr Bush's war :x

The numbers I provided were for the purposes of general discussion. What you gave is good, but helping a patient establish and become aware of their risk factors so they can be eliminated is more important.

 

[astral week]

sorry i did forget about those who can't run. cycling and swimming are both good non-impact exercises. But remember, ask a doctor what you should do to lower your cholesterol, and the first thing he will say is "diet and exercise." half of my family are doctors, and they verify this.

 

[Bryan]

The discussion continues unabated about "how to lower your cholesterol".

<SIGH>

 

[IBM]

Try to avoid two weeks with no meat, rice, patato, bean and fish. I think a diet with vegetables, little bread and a lot of fruit make wonders. And besides you wont age at regular rate.

I've done this only one week and it worked. I was less aged, better skin and atractive body.
The only problem is the people that are invasive on our diet and wont let us to do it rigidly.

 

[docj077]

The discussion continues unabated about "how to lower your cholesterol".

<SIGH>

Granted, we may not be using adequete medical terminology to explain the need to lower LDL and raise HDL, but I think the point has been made. Large studies involving tens of thousands of patients prove that monitoring and maintaining a good lipoprotein profile leads to prolonged life expectancy and decreases your chances for a cardiac event or atherosclerosis.

The drugs used today like the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, the bile acid sequestrants, the fibric acids, and nicotinic acid are all potent remedies for what one can only attribute to poor genetics, poor lifestyle, or a combination of the two.

The alternative to not solving lipoprotein inconsistencies is atherosclerosis, PAD or CAD, CAD leading to a myocardial infarction, and subsequent care determining if you live a long life or the damage leads to a poorly healing heart with fibrosis (which by the way uses some of the same mediators as hair loss). Once all this happens, a person will likely have left ventricular anomalies that lead to left ventricular failure causing right ventricular failure. After failure begins, pulmonary edema and peripheral edema are the next likely step.

So, studies prove that if you get on "cholesterol drugs" now, your chances for going through a living hell in which you eventually suffocate to death on a ventilator as your lungs fill with fluid are very much decreased.

Besides, once you have hypertension or an MI your drug choices become drugs like ACE inhibitors, Diuretics, ARBs, SARAs, and Beta Blockers with the likely outcome beings multiple drugs that will allow you to maybe stay alive for 10 years depending upon the severity of the damage to your heart. These drugs have side effects that make side effects associated with 5AR inhibitors look like the sugar high you get from a Hershey's bar.

Pick your battles now, becasue once you start getting atherosclerosis it leads right into the various forms of angina, MI, possible pulmonary embolism, peripheral artery disease, aortic aneurysms and dissections, and the all too common eventual diabetes with peripheral neuropathy that will likely lead to amputations.

So, eat an apple instead of Burger King now and you may just live long enough to lose all your hair or for science to find a cure for male pattern baldness.

 

[Bryan]

Granted, we may not be using adequete medical terminology to explain the need to lower LDL and raise HDL, but I think the point has been made. Large studies involving tens of thousands of patients prove that monitoring and maintaining a good lipoprotein profile leads to prolonged life expectancy and decreases your chances for a cardiac event or atherosclerosis.

Yes, and studies prove that castration will eliminate the susceptibility to male pattern balding. Should a young man undertake such a drastic action to protect his hair?

All I'm saying is that everyone should be SMART when it comes to protecting the hearts they have. It makes me gag that a young man in the prime of his life who is already healthy would undertake heroic efforts to get his "numbers" within a very very narrow range that has been defined and blessed by our Medical Priests...efforts that for him would involve turning his life completely upside down. Everyone should be SMART about it, and do the (relatively) easy things first. Those easy things are very likely to be sufficient.

To continue the hairloss analogy, which would be easier and less disruptive to your life: getting yourself castrated, or taking a certain tiny blue pill every day, starting right after puberty?

Bryan

 

[mumuka]

To continue the hairloss analogy, which would be easier and less disruptive to your life: getting yourself castrated, or taking a certain tiny blue pill every day, starting right after puberty?

Bryan

At 21 i voted for the little blue pill. I could not be happier... :lol:

 

[docj077]

Granted, we may not be using adequete medical terminology to explain the need to lower LDL and raise HDL, but I think the point has been made. Large studies involving tens of thousands of patients prove that monitoring and maintaining a good lipoprotein profile leads to prolonged life expectancy and decreases your chances for a cardiac event or atherosclerosis.

Yes, and studies prove that castration will eliminate the susceptibility to male pattern balding. Should a young man undertake such a drastic action to protect his hair?

All I'm saying is that everyone should be SMART when it comes to protecting the hearts they have. It makes me gag that a young man in the prime of his life who is already healthy would undertake heroic efforts to get his "numbers" within a very very narrow range that has been defined and blessed by our Medical Priests...efforts that for him would involve turning his life completely upside down. Everyone should be SMART about it, and do the (relatively) easy things first. Those easy things are very likely to be sufficient.

To continue the hairloss analogy, which would be easier and less disruptive to your life: getting yourself castrated, or taking a certain tiny blue pill every day, starting right after puberty?

Bryan

Actually, with 5AR inhibitors the question that should be raised is, how much do these hormones truly increase the hormones testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone. Testosterone's conversion to estrogen is of little importance to male pattern baldness sufferers other than the feminization it can sometimes cause in men on these drugs. Estrogen is a powerful anti-oxidant in blood and prevents the oxidation of LDL. However, progesterone antagonizes the effects of estrogen and prevents its anti-oxidant effects raising LDL levels and lowering HDL levels.

The 5AR enzyme not only catalyzes the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone, but it also catalyzes the conversion of progesterone to dihydroprogesterone (a potent neurostimulator and likely what is missing when people complain of "brain fog"). Progesterone must be removed from the system to allow testosterone's conversion to estrogen to be beneficial and estrogen's full anti-oxidant effects to take shape.

Every man taking 5AR inhibitors will eventually end up with a lipoprotein profile that points to a risk for severe atherosclerosis and disease. Life style improvements are appreciated and recommended, but men on these drugs are simply working against both genetics and the drugs they are taking.

Granted, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are a big step, but I'd much rather inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol and live 50 more years than inhibit 5AR and live another 25-30 if I have a genetic tendency towards high LDL and low HDL along with a family history of diabetes or hypertension.