Low Cholesterol Levels are bad for everyone

[Racerman]

I am not an MD, but I do my research. It is my honest belief that we all need certain levels of cholesterol, and the target level for each individual is necessarily different. I believe our bodies regulate how much cholesterol is needed and when.

All of us have different metabolisms and chemical and biological needs and those are probably necessitated by our individual activity and heredity. If our bodies need to produce any certain amount of life sustaining compounds or substances, who are we to argue. Medical science has yet to determine through any means exactly what each persons body needs.

I will not go along with a general concensus from MD's who are eager to jump on the cholesterol band wagen. I trust my body to know what it needs and as a preventative, I take small doses of asprin to reduce any inflamation in my arteries, which as Dr. Graveline suggests is probably the real root of the arteriolsclerosis problems. If I die early from whatever cause, at least I will have had my health including full use of my muscles, memory, etc.[color=darkred][/color][color=darkred][/color]

[deedee]

I too have done a lot of research on statins after my mother took them and got rhabdomyolysis. I was a nurse in a sm rural hospital as well and could pick out which patients were taking statins by hearing their symptoms before I would see the meds they were taking.

I wish I had bookmarked a study I found (on a government site no less) involving cholestrol levels in a VA study. The conclusion was low levels, especially below 100 had a higher mortality rate! This was at the same time it was in the news that the acceptable level was going to be dropped to 100.

If I find the site again, I will be sure to include the source here. I almost think I was doing a patent search on something unrelated and came across it accidently. I have always wondered where they get the "healthy" figures from. Shouldn't normal be what the healthy state is for the majority of the population? Instead we are to believe a large percentage should be taking statins. How did life expectancy improve so much without statins? I worry about the talk of testing children and putting them on these drugs.

Maybe statins are their solution to an impending Social Security, Medicare and VA funding problem (sarcasm intended - as I don't know who "they" are either)

[Realfooddude]

Half of the people who have heart attacks have what most would call normal cholesterol. What normal is I don't know nor do I think anyone else knows for sure either. What is normal when you are old or young, male or female, black or white, sick or well? Personally I couldn't care less about cholesterol. By the way let's look at what we are really talking about Lioproteins not just cholesterol. Yes, there is cholesterol in LP's but then again your going to find cholesterol in all animal cells. There is no such thing in nature that as "good" or "bad". A dear is not good and a wolf is not bad. So don't fall for the good and bad cholesterol theory either.

There are many things that can damage you cardiovascular system and LPs is not one of them. It is the opposite cholesterol heals you. I wonder what they would say? Say you walk up to a store front and notice a broken window. As you walk up a cop sees the scene of the crime and without asking good questions arrests you. This is how modern medicine treats the whole lipid hypothesis. Monkeying with lp's is the result of this theory. So Officer am I to understand just because I am at the scene of the crime you are saying I committed it? How many other could have cause this damage? Is it possible that I could even commit this crime? I am a person of interest until you crear me or find enough evidence to charge me. Until then it is just a guess. Yes you will find cholesterol at the site of damage in the arteries of humans but so what. It is everywere in the body.

RFD

[Lucyfur]

My husband and daughter have low cholesterol and low blood pressure. They don't notice symptoms of low cholesterol, just like I don't notice mine being 335. But my husband thinks his low BP effects his ability to concentrate, adds to memory problems and he KNOWS it makes him dizzy when he stands up and causes near loss of conciousness. No doctor will treat this as a problem. He is told the lower the better. I tell him to do what I am told not to do--eat lots of salt.

Anyone have info on this problem?

[pgrimm]

This is for racerman, or anyone else who is knowledgable in the area of depakote.

I am in the field of mental health. I was in a panel reviewing a case of a patient who has bipolar yesterday. Her symptoms are labile mood and anxiety, her symptoms of delusional thought are clearing up. Where in the past, I would have ignored the blood tests done, I noticed that this patient has a total cholesterol of 100. No one was at all alarmed. In fact, when I pointed this out to the team, they actually laughed, saying that low cholesterol is always known to be a good thing. Fortunately, I have learned much on this website, and now that being in the abnormal range of any blood levels is suspects. The "nurse" responded that "Oh, it says here that medications can reduce blood levels", as if that was the end of it. I have been researchin via the internet and am finding that low cholesterol is related to various mood disorders. I also am finding that the depakote she takes decreases carnitine, which is related to reduced serotonin, causing depression. Wow, I'm a little blown away, that because I have a brush with the side effects of statin drugs, I am becoming educated on the importance of cholesterol, and how psychotropic drugs can cause mood problems, the very thing they're supposed to be helping!

Can anyone shed any more light on this? Do carnitine supplements take care of it? Of course, I don't expect the psychiatrist to be knowledge in this area. They never seem to be, but I'll ask him, just for fun.

[cjbrooksjc]

P:
FIRST:
Acetyl-L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine arginate are two important nutrients for supporting mitochondrial health and longevity. Acetyl-L-carnitines boost the conversion of fats into energy in the mitochondria, helping to ensure that a plentiful energy supply is available for biochemical processes throughout the body. (Straight L-Carnitine is thought to be more beneficial to muscular mitochondria. Read some of Ray's posts)

!!Because the brain requires abundant energy, these nutrients are especially crucial for peak brain energy and function!!

Beyond their ability to neutralize damaging free radicals, acetyl-L-carnitines have been shown to improve various brain health parameters. As one researcher noted recently, “esters such as acetyl-L-carnitine possess unique neuroprotective, neuromodulatory, and neurotrophic properties which may play an important role in counteracting various disease processes.”

For instance, animal research shows that acetyl-L-carnitine reverses age-related decline in the number of receptors present on the surface of nerve cells in the brain. Studies of Alzheimer’s patients have reported improvements in memory compared to patients receiving placebo. Other studies have investigated the effectiveness of adding acetyl-L-carnitine to standard pharmaceutical treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent Italian study, Alzheimer’s patients in the early phases of the disease took 2 grams of acetyl-L-carnitine daily for three months. Response rates, as determined by a variety of functional and behavioral parameters, improved from 38% with standard acetylcholinesterase inhibitor drugs (such as Aricept®) alone to 50% with the addition of acetyl-L-carnitine.7 Another placebo-controlled, double-blind study conducted at Stanford University concluded, “Acetyl-L-carnitine slows the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in younger subjects.”

SECOND:
The serotoninergic system is known to modulate mood, emotion, sleep and appetite and thus is implicated in the control of numerous behavioural and physiological functions. Decreased serotoninergic neurotransmission has been proposed to play a key role in the aetiology of depression. The concentration of synaptic serotonin is controlled directly by its reuptake into the pre-synaptic terminal and, thus, drugs blocking serotonin transport have been successfully used for the treatment of depression.

OF COURSE this combination of depletions can cause emotional problems (based on the facts; not on opinion), and the normal, first step solution is to supply a re-uptake inhibitor such as Tofranil. Send your staff back to school. For God's sake, I am a project manager with only the most rudimentary science classes and my own curiosity to recommend me, and I know this much!

Try these two links:

**http://www.fitnessandfatloss.com/longevity.html
**http://www.biopsychiatry.com/serotonin.htm

They should give you the info you need.

Best,

Brooks