THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO TELL OUR STORY

[cjbrooksjc]

U.S. National Public Radio (NPR) is asking for stories/experiences relative to prescribed drugs, their effects, and your opinions. This is a REAL forum for us. Read the sentence in highlighted in red.

**http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=21455&name=BONIVA

Brooks

[Cat Mom2]

My story is on that list somewhere. Since I found that sight, I NEVER take a drug without checking out what is said there first! There is nothing like the experience of real, everyday people who have already had that experience.

[gotts1936]

All medication is toxic to someone. What else do we need to know? Yes, the medication designed to lower our cholesterol does lower it, but what are the side effects?
I have a friend who is on 16 different medications. The so-called medical experts have now killed him, oops, stopped his heart twice to correct an irregular heart beat. Five of the side effects of the medication he is on identify irregular heatbeat as a side effect. What more can I say?

gotts

[David Staup]

Gotts.
the real tragedy here is that lowering cholesterol for most people is counter productive if they're cholesterol is not above 272 where mortality is lowest for ALL causes. let alone side effects from the drugs lower your cholesterol with diet alone and you are shortening your life unless it's above that magic 272

David

[Cat Mom2]

David, I can't tell you how many people laugh at me when I say "Everytime I go to the doctor because I am feeling bad and allow them to check my cholesterol, it is in the 220's range. When I am feeling great and it is checked, it is in the 250's range. I feel better and have a lot more energy" and I get laughed at and told cholesterol/fats has nothing to do with energy!.... I just know when I feel bad, it is in the 220's, feel better and it is in the 250's range and I listen to what my body tells me!!!

[Allen1]

Hi there Cat Mom2 and David,

I just used the lipid converter and realized that 250=6.5 and 272=7 here in the UK. I am around 5 to 5.2 (193 to 201) and when I was on statins it was below 4 (155) and probably even less but my memory is still blurred about those times. As far as being energetic these days, most of the time I don't have the strength or stamina to pedal my bike more than a few yards, fortunately it is an electric mountain bike or otherwise I would basically be house bound. Maybe it is time to increase the fat intake in an effort to get a bit of my life back, living like this isn't really living at all, it is merely surviving to face another day and hoping that things will get better.

The crazy thing about it is that some days I look the very picture of good health (until I try to do something that is), maybe Cat Mom2 and David have the right idea about the cholesterol levels and mine are just too low to provide the energy needed to enjoy life and be able to do things.

[David Staup]

the following excerp tells it all.
the url for the full article follows



Women had higher baseline total cholesterol and LDL-C levels (206 and 124) than men (191 and 117), yet the women lived longer. Men with the same total cholesterol and LDL-C levels as women lived as long. Of the subjects, 1/5 were taking statin drugs to lower total cholesterol and LDL-C, which would have pushed them into the lowest quartile.

This is an excellent confirmation that high total cholesterol and LDL-C ( low density lipoprotein cholesterol ) levels are beneficial, certainly in the elderly who are most likely to be prescribed a statin drug. The emphasis on the value of lowering LDL-C, rather than lowering total cholesterol, taken by Big Pharma in the last few years, is invalidated by this study. LDL-C is not bad cholesterol; it is an essential form!

Dr. Bernard Forette and a team of French researchers from Paris reported in 1989 that women of mean age 82 with high cholesterol and followed for 5 years lived the longest. When the data of Forette are graphed, the age-adjusted data show a minimal risk of dying out to total cholesterol = 320 mg/dL for elderly women. The minimum death rate occurred with a total cholesterol level of 272 mg/dL, far higher than the current National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) recommendations of approximately 200 mg/dL for everyone.

The death rate was 5.2 times higher for women who had very low cholesterol, specifically, 155 mg/dL.　 The death rate was 1.8 times higher for women who had very high cholesterol, specifically, 348 mg/dL, and also 1.8 times higher at 200 mg/dL.

What possible basis could there be for the NCEP recommendations for <200? In their report, the French doctors warned against lowering cholesterol in elderly women.

Serum total cholesterol rises naturally with age from a mean level of 178 mg/dL in 18-24 year-olds to a maximum mean level of 230 mg/dL in 55-64 year-olds. Men over 55 and women of all ages who have the highest cholesterol levels live the longest, since high total cholesterol protects against cardiovascular disease (CVD) and infections (Ravnskov U. High cholesterol may protect against infections and atherosclerosis. Quarterly Journal of Medicine, 2003;96:927-934).

http://www.spacedoc.net/cheerios_fda


David

[David Staup]

the above post by me should also have included this url...

http://www.spacedoc.net/malignant_medical_myths

Dave

[cjbrooksjc]

David:

QUESTION:

[quote] What possible basis could there be for the NCEP recommendations for <200? [quote]

ANSWER:

"In 2004 the government-funded National Cholesterol Education Program selected a panel of nine “experts” to review statin drug use and make recommendations as to guidelines doctors should follow to reduce cardiovascular disease. They recommended that individuals at high cardiovascular disease risk attain LDL levels < 100 mg/dL and individuals at very high cardiovascular risk attain LDL levels < 70 mg/dL (levels that are abnormal, levels which are seldom ever this low in healthy people with no cardiovascular disease). Their advice was published in the marketing journal of the American Heart Association, Circulation. This “scientific journal” failed to disclose that six of the nine authors had direct financial ties to the makers of statin drugs."

Brook$$ :evil:

[gotts1936]

David, you maybe right. Prior to my going on a statin drug , my total cholesterol was between 235 and 265. I know because I have required a copy of all my blood work since 1997. I saw a doctor, before I retired and he never said I needed a statin drug.

When I retired and went on medicare I decided to find a doctor who was accepting medicare patients. Which is getting hard to do. He told me I should start taking a blood pressure pill, a statin drug and a blood sugar pill. Up until I went to this doctor, 70 years old, I felt great.

Don't get me wrong. I love this doctor. He told me that he had to recommend these pills or he could be sued for malpractice. This story is more complex, but this is enough for now. Keep up the good work!

gotts