A new way of living

[ozbiker]

My story may be of interest even though it seems to conform to the same profile as many other stories on this board.
I am now 52. I was put on Lipitor 9 years ago after a routine flight crew medical, at first 20mg then 40mg 4 years later. Many things changed over this time. I got older, weaker, more tired, and had more aches and pains - plain ageing process??? 4 years ago I got angina and had 3 stents (non-medicated) inserted, and a bunch of new drugs to take - forever I was told. This was followed by a couple of years of "fear of living" stuff. Once I got over this I started swimming, seriously, then later added cycling, rather more seriously. I now cycle with a club 4 days a week, (hard, very hard - sometimes we dust the alpha-males from the racing club), and swim with a squad 2 days a week. One day is a rest day.
A lot of research has gone into getting to here. Dropping the statins was the first hurdle. 2 years ago my legs hurt always - sleeping, walking up stairs, walking on the level. My ankles and lower legs were almost always slightly swollen and the elastic tops of my socks left permanent depressions in my legs. I realise now that there were many other symptoms that I just put down to getting old.
The first problem I had after commencing to exercise was limited endurance due to the beta blockers. Research into these, in an attempt to get off them safely, led me to researching all my meds including the statins, and then to a serious study of physiology and nutrition.
My current drug and nutrition regimen is as follows - 12g ascorbate, 5g lysine, 2g proline, 5mg folic acid, 150mg CoQ10, Super B, E complex, 2g fish oil, 100mcg T4 (for Hashimoto's), 100mg buffered aspirin, ACE, B-blocker (1/2 previous dose and only as required) - no processed carbs, good oils only, butter, unhomogenized milk, limited sugars, plenty of fish, rice, green veg, etc.
The effects of the above have been dramatic and continue.
Legs - they are not there any more. I ride hard (race speed) for an hour and my legs just go up-and-down - I can't feel them at all. The limit is heart and lungs. Same going up stairs and sleeping. Even after riding, my legs have no feeling at all.
Weight - lost 15kg and still dropping - yahoo!!!
TSH - every 6 months for 5 years has been around 2.5 - last value was 0.4 resulting in a significant reduction of T4 dose (I think this may be exercise induced T3 sensitivity).
Homocysteine and LPa are normal. Iron a little low.
Energy levels - back to teenager status!!!
At a 2 year followup with my usual cardiologist (a triathlete) in January I did an exercise ecg (treadmill, not bike) and completed the protocol. Cardio checked me out and said "whatever your doing, keep doing it - come back in 2 years for a stress echo".
My GP (marathon runner) felt nervous about me chucking the orthodox meds so asked for another stress test, this time with another, more local, cardio. I saw him last week. He checked me out, looked at my exercise logs then declared a stress test a complete waste of time. BP is down, HR is downnnn, resting ecg perfect. The new cardio is keen on the more natural approach (vitamins etc) and very open minded, but he's still a licensed medico so he had to, in his own words, give me the "orthodox spiel" about cholesterol, statins, etc.
I feel like life has begun again. My business is picking up because I have infinitely more energy and can think more clearly and analytically, despite spending a lot of time riding and swimming - so time management is much better too. I can now do active things with my 9yr old son, just like the younger dads, and I now feel like I will be around to see him graduate (I didn't feel like this before!!).
I can't say if these improvements are a consequence of just dropping the statin because I have made many other concurrent changes. I'm certainly not going to make the changes one-at-a-time just to see which one works - a sort of human guinea pig in an experiment with a hard end point!!
I do have good reason to believe that stopping the statin is a major contributor to my feeling good - the other changes are there to keep it this way.
Making huge changes as described above, particularly to "lifesaving medication" protocols is in many respects a "leap of faith". Web sites and forums like this are a lifebelt when surrounded by pressures to conform to orthodox treatments by doctors, family and friends, all of whom are well meaning and doing it "for your own good".