Health Questions
Moms View Message Board: General Discussion Archive: Archive January 2005:
Health Questions
My Husband Dr. Called today and told him that they got the blood work back and that he has terribly high cholesterol. They are going to put him on a medicine so my questions are do any of you know what we need to do next. I know I have to totaly change the way we eat and everything. So if anyone is going through this or has any kind of help I would greatly appriciate it.
My father-in-law was put on medication to control his cholesterol about a year ago.
It took a few months and a few different medications before they found one that worked for him. The first one that he took didn't lower his cholesterol at all. He was surprised by that. He just assumed that it would "work".
Just wanted to share that. It may take awhile before your husband finds something that works.
Also, as you said, diet is a big factor as well.
I LOVE WebMD.com. I have already posted a link to a WebMD page in another post. I spent an entire evening in September researching arthritis for my MIL.
I found this on lifestyle changes.
http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/ug1614.asp?navbar=hw115434.asp?z=1809_00000_1018_tn_05
This is on changing the diet
http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/zp3031.asp?navbar=hw115434
Excercise
http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/hw114892.asp?navbar=hw115434
And weight loss (if needed)
http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/hw114872.asp?navbar=hw115434
There- that should get you started. BUT- WebMD is NOT a substitute for a doctor's guidance. Sit down w/dh and make a list of all your questions. Go to his doctor with him with that list and make sure you don't leave until you have adderssed every one and you understand the answers!!
I had a grandfather who died of hardening of the arteries/hypertension/cholesterol etc. He was only 62 years old. Your dh is too young to ingore the potential that he could shorten his life if he doesn't change.
Good luck Marie. My dh found out last month he had ridiculously high cholesterol. High 300's. This is a man that mountain bikes and road bikes every day, between 20-100 miles a day, regardless of the weather. His is hereditary. He was adopted so we do not know his health history. We do know my cholesterol is extremely low and he does FAR more exercise than me. We eat no red meat, mostly organic, and very little preprocessed foods. Our dr told him that if it is hereditary, a diet change will only lower it about 10%, which would still be to high in our case, so sometimes medication is the only answer. Have your dh exercise and change your diet, I hope it works, but if he does end up having to take medication, I can tell you that so far, dh has had no side effects from it. He gets rechecked in a couple of weeks and I am hoping this low dose of Crestor works for him.
After Breann's post I am nervous. I just assumed it would "work".
I also have a call into my dr to find out when I need to get my dk's checked.
There is also a blood test that should be run I think it is called the c reactive enzyme. It is a good indicator for heart attact risk in addition to the cholestorol test. I think it measures the amount of plaque build up if I remember. My dh had super high cholestorol that he controls w/ lipitor but also had this test done and it turns out he isnt too bad.
How high is "terribly high"?
A small percentage of the population (<10%) have a condition called hypercholesterolemia where their combined cholesterol can exceed 300+. This is a genetic defect in the body's ability to regulate the level of cholesterol in the blood and can only be controlled by medication.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000392.htm
Many people who have a cholesterol level in the 200's can usually bring it down with a change in diet(increased fiber consumption) and weight loss. This may help you avoid the side effects of cholesterol lowering meds:
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/78/95765.htm
One other more "natural" treatment is the use of Niacin ( a B vitamin) that has been shown to be highly effective in lowering cholesterol:
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9489
Vitamin C (ascorbate) in larger doses has also been shown to be as effective as statin drugs (COA reductase inhibitors like Lipitor and Crestor) in reducing cholesterol levels:
http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/abstract/261/16/7127
High cholesterol is often a sign of the presence of chronic inflammation in the body and is the body's reaction to this inflammation(cholesterol is an anti-inflammatory agent). Information about studies that discovered this link were covered in this Time magazine article way back in 2002 but have only recently become mainstream:
http://www.time.com/time/2004/cholesterol/beyond.html
The C reactive protein (CRP) test (as was mentioned earlier) can directly measure the level of chronic inflammation in the body and is often considered one of the best tests to predict heart disease.
There is also a good portion of the population who do not respond to the convential low fat diet approach who may require an alternate diet .
My husband also is supposed to go in and have his cholesterol checked in January along with some other things... = (
We've BTDT. DH had a heart attack 4 years ago at age 47. At that time he got a stent implant in his right coronary artery and has the official diagnosis of coronary artery disease.
He's on cholesterol lowering meds and some blood thinners, including aspirin daily. Diet changes are a must, as is exercise. Things don't change overnight, but changing these things and using the meds will make a huge improvement.
I would also add that you should research and read, read, read on the subject. Changing your eating and exercise habits will be a life long change. Once you get used to eating differently, it will just be second nature to you when you shop or go out to eat.
The good thing is, you will teach your kids healthy eating habits, and you will all feel better after these changes.
Two very significant landmark studies published today in The New England Journal of Medicine have confirmed the importance of C reactive protein (CRP) test to measure chronic inflammation( as opposed to only cholesterol levels) in predicting future heart attack:
"Ridker and colleagues examined the impact on heart disease of lowering LDL cholesterol and CRP levels with statin therapy. The study involved just over 3,700 patients with heart disease.
Lowering CRP levels with statin therapy was found to reduce the risk of heart attack and death from heart disease among patients who did not lower their cholesterol to recommended levels.
There are now over 30 major studies that have shown that CRP levels independently predict heart attack risk," Ridker says. "What has been missing is direct evidence that if you lower CRP you could lower cardiac risk. Now we have two independent papers coming out simultaneously that show this."
We believe we can save tens of thousands of lives immediately simply by making physicians understand that they need to monitor CRP levels in the same manner that they now monitor cholesterol levels,"
Emphasis added by me
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/99/105089.htm
Interestingly, Vitamin C has been found to have a similar effect on CRP levels as statin drugs:
http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=15215
Another thing you should know is, in the past, they considered cholesterol of over 200 as *high*. The standards and numbers have been lowered, as have the ones for blood sugar too, I believe the *high* acceptable cholesterol is 170 or maybe 160. Jen just had a physical and her cholesterol is *high* at 179. Also, the *good* cholesterol and the *bad* cholesterol readings have to be monitored.
Unfortunately, one of the effects of these guidelines is to declare millions of healthy people (those with no history of heart disease) as suddenly requiring *expensive* medications.
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth1.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth2.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth3.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth4.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth5.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth6.htm
http://www.ravnskov.nu/myth7.htm
You're right John. DH is already on those meds since his heart attack. However, since my own cholesterol and blood sugar is considered to be *high*, I need to adjust my diet further and get my lazy self back to regular workouts because *I* see no need for me to take those meds.
Does it ever make you wonder?????????????
The drug companies are lowering the levels to sell more drugs.
Yes it's becoming clearer...they now want to sell an over the counter version even though the majority of people who would buy it don't really need it!
"And there were questions about whether consumers will accurately determine whether the drug is right for them.
...
The study of label comprehension found that only 1 percent of people who said they could start using Mevacor "right away" were appropriate candidates for the drug.
...
The companies used a looser standard in counting who took the drug appropriately. For instance, in the mock pharmacy study, they counted people who said they had talked with their doctors before taking the drug even though they didn't meet the criteria on the label. Under this definition, Merck said, 55 percent of those who took the drug did so appropriately."
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/conditions/01/14/cholesterol.drugs.ap/index.html
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