I just came across this article (Thanks, Adam Kosloff) about the sad state of affairs going on with prescription drugs and the irresponsibility of the drug companies that manufacture them and the doctors that prescribe them. Here is an excerpt:
“It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine.”
Dr. Angell cites the case of Dr. Joseph L. Biederman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chief of pediatric psychopharmacology at Harvard’s Massachusetts General Hospital. She explains:
“Thanks largely to him, children as young as two years old are now being diagnosed with bipolar disorder and treated with a cocktail of powerful drugs, many of which were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for that purpose, and none of which were approved for children below ten years of age.”
It makes me want to just go live on an island. Sigh. Or better yet, I will devote some time to getting the truth out to all of those who cannot go live on an island.
Statins are a class of drugs designed to block the production of cholesterol by the body, with the effect of lowering a patient's blood cholesterol levels. According the modern medical mythology, the use of these drugs ultimately lowers the patient's risk for coronary heart disease.
These drugs are dangerous and have very serious side effects. Many documented reports detail the severe side effects that otherwise healthy people have experienced after taking these drugs. The side effects include:
Severe muscle cell damage leading to a fatal kidney condition called rhabdomyolysis. The dying skeletal muscle cells release toxic muscle cell components into the general circulation, causing kidney damage. Complications of rhabdomyolysis include acute kidney failure, vascular blood clots, elevated blood potassium levels and cardiac arrest.
Permanent and debilitating muscle pain and weakness.
Neurological damage and cognitive side effects including global transient amnesia, memory loss, learning impairment and confusion.
Congestive heart failure.
Elevated liver enzymes, indicating liver damage.
Statins block the mevalonate metabolic pathway in the body, with the drug companies desired result of blocking cholesterol, but also with the dangerous result of blocking the production of important cell chemicals such as CoQ10, dolichols, and immunomodulation proteins such as NF-kB (Nuclear Factor-kabbaB).
CoQ10 or ubiquinone is the catalyst which drives cell energy production. It acts as a potent antioxidant, and it is critical for the health and function of cell mitochondria. A lack of CoQ10 can cause serious oxidative damage to cellular mitochondria which can result in heart and skeletal muscle damage, and severely limit energy production for the body. Dr. Peter Langsjoen is a cardiologist and an expert on CoQ10 and the damage that statins cause to CoQ10 in the body. Here's a telling comment from him in an article on Red Flags Weekly:
"In my practice of 17 years in Tyler, Texas, I have seen a frightening increase in heart failure secondary to statin usage, "statin cardiomyopathy". Over the past five years, statins have become more potent, are being prescribed in higher doses, and are being used with reckless abandon in the elderly and in patients with "normal" cholesterol levels. We are in the midst of a Coronary Heart Failure epidemic in the US with a dramatic increase over the past decade. Are we causing this epidemic through our zealous use of statins? In large part, I think the answer is yes. We are now in a position to witness the unfolding of the greatest medical tragedy of all time - never before in history has the medical establishment knowingly (Merck & Co., Inc. has two 1990 patents combining CoQ10 with statins to prevent CoQ10 depletion and attendant side effects) created a life threatening nutrient deficiency in millions of otherwise healthy people, only to then sit back with arrogance and horrific irresponsibility and watch to see what happens. As I see two to three new statin cardiomyopathies per week in my practice, I cannot help but view my once great profession with a mixture of sorrow and contempt.”
You can learn more about Dr. Langsjoen's work here.
Statin usage is linked to a condition known as Mitochondrial Myopathy, a condition in which cell mitochondria become damaged, accelerating the aging process, and resulting in permanent disabling weakness. This is a direct result of statin interference in the production of CoQ10 and L-Carnitine.
Mood changes, including increased hostility, aggression and depression due to the blockage of dolichol production in the mevalonate pathway.
Statins are also linked to a much greater risk of developing diabetes as a "side effect". Simvastatin (Zocor) in particular has been shown to interfere with cellular glucose signaling and insulin secretion, and reduce beneficial adiponectin levels.
Statin side effects can be worse if they are ingested in conjunction with other substances using the same metabolic pathway in the body. Drugs such as cyclosporine, itraconazole, diltiazem and erythromycin, bile acid sequestrants (cholestyramine, colestipol), fibric acid derivatives (bezafibrate, fenofibrate, gemfibrozil), and other substances such as niacin and grapefruit juice are all contraindicated for use with statins.
There are a host of other side effects, including pancreatitis, an increase in respiratory infections and pneumonia, peripheral neuropathy, skin rashes, sexual dysfunction, headaches, diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain and cramping, heartburn, constipation, and dizziness.
In 1996, Newman and Tulley published a meticulous review of the links between cancer and statins in a paper titled The Carcinogenity of Lipid-Lowering Drugs in the Journal of American Medical Association. (JAMA 27 55:60, 1996). The CARE trial in particular, resulted in a much higher rate of breast cancer for the women in the treatment group.
Unexplained Weight Loss and Weight Gain: Mystery Weight Fluctuations and the Root Cause of Obesity
Unexplained weight loss and weight gain can shine light on the root cause of obesity. This essay will explain why.
Why do drugs, genetic abnormalities, medical conditions, pollution, and other factors cause weight changes?
According to conventional thinking, overeating and inactivity lead to weight gain, and diet and exercise lead to weight loss. Unexplained weight loss or gain, therefore, can only be understood in terms of appetite and/or metabolism. For instance, let's say someone gains weight while on an antidepressant. The presumption would be that the drug made her hungrier, driving her to eat excess calories. Thus, the weight gain.
The other hypothesis about what makes us fat says that "mystery" weight changes result when these X factors do something to the fat tissue itself. This then leads to the storage (or release) of fat. Perhaps a medication causes elevation of insulin levels, for instance. This would drive the storage of fat in the fat tissue, irrespective of changes to diet or exercise. In other words, mystery weight gain/loss has nothing to do with appetite or physical activity (or lack thereof). It has to do with what is going on inside the fat tissue itself.
So which theory makes more sense? Let's look at specific classes of medications, diseases and hormonal changes to see whether evidence from the real world can help us decide between these two hypotheses. Click on any link for details:
This from Jimmy Moore of the Livin' La Vida Low-Carb Show:
Tom Naughton, whose FAT HEAD documentary is one of the most entertaining and informative films on healthy low-carb living ever made, had gone on the speaking circuit with a fabulous speech called “Big Fat Fiasco.” This is well worth your time to watch from start to finish because Tom infuses his trademark humor and ability to make the complex understandable. You’re gonna enjoy this!
And from me, Rebecca - This is one of the best explanations of why the "high cholesterol causes heart disease" theory is false and is doing nothing but killing people. By the time it was over, I was almost to the point of tears because it was so true and moving. Everyone needs to know this!
Cholesterol is not the major culprit in heart disease or any disease. If it becomes oxidized it can irritate/inflame tissues in which it is lodged, such as the endothelium (lining of the arteries). This would be one of numerous causes of chronic inflammation that can injure the lining of arteries. However, many good fats are easily oxidized such as omega-3 fatty acids, but it does not mean that you should avoid it at all costs.
Common sense would indicate that we should avoid the oxidation (rancidity) of cholesterol and fatty acids and not get rid of important life-giving molecules. Using the same conventional medical thinking that is being used for cholesterol would lead one to believe that doctors should reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease by taking out everybody's brain.
In fact, cholesterol is being transported to tissues as part of an inflammatory response that is there to repair damage.
The fixation on cholesterol as a major cause of heart disease defies the last 15 years of science and deflects from real causes such as the damage (via glycation) that sugars such as glucose and fructose inflict on tissues, including the lining of arteries, causing chronic inflammation and resultant plaque.
Insulin & Leptin Resistance
Hundreds of excellent scientific articles have linked insulin resistance and more recently leptin resistance to cardiovascular disease much more strongly than cholesterol, and they are in fact at least partially responsible for cholesterol abnormalities. For instance, insulin and leptin resistance result in "small dense" LDL particles and a greater number of particles.
This is much more important than the total cholesterol number. Because of particle size shift to small and dense, the total LDL cholesterol could still be low even though the number of particles and the density of the particles is greater. Small, dense LDL particles can squeeze between the cells lining the inside of the arteries, the "gap junction" of the endothelium, where they can get stuck and potentially oxidize, turn rancid, and cause inflammation of the lining of the arteries and plaque formation.
Importantly, many solid scientific studies have shown a mechanistic, causal effect of elevated insulin and leptin on heart and vascular disease, whereas almost all studies with cholesterol misleadingly only show an association. Association does not imply cause. For instance, something else may be causing lipid abnormalities such as elevated cholesterol and triglycerides, and also causing heart disease.
This "something else" is improper insulin and leptin signaling. Similarly, sugar does not cause diabetes; sugar is just listening to orders. Improper insulin and leptin signaling is the cause of diabetes. Likewise, cholesterol does not cause heart disease, but improper metabolic signals including improper signals to cholesterol (causing it to oxidize) and perhaps to the liver that manufactures the cholesterol, will cause heart and vascular disease and hypertension.
Removing cholesterol will do nothing to improve the underlying problems, the real roots of chronic disease, which will always have to do with improper communication, and the generals of metabolic communication are insulin and leptin. They are really what must be treated to reverse heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, obesity, and to some extent aging itself.
Cholesterol; Wrongly Accused?
Before we can begin to talk about the real cause and effective treatment for heart and blood vessel disease, we must first look at what is known, or I should say what we think we know. The first thing that comes to mind when one hears about heart disease is almost always cholesterol. Cholesterol and heart disease has been almost synonymous for the last half-century. Cholesterol has been portrayed as the Darth Vader to our arteries and our heart.
The latest recommendation given by a so-called panel of "experts" recommends that a person's cholesterol be as low as possible, in fact to a level so low they say it cannot be achieved by diet, exercise, or any known lifestyle modification. Therefore, they say cholesterol-lowering drugs; particularly the so-called "statins" need to be given to anyone at high risk of heart disease. Since heart disease is the number one killer in this country that would include most adults and even many children. The fact that this might add to the $26 billion in sales of statin drugs last year I'm sure played no role in their recommendations.
Or did it?
Expert Conflict of Interests
Major consumer groups think so. They found out that eight of the nine "experts" that made the recommendations were on the payroll of pharmaceutical companies that manufacture those drugs. Major scientific organizations have chastised medical journals for allowing the pharmaceutical industry to publish misleading results and half-truths. There is a major push under way to force the pharmaceutical industry (and others) to publish results of all of their studies, and not just the ones that appear positive. The studies that showed negative results would be forced to be published also.
It could be that lowering cholesterol might not be as healthy as we are being told. More and more studies are coming out showing just how unhealthy lowering cholesterol might be, particularly by the use of statin drugs. In particular, statin drugs have been shown to be harmful to muscles causing considerable damage. A common symptom of this damage is muscular aches and pains that many patients experience on cholesterol-lowering drugs, however most do not realize that these drugs are to blame.
Hmm...isn't the heart a muscle?
Statin Drugs Actually Increase Heart Disease
Indeed, low cholesterol levels have been shown to worsen patients with congestive heart failure, a life-threatening condition where the heart becomes too weak to effectively pump blood. Statin drugs have been shown to also cause nerve damage and to greatly impair memory. One reason that statin drugs have these various serious side effects is that they work by inhibiting a vital enzyme that manufactures cholesterol in the liver. However, the same enzyme is used to manufacture coenzyme Q10, which is a biochemical needed to transfer energy from food to our cells to be used for the work of staying alive and healthy.
Statin drugs are known to inhibit our very important production of coenzyme Q10. Importantly, while many cardiologists insist that lowering cholesterol is correlated with a reduction in the risk of heart attacks; few can say that there is a reduction in the risk of mortality (death). That has been much harder to show. In other words it has never been conclusively shown that lowering cholesterol saves lives. In fact, several large studies have shown that lowering cholesterol into the range currently recommended is correlated with an increased risk of dying, especially of cancer.
No Such Thing as Good and Bad Cholesterol
Because the correlation of total cholesterol with heart disease is so weak, many years ago a stronger correlation was sought. It was found that there is so-called "good cholesterol" called HDL, and that the so-called "bad cholesterol" was LDL. HDL stands for highdensity lipoprotein, and LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein. Notice please that LDL and HDL are lipoproteins -- fats combined with proteins. There is only one cholesterol.
There is no such thing as a good or a bad cholesterol. Cholesterol is just cholesterol. It combines with other fats and proteins to be carried through the bloodstream, since fat and our watery blood do not mix very well.
Fatty substances therefore must be shuttled to and from our tissues and cells using proteins. LDL and HDL are forms of proteins and are far from being just cholesterol. In fact we now know there are many types of these fat and protein particles. LDL particles come in many sizes and large LDL particles are not a problem. Only the so-called small dense LDL particles can potentially be a problem, because they can squeeze through the lining of the arteries and if they oxidize, otherwise known as turning rancid, they can cause damage and inflammation. Thus, you might say that there is "good LDL" and "bad LDL." Also, some HDL particles are better than others. Knowing just your total cholesterol tells you very little. Even knowing your LDL and HDL levels do not tell you very much.
A mistake that is rarely made in the hard-core sciences such as physics seems to be frequently made in medicine. This is confusing correlation with cause. There may be a weak correlation of elevated cholesterol with heart attacks, however this does not mean it is the cholesterol that caused the heart attack. Certainly gray hair is correlated with getting older; however one could hardly say that the gray hair caused one to get old. Using hair dye to reduce the gray hair would not really make you any younger. Neither it appears would just lowering your cholesterol.
Perhaps something else is causing both the gray hair and aging. Even if elevated cholesterol were significant and heart disease (which I question) perhaps something else is causing the elevated cholesterol and also causing the heart disease.
Let's look little more at cholesterol or, as Paul Harvey was fond of saying, "the rest of the story." First and foremost, cholesterol is a vital component of every cell membrane on Earth. In other words, there is no life on Earth they can live without cholesterol. They will automatically tell you that, in of itself, it cannot be evil. In fact it is one of our best friends. We would not be here without it. No wonder lowering cholesterol too much increases one's risk of dying. Cholesterol also is a precursor to all of the steroid hormones. You cannot make estrogen, testosterone, cortisone, and a host of other vital hormones without cholesterol.
Cholesterol Is The Hero, Not The Villain
It was determined many years ago that the majority of cholesterol in your bloodstream comes from what your liver is manufacturing and distributing. The amount of cholesterol that one eats plays little role in determining your cholesterol levels. It is also known that HDL shuttles cholesterol away from tissues, and away from your arteries, back to your liver. That is why HDL is called the "good cholesterol;" because it is supposedly taking cholesterol away from your arteries. But let's think about that.
Why does your liver make sure that you have plenty of cholesterol? Why is HDL taking cholesterol back to your liver? Why not take it right to your kidneys, or your intestines to get rid of it?
It is taking it back to your liver so that your liver can recycle it; put it back into other particles to be taken to tissues and cells that need it. Your body is trying to make and conserve the cholesterol for the precise reason that it is so important, indeed vital, for health.
One function of cholesterol is to keep your cell membranes from falling apart. As such, you might consider cholesterol your cells "superglue." It is a necessary ingredient in any sort of cellular repair. The coronary disease associated with heart attacks is now known to be caused from damage to the lining of those arteries. That damage causes inflammation. The coronary disease that causes heart attacks is now considered to be caused mostly from chronic inflammation.
What Is Inflammation?
Think of what happens if you were to cut your hand. Within a fraction of a second, chemicals are released by the damaged tissue to initiate the process known as inflammation. Inflammation will allow that little cut to heal, and indeed to keep you from dying. The cut blood vessels constrict to keep you from bleeding too much. Blood becomes "thicker" so that it can clot. Cells and chemicals from the immune system are alerted to come to the area to keep intruders such as viruses and bacteria from invading the cut. Other cells are told to multiply to repair the damage so that you can heal. When the repair is completed, you have lived to be careless another day, though you may have a small scar to show for your troubles.
We now know that similar events take place within the lining of our arteries. When damage occurs to the lining of our arteries (or even elsewhere) chemicals are released to initiate the process of inflammation. Arteries constrict, blood becomes more prone to clot, white blood cells are called to the area to gobble up damaged debris, and cells adjacent to those damaged are told to multiply. Ultimately, scars form, however inside our arteries we call it plaque. And the constriction of our arteries and the "thickening" of our blood further predisposes us to high blood pressure and heart attacks.
So Where Might Cholesterol Fit Into All Of This?
When damage is occurring and inflammation is being initiated, chemicals are being released so that that damage can be repaired. One could speculate that to replace damaged, old and worn-out cells the liver needs to be notified to either recycle or manufacture cholesterol since no cell, human or otherwise, can be made without it. In this case, cholesterol is being manufactured and distributed in your bloodstream to help you repair damaged tissue and in fact to keep you alive.
If excessive damage is occurring such that it is necessary to distribute extra cholesterol through the bloodstream, it would not seem very wise to merely lower the cholesterol and forget about why it is there in the first place. It would seem much smarter to reduce the extra need for the cholesterol -- the excessive damage that is occurring, the reason for the chronic inflammation.
So Why Take Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs?
The pharmaceutical companies thought that you might think that. They went back to the drawing board. They did more "research" and found (coincidentally) that statin drugs had anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore we're currently being told to stay on our cholesterol lowering drugs because now they work by reducing inflammation and perhaps not even by reducing cholesterol, and in fact perhaps in spite of it. Aspirin reduces inflammation for a lot less money. So does vitamin E, and fish oil, and dietary changes without the dangers of drugs and having many other benefits instead.
What About Triglycerides?
Triglycerides are just medical terminology for fat. A person with high triglycerides has a lot of fat in the bloodstream. Triglycerides are generally measured when a person has fasted overnight. High fasting triglycerides are either from manufacturing too much, or using (burning) too little. In other words, what high triglycerides are telling you is that you are making too much fat and you are unable to burn it. This indeed is a major problem. The inability to burn fat underlies virtually all of the chronic diseases of aging, and in fact may contribute to the rate of aging itself.
As such, one might think that the control of fat burning and storage might be very important in heart disease, and the other diseases of aging such as diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis, and even cancer. Indeed, this appears to very much be the case. The two hormones that to a major extent control our ability to burn and store fat, insulin and leptin, appear to play a major role in all of the chronic diseases of aging. I would call them the most important hormones, indeed chemicals in the entire body. But that is a story for next time.
(To read the complete article and other articles of interest by Dr. Ron Rosedale, right click here.)
Below is a video of Dr. Rosedale explaining his views on the subject of cholesterol:
The other day, I asked my husband to read the chapter Statins out of the book Breakthrough by Suzanne Somers. Surprisingly, he did! And he said, "I shouldn't be on these drugs!" This morning, he told me he stopped taking them after reading the chapter. The side effects are just too harmful, even at the low dose he was on. (BTW, he had his doctor's permission to get off of them!)
The Case Against Statins - Statins can:
1. alter the immune system
2. inhibit CoQ10 production (our most important nutrient), which leads to loss of nerve function, muscle disease, and pain in more than one nerve (Neuropathy, myopathy and ployneuropathy)
3. cause inflammation of the muscles (myositis and deadly rhabdomyolysis)
4. lead to breakdowns in muscle fiber and the release of myoglobin, which blocks the kidneys, and
5. cause brain damage, dementia and memory lapses.
And, in addition to the above, statins inhibit a healthy sex drive the longer a patient is on them.
The ultimate issue is the continuing failure to recognize that drug therapy is inappropriate for any condition that can be improved with lifestyle and dietary changes.
Cardiac cure continues to be researched right into a corner. The more research we have to validate drug therapy, the least likely a doctor will give you the opportunity to investigate alternative therapies. Unfortunate but true.
We need to be our own caretakers and ask ourselves; are we willing to adhere to a low carb lifestyle, which research has already demonstrated to lower inflammation markers such as CRP, improve cardiac risk factors, diminish risk for diabetes and heart disease?
For those who need a little extra help we have alternatives such as CoQ10, L-Carnitine, and Omega-3 supplementation. The way I like to practice is to ask the question; have I tried all non toxic alternatives before I send someone for drugs which will have side effects?
Statins will delete the body stores of CoQ10 which is cardio protective, stress the liver, and in some cases cause muscle weakness.
So it comes down to Satin Drugs vs. Common Sense.
Certainly the pharmaceutical industry is busy celebrating a major public relations and sales windfall, but how is this good and balanced medicine?
The goal of excellence in medicine will be achieved through an informed choice from an array of all possible therapies. The controlled-carbohydrate lifestyle has been scientifically proven to lower clinical parameters of cardiovascular risk factors without the use of drugs. Good medicine should offer a patient the best benefit to risk ratio, and the benefit of a controlled-carbohydrate diet far outweighs the risks and side effects associated with statin drugs.
While drugs are certainly appropriate for specific patient populations under certain circumstances, they are not appropriate for those who can accomplish the same results with lifestyle changes and supplementation if necessary.
The main reason I started natural, bio-identical hormone replacement was because I had read the book “Ageless”. I highly recommend this book to everyone, men and women alike, whether you think you have hormonal imbalances or not.
One of my biggest goals right now is to get my husband off the 6 or 7 meds he is on right now just to manage cholesterol and blood pressure. Even though he is in normal ranges now, his doc wants him to stay on them. Maybe we need to start with a new doc!
Now that he is eating healthy, my opinion is that he can get off or cut down on the meds and if his levels go back up a little initially, I know they will work their way back down eventually.
I know that the only reason he got on them in the first place was because his doctor was too quick to prescribe without first suggesting (he did not even suggest!) life style changes, like diet and exercise.
When I googled the meds he is on, even the pharmaceutical companies said that the drugs were only to be prescribed if lifestyle changes don't work!
Random thought:
I heard the other day that life expectancies are going up, and that, for the baby born today, the life expectancy will be 120 years. I'm not sure of the accuracy of that statement, but I'm not surprised by it - it seems logical.
Think about it... Through medical science, people can now be kept alive for long periods of time. In the "olden days" before antibiotics, if a person got a bad cut on their arm, they could easily die of infection. No more! Well, not usually.
And this is a major problem!
But how can it be a problem that we now have the medical knowledge and technology to keep people alive longer? Doesn't everyone want to live longer?
Maybe not! What about quality of life? Have you seen these really old people in nursing homes? Possibly your own parent, or grandparent? Sometimes unable to move around freely, think clearly or make their own life decisions. As the old joke goes, "You call this living?" I watched my grandmother die like that. She prayed every day for God to "take her home." She was old and useless, in her view, at 88. I don't want my grandmother's health when I am 88. I don't want to be living in a nursing home, dying of diabetes and cancer and completely out of control of my circumstances.
We need to take control of our health, and go into our 70s, 80s, 90s and yes, even our 100s in good health, vital to our families and communities, living in our own homes, supporting ourselves, managing our own lives and loving it!
This is my quest. I'm going to find out how to be healthy if it kills me!
On statins, from Ageless by Suzanne Somers (2006), interviewing Dr. Eugene Shippen on men and hormones:
ES: Statins inhibit the ability of your body to generate its own cholesterol. So if we lower cholesterol, there's a clear reduction in events with the studies on statins. There are reductions of stroke, and there is a reduction of heart attack of 20, 25, 30 percent, depending on the study.
However, long-term studies have failed to show any improvement in overall mortality rate. It's interesting that if you lower the major cause of death by 25 or 30 percent, you don't see an upside on longevity of an equivalent amount. So what's happening? We're becoming unhealthy in other ways. But they don't seem to report on what is causing these other people to die.
The brain itself makes its own little neurosteroids by manufacturing its own cholesterol in the brain. So if we inhibit the body's ability to make it's own cholesterol, are we also inhibiting the ability of the body fo make its own neurosteriods?
(Dr. Shippen goes on to explain in some detail that by inhibiting your brain's production of cholesterol, you also inhibit its production of neuroprotective hormones that control the Alzheimer's process.)
He continues: [With] high cholesterol, researchers found a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease. So people with higher cholesterol have a lower incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Is it because they have more precursors to making their own neurosteroids? It is an interesting question.
It makes sense that the good Lord put our cholesterol-forming enzymes in our brain for a reason. And if He wanted us tp make cholesterol in the brain, cholesterol is a good antioxidant. You know, it's not just a neutral molecule. It's not a bad guy that needs to be eliminated. It's there for a reason. Cholesterol forms the backbone of every single neuorsteriod in the brain.
(He then goes on to talk in some detail about how, if your hormones are intact, cholesterol doesn't damage the arteries.)
Later in the book, Ms. Somers interviews Dr. Larry Webster on Inflammation and the Environment.
LW: All physicians seem to care about is cholesterol, which is really an indicator of low thyroid more than anything else. Generally, they don't look at cardio-protective compounds such as CoQ10 or L-carnitine. But men are given Lipitor, Mevacor, and other statin drugs, which basically displaces CoQ10 from the body. CoQ10 provides energy and increases cardiac efficiency. So what happens when you take statins is that the body can run out of energy, and ironically, the heart may be affected. So instead of treating high cholesterol with a statin, a doctor should be looking at the thyroid levels first. In fact, this connection is well accepted in the textbook of endocrinology, where it explains hypercholesterolemia is related to hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). So when a man comes in with high cholesterol, I first check thyroid TSH, T4 and T3. But more than blood results, you have to go on symptoms such as cold hands and feet, tiredness, high cholesterol, hair loss, weight gain, all symptoms you see in both men and women with underactive thyroid.
Below is a list of the things that are becoming more and more important to me. Some of these things I have started doing, some I want to do in the near future, and some I dread having to do at all, even though I think they are important!
1. Low Carb Diet
2. Getting a reverse osmosis water filter for my home
3. Eating only organic protein, produce and grains
4. Getting in shape by building muscle rather than "burning off calories" (in the traditional sense), which includes Pilates, Hatha Yoga, strength training and walking
5. Sleeping 9 to 9.5 hours per night, going to bed at a reasonable time and getting up at dawn, so that my full night's sleep is done in the dark
6. Taking a full range of vitamins and supplements
7. Using only biodegradable household cleaning products
8. Eating only fresh foods, nothing processed. No chemicals, no MSG, no preservatives, etc.
9. Living in a chemical free environment, as much as it is in my power to do so
10. Avoiding second-hand cigarette smoke
11. Using natural, bioidentical hormone replacement to bring all my hormones to optimum levels, to feel better in general, and to avoid disease in particular
12. Avoiding pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs unless absolutely necessary
13. Avoiding stress when possible, and practicing stress reduction techniques when stress is unavoidable
14. Detoxing my body, following my doctor's advice about how to do that
15. Creating a healthy GI tract
16. Spending less time watching TV
17. Spending more time outdoors
18. Spending more time reading and doing research on healthy lifestyles
19. Spending quality time with my husband and other family members and friends
20. Spending quality time with God.
Obviously, especially based on the last item, this list is not in order by importance! As time goes on, I will add to my list, or post things here that pertain to my list.
