High Cholesterol

[cheryl 11]

Ok, first this doc, wanted me to go on you know an ace-inhibitor, I have yet to fill the prescribtion, because it is to protect my kidneys, but I don't know....

 

Now I got a total of a 204 in Cholesterol, he wants to put me on Zocor, just for three months, I dunno what to do. I was blessed with a really good microalbuminum(however you spell that), and good eyes, but now I am getting screwed up heart issue's....

 

I don't know what to do. Should I take it, I don't want to take the ace, I cannot believe at almost 29 years of age, I got to pop pills, like this.....Ok, so I guess I will go with the Cholesterol, but not the ace, I cannot see popping both for now, not now.

 

I thought Statins are bad, it seems like most of these med's are statins, so what do I do, what do I take, I am lost, and clueless, I had higher cholesterol when I wasn't taking care of myself, but I have been, so I don't know what to do, My whole family grandparents have some kind or did have some kind of heart issue's So I know I shouldn't play with fire with the heart and all.....but I am uncomfortable with all the side affects.....

 

What is safe what is good...

 

cheryl

[shockme 10]

hi cheryl! i think it's gotta be your decision...i didn't want to take zocor-so i'd often skip doses...and my cholesterol got higher and higher...so now i take it...my dad and his family had high cholesterol-so-lucky me-i do too....btw-zocor is available in generic form-simvastatin-save $$$$. yes it has side effects-make sure your liver is monitored via blood work and if you get any muscle pains to call your dr.....and watch out for grapefruit-it can cause the levels of the med to be higher in your body take care,trish

[Julielouise 10]

Cheryl- I have no advice, but I hear you about not wanting to take so many pills. I am on a pill for high triglycerides, and a blood pressure pill to protect my kidneys, asprin, and metformin. I have to have one of those pill boxes with AM, Pm and days of the week to keep up with it all. I am so new to this I just did what my doc said. I am hoping at my next appointment I can get of the Cholesterol pill. If not I go on Statins also.

I asked my doctor about the side effects of the blood pressure medicine for the kidney protection and she said it was better than failing kidneys. i take a very small does, so hope she is right.

Sorry you have to go thru so much at such a young age. How is the injecting thing working today? Hope your new pump comes soon.

Hugs-Julie

[bryan42 10]

I take Vytorin, and my cholesterol went from 370 to 143. I agree with Trish, liver problems would show up in the blood work.

[cheryl 11]

Is there anything that won't screw witht the liver, ugh.....I don't like this at all, what do I do, stop using mayo, that is the only thing I use that might not be heathly I don't eat barely out, I don't eat fried, I don't eat redmeat, I eat tons of fruits and veggies, I am not big on candy except on the low's LOL>......I can't think of anything other then mayo, but that doesn't even have a lot of cholesterol in it, anyway, I use promise, I don't eat partially hydrogenated oils, or msg, at all period, I don't eat boxed processed foods, so in my mind this is coming from my body, not what I am putting in....

 

I need to find what is not that bad to take,

 

Cheryl

[shockme 10]

cheryl-it can be hereditary.....there's a different med-it blocks the absorbtion in the intestines...can't remember the name-but i think it can affect the liver,too....trish

[Alice 10]

I was put on Zocor in my 20's and was told that all diabetics should be on it...my chol was normal. Diabetics are prone to arterial damage and heart disease. It's just a long-term problem that you're not seeing right now, thank goodness.

 

Years later, I had to ask my doctor to put me on the blood-pressure med as a preventative to kidney disease. Once again, my bloodpressure was normal.

 

I do remember my very good endo in Phlly telling me that diabetics should not only have good chol numbers, but below normal numbers...in other words, better than the average "normal". Did he tell me below 135? I don't remember and not sure what is considered normal now.

 

So, think of this as preventative. I think people blow the risks out of reality sometimes. I've had none of the achy sideeffects.

[cheryl 11]

Ok well I am not starting both at the same time, i will do the cholesterol first and see how I feel after I get my pump tomorrow, LOL.....and in a bout a week or two, side effects should show up by then I will do the ace, Just not the news I wanted to hear today, could of waited till after this injecting stuff........I'll be ok, I never had side effects never had a reaction to meds, I should be alright.....

 

I know I have to do something with my heart, I know it, it is the leading cause of death in my family....

 

 

Cheryl

[xMenace 207]

OnMedica - Diabetes treatment would save thousands of lives

 

Diabetes treatment would save thousands of lives

3 Sep 2007

OnMedica Staff

Using an ACE inhibitor and diuretic combination to lower blood pressure of all patients with type 2 diabetes would reduce cardiovascular events and save thousands of lives, a study has shown.

 

At present, only type 2 diabetes patients with high blood pressure are offered blood pressure-lowering medication. But the results of the first trial to look at the benefits of offering an ACE inhibitor and diuretic to lower blood pressure in all patients with type 2 diabetes, regardless of baseline blood pressure levels, found that it would be extremely beneficial.

 

The trial randomised 11 000 patients with type 2 diabetes in 20 countries, including the UK, to receive either a combination of the ACE inhibitor perindopril and the diuretic indapamide or placebo. Patients were followed up for over four years.

 

The results released at the European Society of Cardiology annual congress in Vienna, Austria, yesterday and published in The Lancet online showed that the therapy cut deaths from heart attack and stroke by 18% and reduced deaths from any cause by 14%.

 

Patients receiving active therapy achieved an average reduction in systolic blood pressure of 5-6 mm Hg and in diastolic blood pressure of 2-2 mm Hg compared with the placebo group. The relative risk of a major macrovascular or microvascular event, such as degenerative eye disease, was reduced by 9%.

 

Researcher Dr John Chalmers from The George Institute at the University of Sydney, Australia, said there was not a case for considering routinely lowering blood pressure in all patients with type 2 diabetes.

 

"Routine administration of a fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide to a broad range of patients with diabetes reduces the risks of death and major macrovascular or microvascular complications, irrespective of initial blood pressure level or ancillary treatment with the many other preventive treatments typically provided to diabetic patients today."

 

He added that if just half of type 2 diabetes patients were treated "worldwide, more than a million deaths would be avoided over 5 years".

 

In an accompanying editorial in The Lancet Professor Norman M Kaplan of the department of internal medicine at University of Texas, Dallas, said the same benefits might be seen with other blood pressure-lowering drugs.

 

"In most circumstances, lowering the blood pressure is what counts, not the way by which it is lowered," he explained.

 

"The fixed combination of perindopril and indapamide could be the best possible protector against hypertension-related consequences for patients with type 2 diabetes, but I believe that other drugs - if they lower blood pressure as much and do not have metabolic side-effects - would be as protective as this combination treatment."

[cheryl 11]

Ok ok, good read, I will go on the ace too but I want to make sure I am good with the cholesterol, headed to the doc's and to walmart four bucks baby LOL......

 

cheryl

[pdxdennisj 10]

I believe in science and clinical studies. 25 years ago I walked into a doctors office for the first time in a couple of decades. He took one look at me and sent me to a specialist. I had large white deposits underneath each eye. They were fatty deposits. They vanished on treatment with diet and statins. My lipid numbers vastly improved - now in the normal range.

 

I lived in San Francisco in the 80s and saw many people rile against the CIA planted disease and the medical establishment eschew traditional medicine and die while friends who took clinical study proven meds had extended lives (in some cases only shortly extended, but extended). I just don't understand the willingness to believe that a person who has devoted over 8 years of their life to educating themselves to help others is somehow misinformed or worse.

[Alice 10]

Cheryl, if you don't mind me asking...what did the doctor say was going on with your heart? I have a rapid pulse (around 90) which concerned my endo. I had a complete cardiac stress test...the cardiologist wasn't concerned. I did very well on the test.

 

I don't think you'll feel any affects of the two drugs together. They aren't like insulin where you "feel" the action. Normally, a small dosage of the blood-pressure med is used for kidney care. Same thing with Chol. unless you need a little more, and that's fine.

 

I've always said that sugar doesn't kill diabetics, it's the fat & salt. Heart disease and kidney disease are linked together...blood pressure and all.

[cheryl 11]

Cheryl, if you don't mind me asking...what did the doctor say was going on with your heart? I have a rapid pulse (around 90) which concerned my endo. I had a complete cardiac stress test...the cardiologist wasn't concerned. I did very well on the test.

 

I don't think you'll feel any affects of the two drugs together. They aren't like insulin where you "feel" the action. Normally, a small dosage of the blood-pressure med is used for kidney care. Same thing with Chol. unless you need a little more, and that's fine.

 

I've always said that sugar doesn't kill diabetics, it's the fat & salt. Heart disease and kidney disease are linked together...blood pressure and all.

 

Well, nothing is really wrong with my heart, but if my cholesterol is high, I feel that that is the route that it might be going, plus I do always have a high pluse rate, My blood pressure is always good, always, unless I am highly highly stressed or I got my period weird but yea that happens, but my numbers for blood pressure avg...about 115/70 so I am decent in that department....

 

No, I just wanted to take one, see that I don't get any strange side affects, then after a week, I will start the ace, so I will know if one of them affects me or not.....I am being cautious, I went to Walmart it won't be ready till after 4pm so my mom's gonna pick it up for me.....tonight, She is an anti drug person, but I told her you are healthy I have something that can damage a lot of things, I can't play around thinking I can defeat this, and you don't have daddy's family genes, I do aka all the heart disease, so she is being supportive, since she knows that I can't play cause of the diabetes, I told her if I had nothing wrong with me, I might try something else,

 

What time is good to take them, I didn't even ask the dr, should you take them exactly the same time everyday or around the same time everyday, just wondering, how to work out the pill popping around the days I go to work, if I should bring em with me, or take em at 5am, or should I just pick a time like 8 or 9 am and take, em I'd rather take em in the day, so I am up and alert....

 

Cheryl

[Alice 10]

Cheryl, I take them in the morning with my Diet Coke! I keep them in my bathroom stuff...some warnings say don't take Zocor with grapefruit juice...but I haven't been getting the warning label lately. Curious, I looked at the Zocor warnings on their website and it looks like you'd have to be drinking gallons of grapefruit juice for it to be affected. But, I don't drink grapefruit juice normally anyway.

[cheryl 11]

Cheryl, I take them in the morning with my Diet Coke! I keep them in my bathroom stuff...some warnings say don't take Zocor with grapefruit juice...but I haven't been getting the warning label lately. Curious, I looked at the Zocor warnings on their website and it looks like you'd have to be drinking gallons of grapefruit juice for it to be affected. But, I don't drink grapefruit juice normally anyway.

 

I hate grapefruit anyway, so I guess I am good LOL.......I have nothing to worry about, yea, I figure I'll take my med's about 8 or 9 every morning because I am up and functioning by this time.....and I'll set my alarm on my pump to tell me at work.....well when I get my new pump that is LOL......

 

Cheryl

[BlueSky 65]

The question I would be asking is, what good would taking a statin actually do. For it to provide any benefit, you will have to take these drugs for the rest of your life. Heart attack risk goes up as you age and will never go away. You will also never get rid of it. A third of people who have heart attacks have low cholesterol anyway.

 

There is no indication that there is anything wrong with your heart. And cholesterol of 204 is not high. It is quite normal. And your blood pressure is fine. So how do you benefit from taking a drug that intereferes with delicate mechanisms that keep your body healthy?

 

The net benefits of taking statins are pretty marginal. For most people, the reduction in risk of dying from a heart attack is offset by an increased risk from dying from something else, usually cancer or congestive heart failure. In fact the womens study found that there was no reduction in overall mortality in women taking statins, for any age group. From an overall mortality point of view, there is no point in a woman taking a statin.

 

I am not convinced that taking an ACE inhibitor benefits someone with good kidneys either. But it is pretty inocuous stuff. Statins, on the other hand, can have severe long term side effects. And the longer you use them, the more likely it is that you will suffer from them. Remember that, for statins to reduce your heart attack risk, you will need to take them for a very long time - the next 50 years. So if I was going to choose between the two, I would go for the ACE inhibitor and give the statin a miss.

[georgepds 295]

Here is one site hat has recommended levels

 

Discovery Health :: Center Article :: Recommended Cholesterol Levels for People at Risk for Heart Disease

 

One thing you might want to look into is the LDL and HDL levels. The other point of note is that the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL is considered more important than cholesterol alone

[cheryl 11]

See I am really at a loss in what to do, your making a lot of sense, grandma was on a ton of med's and she died of conjestive heart faliure, I just don't know what to do, to lower it, I am all confused on what to do.....The doc told me it was only gonna be for three months, so I am not sure, what to do, but thank you for writing that, I have had high cholesterol or even higher then that for years and years, and years, this is actually the lowest total I have had.....seriously....it's gone down on it's own, but so what your saying I am just a goner no matter what I do, I have a lot of genetic factors in my family, so I am not sure what the right thing to do is.....I mean the only thing I can cut out now is the mayo and eggs that I only eat once a week if that.....

 

Cheryl

[cheryl 11]

Should I cut out the cheese and youguart, that is all i eat dairy, I don't drink milk, at all or rare very very rare, and that is if I am in the mood for a bowl of cereal which a lot of times, I use soy....so it is very rare milk, I heard dairy is technically not good for your heart, in all actuallity, so maybe I should cut out the dairy or keep it too a minimum like once a week thing....

 

Cheryl

[CliveL 10]

I have hereditary high cholesterol, you should take statins at night because that is when they have the greatest affect.

[georgepds 295]

Should I cut out the cheese and youguart, that is all i eat dairy,

Cheryl

 

FWIIW, here is what Harvard says about dietary control:

"You can try to lower your cholesterol levels by changing what you eat, but studies have shown that the average person achieves only modest reductions (4%-13%) through dietary changes alone. Standard doses of statins reliably lower LDL levels by 30%-40%, so as a practical matter the vast majority of people who need to significantly cut their LDL levels need to take a statin."

 

LDL cholesterol: Low, lower, and lower still—TheFamily Health Guide

 

Note that they are talking about LDL, not total cholesterol

 

--G

[REDLAN 10]

the question with any medication or treatment is do the benefits outweigh the risks?

 

So what benefit do statins provide?

 

study after study has shown that statins reduce heart attack mortality, for both men and women in both primary and secondary prevention. (primary is before you get the disease, secondary is once you develop symptoms)

 

There is a case for arguing that the actual benefit is somewhat small, but there is definitely an effect - if you are a man of 55 to 65 who has suffered a heart attack, then taking a statin will decrease your risk of dying by around 2% over 5 years - or around a 1 in 50 chance that it would save your life over this period. typical mortality for such a group is around 11% in the placebo group compared to 9% for the treatment group - source WOSCOP.

 

the problem comes when you look at overall mortality. Unfortunately there is no specific data for diabetic patients, so it is hard to know if there is a benefit - there is an argument that statins should be more effective in diabetic than non-diabetic patients, but I don't believe that there is actually any clinical evidence that this is the case.

 

Primary prevention trials all show a decrease in mortality from heart attacks, and you will see these results trumpeted time and time again - usually we are talking about a relative risk reduction of around 33%. What you will not see is the overall mortality figures (for some statin trials they aren't available for some reason).

 

In primary prevention trials overall mortality is the same for both the placebo and the non-treatment group - for instance the EXCEL trial (the first statin primary prevention trial) the treatment group actually had a 0.3% greater absolute risk of dying over the study period.

 

No study has shown an overall mortality benefit for women in either primary or secondary prevention trials.

 

Diabetic patients however have about 3-5 times higher risk of heart attack than the general population, so there is at least a theoretical case to be made that statins should be beneficial in primary prevention in diabetic patients. I've looked, and I can't find any data for primary prevention in diabetic patients - I've found plenty of recommendations, but no actual studies.

[sixuntilme 10]

I know what you mean about not wanting to pop a bunch of pills.

 

I'm 28 yrs old, type 1 diabetic for 21 yrs, and am at a solid level of physical fitness (hitting the gym 5 times a week). I have been on blood pressure medication for the last two years. My blood pressure was a bit high, I have a family history of hypertension, and I developed a cotton wool spot in my right eye. After trying to lower stress levels (yoda, meditation, relaxation techniques), my blood pressure wasn't coming down. The Altace medication I'm on helps alleviate those concerns, and protects my kidneys.

 

My LDL cholesterol came back a smidge high about a year ago (101), but through intense cardiovascular exercise and the addition of oatmeal and walnuts into my diet (both natural cholesterol combatants), my LDl has dropped to 65 and my total cholesterol has dipped down to 157.

 

Sometimes medication is necessary, but there are other ways to battle down some dodgy results. Don't be afraid to use medication as a management tool, though, if other methods aren't working. Whatever keeps you healthiest - do it! And good luck.

[Alice 10]

My endo who put me on Zocor (and later another doctor on Lisinipril/kidney prevention) said I would take them for the rest of my life. Really, what is it that diabetics die from? It's kidney disease and heart disease which normally go hand-in-hand. While I need a lot of convincing on "supplements", I don't need any convincing on the matter of Zocor & Lisinipril for me. It's all a matter of reducing the risks before the damage occurs.

 

The endo said that diabetics get a "roughening" of the arterial walls that over time, attract more plaque than a non-diabetic. He said that they don't know why there is no correlation between good control and bad...some with bad control get few problems...others with good control get damage. But, he said overall, the 1994 study of good control was promising for the "majority...the law of average".

[cheryl 11]

Well I understand where you are coming from, I really do, I just am nerve wracked, maybe I just need my pump to come tomorrow hook back up feel normal and can think more clearly about the whole situation, right now my main focus is been keeping me alive with unit here and there, till i can get a new pump, so I am totally confused right now, I have to have a clear head to make a final decision. But I have my med's so they are here, I just want to be hooked back up and back to normal...tomorrow I will be thinking long and hard and researching a lot....

 

Cheryl