Anyone with experience in statins out there ?

[Spaced Cowboy]

Cholesterol was almost 300 at last check, but i was eating a lot of meat to lose weight. Dropped 20 lbs, now cut way back on meat to see if it helps. Doc prescribed Crestor, but I'm not marrying into the drugs for life bit yet. My HDL was 92 and my VLDL was 15, both markers of low risk.

Now no Cholesterol in the diet, very little meat and very low sat fat and no trans fat.

Weight is steady (6'0, 165 lbs). Blood pressure is normal, resting heart rate is 60.

I'm really worried that the docs are tied into the drug pipeline and throw down scripts without trying anything else.

[Dr Strangelove]

Statins probably do more to preserve human life than any other drug currently available. There are lots of physicians who in good conscience advocate putting every adult over the age of 45 on them to reduce the incidence of heart disease in the whole adult population.

[Spaced Cowboy]

Do you have absolute clinical proof of your statement?

There is too much conflicting information for me to decide.

I admit that VLDL is likely a bad thing, but the standard cholesterol test leaves much to be desired as opposed to a comprehensive lipid profile.

My take is that if VLDL is low (a calculated value based on triglycerides) and HDL is high, then you immune system is enhanced and your HDL is enough to chase VHDL out of your system.

As I understand it, there are 4 categories of LDL and the 2 low density categories are not good whilst the 2 upper (larger particles) are not as bad and may be as beneficial as HDL, however as standard test does not differentiate.

Statins are likely beneficial for High triglycerides, high VLDL, low HDL types.

Or am I fooling myself.

[Berzerker]

is propanylol a statin?

[Dr Strangelove]

is propanylol a statin?

Do you mean Propanolol? No.

[Dr Strangelove]

Do you have absolute clinical proof of your statement?

There is too much conflicting information for me to decide.

I admit that VLDL is likely a bad thing, but the standard cholesterol test leaves much to be desired as opposed to a comprehensive lipid profile.

My take is that if VLDL is low (a calculated value based on triglycerides) and HDL is high, then you immune system is enhanced and your HDL is enough to chase VHDL out of your system.

As I understand it, there are 4 categories of LDL and the 2 low density categories are not good whilst the 2 upper (larger particles) are not as bad and may be as beneficial as HDL, however as standard test does not differentiate.

Statins are likely beneficial for High triglycerides, high VLDL, low HDL types.

Or am I fooling myself.

Most of the long term studies of the benefits of statins haven't looked at fractions of LDL. Generally they either use calculated LD(based on measured total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL) or directedly measured total LDL, The benefit of lowering LDL cholesterol to target level in patients with high or moderate risk factors for coronary artery disease is pretty dramatic.

[Spaced Cowboy]

But obviously I'm not in that group, with my high hdl and low vldl what is my group? Where is a reputable place to explore information on that angle?

[Carreidas]

is propanylol a statin?

That's a propanolol, a beta-blocker used to control physical symptoms of anxiety.

[DanS]

Counterintuitively, I found that decreasing my carb intake and increasing exercise lowered my weight and cholesterol -- cholesterol intake didn't seem to make any difference. It took a long time and I was only borderline on cholesterol, so YMMV. The doc wanted to put me on statins, but I shied away from it.

[Berzerker]

That's a propanolol, a beta-blocker used to control physical symptoms of anxiety.

hmm...is it also used to lower bp and heart arythmias?