General Chat

JoyLouise


Thank you :-)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/the-cholesterol-myth-that_b_676817.html

yes, well


I've also read recent reports regarding the "cholesterol myth"

If we're not careful there will be reports soon telling us that smoking is good for you :-D


Actually, I'm not kidding, at least not much ............

.......... in the early 1970s I was told by an unimpeachable source that the cigarette industry had done research and had the scientific evidence to produce statistics that proved the opposite of what everyone was then being told by the no smoking lobby


Statistics don't lie, you know :-D ;-)

Ron, my mum had terrible side effects from Statins.
In the end it came down to - do you want to live like an invalid for the next 15 years, or stop the statins and live a 'normal' life for 10?

Mum was born with a heart defect, told she would be dead by 14, then told she should never have children - it would kill her. She had 4 children.
When she was 75, she had the operation on her heart that she would have had soon after birth, had she been born nowadays.
This left her on Warfarin.
Then she was put on Statins.

These caused her muscle pain. Then she got gout. Gout is quite often associated with Statins. Mum stopped the statins, but was told to continue the medication for the gout. Her doctor never told her about the side effects of the gout medication.

It was the medication for the gout that attacked her weakened heart and killed my mum, aged 83.
So, you're an adult, you know how you feel, if what you're doing makes you feel good - go for it!!

Recent research has shown that lung cancer in smokers is greatly increased if the smoker is exposed to high levels of Radon, but even so, 15,000 to 20,000 lung cancer deaths each year in the US are due solely to Radon exposure - and this research doesn't take into account the lung damage/cancer caused by car pollution.

Across a stretch of water from England known to the French as "The Sleeve" live 60 million Frenchmen and women plus another five millions from here and there. Oh yes and half a million Brits.

Now focussing on northern France which is freezing cold in winter wet in summer and has nothing like a Mediterranean "healthy" diet. They eat lots of stuff whatever they fancy such as steaks, french fries, lovely patisserie full of cream, buttery croissants, any amount of red wine, creamy cheeses, Belgian beers and so on and on.

There is no health fashion for statins neither do they worry very much about high cholesterol. A perfect storm from the point of view of nutritionists in the UK, USA and Canada.

Yet life expectancy is years better than the UK, heart disease half as prelevant ( and survival rates after an attack way better than the UK) and you don't see half the population looking like Mr Blobby.

How so ?

Despite having much better productivity at work than the three countries mentioned the French tend not to snack between meals, comfort eat, drink without eating and above all they cook and eat real food inc lots of fish and fresh veg. French Sunday lunch takes at least two hours. Burger bars and the like exist but are pretty thin on the ground.

Recent research highlighted by the respected BBC science program "Horizon" suggests that the effectiveness of many types of medicine is highly correlated with the patient's DNA such that what works fine on one person fails on another and can even be harmful. This is a rapidly growing research area and of course rather puts the kybosh pn big pharm trials as their basic tenet is that all humans are much the same.

They are not.

Also Rollo, people like me who have bowel disease cannot absorb or process certain 'good' or 'bad' fats. I have my liver and kidney function tested regularly and I am deficient in vits B and D.

I eat a really good diet, lots of olive oil and fish, I cook 90% of meals from scratch. We eat home made pasta (hubby makes it) with prawns and varied types of small specialist tomatoes cooked in olive oil but have small quantities of sauces. If we make a bolognese sauce I have just a couple of dessert spoons only.

Lots of salad and vegetables, I do struggle with fruit TBH. The occasional splurge with doughnuts (naughty but nice). I hate sugar in drinks, don't drink pop or alcohol apart from the very, very odd glass of wine.

All of the above and still I suffer with high cholesterol levels without statins.

One size doesn't fit all and I have no idea if any of my aches and pains would be eased by stopping them but heart consultant wasn't keen to change any of my meds.

Oh for the days when I wasn't shovelling pills down every hour and a half :-|

Recent research has suggested that one of the reasons that the French do not have high cholesterol levels despite the high amounts of cream etc that they eat, is due to the concurrent consumption of red wine, though not to excess


BTW ........... I am lactose-intolerant, and do not eat cheese, cream, butter, or any other dairy containing foods. I do not add sugar to any foods. I have cut my salt intake. I do not drink any alcohol as it does not like me.

Yet, like Sue, I have a cholesterol level that is higher than it should be.


One size does not fit all, and it is no good anyone pontificating that their "size" is the one and only one.

I read somewhere recently (can´t remember where) that taking statins only adds 4 days to the patient´s life. :-0 :-0

Sylvia, due to medical problems, my doctor was sure I should be anaemic.
Blood test came back - no I'm not. I put this down to the 3 glasses of (very weak) red wine I consume every evening :-D

Wisechild -that's horrendous!
...and to think they wanted to put everyone over 50 on them once :-0

Politicians will always grab at whatever looks like a silver bullet to health problems even with the scantiest of evidence. They usually have some medical researchers / doctors to back them up.

Statins fall into this category.

Other current political hot favorites in the UK are

obesity ( it must be yr fault you fat lazy so and so ) even tho is is any amount of evidence that the problems of obesity are complex

back pain (that is no reason not to be fit for work)(it is all in your mind)(so what if you have MS you can work) etc etc even if a scan shows one or even two herniated disks
fav. treatment cortisone jab. mind bending pills - there is a women in the NHS who has built a little empire based on denying back treatment v pop with the Treasury

sugar - it must be good for you it is a matter of free choice

If ever you see politicians, especially of the right, and doctors singing the same song then be afraid. As it is of course the current UKGovt is in head on collision with the doctors from the most junior to top dogs.

gan canny

fwiw UK private occupational pensions are not subject to restrictions when paid to people outside of the UK although people need to work out the best way to draw it. It was the same for UK govt pensions ( teachers, police etc) until April this year. Now the pension will only be paid in the UK and the recipient will have to work out how to transfer it from a UK account.

if I don't take statins I keep thinking I'm having heart attacks - crippling pains in my chest - that's how it was discovered that my cholesterol was in double figures - well to begin with, 9.5, and when my GP suggested statins, I said, no, I eat the wrong things, I'll get it down - so I cut out cream, cakes, biscuits, crisps etc and went back a month later - it had gone up to over 11 - so statins it is and my reading is about 4.5 - it's familial he said - one or both of your parents must have had it

Rollo ....

I doubt that any private pensions, whether through work or subscribed to by the individual, are restricted in where they can be paid.

Canadian government pensions can be paid outside the country if the individual either lived in Canada for at least 20 years after turning 18, or lived and worked in a country that has a social security agreement with Canada and thus meets the 20-year residence requirement under the provisions of that agreement.

If neither of those provisions are met, the government will send the OAS pension payments outside Canada for the month the individual left and for six months after that.


The biggest restriction for individuals living outside the country is that many, if not all, provincial health plans will not cover them if they are out of the country for longer than 6 months and then return to Canada for less than one month. Special arrangements can be made for those working outside Canada, but this does not apply to seniors or those retiring elsewhere.


We have several friends who now live in various parts of Mexico ........ one couple returns to Canada every summer and stays up here for a couple of months. Another returns to Canada for a few days every 4 or 5 months.

I do not believe that politicians control medical problems .......... at least not here :-)

Our problem is getting the politician to believe there is a problem, and to provide funding for treatment, whether that be obesity, AIDS, hospital funding, etc :-D


Of course, we do have to pay for our own prescriptions, so that is very different from you ............. the Provincial Health Ministries and Feds in Ottawa do not have to find the money to pay for millions of prescriptions per year.

I had the same doctor for 28 years until he sadly died in 2013. My cholesterol level never went above 4.2 in the blood tests I had during those years. He never ever mentioned statins to me.

When I was transferred to a new GP in the surgery, my level was just the same....... so why did she try to convince me that the taking of this drug was necessary . Must say she looked a bit annoyed when I refused..... could this be part of the reason ?

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/555471/Medical-experts-furious-that-doctors-will-be-paid-to-dole-out-risky-statins

JoyLouise

Have tried many different statins and dosages of such to no avail. I'm happy with my decision to avoid them. Thanks for your thoughts

Thank you Maggiewinchester. Yup I'm quite happy with my decision

Quite agree Rollo

Joeva Yup. The more on statins the more they get

My doc (newly qualified and very young) years ago, said my cholesterol level was 'high', and suggested statins. 'How 'high' was my response.
'3.5 was his response.
'What 'should' it be' asks I.
'3'was his reply.
'You must be joking', was my response. 'How was that figure devised?'
'Don't really know', he said, 'It's the agreed level'.
'Well', said I, 'Give me another test in 3 months, if it's risen above 5, I may consider it - but it's highly unlikely I will agree'. (This was before my mum's experience)

I've had quite a lot of blood tests in the past 10 - 15 years. My cholesterol has stayed the same/become lower. My doctor no longer advises drugs for minor fluctuations to difference to the average 'norm' for me.

I had a blood test for my kidney (I only have one) about 3 months ago. It indicated kidney failure. I had another one a month ago - as it happens, after having a bladder scan, and drinking copious amounts (for me) of water.
I've heard nothing. Either their admin system has gone to pot, or the 'kidney failure' was just a 'fluctuation'!!!

I'm still here - so that says something, and I'm sure if I claimed disability allowance under the DWP, I would be refused!
:-D :-D

just had a biopsy for AKF
strange, prior to September I was ok,

then suddenly plunged to 21% recovered to 35% but more investigation required

so Stab in the back............"