erol?Cholesterol is made by your body in the liver. It’s a waxy, fat-like substance found in the walls of cells in all parts of your body, from the nervous system to the liver. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs in order to work the right way. It uses cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Cholesterol is also found in foods with a large percentage of saturated fats, such as egg yolks, whole-milk dairy products, and high-fat meats. Cholesterol travels in the bloodstream in small packages called lipoproteins. Two main kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol in the blood. It’s important to have healthy levels of both. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL-C, is called “good” cholesterol because it takes cholesterol from tissues to the liver, which removes it from the body. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL-C, is called “bad” cholesterol because it carries cholesterol to tissues, including the arteries. Most of the cholesterol in the blood is the LDL-C form. When the level of LDL “bad” cholesterol in your blood is high, the condition can be serious. By itself, high cholesterol does not cause any symptoms, so many people are unaware of it. And that is why you need to have you cholesterol checked regularly. Statinsare a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver. Last year, nearly 21 million patients in the US were on statins. Whether to take statins or not involves a complex mix of factors like age, family history and blood pressure. So, recently Federal officials and medical experts said the new alerts should not scare people away from statins. The value of statins in preventing heart disease has been clearly established. Their benefit is indisputable, but they need to be taken with care and knowledge of their side effects. And as of this morning, scaring the crap out of you must be one of those side effects. The excess blood sugar side effect, which can lead to diabetes, seems to be in a minority of the statin users, but with millions on the drug, the number that are affected with diabetes seems high. As for the ah ......ah..... forgetfulness part of it, reports have been revealed that show that some patients on statins felt unfocused or "fuzzy" in their thinking after taking the drug. I probably wouldn't know it was affecting me that way since I feel warm and "fuzzy" all the time. As for the muscle pain part of the warning, there have been well over 100 studies demonstrating the muscle-harming effects of these drugs. And since the heart is such a vital muscle, healthcare providers are starting to wonder if the side effects are worse that the benefits they provide. I guess more research is needed to truly determine that and in the meantime we have to decide whether we want to risk taking statins or not. For me, I get a yearly checkup with blood tests that help my doctor tell if all my vital levels are OK what they supposed to be. What else can you do. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
The "Statins: The Good and the Bad" Story
It was an ordinary day. And, I just heard an alert! Heard the news that one of my daily medications may cause memory loss, forgetfulness, confusion, muscle pain as well as diabetes and elevated blood sugar. I have been taking statins for many years, after my cholesterol level had reached about 200. And they really work, at least for me. Cut my cholesterol almost in half. Just what they were designed to do. Exactly what is cholesterol?Cholesterol is made by your body in the liver. It’s a waxy, fat-like substance found in the walls of cells in all parts of your body, from the nervous system to the liver. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs in order to work the right way. It uses cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Cholesterol is also found in foods with a large percentage of saturated fats, such as egg yolks, whole-milk dairy products, and high-fat meats. Cholesterol travels in the bloodstream in small packages called lipoproteins. Two main kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol in the blood. It’s important to have healthy levels of both. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL-C, is called “good” cholesterol because it takes cholesterol from tissues to the liver, which removes it from the body. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL-C, is called “bad” cholesterol because it carries cholesterol to tissues, including the arteries. Most of the cholesterol in the blood is the LDL-C form. When the level of LDL “bad” cholesterol in your blood is high, the condition can be serious. By itself, high cholesterol does not cause any symptoms, so many people are unaware of it. And that is why you need to have you cholesterol checked regularly. Statinsare a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver. Last year, nearly 21 million patients in the US were on statins. Whether to take statins or not involves a complex mix of factors like age, family history and blood pressure. So, recently Federal officials and medical experts said the new alerts should not scare people away from statins. The value of statins in preventing heart disease has been clearly established. Their benefit is indisputable, but they need to be taken with care and knowledge of their side effects. And as of this morning, scaring the crap out of you must be one of those side effects. The excess blood sugar side effect, which can lead to diabetes, seems to be in a minority of the statin users, but with millions on the drug, the number that are affected with diabetes seems high. As for the ah ......ah..... forgetfulness part of it, reports have been revealed that show that some patients on statins felt unfocused or "fuzzy" in their thinking after taking the drug. I probably wouldn't know it was affecting me that way since I feel warm and "fuzzy" all the time. As for the muscle pain part of the warning, there have been well over 100 studies demonstrating the muscle-harming effects of these drugs. And since the heart is such a vital muscle, healthcare providers are starting to wonder if the side effects are worse that the benefits they provide. I guess more research is needed to truly determine that and in the meantime we have to decide whether we want to risk taking statins or not. For me, I get a yearly checkup with blood tests that help my doctor tell if all my vital levels are OK what they supposed to be. What else can you do. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
erol?Cholesterol is made by your body in the liver. It’s a waxy, fat-like substance found in the walls of cells in all parts of your body, from the nervous system to the liver. Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs in order to work the right way. It uses cholesterol to make hormones, vitamin D, and substances that help you digest foods. Cholesterol is also found in foods with a large percentage of saturated fats, such as egg yolks, whole-milk dairy products, and high-fat meats. Cholesterol travels in the bloodstream in small packages called lipoproteins. Two main kinds of lipoproteins carry cholesterol in the blood. It’s important to have healthy levels of both. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or HDL-C, is called “good” cholesterol because it takes cholesterol from tissues to the liver, which removes it from the body. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL-C, is called “bad” cholesterol because it carries cholesterol to tissues, including the arteries. Most of the cholesterol in the blood is the LDL-C form. When the level of LDL “bad” cholesterol in your blood is high, the condition can be serious. By itself, high cholesterol does not cause any symptoms, so many people are unaware of it. And that is why you need to have you cholesterol checked regularly. Statinsare a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol levels by inhibiting the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, which plays a central role in the production of cholesterol in the liver. Last year, nearly 21 million patients in the US were on statins. Whether to take statins or not involves a complex mix of factors like age, family history and blood pressure. So, recently Federal officials and medical experts said the new alerts should not scare people away from statins. The value of statins in preventing heart disease has been clearly established. Their benefit is indisputable, but they need to be taken with care and knowledge of their side effects. And as of this morning, scaring the crap out of you must be one of those side effects. The excess blood sugar side effect, which can lead to diabetes, seems to be in a minority of the statin users, but with millions on the drug, the number that are affected with diabetes seems high. As for the ah ......ah..... forgetfulness part of it, reports have been revealed that show that some patients on statins felt unfocused or "fuzzy" in their thinking after taking the drug. I probably wouldn't know it was affecting me that way since I feel warm and "fuzzy" all the time. As for the muscle pain part of the warning, there have been well over 100 studies demonstrating the muscle-harming effects of these drugs. And since the heart is such a vital muscle, healthcare providers are starting to wonder if the side effects are worse that the benefits they provide. I guess more research is needed to truly determine that and in the meantime we have to decide whether we want to risk taking statins or not. For me, I get a yearly checkup with blood tests that help my doctor tell if all my vital levels are OK what they supposed to be. What else can you do. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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