There are much better natural ways to lower your cholesterol.
Gary
Posted by DoctorLuddite (Member # 13853) on :
I agree with lymetoo.
Posted by randibear (Member # 11290) on :
helllppppppp...
called my sis, the radiologist. she thinks, also, that those numbers are borderline. hdl was good she said, but the ldl is not so good.
she recommended more exercise (ugh), and cholestero off, is that right? two pills twice a day, and diet.
she said her hospital considers anything over 240 as high but 241 was not really that bad.
so please if anyone call recommend some stuff i'd sure appreciate it.
have a friend who's taking niacin, but man, his face gets beet red and i don't think that's all that great.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
randi i am going thru hell because of 6 months on lowest dose of statin
i didn't know it was hurting me cuz the sx were the same as lyme sx
i am still trying -with help-to figure out how to get my life back
please read some stuff on spacedoc.net
i just received the 3 books he wrote todsy
follow the STATIN POISONING thread for new info
good luck. be smart.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
You can buy a flush free niacin.
My husband's cholesterol dropped 100 points on RYR and Omega 3's. (4000 mg a day)
I take Vit E and it also lowered my cholesterol. Now it is just about perfect.
Posted by philly78 (Member # 31069) on :
I would try the natural supps, diet and exercise first as others suggested. We dropped my hubby's cholesterol by 60 just by diet and exercise alone. that was 2 years ago.
Posted by lululymemom (Member # 26405) on :
When we first started treating my daughter's cholesterol levels were also elevated. Our LLMD at the time told us most who have active Lyme have elevated cholesterol and not to worry about it.
Posted by Lemon-Lyme (Member # 19229) on :
Total cholesterol score is a meaningless number. What you really want to get is a NMR or VAP lipoprotein test. It's more accurate and will show a breakdown of LDL/HDL particle sizes and Lpa, which typically most doctors never even test for.
Your HDL is fine, but your LDL could use some work. You can certainly try diet, exercise + supplements first before medication, however.
As for supplements: flush-free niacin, or inositol hexanicotinate, is useless regarding cholesterol reduction. If going for niacin, you'd have to go immediate-release or something like prescription Niaspan. A recent niacin study, AIM-HIGH, was recently stopped early, however, as participants didn't show any benefit from Niaspan - but their LDL was very well controlled at LDL<70.
Tocotrienols possibly could reduce your LDL + trigs a little but, but data regarding heart disease reduction is sorta so-so as it hasn't been studied enough yet.
Red yeast rice should help, but make sure to follow up with liver tests and take CoQ10. And make sure it's a decent brand, as they have varying monacolin amounts depending on manufacturer. There are some decent studies showing it reducing heart disease risk in China, but the alcohol-based extract they used can't be purchased in the US.
Things like Cholestoff, etc. typically use plant sterols to reduce cholesterol. But there are no studies at all showing plant sterols reducing risk of heart disease. And simply lowering LDL, or raising HDL, via supplement or certain meds, doesn't necessarily mean reduced heart disease risk, as odd as that sounds. Plant sterols could simply take the place of cholesterol in one's arteries, as it's been found in plaque.
Exercising, eating good fats, such as olive oil, fish oil, nuts, and reducing carbs/wheat products in diet, should help.