posted
I've been getting my blood work now for over 5 years and my cholesterol is up and down... and at first my LLMD said that cholesterol medicine is just a racket and doesn't believe in taking it, although he does believe in not letting it get out of control either. He told me once that it might just be my profile. So do cholesterol problems come with lyme and does lyme affect it? I've heard that lymies can't seem to lose weight.
So if the reference range for cholesterol is: 140-200 and mine is 227..how bad is that truly?! The highest it's been is 235 and lowest is 200.
BUT, my Trig range is 35-160 and i'm at always in the 250 and higher range, but i have no idea what i'm eating to drive it that high, seriously. I need for someone to tell me what i'm eating to drive it this high. I eat tons of fruits and veggies, lean meats, mainly chicken.
My DLDL is always high as well. The range is 0-100 and it's between 146-150. What does that mean?
I've also had for the first time my blood chemistry that says BUN, range of 7-18, show up high and increasing 19 and 20, don't know what this means. Can someone please help me make sense of this???
Posts: 124 | From nashville, TN | Registered: Nov 2008
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
I had one llmd get absolutely furious with me because I would not take statins. By cholesterol was not that high either
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
Do not take statins. They can cause SO MANY PROBLEMS. For ME, I would NOT worry about a count of 227. NOPE, sure wouldn't...but that's me.
(mine is around 160)
There are many natural things you can take:
policosanol red yeast rice omega 3's Vitamin E
Your testing numbers are not alarming, just a bit high. Triglycerides are driven by sugar. Maybe you eat too much fruit.
Add avocados to your diet.. healthy fats will HELP, not hurt.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- I came back after searching for "statin" detail in my notes but can't find it.
Do NOT take Statins, I echo LymeToo's advice on that but can't seem to find all the reasons I thought I had somewhere in my file about that.
But, indeed, there are OTHER ways and, actually, these cholosterol tests and interpretations may not be all they are cracked up to be, anyway.
For us, it starts with a good diet, of course but also LIVER SUPPORT is absolutely vital to help control lipids / fats. If the liver is stressed, cholesterol will show it.
CARDIAC Explanations & ENERGY SUPPORT, helping the Mitochonidria and myelin sheath.
Lyme causes all kinds of adrenal dysfunction. THAT causes trouble for cholesterol, too. Adrenal support is absolutely vital for anyone with cholesterol issues. Absolutely. Vital.
posted
If you wanted to lower it you could take Cholestrymine or Welchol. These things bind to to cholesterol and Lyme toxins.
So you'd get a double whammy.
Posts: 845 | From Northeast | Registered: May 2011
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
smiley, I'm fairly new at all this heart & cholesterol controversy. So I can't answer your questions. Hoping someone can help shed some light.
I have another appt with my cardio in June and I'm dreading the statin lecture. In Dec he let me know that my decision to not do statins in his eyes is very dangerous. He told me, you aren't looking at maybe having heart disease, you have heart disease.
I've already dropped 40 points in a little over a year. It was 233 last blood drawl. My other cholesterol numbers have really improved also. Trig dropped to 109, HDLC dropped.
But my LDLD too is 165 (0-130). It's all too confusing when you have inflammation from head to toe due to TBI????
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6495 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- For on-going care, if the cardiologist is not LL, IMO, they can be no good - even dangerous - for those with chronic lyme.
Basically, everyone with chronic lyme has heart involvement. That's nothing new at all. But a good LL doctor would know that - and know how to work with it. Statins can cause so much damage. So much.
Also, IMO, any doctor who insists upon statins as the only way to approach this would never be a doctor I could have confidence in for anything. There are many other, safer ways to approach this.
Please take a look at the Cardiac thread above. Also try to find a LLMD to guide you to the best cardiologist they know.
A LL ND might also be a good choice for other ways to address this. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Integrative / Holistic M.D., etc. (Be aware that those in this category can have various levels of formal herbal &/or nutritional education, perhaps even just a short course. Do ask first.)
Links to many articles and books by holistic-minded LL doctors of various degrees who all have this basic approach in common:
Understanding of the importance of addressing the infection(s) fully head-on with specific measures from all corners of medicine;
knowing which supplements have direct impact, which are only support and which are both.
You can compare and contrast many approaches.
BASIC HERBAL EDUCATIONAL & SAFETY links,
BODY WORK links with safety tailored to lyme patients,
LOW HEAT INFRARED SAUNA detail,
BIOPHOTON - BIONIC 880 (& PE-1) links, and
RIFE links. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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lax mom
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 38743
posted
My husband tried Red Yeast Rice for a year with no luck. He now has to take a statin. It's not ideal, but he supplements with CoQ10.
posted
I have a friend whose idiot Dr wanted her cholesterol to be around 130 .. (way too LOW!!)
Well, she ran out of her statin drug recently and realized that the drug had been causing horrific pain in her legs. Now she refuses to go back on them.
Good for her! Dr Oz had some Dr on TV last month telling about the dangers and the Big Pharma's push to get everyone on statins. Basically a scam.
I think it even states that statins are worse for women than men.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i tried red yeast rice for quite awhile. i sincerely believe it contributed to my yeast getting way out of control.
my friend uses niacin long term and swears by it. i've never tried it tho.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
My cardio did give me options to statins. He told me diet and exercise were my only options. Well diet, I'm doing better. But exercise.............
I would give anything to be able to exercise again. I have tried over and over again to going back to being the walker I used to before illness.
A few years ago I got into YMCA heated water exercises for 18 mths. 2-3 days a week at one hour. My last day there, I became scary ill during the class. Dizzy, heart palpations, weird feeling.
My gut told me stop, something isn't right. Knowing today that I had coronary artery disease going on inside me for years, probably is the reason why I never stepped back into the pool.
The book I started reading 2 days ago "Whole Body Dentistry" by Breiner, repeats the statin therapy is bad, bad bad.
Breiner suggests talking with cardio about doing CQ10 in place of statins. I've already decided my next cardio appt he is going to tell me what he knows about lyme & the heart.
If he's lyme stupid, he might be replaced. Chances of finding a lyme literate cardio in Louisville, Ky????
Sorry about my rant. It shouldn't be this difficult for people to find good medical care in this country.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6495 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Sammi
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 110
posted
Are you hypothyroid? Hypothyroidism can cause high cholesterol.
At one time I had high cholesterol, and it was not diet related. When I got proper thyroid treatment my cholesterol numbers normalized.
Posts: 4682 | Registered: Oct 2000
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Abxnomore
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18936
posted
Statin Nation Documentary. I'd never take them either.
posted
Plenty of things in Lyme patients can cause high cholesterol. The short answer is that everything from inflammation from the disease itself to other systems being out of whack etc... can cause an elevation. There are many LL physicians and others who are more on the cutting edge of functional medicine who realize that for most patients, including many chronically ill individuals with Lyme or other tick borne diseases, Statins are not healthful.
The entire approach of looking at cholesterol has changed immensely ever since statin drugs have been marketed so extensively; Prior to their induction, I know some currently practicing older physicians who were taught in med school not to even worry about total cholesterol until 250+! Today however, the nearly entire field of cardiology has been bent toward prolific statin use. Don't get me wrong, statins do have benefits, but they were originally designed for patients who had extremely high cholesterol (there are patients in excess of 300+ etc..) who were not responsive to other treatments. For someone with a 400 count and arterial blockages, the risks of statins may be worthwhile, but I feel it is asinine to prescribe them to everyone who slightly breaks 200. Much like how potent antipsychotics are now being prescribed for commonplace depression that didn't resolve itself after first-tier SSRIs were thrown at the problem.
Do your own research and see Lyme-literate practitioners. Try treatments and therapies that lower inflammation, ensure that your endocrine system is on track (hypothyroidism, sex hormones etc... can all raise cholesterol), and consider trying high-quality supplement protocols to help lower your cholesterol and other lipid issues. Fish/Krill oil, niacin etc....
The vast majority of Lyme patients with high cholesterol tend not to be extremely elevated, but simply breaking the "norms" by a few points, which is easily explainable by their illness. Throwing them on statins I feel is often the wrong course of action.
Posts: 691 | From East coast, USA | Registered: Jun 2006
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Razzle
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 30398
posted
And not everyone with Lyme has high cholesterol... Last time mine was checked, it was 102 (that's total cholesterol).
-------------------- -Razzle Lyme IgM IGeneX Pos. 18+++, 23-25+, 30++, 31+, 34++, 39 IND, 83-93 IND; IgG IGeneX Neg. 30+, 39 IND; Mayo/CDC Pos. IgM 23+, 39+; IgG Mayo/CDC Neg. band 41+; Bart. (clinical dx; Fry Labs neg. for all coinfections), sx >30 yrs. Posts: 4167 | From WA | Registered: Feb 2011
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lymetwister
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19590
posted
Four words:
"Google Linus Pauling Protocol"
Posts: 1227 | From District of Columbia | Registered: Mar 2009
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posted
Back pain has been the one constant - Guess what? It got so bad after I started the statins the Dr put me on that i was bent over in pain - told him I'd rather die today than ever take a statin again....
Posts: 277 | From NY | Registered: Jun 2005
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Abxnomore
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18936
posted
The link I posted above about statins deals with the bad side effects of taking statins as well as the politics of it.
Posts: 5191 | From Lyme Zone | Registered: Jan 2009
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