021mk said:
My doctor tells me that TRT (Iam presently on 10 mg patches) will increase my cholesterol, but other people have said that it will lower it. What are the experiences of people ragarding that? Also, I've tried Lipitor and Crestor with no problems, but now that I am on TRT I get a cramp-like feeling on my knees, and I am wondering if the combination of statins with TRT may cause that side effect.
Prior to going on TRT my cholesterol was a 170. I stayed roughly in that same range until I went on a five-month trial period of Remeron (an AD medication that was being tried to see how it would do with controlling a hypercortiolism problem). Four-months into that trial period my cholesterol was something like a 268 and my PCP doc wanted immediately to put me onto statins! I had already done my homework and pointed out that one of the side effects of Remeron was that it highly elevates cholesterol levels (so he backed off). A month after the Remeron was discontinued my cholesterol level was back down to about 180 (and has remained in the 170 - 180 range).
Anyway, you went on statins without first checking whether cholesterol levels actually even went up or not?
Statins are the darling drugs of the Big Pharms. You know, like the cox 2 inhibitors like Bextra and Vioxx were before the damaging studies came out in regard to the increased risk of cardiovascular and stroke side effects! Now one can't go through an hour show on the TV without seeing at least one statin drug commercial...
Well, the damning evidence is started to mount up that cholesterol hasn't been the boogeyman that it has been made out to be (by "research" conducted of course by the Big Pharms that want to sell you their statin drugs). It is appearing more apparent that arterial inflammation is the primary cause of the clogged artery version of cardiovascular diseases...
One of the primary sources of such inflammation (though there are likely several) is by the substance Homocysteine. Homocysteine has been shown to be an independent risk factor for the premature development of coronary artery disease and thrombosis.
Some various commentary:
Homocysteine Test: This test is intended for use in screening individuals who may be at risk for heart disease and stroke. Studies have shown that even moderate levels of homocysteine pose an increased risk for arteriosclerosis compared with the lowest 20th percentile (<7.2 mcmol/L) of population controls.
Until very recently, fats and cholesterol in the diet were blamed for causing heart disease even though no convincing evidence, from years of medical research, shows them to actually cause hardening of the arteries. Scientists have even proven that pure cholesterol does not cause arteriosclerosis... (Researchers) found that elavated levels of blood cholesterol is a symptom - and not a cause - of heart disease... (Researchers) found that the homocysteine level in our blood soars when we have deficiencies of one or more of these critical B vitamins. Homocysteine is toxic in large amounts and damages the blood vessels and arteries. Plaques form as a result leading to arteriosclerosis and heart disease as well as blood clots, stroke (etc)... specifically important nutrients are the body's regulator of homocysteine and are the mechanism for keeping it under control and at low levels... Homocysteine itself is not "bad" - it is needed in the body's tissues to break down complex proteins. This is the process known as the methylation cycle. Methylation is the process that breaks down complex proteins into simpler, usable proteins. If this process is not completed efficiently, cells cannot complete their function, and poison, in the form of homocysteine (HCY), escapes into the bloodstream. The methylation cycle can be impaired by stress, environmental factors or nutrient deficiencies (especially of the B vitamins), and allow homocysteine to escape into the bloodstream where it is toxic. High blood levels of homocysteine (HCY) can cause severe damage to the human body...
In addition, other inflammation causes:
A growing consensus amongst scientists is that common disorders such as atherosclerosis, colon cancer and Alzheimers disease are all caused in part by a chronic inflammatory syndrome... The New England Journal of Medicine recently published three articles showing that the presence of blood indicators of inflammation are strong predictive factors for determining who will develop coronary artery disease and suffer cardiac-related death... One of the inflammatory markers the New England Journal of Medicine identified is a protein called fibrinogen. High fibrinogen levels can induce a heart attack via several mechanisms, including increased platelet aggregation, hyper-coagulation and excessive blood thickening. The New England Journal of Medicine studies showed that those with high levels of fibrinogen were more than twice as likely to die of a heart attack... Another inflammatory marker reported on was C-reactive protein. This marker indicates an increased risk for destabilized atherosclerotic plaque and abnormal arterial clotting. When arterial plaque becomes destabilized, it can burst open and block the flow of blood through a coronary artery, resulting in an acute heart attack. One of The New England Journal of Medicine studies showed that people with high levels of C-reactive protein were almost three times as likely to die from a heart attack...
"A three-year follow-up on a study of people taking cholesterol-lowering statins, who had a heart attack, revealed that they had a significant amount of calcium in their coronary arteries... Now even the traditional doctors are questioning the benefits of taking statins."
"The most startling fact about 2002 is that the combined profits for the ten drug companies in the Fortune 500 ($35.9 billion) were more than the profits for all the other 490 businesses put together ($33.7 billion).[12] When I say this is a profitable industry, I mean really profitable. It is difficult to conceive of how awash in money big pharma is." - Marcia Angell, a former editor of the New England Journal Of Medicine - Statin cholesterol-lowering drugs are the top selling class of prescription medications and they earn their makers more than $20 billion annually. More than 25 million prescriptions have been dispensed world-wide, yet heart disease is still the leading cause of death in developed countries...
"Researcher Dr. Beatrice Golomb warns the studies generating the bulk of the positive press were funded by the companies that make the statin cholesterol-lowering drugs, like Pfizer, which earns $9 billion a year from Lipitor... Funded by the government and not the drug makers, Golomb is taking an independent look at studies already done on statins, pinpointing severe muscle problems, which Pfizer has disclosed, and cognitive dysfunction - not mentioned in patient leaflets... "We have people who have lost thinking ability so rapidly that within the course of a couple of months they went from being head of major divisions of companies to not being able to balance a checkbook and being fired from their company," says Golomb, an assistant professor or medicine at the University of California in San Diego. Golomb says statins hamper the brain's performance and trigger other serious problems. She's leading an independent clinical trial to find out what harm statins may be doing. The results should be out in a few months."... The research comes during a time when statins are now being questioned by doctors and patients alike. Dr. Golomb says, "From the reports that come into us, people are experiencing severe muscle weakness, which is also linked to cognitive problems." Those cognitive problems include everything from the inability to recall names or balance a checkbook to forgetting whole episodes...
Also:
The following two are "pdf files":
Of course, this is all strictly just IMHO....
Larry
WTF???).
