Pratoman said...
Lol at your last sentence, in context , thanks TA.
Two things I want to ask the Dr.
1. Should I try a different station?
2. Should I stay on Crestor but every other day, or 5 mg.
My LDL measured 2 weeks go, was 28 (no typo) total cholesterol was 106. I think I've got some room to play.
BillyBob@388 said...
Good grief. 28 and 106? Perhaps your worries are due to dementia caused by not enough cholesterol for you brain(and body) to function correctly, considering cholesterol is essential for numerous bodily functions? ;) Now before anyone cuts me a new one, which is no doubt about to happen, this is just my usual disastrous attempt at humor. Still though, 28 and 106? Very, very impressive. Especially for me. Since I have never come close to approaching such levels, at my worst I run 4 times the LDL and twice your total. (although I do tend to run only from 40-80 on my Triglycerides, and my BP usually runs between 103-130 over 60 or so. Been more often about 130 lately, what's up with that? But no prescription meds)
Still, despite such sorry #s, you might recall that when I broke down and had that calcium scoring test that you and I have discussed in the past, the one my doc wanted me to have- as he said- to further quantify my risk- because any other doc would already have me statins already- I scored the lowest possible, zero.
What? How? With LDL and total numbers like mine- indicating a high risk for me- and all the fat I eat- how could I also score the lowest possible risk on the test that actually looks to see how gummed up your arteries are? Now I realize you had a calcium test that did not go as well as mine which led to your treatment. But I am wondering if your C. #s were super bad before you got that calcium test, like maybe a lot worse than mine? Anything there to indicate that you would have less than optimum numbers on that calcium test? I guess I am just wondering if cholesterol clearly does not tell the whole story?
Just out of curiosity, what are your triglycerides, CRP and blood pressure? Also, have you ever had that Calcium Scoring test repeated?
Seems to me that if there is a statin that does not have such an influence on your blood sugar, that would be more optimum for your overall health. Since we know that blood sugar is itself an influence on diabetes(pre or actual), and insulin, and we know that those things strongly influence CV risk whether or not they influence PC. So even if the other statin did not work as well and you skyrocketed up to LDL 30 or 40, or a total C. of 120-140, still, good grief. How low can a human actually go on the cholesterol scale and be overall healthy? Is zero a healthy goal? ;) But seriously, would you be better off with a fasting BS of 90 and an LDL of 40, or a FBS of 120 and an LDL of 28? I obviously do not know the answer. But those might be good questions to ask you docs.
Either way, it seems you don't have much to worry about, at least not anything any of us can do much about, we are just mainly talking theory of what is better for you. So don't worry anymore, and I am sure that now that you have had this talk with all of us, you won't. smilewinkgrin
OK, I joked about
maybe you have dementia due to not enough cholesterol for your brain, which is the spot where there is more cholesterol than anywhere else in the body. But, this is interesting since I have been insisting to my wife and others for years that people seemed to be getting and dying from dementia more often and at younger ages than during my youth. She says I would not have noticed when I was young. But I think I would have notice if family friends in their 60s lost all brain function and died from it. So I just stumbled onto this:
www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/11/07/dementia-now-britains-biggest-killer-overtaking-heart-disease/Somebody said...
Dementia now Britain’s biggest killer, overtaking heart disease for first time..........
The switch is being driven by the ageing British population, combined with improvements in heart health, as more people are prescribed statins and beta blockers to cope with high cholesterol and high blood pressure......
Year-on-year, we are seeing more people conquer and survive serious health conditions like heart disease, but deaths from dementia continue to rise.....................One in three people over 65 will develop dementia, and two-thirds of people with dementia are women.
There was also this:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/elder/11984307/Scale-of-dementia-death-trebles-in-a-decade.htmlSomebody said...
Dementia and Alzheimer’s accounted for one in seven deaths of women last year, compared to just one in 21 a decade earlier
And this:
/www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/27/dementia-becomes-leading-cause-of-death-for-australian-women Somebody said...
Dementia becomes leading cause of death for Australian women
And this:
www.dispatch.com/content/stories/national_world/2015/08/06/study-finds-more-develop-dementia-earlier-die-of-it.htmlSomebody said...
Study finds more are developing dementia earlier and dying of it....................
The study, which compared 21 Western countries between the years 1989 and 2010, found that the disease is now regularly diagnosed in people in their late 40s and that death rates are soaring.
The study was published in the Surgical Neurology International journal and its findings publicized in the London Times newspaper on Thursday.
The problem was particularly acute in the United States, where neurological deaths in men over 75 have nearly tripled and in women have risen more than fivefold, the leader of the study, Colin Pritchard from Bournemouth University, told the London Times.
Scientists quoted in the study said a combination of environmental factors such as pollution from aircraft and cars as well as widespread use of pesticides could be the culprit, the newspaper reported.
Early-onset dementia used to cover people developing the disease in their late 60s. Now, it’s meant to mean people much younger than that, the research showed.
The study found that deaths caused by neurological disease had risen significantly in adults ages 55 to74, virtually doubling in the over-75s.
about 60 percent of the increase in deaths was attributed to dementias. about 40 percent covered other neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease, scientists told the London newspaper.
The sharp increase in death rates from dementia-related diseases cannot be blamed simply on an aging population or stepped-up diagnosis, Pritchard said.
“The rate of increase in such a short time suggested a silent or even a hidden epidemic, in which environmental factors must play a major part, not just aging,” he was quoted as saying.
Other experts quoted by the newspaper were skeptical about the causes for the increase.
Tom Dening, professor of dementia research at the University of Nottingham, said that falling death rates for cancer and heart disease could account for the spike in deaths from neurological disease since people “had to die of something.”
“We can’t conclude that modern life is causing these conditions at a younger age,” Dr. Simon Ridley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, told the paper. “We know that Alzheimer’s and other dementias can have a complex interplay of risk factors.”
So, what's up with the dementia? It is hard to miss when someone you know dies of dementia in their 60s. I don't recall ever knowing anyone die from that in their 60s when I was a young man. That did happen to folks well over 80. In recent years, I have had several acquaintances in their 60s die from it. Is the age of onset really dropping, and death rate really soaring? Or is it just because we are living longer, though that would not change the age of onset.
One article seems to want to blame it on environment, and maybe so. But could it be any of the drugs that so many people are on? What sayeth Y'all? ( EDIT: it will probably turn out to be the hyper-insulemia (sp?) of the general population in these modern times. It will just be one more result of the metabolic syndrome. I am saying this because I have obviously become obsessed with excess blood insulin and decided it causes all of our ills!
)
Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 11/8/2017 8:29:43 AM (GMT-7)