Cholesterol Treatment

[Jas]

Okay, so my dad has high cholesterol. It's the good kind though (HDL?)

Now, he's had the MRI screenings, and there's no blockages, obstructions, etc. He's in perfect health, correct weight, mid-fifties, eats well, yadda yadda yadda. His doctor, however, is recomending that he takes a cholesterol lowering drug (I can't recall the name offhand.)

The trade off though, is that this drug will destroy your liver over time.

So why would it be beneficial for him to take it? If he's not having any cholesterol related problems?

 

[to.by]

If your fathers LDL cholesterol is even higher, I would have recommended drugs. It doesn't look like that is the case apparently.

 

[Physiotherapist]

The drugs that are normally given for cholesterol problems are the Statin type drugs, so could be simvastatin or something similar.

With cholesterol though the differences between the LDL and HDL need to be weighed up against each other with the overall total cholesterol level.

Perhaps your dad could just ask for it to be monitored and continue with his normal lifestyle. If he has no problems other than that, then this may be a good option.

 

[El Greco]

What exactly are his HDL, LDL, triglycerides levels ?

 

[Bikewer]

Whence this "destroy your liver" information? Only a small percentage of people on statin drugs show any tolerance problems, and they are generally identified by liver-function blood tests.
I've been taking statins for about 15 years.

 

[Jas]

I don't know the exact level, though it I recall correctly, it's like 80% HDL, and 20% LDL. I should check with him, I'm not sure if he's in town today or not.

I believe the medication in question is Lipidor (sp?).

With the 'destroy your liver' info, I'm assuming that it came from his doctor. There is the possibility that it came from Satanica though.

 

[Dogdoctor]

Doesn't make sense to me. I suspect there is some information missing or misinterpreted. Statins should further raise HDL so what is it going to do for him?

 

[casebro]

Here's a link to another thread on this site:

<http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51460>

It has some intersting links to other sites.

It seems that the studies discount side effects by not counting early drop-outs in their final tallies....

 

[TruthSeeker]

It's difficult without the numbers to unravel this. But, my parents (yes, both of them. Ain't love grand?) had borderline hypertension. Their doc had them see a nutritionist and start a daily exercise program. After a few months, they were, and remain, well within normal limits.

I don't know how old your dad is. But with older folks, like my parents, the fewer chronic drugs the better and the lifestyle changes will benefit them in other ways too.

 

[Bikewer]

Those with borderline figures for cholesterol can frequently achieve normal limits by diet, excercise, and so forth.
A fairly large class have very high numbers even with good habits. When I got mine checked for the first time, about 15 years ago, it was 360 total! This with cycling 100+miles per week, and in excellent shape overall.

Numbers like this indicate a genetically-induced problem. My doctor put me on Lipitor, which promptly brought me into the low-normal range. Been on some sort of statin ever since. We changed HMOs about 8 years ago, and the new one did not consider Lipitor to be on it's "preferred" list. (pricing difficulties with the manufacturer) So, they switched me over to Zocor, which I've been using ever since.
Numbers stay the same, regardless of diet. As I understand it, past age 70 high cholesterol numbers have little effect on mortality rates, and frequently medication is dropped at that point.