I have been on statins for 8 years , my diet was poor, smoked, little or no exercise diagnosed diabetes type 2, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I quit smoking, lost 3-4 stone and overhauled my diet and exercised a little more. For the last six years my cholesterol has been 3.8.
Two months ago I was started on Insulin as due to Thyroidectmomy/B12 my pancreas has packed up and wasn't responding to any tablets. since starting insulin my latest blood test show cholesterol has increased to 4.8, diet hasnt changed other than Ive reduced snacking and only have a snack ( Fruit or crisps) with my lunch.
Im on a number of tablets for various things.
Metformin
Glipizide extended-release
Propranolol
Losartan
Amlodipine
Simvastatin
Levothyroxine sodium
Calcitriol
SandoCal
Hydroxocobalamin 1mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules Every 12 Weeks
Humulin M3 Insulin Pens
Thanks for any input
Written by
jobey30
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jobey30 my initial response to what you have written is to say that a cholesterol level of 4.8 is nowhere near high. Have you not followed any of the recent news on statins? Statins are dangerous and, certainly for most people, totally unnecessary. Our body's need cholesterol. It is the building block of life. I don't know your age but, as we grow older we need higher levels of cholesterol to keep us healthy. Check out youtube videos about the cholesterol myth like this one by Dr Malcolm Kendrick youtube.com/watch?v=8ls9HWR... and/or do a google search for 'Catalyst: Heart Of The Matter' - ABC's 2 part documentary by Dr Maryanne Demasi.
As far as your diabetes goes, your pancreas probably packed up because of the statins. No matter what you have been told, this is a common side-effect of taking them. It is not easy but it is actually possible you might repair some, if not all, of the damage done to your pancreas by making changes to your diet - others have. Just for a start watch this video by Dr. Sarah Hallberg, a diabetes specialist, for the success her patients have managed to achieve youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvig... Unfortunately the current dietary guidelines are not conducive to health, nor have they been since the latter part of last century. The problem started with the McGovern Report in 1977 and has only got worse. But then they do say it takes something like 50 years to learn from our mistakes so, perhaps, the changes in thinking now being evinced is the first step on that ladder. A change to your diet might improve some of your other conditions too and result in reduced medication.
Since you are taking Calcitriol have you also been told about vitamin K2? Vitamin D helps the body process calcium but it needs vitamin K2 to lay it down in the bones, otherwise it floats around in your bloodstream and ends up in muscle tissue. precisionnutrition.com/stop...
I would actually recommend further changes but think that these 3 make for a good start - get off statins, change your diet and add k2 to protect your bones.
'For every 5,000–10,000 units of D3 being recommended and tested for, we are recommending 100 mcg of K2 mk7 to be sure and prevent the inappropriate calcification that higher doses of D3 alone could cause.'
The very best way to get your vitamin D dose is to bare some skin and go out in the sun (best between 10 and 3) for at least 30 minute a day. Your skin should actually be at the point of turning pink, certainly warm to the touch, but at higher latitudes and dependant upon season this might be difficult. It is also available in a limited number of foods (mostly fish).
Vitamin K is also readily available in the diet (K2 in animals, K1 in plants and converted to K2 after digestion). A great source of K2 that benefits the body in many other ways is kefir.
When taking vitamin D you should also ensure that there is adequate magnesium (also present in Kefir) and vitamin A in the diet too.
Sorry rocheen I thought that I had replied to you when you posted your question. I apologise and hope that the following helps.
There are a number of reasons why blood pressure might be high nhs.uk/Conditions/Blood-pre... but for most people, whether they are overweight or not, the reason is likely to be too much sugar in the diet and the only way you are going to resolve that is to change your eating habits.
When I say sugar, I am not just referring to the white (or brown) stuff that comes in a bag. I mean carbohydrates in general and processed ones in particular. Our bodies can only cope with so much but with modern eating habits throwing such huge amounts at us, plus what the farming and agriculture industries have done to our crops, many people are becoming intolerant. Metabolic syndrome is one of the consequences. nemechekconsultativemedicin...
An alternative or additional reason could be the balance between your essential fatty acids (omega 3 and omega 6) womentowomen.com/inflammati...
Omega 6 causes inflammation. This is an important part of maintaining a healthy body however the disproportionate levels of 6 in our diet are, again, causing metabolic syndrome. An excellent alternative to vegetable oils would be grass fed ghee - it also has a very long shelf life.
There are various diets that can help from really strict LCHF ones like the ketogenic diet ketogenic-diet-resource.com... to somewhat more relaxed ones like this authoritynutrition.com/low-... depending on how much of an issue your BP is for you, how quickly you need to bring it down and whether you also need to lose weight.
High doses of turmeric are known to lower blood pressure but I would not recommend this as a treatment plan as, at the necessary level, this cannot be used sustainably.
What I have found is that we are all different and because if this we react differently to diet, pills and exercise. As for Statins if they are not causing you any problems then carry on. There are millions of people who take them with no problems.
Just a suggestion you say you have snacks if fruit or crisps it could well be that both of these is the reason your blood sugars have increased. Fruit although good for you from a fibre point of view and various minerals can cause blood sugars to spike in some people. Crisps who knows what are in them but would be worth checking if they spike you. Fruit does not spike me and as i say we are all individual.
It is fortunate then that cholesterol per se really isn't the demon it was made out to be
Lifestyle changes such as adopting an anti-inflammatory diet will help correct any imbalance. Just cutting out sugars (including manufactured carbohydrates, sugar alternatives and any fruit juices) and sweeteners will have a dramatic effect on blood cholesterol levels.
I am pleased my cholesterol is low, it used to be a lot higher and now for the last five years it has been 3.8 my point was that it has raised since starting to take insulin. I have been on medication for several years for thyroid, diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol and my cholesterol has always been the same but since starting insulin it has risen, I wondered if there was a connection that anyone knew about.
Takes all sorts jobey30 but if you'd rather live on medications then yes there possibly is a connection. Insulin helps control the manufacture of cholesterol. Now that you are managing your condition in this manner it could well be that your insulin dose is allowing your body to raise your cholesterol up to a healthier level.
In reality the blame doesn't truly lie with the modern health professional.
The evolution of modern pharma is quite a convoluted story but basically back at the beginning of last century two big business men who were into developing pharmaceuticals got together and decided to fund medical training in certain Universities in exchange for being able to influence that training. Of course the way that they used their influence was to train doctors to use their products. And so Big Pharma was born. So was the word Quackery. Quacks were doctors who hadn't gone through Big Pharma medical school (there were a lot of them at that time). Then Big Pharma used its money and influence (money talks) to change legalisation. This new legislation made it illegal for any practitioner (read Quack) to prescribe/recommend a treatment that hadn't gone through medical trials. It didn't matter that these treatments that were being outlawed had been proven as effective for 1000s of year, they were banned as 'unsafe'. Thus modern medical training concentrates of relieving symptoms rather than looking at the bigger picture and getting to the root cause. So, hypothetically, you end up with a tablet to lower your blood pressure, another to lower your cholesterol, another to reduce your oedema, another tablet to relieve the side-effects of the other tablets you are taking, a pacemaker and an antacid to sooth your poor beleaguered stomach - instead of being advised to eat better, take a couple of extra vitamins and get some fresh air & exercise to cure the inflammation that is causing your poor heart to have a dicky fit.
It was Regan, I think, who cut funding to independent medical research leaving it to fall under the purview of Big Pharma. So now, not only were they manufacturing the drugs, they were in a position to influence how they were tested and corrupt the data to give the preferred results. You can see how they did it in part two of Dr Maryanne Demasi's documentary.
Oh, and returning the subject of diet, the probable cause of your dicky heart in the first place is the result of dietary guidelines that were formulated in response to recommendations by the 1977 Govern committee. Those recommendation? To increase carbohydrates in the diet and reduce fat - against the advice of all the major specialists in the field. Just about every current ailment can be traced back to this. And resolved by ignoring it. Unfortunately, thanks to the influence of aforementioned evolution of modern medicine, there is next to no nutritional training on the curriculum in medical schools. At best the majority of doctors may get one lecture.
OK this is a little simplistic but the wonders of the internet is empowering people to research information and the voices of those earlier major specialists are being heard. Their advice is being taken up and verified by results.
At the moment this information is not obvious. You still have to really search deep to find it and you do have to be careful to eliminate the influence of outdated and/or poor research, those with an axe to grind, out to make money or in the pay of the drug companies and those who haven't cottoned on to how we have been misled. But it is there if you look.
My research into this began some five years ago when my mother was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and I have been horrified to learn how we have been misled. Though I have always been wary of pharmaceuticals because I react so badly to them. I am also horrified by the misinformation being fed to her by her 'specialists' within the bounds of current practises. But it is her illness and she has to cope with it as she sees fit. And, at the end of the day - no matter my feelings on the subject - so do you.
However, if you decide you want more information, let me know what and I'll provide other links for you to read or watch.
Hi linlow - I would be grateful for the links, so I can be better read on the matter and try and sift out things. Im actually feeling slightly better now Im on the insulin, sugars are better controlled and I have more energy so starting to get a bit of a life back, with gentle walking exercise and pilates. I use to do high impact exercise 3 times a week but that all crashed to a halt when thyroid problems kicked in so Im not worried about chloesterol level other than wondering why it has gone up. Thanks for all your help ( Everyone)
Ok, starting with the place I myself started with cholesterol - 'The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease' – a book by Uffe Ravnskov MD PhD smashwords.com/books/view/4... you can either read it online or read it on your pc or reader (if you have any problems accessing it let me know).
Uffe was so concerned about what was going on with cholesterol that he made his book free on the internet to spread the word.
And another video (have you watched the two I posted earlier yet?) The Cholesterol Conundrum - and Root Cause Solution youtube.com/watch?v=fuj6nxC...
Why blame jobey30 ? It was me who was relating the history! And it is already costing money, you only have to study the NHS budget to see just how much it is costing.
As far as having one life to enjoy, there are millions dead today because they followed the guidelines who would love to take you up on your suggestion.
And I am back Sorry to take a while but I have been trying to find you links that weren't all videos. Because the information is scattered all over the place, I ended up with close on 60 links and thought that far too much for you so I have tried to whittled it down. If there is anything that doesn't make sense let me know.
Since the change in dietary guidelines I mentioned earlier the global incidence of diabetes has quadrupled yet government guidelines are still recommending that carbohydrates are the best way to maintain good health. The NHS's Eat Well Guide, replacement to the Eat Well Plate, has made some changes but it still recommends ⅔ of the diet to be carbohydrates nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pa... This despite evidence to the contrary authoritynutrition.com/23-s... (one study gives stats for diabetics). Sweden, after a protracted enquiry, started making a move in the other direction in 2003 livinlavidalowcarb.com/blog... when it recognised a high fat, low carb diet as a valid treatment for the likes of diabetes and obesity (check out dietdoctor.com on youtube for videos about this). Even diabetes associations are beginning to contest NHS advice diabetes.co.uk/diet/low-car...
There are 3 macronutrients Carbohydrates, Proteins and Fats that supply all the micronutrients in our diet. Our bodies have a nutritional requirement for proteins (essential amino acids) and fats (essential fatty acids) but no (zero) actual requirement for carbohydrates. Zero carbs would, in the long run, lead to deficiencies because there are certain vitamins and minerals that the other foods don't supply or don't supply in sufficient quantity - oh, and fibre. However these deficiencies can be met by eating vegetables. That sugars, breads, cakes, pastries etc entered the market after the change in guidelines is down to the food industry spotting a way to make a fast buck (and our propensity for a sweet tooth). That government guidelines nowadays include these in dietary advice is down to the power of the food industry and, to some degree, fear of population revolt - to cries of 'nanny state'! Hindsight is a great teacher victorianweb.org/science/he... since additives and adulteration are major factors in today's processed foods, what will our descendants learn from what stocks our supermarket shelves?
A calorie is a calorie - we all know that, it's the second law of thermodynamics - carbohydrates and protein give c4 calories per gram whilst fat provides c9. So fat is bound to make you fat, right? Except once those calories have been consumed what the body does with them is entirely different healthyenough.net/calorie-c... In the gut carbohydrates are quickly digested and converted to sugars for energy. However we can only cope with about a spoonful of sugar in the entire blood stream so what isn't used immediately is converted to fat and stored for later - except by the time later comes we are hungry again so eat more carbs. Protein digestion actually burns some 20 to 30% of the calories consumed, whilst at the same time it takes much longer so increases satiety for longer. (There are other foods such as celery that are considered negative-calorie so can be eaten in any quantity.) Fats again slow down digestion and keep you full for longer. There are two fats that are essential, omega 3 and omega 6 drweil.com/drw/u/QAA400149/... Omega 3 is anti-inflammatory whilst omega 6 is pro-inflammatory yet guidelines suggest we should eat mostly omega 6s. The modern diet has a ratio in the region of 1:16 but this level of omega 6 basically blocks omega 3 from doing its job and leads to an increase in various inflammatory disorders such as diabetes whilst diets rich in omega-3 fatty acids may decrease insulin resistance ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... Ideally the ratio should be 1:1 but recommendations range as high as 1:6 ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/124... The usual way we get those omega 6s may not be all it is cracked up too be telegraph.co.uk/news/health... but there are healthy options helpguide.org/articles/heal...
So! Modern medicine recommends control as the treatment for diabetes but proof abounds that it can be reversed. 'In the old days' (before insulin) the recommendation was for a totally carbohydrate free diet - not 100% successful but then they were mostly treating Type 1 and there was no other alternative. Now, the internet is full of anecdotal evidence of people curing their condition through diet alone, almost all of which is pooh poohed by doctors who believe they know better. However the doctors are being proven wrong ncl.ac.uk/press/news/2015/1... Having said that not all doctors are the same zoeharcombe.com/2012/05/dia... The following is a four part document explaining the issues of diabetes. I normally just post the last page, because of its dietary advice, but thought that you would be led to miss pertinent information if I did that, you can select earlier pages at the bottom of this one second-opinions.co.uk/diabe...
Further to the earlier video by Dr. Sarah Hallberg I'm including Professor Tim Noakes' The Great Diet Controversy discussing how, as a diabetic South African scientist & professor of Exercise, Science and Sports Medicine who had advocated carbohydrates as the healthy option, when he realised the harm it was doing he then went on to retracted that advice and issue a public apology youtube.com/watch?v=D0GSSSE... and Zoe Harcombe's The Obesity Epidemic on why current dietary advice doesn't work (without slides unfortunately) youtube.com/watch?v=ysoScJ2...
When I was younger I had a very close friend, a diabetic, who died far too early because he went along with the guidelines. I didn't know any better then but, when a doctor told my neighbour that the cancer that killed her was all in her mind, I started questioning things.
There are a couple of errors in what I have written (put it down to brain fog) but nothing that will lead you astray. I did try to correct them moments after I posted but the system wouldn't allow it for some reason.
Anyway, best of luck, best of health and do ask if I can clarify anything
Quote. 'People are fed by the food industry which pays no attention to health, and are treated by the health industry which pays no attention to food' - Wendell Berry
For healthy life, regular exercise, food and drinks intake control are important. What is in a number? who put these numbers, these numbers has been changing over the years, listen to your body clock.
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