youtube.com/watch?v=PXe2xld...
I love that man!
For all those that still think they need statin... - Thyroid UK
For all those that still think they need statins, cholesterol gives you a heart attack and that high blood pressure kills...
Written by
greygoose
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Read more about...
50 Replies
•
Thank you, sparerib. Why couldn't I do that??? lol
↖️Oh ... Just WOW ! So pleased I refused statins .... How can I find this guys name please?
S'funny..........my doctor refused to test cholesterol until I told her I won't get TSH tested.... needless to say, I have no idea because I'm a total idiot. She didn't test fT4 and fT3. But my HDL was super high. 2.2
The ratio of LDL/HDL was stellar even though LDL was a bit on the high side.
Who cares!!
This cholesterol business is business. Nothing else.
This guy has a fat neck. He keeps clearing his throat. He's got esophageal reflux during apnea episodes while he sleeps. His vocal cords are getting burned. So there! He'll have a heart attack while he sleeps. He's got abdominal obesity. As an aside.... He's no poster boy for good health.
Do you know any doctors thatare posters for good health? My first endo looked so thin and pale and lifeless that when she asked me how l was, l felt like saying, never mind me, how are you??? Physician, heal thyself!
But he's an intelligent man, l presume he knows about his own health problems. And the fact that he has health problems of his own probably makes him a better doctor.
It's like my friend says to me, if you know so much about these things, why aren't you in better health? And l say well, imagine what sort of state I'd be in if l didn't know anything!
I read a book years ago about a healer. He was losing his eyesight and eventually went blind. I can look up the name if you want. I think he was living in England. And the question was asked him if he can heal others why can't he heal himself?
I think the focus on others reduces the focus on oneself. This can be deleterious to health for sure.
It's like the elderly lady who has to care for her ailing husband. No body knows that the lady has colon cancer until the husband dies. (This was someone I knew. She died a couple of years later. But she was having problems and never said anything to anyone. By then it had metastasized to the liver.)
Then hyperfocusing on oneself to the exclusion of others is also not good. It can be perceived as obsessional and neurotic especially when there's nothing really going on. These are the middle aged ladies who line up the pills and capsules, usually at least 14 of them, beside the glass of water on the dinner table prior to having a meal with friends. And everyone sort of rolls of their eyes since it would appear the 'meal' consists of supplements and herbals and vitamins.
We need a middle road here.
Ha! That is another source of irritation! And my friend is guilty of that one, too. Once, when seeing me sorting out my suppléments after breakfast, he was asking what each one was for, and, after lengthy explanations, he said huh! I prefer to get all that from my food! Well, so would I, dolt-head, if I were capable of doing so! It is so annoying when people judge you by themselves.
I take mine well away from other people's field of vision. My kitchen has a shelf of capsules and pills and probiotics. You know, the vitamin D3, K2, A, Lutein. etc. Omega 3 oil (which I have not taken in ages......) Maybe I should.....
I get supplement fatigue. You can't take this with that, you have to take this 4 hours after that, this other one is best taken with meals, this other one is best at bedtime...........fehhhh.
I've gone on supplement strike at times and discovered it was not a great idea.
So it's not all placebo. But I'm damned if I can figure out which are which.
Last summer, when I fell ill, I was taking sooooooooo many tablets of this and that, that I couldn't even remember what they were all for. But I stopped everything dead when I went into hospital - including the T3! I just couldn't cope with it all anymore.
Since then, I've been more selective, reading up carefully before starting anything, and starting them one at a time and noting any effects - good or bad. If bad (like glutathione) I don't take them anymore. I'm now on lithium/B12/B complex; vit D3; Ubiquinol; vit C; alpha lipoic acid in the morning, and magnesium/zinc in the evening. This regime seems to suit me - although I don't think the ALA is doing much - and I feel much better than I have in a long time. I do Wonder about vits A and E but that will be for some time in the future.
I don't hide my suppléments from people. The fact that I have to take them is part and parcel of being me, and if people can't accept that, then too bad! It's the whole package or nothing! lol
What's the lithium/B12/Bcomplex? We can't get low dose lithium here but it's available in the USA. A small amount is apparently not a bad thing to trial.
Mine is 5 mcg. I think I got it on Amazon, but I wouldn't swear to it. If not, it was on Biovea.
The idea is that lithium helps with absorbtion of the B12. And, of course, the B complex because the Bs all work together. It seems to have worked for me. Right now, I'm out of B12 - it's in the post! - and I really do notice the difference! I can't wait for it to arrive!
Another thing that made a big, big difference to me was adding zinc to my magnesium. That allowed me to come off the 4+ Ibuprofen I was taking daily (for the past 15 years, at least) for muscle pain. Haven't had much in the way of joint pain ever, but the muscle pain was crippling. Now, mostly gone and I was so relieved to give up the pain killers! You hear such bad things about them.
Interesting but unavailable here alas.
The magnesium glycinate experiment is ongoing here for muscle pain. Except I can't really tell if it's the increase in thyroid hormone or the magnesium. But the pain is reduced. Either I can cope with it better or the muscles are stronger or the magnesium is helping. Too many variables to be sure but reduction in pain, whatever the reason, is a plus. The pain used to just totally drain me of energy. Now it's mostly a nuisance. I get my zinc from oysters so not concerned about low levels on that front. It's the magnesium that I think can be problematic.
For example, chlorophyll contains magnesium in the position where hemoglobin contains iron. But if we eat lots of green stuff, how much of that magnesium do we absorb from it? We absorb 30% of the iron from heme sources. Can we assume it is about the same percentage for magnesium? If so, then taking a highly absorbable magnesium supplement is a good idea.
I don't think you can count on absorbing anything, especially when you're hypo!
Be careful of the iodine in the oysters! Don't know how you can bring yourself to swallow the awful things. Ugh. It's not so much the taste, they just taste of sea water to my mind, but the look of them!!! Besides, I don't like the idea of swallowing a living creature alive. I'm terribly squeamish! lol
I'm amazed you can't get zinc in Canada. Not even on the internet? That's the way I get all my stuff, either from Amazon or Biovea. As you've probably read me say before, I can't abide pharmacies! Well, the pharmacians, anyway.
Lithium is what we can't get. Anything with any lithium in it is verboten.
I buy the frozen oysters from the Korean supermarket.
I have no idea how much iodine is in an oyster. I guess I'll check it out. I only know that they are a zinc bomb and contain a goodly amount of vitamin K2.
Pity they're so ugly! lol OK, so they're frozen. So do you cook them?
So, what is the problem with lithium? Do they think you'll get high on it or something?
Yes, I cook the oysters. They have no objectionable flavour or smell when cooked. In fact, they are very mild.
Health Canada puts the kibosh on lots of things from being admitted into the country. There are spring waters that contain small amounts of lithium, but these are not permitted to be imported. There are supplements which contain small amounts but cannot be imported either. It's Big Brother overload. They think they are protecting us and making sure we have to get medications of all kinds from Big Pharma instead. And pay hand over fist for them. It's not actually about health, it's about money. I'm sure there are plenty of kickbacks going on. Corruption at all levels of government.
We just got the documents from the Panam Games expenses. Wow. Give these b****ds a credit card and they bill the taxpayers for all sorts of things. Why would a senior executive need to take a course on 'Essential Writing 101'? Or the CEO who is extraordinarily well remunerated charge on taxpayer funded credit card $900 worth of shirts from the most expensive mens' store in town? This kind of thing is entirely endemic. This is nothing. It is the tip of the iceberg.
Well, I thing that's a world-wide problem, not just Canada. Things like that are always being exposed, but nobody does anything about it.
OK, so tough for the lithium. It's like NDT and HGH being illegal in France. But not for money reasons, just because those that make the laws are terrified of hormones and too stupid to learn anything about them! And they don't give a you-know-what about the people that are suffering because they can't get them! Same old, same old.
Meantime the French ladies of a certain age are on HRT to the tune of 200 mg progesterone per day plus estrogens...... they want to preserve their youthful appearances. 
Pick and choose your hormones, ladies..... Oh well, maybe better than ending up looking like a Sharpei. I guess.
I don't know how common HRT is in France. Nobody has ever admitted to me that their on it! lol But I think that if certain law-makers had their way, all hormones would be banned!
One of my doctors prescribed Melatonin for me. I went to pharmacy - but only because I didn't have anyone to go for me!!! I gave the woman my prescription, and she said oh, melatonin is illegal. I said no it isn't. She looked confused and had to think for a minute. Well, she finally said, the situation is confusing, and it probably will be illegal soon, so we're covering ourselves by not selling it. And she had such smug, self-satisfied look on her face as she said it... And if there's one thing I can't stand it's smug and self-satisfied... Well, you know me... lol I went for the jugular! She didn't look nearly so smug when I'd finished with her!
Another pharmacist refused to fill my prescription for DHEA, because, she said, she refused to be responsible for the conséquences!!! What conséquences?!? It's just total ignorance! Makes me so mad.
Ah, you can buy all the melatonin you want over here. DHEA was made illegal not all that long ago.
Back in the 1990s melatonin was illegal and available from under the counter at the healthfood store. Now it's in Costco in gigantic bottles. I always figure it's legal because it does nothing. I took it once and felt like I had a hangover in the morning. I gave the bottle away to a friend who takes it chronically. He takes 10 mg and tells me he feels really groggy all the time... well, duh.
So you did the Goosey thing at the pharmacy! But their 'reasoning' smacks of the same sort of thing pharmacists in the USA do by refusing to fill prescriptions for birth control pills. I didn't think the French were as bonkers. What's it to the pharmacist? It's the doctor who is on the hook if prescriptions adversely affect the patient.
I tell you the claims made for certain drugs totally make the mind boggle. This year, a report came from the UK that Tylenol (acetaminophen) is useless for arthritic pain. Doesn't stop the company from advertising that it does. And way back in time, Ibuprofen was a prescription only drug until, I guess, they figured out it does little or nothing. Now it's common as dirt on the pharmacy shelves.
Aspirin is still the best if you can stomach it. Alas, I cannot. Don't know what happened but c'est la vie.
Aspirin has never done anything for me, but Ibuprofen has been a life-saver!
The thing about pharmacists in France is that they're all wannabe doctors, and they all think they know more than the doctors. It's a power struggle. They are always questioning prescriptions and asking things like : why did your doctor prescribe you this? Goosey : because he considered I needed it. Pharmaclown : but what for. Goosey : ask him, he's the doctor. Pharmaclown : but what did you go to the doctor for in the first place. Goosey (seriously losing patience) : if you think I'm going to discuss that with you, in front of all these people, then you've got another think coming. Now give me my prescription!!!
You see why I never go to pharmacies anymore? lol
They recently went on strike, here, because there was a proposed law allowing things like aspirin to be sold in supermarkets (which they aren't at the moment). The pharmacists were out-raged! We were stepping on their territory! They even like to control who has what OTC pain killer.
The funniest thing was when I had the temerity to ask for vit D3. The pharmaclown said it was prescription only. 'Because it's dangerous!' she bellowed. But, I said, you can buy it over the counter in Belgium. 'In Belgium they do what they want,' she said, her arm clutched across her chest, her voice reaching fever pitch, 'mais ici c'est la France!!! (this is France)' And I swear I heard the Marseillaise playing in the background!
They are getting somewhat like here too. A few years ago they were given permission to give flu vaccines.
Now this is how 'honest' they can be: 21,000 people were billed to the Ministry of Health by pharmacists for more than one flu shot in one year. One individual 'allegedly' had 18 flu shots in one year. Most had 4 or 5. Not only is this fraud but it's also really stupid. We don't know if the pharmacists who did this actually got paid for this fraud. Probably did. The Auditor general made the announcement, along with a whole extensive long string of other frauds and questionable government spending.
hell. handcart.
You would think that someone would have to be extremely stupid to do a thing like that. But then again, perhaps they knew how extremely stupid the auditors are...
'pharmaclown' : I like that. Fortunately they are not all worthy of this appellation.
If you are not a native French speaker (I'm just surmising), then do you think the pharmacist is more aggressive and obnoxious toward you? Or does this one treat all the customers the same way? You'd think people would just go elsewhere. I certainly would. Vote with your feet and your money. Sheeesh.
lol You mean are they racist? No, I don't think so.
I haven't actually stood and watched the way they interact with other people with that aim in mind. But what I have noticed is that people go in with prescriptions as long as your arm, and smile sheepishly at the person serving them; answer all the stupid questions they are asked and then doff their cap servilely as they stagger out with their loaded bags. Of course the pharmacists love them! They're making them money!
I don't do that. I go in with a prescription and say: I don't want that, don't want that, don't want that, just give me my hormones! They lose potential money with me.
Also, I refuse to answer their questions and ask ones of my own, such as: do you have cough sweets without sucralose? And they say: nothing wrong with sucralose, it's exactly the same as suger. And I tell them in great detail why it isn't! They don't like that.
I once even told one woman (my favourite, looks like a turkey and wobbles when she gets angry with me lol) that she'd better do a refresher course before she killed somebody. It was just a friendly observation, but she didn't like it.
But other people believe them when the tell them that fluoride is good for you. Other people don't argue. So, I think that might have something to do with it. lol
I tried hrt in the hope that it would help lower my cholesterol. It made it significantly higher!, so no more hrt.
And but 'cherie' the French ladies smoke, drink, eat cheese, eat offal, walk around a lot and it seems they don't give a fig about their cholesterols.....LOL! I honestly don't know.... I know that in Italy the doctors think the focus on cholesterol and statins in North America is to laugh at. That I know. Whether the French doctors have the same viewpoint, I don't know. Probably Goosey would be a good source of information for this.
Gabkad, you're making the same mistake everyone makes - Paris is not France! Once you get out in the wild with the potato bashers, it's a whole nother story!
Yes, you might get sophisticated ladies about town that drink and smoke, but I would hazard a guess that the average French woman doesn't smoke, or drink, except for a glass of wine with her meal.
But they do eat!!! They may pay lip service to their figures but they still like to eat and think that they can compensate for that with the occassional low-fat yoghurt.
And I'm not criticising them for that! Offal is very good for you - and doesn't raise your cholesterol. But then, nothing you eat does, despite what people imagine.
But, unfortunately, cholesterol consciousness is slowly creeping in. But only because their doctors are just as ignorant as doctors in England and places. Although, hats off to my last doctor, he never once mentioned it, or tested for it! But, yes, some doctors will get you on statins if they can. Although I don't think it's quite as bad as in England.
And people have no idea why! They don't know what cholesterol is. I don't think the average French person is as clued up on health matters as in some other countries. But maybe that's just because I don't know many people that aren't on thyroid forums! lol Even my Facebook friend list is made up mainly of people I've met on various forums.
When I was in hospital this time last year, the cardiologist was just out of med school, with a bed-side manner that would make Attila the Hun look stoopid. He sat at the end of my bed and barked out questions, and if he didn't like the answers, he belowed 'wrong!'. You know, just the type of doctor Goosey loves! So, he was barking out his questions and I was answering in mono-syllables too, and he said 'cholesterol?' And I said, yes please. Had him completely foxed! lol But on the whole, French doctors are of the opinion that it's impossible for cholesterol to be too low. I would beg to differ...
I was just reading a Telegraph article from last year December about this. Wow.... USA has highest rate of statin ingestion. Then Australia, Canada and Britain. France is far down the list.
No way I would take statins. I have enough muscle pain as it is. Which reminds me: take the magnesium! I don't know really truly how much effect this is having but I will continue to persist since it's not harmful. Unlike taking calcium which bungs a person up.... I was having a chuckle about how it is alleged that people taking only calcium have a higher incidence of heart attack. Yeah well isn't that why Elvis died: straining on the toilet? (Although not from taking calcium pills.)
These statins sure make big money,
Yup, they're a gold mine for Big Pharma. I wouldn't take them, either. Nasty, nasty things!
My friend took them for years - not because he had high cholesterol, either. Doctor said, just in case, given his age... Well, first he became diabetic, then got gout (pretty sure that was from the statins) and then prostate cancer.
And I warned him. Right from the start I warned him. But, he didn't listen. His reasoning for not listening - well, what would she know, look at the state she's in, not exactly a picture of health! Now is that illogical or is that illogical??? Makes me so mad!
He did give them up once, and felt so much better, he couldn't believe it! But then his doctors got working on him, and bullying him, and he finally gave in and started taking them again. Sigh.
But, he did have the grace to apologise, and say he should have listened to me all along. Better late than never, I suppose.
No one has even dared to suggest I take statins. It's so odd though. Doctors I know well tell me they'd never take them. But they are 'standard of care' according to government bureaucrats and therefore doctors have no choice but to prescribe them (in case something happens and etc.). But prescribing them does not mean a patient must fill the prescription, as you know. I don't know what the 'hand in glove' deal is between the doctors and the pharmacists in Britain, but over here, if I get a prescription filled or not, my doctor won't know. Big brother hasn't gotten that big, yet.
My cousin was put on blood pressure medication years and years ago. He was always upset about his job. When he got on the meds, oops, wee willy winky would not longer stand to attention. Well, let me tell you, becoming impotent is a much better stimulus package than me telling him he needs to learn how to cope with the emotional stress. He, in the end, took this literally to heart and learned not to get all worked up about stupid stuff. He started to reduce his dose and eventually took nothing. His blood pressure was normal and his doctor was congratulating herself that the medication was working. I asked my cousin, why doesn't he tell her he's not taking the pills anymore. It took him another 6 years of being off the meds and having normal blood pressure by the time he confessed.........and his cholesterol numbers are always stellar. The doctor is jealous. LOL!
It's terrible! I was prescribed a load of stuff for my 'heart condition' last year. I didn't believe I had one, and I still don't. And the tablets made me so ill! I tried to talk to the doctor and the cardiologist about it but they weren't having any of it! I was to stay on the stuff and that was all there was to it. Well, no. Once I'd recovered from my original complaint - which had nothing to do with my heart or, I don't think, my thyroid, I ditched the heart meds - slowly and carefully, of course, but ditched they were! And then I could start to really heal!
As it says in this video, the body looks after itself. I've always believed that! Although, last year, the doctors tried to persuade me otherwise. I believe that a lot of what made me ill was nutritional deficiencies (well, that would be thyroid, indirectly). Lots of people lack vitamins and minerals - or even hormones - but nobody lacks a dangerous drug!
I don't think anybody knows if you don't fill your prescription in any country. As I said, I never fully filled mine, just the hormones, please! lol
I think probably it takes time for the body to rebuild strength if someone's been hypo for a long time. And it's age related too. .Older people don't just bounce back.
I've noticed better muscle tone for the past few months since dose has been raised to 'good'. I have not even tried being a pseudo Olympian. Just adding activities as is comfortable to do so and backing off when I'm overdoing it.
But heart stuff is, yes, hypo. Terrible. Hope your heart has managed to recover.
I use HRT because otherwise I get vicious hot flashes and am feeling hot all day long. (not hot in a good way).
Yes, it does take time. And I've been hypo most of my life. It so annoys me when doctors say 'aren't you better yet?' (and partners, too, come to that!).
There was nothing wrong with my heart in the first place! It was like my back. They operated me for a slipped disc that I didn't have! True I had very bad back ache - crippling back ache - but the surgeon could only concentrate on slipped disc and continued with scans and god knows what until he could just about see something that looked like a bit of a slipped disc... so that he could operate! And I was so desperate I would have agreed to anything.
However, subsequent consultations have more or less confirmed that I never had a slipped disc and he buggered up my vertebrae just for fun! All he wanted to do was operate and all the cardiologist wanted to do was stuff me full of drugs. I've been informed that it happens far more often that you would think. All I can say is, haven't they got enough really sick people to look after that they have to drag 'healthy' people in off the street??? Pfft!!!
I guess I was really 'Lucky' in that respect because I didn't even know I was going through the menopause. Not so much as a single hot flush! I'd had a hysterectomy when I was 41, so i didn't have my menses to go by. I've no idea even when it was. Still, there's so much other stuff going on, I reckon I deserve some sort of break!
No one, so far, except for tubal ligation, has ever stuck a scalpel into me. Phew.
I had/have to cervical disc herniations and the pain management specialist emphasized to me 'do not let anyone do surgery on you'. Eventually yoga and a pillow that contains water solved the problem.
The other one in the midback seems to be getting better now after 8 years. I think it's the thyroid meds for this one. The muscles are stronger and don't go into spasm as easily. Not to say they don't but I'm not doing 'THE Scream' on the way home from work at the end of the day. Some days it actually doesn't hurt at all and some days only for part of the day so this is a miracle. I'm optimistic that maybe in the next year it will <> for good.
This is where the endo gave me one of those jaw dropping moments. I'm taking one of the T3 doses at 9:30 p.m. She says to me 'your heart does not need the T3 while you sleep'........wahhhh? I didn't want to get into basic sleep medicine with her, but it is while we sleep that we heal and that does requires thyroid hormone. Not to mention, the god I do not believe in, in his wisdom set up our circadian rhythm such that T3 pulses up at 10 p.m. and stays up until 10 a.m. then goes downwards. There MUST be some good reason for this.... needless to say dose 1 is remaining as is and dose 2 is at 6:00 a.m. (or thereabouts).
Well, for goodness sake! What does an endo know about thyroid!!! You would have been better off asking the postman, or the woman that works in the local Starbucks! How do they get away with it!
Not enough given I ended up self medicating, feel better, blood tests are excellent and she is objecting to the fact that I break up my 25 mcg T3 tablets. Although she did write the script for the 100 mcg T4 that I started to take with out her knowledge or consent.
It's amazing. She claims that the dose is unpredictable when the pill is sectioned up. I suppose she does not have much personal experience at 'pill chipping'..... So she refused to write a script for the T3. No matter.
When I win some money on the lottery, I'll be able to justify the enormous expense of buying the 5 mcg tablets. (I just had a script filled for 50 25mcg tablets which will be 250 doses, at two doses per day = 125 days for $82. If I buy 250 5mcg tablets it will cost me almost $300.) I'm willing to tolerate a miniscule discrepancy here and there on any one given dose. Since half life is about 36 hours on average, the slight variation is not going to kill me.
I think the thing is, she doesn't have much experience of anything thyroid. I am coming to seriously believe that people should only be allowed to treat thyroid if they have a thyroid disease themselves! But even then, if they had Hashi's, the wouldn't know about Graves and vice versa. It really makes you Wonder why they decide to become endos.
Imagine the scenario : small child is asked by adult 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' Child replies 'I want to be an endocrinologist'. Adult asks what an endocrinologist does. Child replies 'I don't know, I just like the name!' And hey presto! Their wish is granted!!!
Why would you want to lower your cholesterol?
I want to raise mine, but I'm not going as far as taking hrt! No way! lol
Lithium is one of the old mood stabilisers for people suffering from Bi polar affective disorder.
Yes, but in much higher doses. And it's still used for that. But that still doesn't explain why it should be forbidden in Canada.
Very Interesting thanks 
I've got no thyroid anymore I am on 200 levothyroxine a day and my blood pressure is high. They want me to go on pills for it. My cholesterol is very low.
my tsh is normal so they won't do more tests but ferritin 29 and d3 low 27
Are you supplementing the iron and D3?
I got 800iu pills from doc but after 6 months it's still same I'm going on 9th jan because when I called I was told results normal then I was told they were 27 ! no change!
I asked nurse to chicken iron she said haemoglobin fine so iron will be and wouldn't test. I'm going to ask doctor ferritin is 29 she said 10 or over is fine!?.
Pft! They know nothing! If I were you, I'd post a question about that. Lot's of people knowledgable about iron.
My preoccupation is with B12. And that should be up around 800. When mine was 200/300, my doctor said it was 'perfect'. It certainly wasn't! Been much better since I started supplementing. He would test iron. Said it wasn't important. Ignorant whatsit!
They won't test my b12! I am fed up being cold and tired and achey I'm only 41 feel rotten
Thyroidmeg, 800iu isn't enough to build your D3. You need something like 5,000iu daily for 6/8 weeks to build levels and then cut back to 2-2,500iu for another 3/4 months and then retest.
Do make sure to retest. I was deficient last year, had loading and maintenance doses to correct and I've been taking 5,000iu daily since March which has overshot at 384 (75-200) and I've been told to cut back to 5,000iu per week.
