Cholesterol (just asking again. ..)

[Justiina]

We are told how cholesterol is bad and it will kill us. We are told to go on a diet and avoid pretty much everything except sunlight. Well that causes cancer too. No can do. Best to buy a coffin as you can't dodge cholesterol.

But. Now follows another annoying (I call them valid questions as I think I am smart) question!!!

Why. One simple why.

One finnish doctor says hypothyroidism causes cholesterol receptors to slow down which causes cholesterol to pool in your blood instead getting converted into necessary hormones. Cholesterol is precursor to vitamin D for example, but that function is sacrificed in order to try convert other vital hormones which are. .. All steroid hormones!

I ran into another article stating that T3 is needed to convert cholesterol to other hormones.

So low T3 → pooling cholesterol which freaks out your doctor.

Well now to that question. If cholesterol has something to do with clogging arteries (even though it's calcium that is pooling because of lacking vitamin D) could it indeed be because of lack of steroid hormones which with hypothyroidism causes inflammation?

So lowering cholesterol artificially causes a vicious cycle where are your doctor is happy to see low cholesterol, but you are still hypothyroid, have low vitamin D no cholesterol to convert it, low glucocorticoids, low mineralcorticoids and low sex hormones.

Again , optimising T3 level seems important to achieve all over hormonal balance.

Oh, one more valid question. WTF?

Whomever developed statins is freaking genius. And that was sarcastic in case whomever that was happens to read this.

[greygoose]

Very well summed up!

But, the reason - as I've understood it - that they originally though cholesterol caused clogged arteries, is because, when they did autopsies, after people died of heart attacks, they found the arteries full of... cholesterol. What they didn't understand at the time was, the cholesterol was there to repair the damage done to arteries by inflammation. Cholesterol, among many other things, is nature's sticking plaster. So, what they should have done was put people on large doses of vit C, to help with the inflammation. But, there's little profit to be made in vit C. Statins are far more lucrative! Even if the thinking behind them is erroneous.

[Serendipitious in reply to greygoose]

greygoose is there a web link or a book that explains what you've said in more detail?

I've got very high total cholesterol and I'm frequently told by my GP that I need statins. Obviously I refuse each time. However, for my own knowledge and sanity it would be good to learn more. Thanks.

[greygoose in reply to Serendipitious]

Well, there is, but for the life of me, I can't remember where I read that. Have you read the book by Dr Malcolm Kendrick - The Great Cholesterol Con? He might say something about it in there. I haven't read it myself, because it's out of print. But, you might be able to pick one up somewhere.

[Serendipitious in reply to greygoose]

I haven't yet. It's still available from Amazon so I'll have a read at some point. Thanks.

[greygoose in reply to Serendipitious]

Oh, is it? I thought they'd sold out. thanks for telling me.

[Serendipitious in reply to greygoose]

Yes there's plenty in stock and the choice of a paperback or kindle version.

amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/184454...

[greygoose in reply to Serendipitious]

Thank you.

[Serendipitious in reply to greygoose]

You're welcome. Glad to be of help for a change 😉

I've amended the above with a link to the book.

[Justiina in reply to Serendipitious]

Here is some information that could help

forefronthealth.com/how-to-...

[Justiina in reply to greygoose]

Yeah I remember reading about cholesterol being like nature's plaster and it sticks to vein that is inflamed. It was Finnish book about cholesterol. It was also explained how people are fooled by showing how many death statins prevent. So the math behind is it genius again. Take a group of people that are not on statins, 1000 and then 1000 people on statins. From group A no statins 2 people dies during the time, from group B 1 people dies. Therefore you can say statins prevent 50% of deaths.

What is not told is that in group of statin users the risk of other illnesses increases rapidly which causes more deaths than it prevents.

Again genius. And shows how statistics lie.

[Zephyrbear in reply to Justiina]

If you have ever worked with figures, be that statistics or accounts, you can usually get them to tell the story you want to tell... 😂

[Justiina in reply to Zephyrbear]

That is so true! Statistics can be useful in certain cases, but like for example here in Finland they are running free health checkups , the issue is that it really falsifies statistics as they have noticed that only healthy, employed and somewhat rich people go to free health checkups. So all in all statistics might look like oh well everything fine in Finland, we are healthy and happy.

Poor, unemployed and ill people do not bother as they have been taught they are not worth it.

[greygoose in reply to Justiina]

Exactly!

[nightingale-56]

Glad to see you working things out again Justiina . Very interesting post. Hope yu are feeling brighter now.

[Justiina in reply to nightingale-56]

I am still very upset and very annoyed by all this BS, that is why keep " asking valid questions" Instead sulking I am channeling my "rage" to point out wrongs.

[nightingale-56 in reply to Justiina]

Rage gets a lot of things done, not entirely a useless mood.

[Justiina in reply to nightingale-56]

I feel it's upto one how you want to channel it. I have worked hard to channel it to something fruitful. I guess meditation and mindfulness has given me tools to do so.

Or maybe it's finnish mentality, we curse and yell when it hurts and then move on full of will. They say we have a thing that is called "Sisu" which translates freely something like not giving up. If we face a set back we take deep breath and get up more determined.

[nightingale-56 in reply to Justiina]

Yes Justiina , if at first you don't succeed - try, try and try again! I've been trying to get to the bottom of why Levo does not suit me anymore, even though it still gives reasonable blood levels. Will question the Chief Pharmacist yet again on Thursday evening at a Presentation she is giving. I think she will wish she hadn't bothered!

[Justiina in reply to nightingale-56]

We need to be persistent and demand answers!

[wellness1 in reply to Justiina]

That's admirable, Justiina . I find Sisu intriguing. For anyone interested in knowing more: emilialahti.com/what-is-sisu

It strikes me as something like the opposite of helplessness, which we know negatively impacts health and quality of life.

[wellness1 in reply to wellness1]

Just to be clear, I don't want this to be misunderstood in any way. I'm not advocating blaming people who are unwell. I've been very moved by the number of posters who have recently shared how devastated they feel and I have nothing but compassion and empathy for how challenging it can be.

[Justiina in reply to wellness1]

Great link. Thats what Sisu is!

"Sisu is the second wind of mental stamina".

[SmallBlueThing]

>Whomever developed statins is freaking genius.

blogs.scientificamerican.co...

Note that "the indigo dyer wears white trousers." (The indigo dyer knows that traditional methods of preparing the dye are toxic, and therefore seeks to minimize his exposure to it.)

[Justiina in reply to SmallBlueThing]

Ok, so he either knew how harmful it is , but that didn't stop him going forward, or he had no idea, but couldnt stop the statin hype either.