cholesterol numbers

by **Lgo** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 7:14 pm

I live in Canada and having just received my recent test results, could someone please explain what they mean, as they are not in 'whole' numbers but rather as follows:
Cholesterol 4.10
LDL 2.01
HDL 1.27
CholHDL
(risk ratio) 3.23 don't know what this means
Triglycerides 1.81

I had been taking 10mg Crestor for over a year when these were taken but have had some very bad side effects, now I only take 10mg a week and would like to cut them out completely. Having read other peoples numbers, I'd like to have a comparison and know how to convert them.

Also, I've never understood the difference between the different statins. I began with Lipitor, then Zocor and now Crestor. If they are all Statins, why would one be prescribed over the other? Thanks...

by **AnneW** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:59 am

Lgo: I also live in Canada. To convert your cholesterol #s to USA multiply by 39. Your #s are not high! Your Dr. has bought into the "bad cholesterol" scam and convinced you of the same. My combined #s were 4.59 to begin with, and my Dr. told me the "magic #", according to information given to him, (my question now is by who?) the "magic #" for LDL was 1. You should give serious thought to stopping the statins completely! The lower my #s got, the more problems and side effects I got. It is now a year and a half later, my #'s are almost back to normal for me, and my side effects are very slowly improving. There are some excellent articles on cholesterol in this site and on the internet. If you read them, you will get a totally different insight into what "cholesterol" really means and how we need it for our very survival. Good Luck!
Anne

P.S. My personal thought on why one statin is prescribed over another is this: Which pharmaceutical company is giving the clinic your doctor is affiliated with the most free samples?

by **Lgo** » Tue May 22, 2007 7:26 pm

Thanks AnneW for your reply. I can see now how very low my numbers are. I am still taking 10mgs once or twice a week and am seeing my Dr. next week. No doubt he will send me for tests to check my numbers once again. I am curious to know if the Crestor works when not taken daily.
I too have noticed my side effects getting worse, especially during the last year. I originally started researching statins because 8 months after I started taking them, my hair began to thin and hasn't stopped. I have stopped statins periodically over the years for 3 month intervals to see if there was any difference in all side effects, there wasn't.
The only reason I hesitate to stop completely is because I had major surgery on a blocked vessel over 3 years ago and am now told I am 'high risk'. This had nothing to do with my heart but rather a vessel leading to my legs, all heart tests I've had have been normal and there is no history of heart disease in my family. So, what do you do when your Dr. says you're 'high risk'? At this point I don't know what to do anymore. I am 55 and cannot walk for more than 20 minutes without getting severe lower back pain and spasms, not to mention all the other muscle pains just about everywhere now.
I take it you've stopped the Crestor and feel some improvement, how are you feeling now?

by **AnneW** » Sun May 27, 2007 6:15 pm

to Lgo: I am 51 and I was on Lipitor for 5 1/2 months. I have now been off for 17 months and am very slowly seeing some signs of recovery. I need a walker to get around, and cannot do stairs by myself. 20 minutes of walking right now would be impossible for me. After being on the statin for 4 months, I experienced major Hair Loss and my hair was growing much more slowly. My scalp was beginning to show. My finger and toenails hardly grew either. One of my doctors recommended that I start taking 1 Mg of Folic Acid (B9) a day. It took about 2 months for the hair loss to stop and now my hair is almost as thick as it used to be. It has allso starting growing at it's normal rate again. My nails are also growing normally again.
Check out the posts in this forum about Coenzyme Q10 and L-Carnitine. These substances are naturally produced by our bodies but as we age, the amount produced diminishes. Statin therapy destroys the body's ability to produce them even more by breaking down the pathways to our cells. Taking supplements of both of them help reverse some of the damages done by statins. I take 600mg of Q10 with my supper and I take 500 mg L-Carnitine 4 times a day away from food to help with the constant pain. I am also taking other supplements and vitamins in an attempt to relieve other symtoms and damages caused by the statin drug. LDL is a necessary thing for our survival! Oxidized LDL is not good, but if you take Vitamin C, it is one of the substances that acts as a anti-oxidant. Check out the Forum - there is a lot of information available to you on it if you have the time to read it.
Hope this helps a little and that you keep improving.
AnneW