STOPPED VYTORIN AN HAD AMAZING RESUTS WITH...

[Ounjian]

MARINE FISH OIL.

I AM A 48 YO FEMALE AND WAS TAKING VYTORIN X 10 DAYS BUT STOPPED AFTER EXPERIENCING SEVERE MUSCLE PAIN IN ONE LEG. I STARTED TAKING HIGH DOSES OF EPA AND DHA ( OMEGA 3 FISH OIL) IN THE FORM OF RESQ 1250 . ALSO, I HAVE BEEN TAKING RED YEAST RICE AND COENZYME Q10. MY REULTS BEFORE AND AFTER ARE :

1-7-06

CHOL 241
TRI 57
HDL 68
LDL 162

4-15-06

CHOL 149
TRI 35
HDL 57
LDL 85

I ALSO HAVE BEEN EXERCISING MORE FREQUENTLY (BIKING) mY 81 YO AUNT HAS BEEN TAKING HIGH DOSES OF EPA AND DHA FOR A YEAR NOW WITH AMAZING RESULTS ALSO.

BYE BYE STATINS ---THE DRUG COMPAINIES CAN KEEP THEM

[madcook]

Congratulations on the good numbers! A word of caution however... red yeast rice is a statin, and theoretically it is possible to have any of the reported statin side effects from red yeast rice.

Good luck with your program!
:D

[Ounjian]

THANK YOU MADCOOK FOR YOUR REPLY AND WELL WISHES. I DID CONTACT THE MAKERS OF RESQ 1250 AND WAS TOLD THERE ARE NO STATINS IN THEIR RED YEAST RICE CAPSULES. A FAMILY MEMBER WHO IS ALSO ON IT CALLED THEM WITH THE SAME REPLY.

[madcook]

Yes, I see that the ResQ 1250 is a concentrated, purified marine oil (from fish), with natural lemon flavor, rosemary extract, ascorbyl palmitate, and natural tocopherols (vitamin E) per the label, so no "red yeast rice" in that. Similar products, with similar concentration and purity, are made by several companies.

There is a companion product (Res-Q LDL-x2) that does feature "red yeast rice", which is a natural statin, fermented on rice, which they include in their Basic Starter Pack. They also have a third product with CoQ-10 (50mg) and some antioxidants.

But to restate, for the information of anyone who is interested, "red yeast rice" does contain a statin, and can be quite potent, depending, of course, on the amount taken... and therefore may be subject to the same kind of side effect profile as the name brand statins made by big Pharma.

Good luck to you. :)

[Ounjian]

YES, YOU ARE RIGHT MADCOOK ABOUT THE RED YEAST RICE NORMALLY CONTAINING STATINS. THE LDLX2 IS A NEW PRODUCT. I CALLED THE COMPANY BUT THEY COULD NOT TELL ME HOW MUCH RED YEAST RICE IS IN EACH CAPSULE. THE PREVIOUS LDL FORMULA HAD 1200 MG/CAPSULE. IT WAS RECOMMENDED TO TAKE 4/DAY. WITH THIS NEW FORMULA, 2/DAY IS THE RECOMMENDED DOSE. AS FAR AS THE COENZYME, I'VE BEEN TAKING 50 MG/DAY. BEFORE I STARTED TAKING COENZYME, I REASEARCHED AND FOUND THAT THERE ARE TWO TYPES, NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC. THE SNYTHETIC COMES FROM AN INGREDIENT EXTRACTED FROM THE TOBACCO PLANT WHICH OTHER CHEMICALS ARE THEN ADDED. I READ THAT THAT KANEKA CORP OF OSAKA JAPAN IS THE LEADING MANUFACTURER OF COQ10 AND THEY ARE BUILDING ANOTHER FACILITY IN PASADENA, TEXAS. I SEE YOU ARE IN TEXAS, ANYWHERE NEAR YOU?

THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLYS.

[madcook]

I guess I would be a little concerned about taking anything where the manufacturer couldn't identify exactly how much of a dose I would be taking.

Yes, I have heard that information about the CoQ10. Pasadena, TX is a suburban community to Houston... a bit SE and near the ships channel for the Port of Houston, which makes sense for worldwide distribution purposes.

I have used a couple of brands of CoQ10, having settled on the Life Extension brand, because of their quality, research based ingredients, purity (pharmaceutical grade), and price point. They have sales a couple of times a year, or I order it through an excellent discount supplier in California called iHerb.com, who are superb.

I personally take a 100mg capsule of CoQ10 morning and evening. That's a pretty good dose, however it is not enough to have kept me from having myalgia, arthralgia and other assorted nasty side effects from taking first Pravachol, and most recently Vytorin 10/40, which my well-meaning Dr. increased from the 10/20 (with which I had no problems). Thankfully, my abrupt stoppage of the Vytorin 10/40 (my Dr. is on vacation!) resulted in quick reversal of the symptons! I am enjoying this "drug holiday", but expect that the Dr. will want to put me back on Zocor 20mgs. After reading up on all the "Vytorin side effects" and "Zocor side effects"... well I'm not so sure I want to be on ANY of the statins again, although they sure do make the "numbers" look great.

BTW, I once (1975-1980) was a sales representative for a big Pharma company, so I have actually walked in those too tight shoes. I wouldn't dare take a medication without reading every word of the prescribing information in the PDR, period. Now I am finding that big Pharma may be leaving a few essential details out of the PDR... Thank goodness for the internet and websites like this one!

Regards from Texas!

[Ounjian]

I AGREE WITH YOU, WE ARE VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE ACCESS TO THE COMPUTER WORLD AND A WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE. THIS WEB SITE HAS HELPED ME TREMENDOUSLY.

WHEN I INITIALLY HAD VYTORIN PRESCRIBED BY MY INTERNIST/CARDIOLOGIST, ( I HAVE KNOWN HIM SINCE HE WAS A RESIDENT AND WORKED WITH HIM BACK IN THE LATE 70'S--I AM A NURSE ) THERE WAS NO MENTION OF SUPPLEMENTING COQ10. I WONDER IF HE IS EVEN AWARE OF THE DEPLETION, PRETTY SCARY. ONE HAD TO REALLY DO RESEARCH ON THEIR OWN. THE OTHER THING WHICH I FOUND FRIGHTENING WAS THAT YEARS AGO MERCK APPLIED FOR TWO PATENTS FOR ADDING COQ10 TO THEIR MEVACOR BUT NEVER FOLLOWED THROUGH WITH IT.

I HOPE YOUR SYMPTOMS SUBSIDE IN TIME. ARE YOU TAKING OMEGA 3?

[Ounjian]

BTW, THANK YOU MADCOOK FOR MENTIONING LIFE EXTENSION BRAND. I WILL LOOK INTO THAT

[madcook]

Since you asked about the Omegas:

I take the Life Extension Mix (3 tabs, tid). It has all the B vitamins that spacedoc recommends, plus a lot of antioxidants. For omega 3s I take the Life Extension Super EPA/DHA, 3 or 4 of those daily (basically 1 gram of fish oil per each softgel) and also the 100mg of CoQ10 bid. I also added in milk thistle for my poor liver, after figuring out I was suffering those side effects (although there is already some in the LE mix).

I am very lucky that after almost 4 months on Vytorin 10/40 strength, it finally dawned on me what all the disturbing things that were happening to my body (and brain) meant: SIDE EFFECTS OF VYTORIN. I guess upping the dosage from the 10/20 to 10/40 (basically DOUBLING the med, as I pointed out to the Dr. at the time) put me over the threshold. But the symptoms were slow onset and weird and not easy to piece the whole picture together. That is the insidious nature of this problem! And I read the PDR, and research the studies... (an old habit from when I was in the field... and I suppose my previous exposure to medicine).

Anyway, a week later, I am feeling better than I have in quite awhile, so I am very lucky. Good, because I see an argument with my cardio Dr. coming up. He is prone to being somewhat heavy handed with the meds, as part of his program (along with a pretty stringent diet and exercise component).

Right now I am researching niacin (Rx) and other things that may help maintain very good Chol. HDL, LDL and TG numbers without such a risk of side effects. I know, nothing's perfect...

[Ounjian]

Dr Murray has a very nice line of supplements under the name of Natural Factors. He recently introduced Cholesterol Formula with sytrinol. He has a web site wwwdrmurray.com I need to look into this and do some research. I recently started folic acid and will be adding B12. Oh boy, pretty soon I'll be up to 14 pills/day That's quite a change for me. My counter is getting fillled with supplements.

I guess you will be having a little battle with your doctor. I wonder how many of them resent a well read and educated patient.