15th November 2005
VERY good information, Moxie. Thank You.
Probably one of the reasons that I am VERY pro statins for people at risk of heart disease is my own case that started with a dismal HDL of 28 during the period I was beginning to feel "heartburn" on exercise. I was apparently the PERFECT candidate for atorvastatin (Lipior) which took my HDL to 35 but cut my total cholesterol by 100 points and my LDL's in half.
Not great but I got my TC/HDL NEAR 4.0 from NEAR 10 (Dead Man Walking!)!
Further fiddling with my diet like cutting butterfats a lot, eliminating trans-fats, losing 20 odd pounds, exercising more got my HDL's over 40 consistently and my ratio's just a teeny bit BELOW 4.0.
(Booze can take my HDL to 60...but that's another story!)
Now if someone can kindly come up with a treatment for lowering Lp(a) or better yet, one for dissolving arterial plaque, I'll live forever. :jester:
I think people with high HDL's can very well live a statin free life without too much worry about heart disease (the clogged arterial kind at least), but we who need to struggle to keep ours at 40 are in a different category entirely.
Of course, exceptions arise...a friend with HDL's consistenly over 100 for YEARS but who is on a VERY high fat diet (60%+) for nearly a decade just flunked her nuclear stress test...yep, ischemic angina. So the protective effect is protective, not miraculaous! :D
Probably one of the reasons that I am VERY pro statins for people at risk of heart disease is my own case that started with a dismal HDL of 28 during the period I was beginning to feel "heartburn" on exercise. I was apparently the PERFECT candidate for atorvastatin (Lipior) which took my HDL to 35 but cut my total cholesterol by 100 points and my LDL's in half.
Not great but I got my TC/HDL NEAR 4.0 from NEAR 10 (Dead Man Walking!)!
Further fiddling with my diet like cutting butterfats a lot, eliminating trans-fats, losing 20 odd pounds, exercising more got my HDL's over 40 consistently and my ratio's just a teeny bit BELOW 4.0.
(Booze can take my HDL to 60...but that's another story!)
Now if someone can kindly come up with a treatment for lowering Lp(a) or better yet, one for dissolving arterial plaque, I'll live forever. :jester:
I think people with high HDL's can very well live a statin free life without too much worry about heart disease (the clogged arterial kind at least), but we who need to struggle to keep ours at 40 are in a different category entirely.
Of course, exceptions arise...a friend with HDL's consistenly over 100 for YEARS but who is on a VERY high fat diet (60%+) for nearly a decade just flunked her nuclear stress test...yep, ischemic angina. So the protective effect is protective, not miraculaous! :D