thank you.

He died of a stroke when I was 8. I need to inform my doc of my family history of Parkinson's.

Is it even worth it?

Now I need to talk to my doctor about getting off these gawd damn pills, because my Dad died from Parkinsons. Big Pharma sux!

I was given these by a holistic doctor.

GUGGUL: "Interest in the cholesterol-lowering potential of gum guggul began in the 1960s when a group of Indian archeologists found an ancient Sanskrit text describing the use of the resin in the treatment of a disease characterized by the hardening of the arteries.

Since this discovery, there have been several studies investigating the effects of gum guggul on cholesterol especially in India where the herb was approved for treating hyperlipidemia and reducing the risks of cardiovascular diseases in 1986.

Besides lowering blood cholesterol levels, studies have also proven that gum guggul is useful in the treatment of acne and arthritis.

In addition, it can stimulate increased production of thyroid hormones, promote weight loss and also boost immunity.

http://www.progressivehealth.com/guggul-extract-can-help-cholesterol.htm

SLOW RELEASE NIACIN:"The main goal of cholesterol treatment is to lower LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. Statins do this much better than niacin does. But niacin has the advantage of raising HDL (“good”) cholesterol much more than statins do. It also lowers triglycerides, fats in the blood that can increase the risk of heart disease.
For these reasons, niacin may be a good option for people who can’t tolerate statins well and for those who have very low HDL and/or high triglycerides. Moreover, niacin helps people who have elevated levels of small, dense LDL particles, which increase coronary risk."

WARNING: Taking very high doses may cause liver toxicity! 'The form that improves cholesterol levels is called nicotinic acid. The standard dose for treating cholesterol is one to threegrams daily, 50 to 150 times more than what’s in a basic multivitamin. But you’ll also find other forms for sale, such as niacinamide and inositol hexanicotinate, which have little or no effect on cholesterol."

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/supplements/vitamins/article/niacin-and-cholesterol

RED YEAST RICE: "What Is Red Yeast Rice?
Red yeast rice is a substance that's extracted from rice that's been fermented with a type of yeast called Monascus purpureus. It's been used in China and other Asian countries for centuries as a traditional medicine. It's also used as a food coloring, additive, and preservative.

Red yeast rice naturally contains several ingredients that may help control cholesterol levels. These include a number of monacolins, most importantly monacolin K. It also contains sterols, isoflavones, and monounsaturated fatty acids, or "healthy fats."

Likely effective for...


High cholesterol.
Heart disease. Taking 0.6-1.2 grams of red yeast rice daily for an average of 4.5 years decreases total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL or “bad”) cholesterol, and triglycerides. It also decreases the risk of heart disease-related events, heart attacks, and death in people with a history of heart attack.
High cholesterol and triglyceride levels caused by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease (AIDS). Taking red yeast rice by mouth seems to reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels in people with abnormal levels associated with HIV infection.
Possibly ineffective for..
.
High blood pressure. Taking red yeast rice with blood pressure-lowering drugs does not seem to further reduce blood pressure in people with high blood pressure compared to the effects of the blood pressure-lowering drugs alone. However, red yeast rice might improve some heart-related outcomes in patients with high blood pressure.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/925.html

I avoid big pharma unless it's absolutely necessary. One 81 Bayer aspirin a day is all I use.

to everyone.

I have a very dear friend who has been a l/o vegetarian for almost 15 years, does weight-bearing and has done cardio exercise daily for at least 18 years, all in an attempt to control her blood pressure, cholesterol and triglycerides. Her primary care provider warned her for years through her 20's that her BP was creeping up. She dropped meat from her diet and became religious about exercise, and resisted taking any meds until she landed in her practitioner's office for headaches and was found to have a BP of 240+/120+.

Her kids have a mom right now because of "big pharma." And I have a very dear friend of 35 years. I am grateful for the simple, pharmacological interventions that have kept her alive. The world is better for so many with her in it.

Lots of folks have to take medication to survive.

. . .

Before I explain that, here are some thought provoking findings to ponder.

• If you lower bad cholesterol (LDL) but have a low HDL (good cholesterol) there is no benefit to statins. (i)

• If you lower bad cholesterol (LDL) but don't reduce inflammation (marked by a test called C-reactive protein), there is no benefit to statins. (ii)

• If you are a healthy woman with high cholesterol, there is no proof that taking statins reduces your risk of heart attack or death. (iii)

• If you are a man or a woman over 69 years old with high cholesterol, there is no proof that taking statins reduces your risk of heart attack or death. (iv)

• Aggressive cholesterol treatment with two medications (Zocor and Zetia) lowered cholesterol much more than one drug alone, but led to more plaque build up in the arties and no fewer heart attacks. (v)

• 75% of people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol

• Older patients with lower cholesterol have higher risks of death than those with higher cholesterol. (vi)

• Countries with higher average cholesterol than Americans such as the Swiss or Spanish have less heart disease.

• Recent evidence shows that it is likely statins' ability to lower inflammation it what accounts for the benefits of statins, not their ability to lower cholesterol.

So for whom do the statin drugs work anyway? They work for people who have already had heart attacks to prevent more heart attacks or death. And they work slightly for middle-aged men who have many risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure, obesity, or diabetes.

So why did the 2004 National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines expand the previous guidelines to recommend that more people take statins (from 13 million to 40 million) and that people who don't have heart disease should take them to prevent heart disease. Could it have been that 8 of the 9 experts on the panel who developed these guidelines had financial ties to the drug industry? Thirty-four other non-industry affiliated experts sent a petition to protest the recommendations to the National Institutes of Health saying the evidence was weak. It was like having a fox guard the chicken coop.

. . .


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/why-cholesterol-may-not-b_b_290687.html

My sister's ex-boyfriend had a big wholesale produce company for many years, and he has Parkinson's - that ties in with people being around herbicides/pesticides quite a bit. I think the probably there are more than one or two things that can cause Parkinson's.

My son has high cholesterol. His doctor says no eggs, and gave him statins. We will have a talk tomorrow, I believe eggs are better for him than statins.

I guess we are supposed to just accept SCIENCE, until science tells us it misspoke or something. Nah.

Great info in theis thread, thanks to all!

Statins can increase the risk that one develops Parkinson's. That doesn't mean Parkinson's is caused by statins.

I remember being roundly chewed out by busting on statins. Maybe the cholesterol hypothesis will die now. Keep your insulin low and get your thyroid optimized (also now difficult because of pharma) and you will have gone a long way to reduce heart attacks.

That might be good info to have...

I get yelled at for talking about anything health-related on DU, but to my mind, sharing information is important. I wish I had known about it and didn't have to stumble upon it. I think it's up to everyone to be in charge of her own health. And I have found that doctors sometimes need more education to find the solution as much as anyone else. So that is my disclaimer. If someone doesn't want to read this information, just skip it.

Diagnosing and treating the throid used to be easy and widely done for over 100 years. It was one of the most successful treatments from early medicine. Until pharma stepped in, sadly. Because the treatment they were using (dessicated thyroid) is not patentable, so a company came up with a synthetic version that is. Unfortunately the synthetic version only works for a small percentage of people, so now the disease is not being treated well at all. And on top of that, what used to be a simple test to determine thyroid deficiency-- basal temperature and clinical diagnosis--is now highly complicated.

It starts with finding a doctor who is knowledgable about how to diagnose and treat thyroid before Synthroid and the TSH were accepted as the "gold standard" when in fact they are woefully inaccurate. That usually means an older doctor who was practicing in the late 70s, but there are others who use this protocol and test beyond the TSH. For the most part, NOT an endocrinologist. There is a good site that lists knowledgable doctors if you think you may have a thyroid deficiency.

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/how-to-find-a-good-doc/

As I said, there are many symptoms which could be a sign of a sluggish thyroid and those could be (there are so many it's hard to list them all) http://hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypothyroidism-symptoms-yes-really/

High Cholesterol used to be proof positive of hypothyroidism
Fatigue
Puffiness (face, eyes, hands)
Feeling cold all the time or wearing socks to bed
Miscarriage/Infertility
Constipation/Indigestion
Irregular Menses/heavy bleeding
Fibromyalgia
Recurring Infections and most especially Pneumonia
Obesity
Depression
Arthritis
Insulin Resistance
Night vision
Dry skin/nails/hair
Numbness/Tingling/Tremors
Dementia in the elderly
Insomnia
Unexplained mood swings

Just too many symptoms but there are more at the link. Women especially should read as much as they can as they are far more likely to have problems. But because the thyroid is so central to a functioning body, it is very important to keep it in good health. I read as much as I could about this when my mother was ailing because she had been diagnosed years ago with low thyroid but the doctors, even her famous endocrinologist, did nothing other than rewrite the same prescription for Synthroid which obviously didn't work. Treating the thyroid has gotten lost in the profit of medicine, but it is one of those things that can affect a whole host of complaints you never knew were related.

If you really think you might have it and you want to know, track your waking temperature with a basal thermometer. If it is below 98.6 consistently, you are likely hypothyroid.
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/temperature/

Here are some pictures of thyroid treatment so you can see the difference that happens in less than a year





?resize=342%2C258

yet the medical system is still pushing statins and low fat. Older people need higher cholesterol for their brains to function. I'm inclined to think all the low cholesterol hype has to do with the upswing in dementia as well.

When I see studies like this, one of the first things that comes to mind is generalizations and missed factors.

So they are ready to toss all the previous research rather than refining it, as what probably needs to happen.

Many Dr.s have known that cholesterol levels are an indication, not a cause. Part of a mechanism that ends up involved in blockages.

So what happens if you have less than optimal cholesterol levels? Do you not take statins, which could keep a blockage from occurring? Or do you add or increase your consumption of fish oil, which increases good lipids and protects the brain and nervous system as well?
Maybe consume ginger or a small dose of aspirin to lower inflammation?

Just like coffee studies, that go back and forth all over the map. Could there be missed factors involved? Such as whether people use creamer, or artificial creamer, or sugar, etc in their coffee that explains the different conclusions?

- But it's your choice.

K&R

http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2015/02/fda_inspections_fraud_fabrication_and_scientific_misconduct_are_hidden_from.single.html

http://www.salon.com/2013/04/17/fda_lets_drugs_approved_on_fraudulent_research_stay_on_market_partner/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/hazard/

charge Americans a FORTUNE for them, and they get absolute protection from our laws.

The true drug Pushers.

But if you give one prescription painkiller - just ONE of Pharmco's products - to your friend who's hurting, YOU'RE an instant felon.

We have a great system to exploit, and Pharmco has done itself proud.

Let them poison and addict a nation and MAKE AN OBSCENE PROFIT doing so. Lock anyone up who is poor and makes even ONE mistake with one of their for-profit medicines.

And don't get me started on cannabis and Pharmco.

Keep taking those pills, folks!

...that he never got to use.

Of course none of this could be reused, or donated to a public dispensary (which presumably could quality check such things, then give them to people who need them and can't afford them, etc...)

Just another instance where you realize how entirely rigged, the whole thing is...

SUCKER

Some day, maybe Americans will stand up for themselves. As it is, it's absolutely ridiculous what Pharmco gets away with.

And I never thought about the never-used drug thing. Rigged is right.

It kills me what Americans will put up with. I can't afford to see a doctor so I'm not on any kind of medication, but seeing friends struggle to pay for necessary meds, watching people choose between eating, heat or medicine, just fuck us all. We deserve to be called suckers for putting up with it.

Charging over $2,000 here for a prescription that's only $30 in Canada?

And our lawmakers approve?!

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

she went to find out why she was experiencing pain she thought was arthritis. She was nearly crippled with it. The doctor took her off the pills and all those 'arthritis' symptoms went away.

Seems there is a pill for everything now. I have never taken any medication, but then I avoid doctors other than when I am taking someone else. All they seem to do is hand out pills.

.... that while statins do lower cholesterol, they do nothing for heart attack risk. Probably because high cholesterol has nothing to do with heart attacks which is now also known by people who want to know it.

Parkinson's risk is not remotely the only risk of taking statins. I don't understand why any informed person would take them.

... your friend This has been known for some time. More than one study has shown that statins lower serum cholesterol, they don't lower the risk of heart attack incidence at all.

It is now understood that as happens with "medical science" ALL THE TIME, serum cholesterol was thought to be a cause but more modern belief is that it is a symptom. The arterial plaques associated with heart/artery disease are not caused by serum cholesterol, the body is depositing these plaques in an attempt to repair arterial damage caused by inflammation.

The inflammation is the actual root cause. You next question should be "what causes the inflammation"? I believe that research is ongoing into that question, a highly suspected culprit is dietary, i.e. some foods are believed to cause this. Of course, genetic predisposition probably plays a role as it does in most disease.

There is plenty out there on the web, that is where I learned these things. But be aware, there are still plenty of folks peddling the older ideas. "Medical science" moves pretty slowly on issues such as this and "it" is loathe to admit it's been selling bullshit for decades.

now what

Niacin makes my skin crawl