the cholesterol dilemna

I just had a bunch of tests done, among them a cholesterol test which turned out to be high. 267 Yuk. The doctor suggested getting on Lipitor right away, but I felt that my diet being mostly mediterrean could mean the results were off so I got another blood test and it was still high. 220 sigh

So then I went to the new government guidelines on risk of heart attack and discovered I have 4% chance of heart attack in the next 10 years. I also, during this google, discovered that there is much scepticism about the new guidelines which, as one Doctor puts it, "put most everybody on statins." There is quite a group of scientists and doctors who think the cholesterol issue is bogus. Of course this is what I wanted to hear so I have to be sceptical of the my own scepticism. Then I found this news. "Within days of the announcement(about the new guidelines), two reporters at Newsday revealed that eight of the nine physicians on the committee that established the new guidelines had strong financial ties to companies that make statin drugs." The statins in cholesterol lowering drugs also cause cancer in rats.

HHHmmmmmm. Is there such a thing as too much information for one's own good?

So a friend with high cholesterol took niacin at his doctor's reccmentdation and lowered his cholesterol. Niacin has side effects also in high doses so I am starting with low doses and will talk to a Doctor at Brigham Womens this Friday about my diliemna.