Sanity returns to Waffle House

Biscuit an’ eggs day!

Plated:

 

I’ve been on statins for decades. No known side effects.
My dad made it to 98 on them.
Years of dietary changes did not move my numbers, but I understand people’s reluctance

 

I sincerely hope you beat your dad's run.

My mom has been on statins for years which is a 'thing' because her mom had ultra-high cholesterol all of her life - like in the 300's.
It finally killed her just shy of 100.
Oh no...wait.
I got that wrong.
She was too vain to use a walker because she felt that it made her look like an old lady.
SO....she fell and broke a hip (probably while tipsy on wine) and died on the table while they were trying to fix it.

Mom's twin sister (one of two sets of girl twins) can't take statins because of the 'imaginary symptoms' that her doctor insisted she was experiencing - so she got rid of the doctor AND the statins.
Mom IS starting to slow down in her 80s.
She only bowls once a week and her driving skills are middling at night.
In Indiana, drivers aged 85 and older must renew their driver’s license in person every two years - which my beloved Grandmother had done (I think) a few years before she died.
SO - I probably will not have to take the keys.

Everybody has to make informed health decisions based on THEIR OWN risk assessment formula.

My opinion: (street price: <$0.02)
Turn off the TV and stay away from WEB-MD.
Talk with lots of healthcare professionals and get their advice.
Listen to some of it.

I'm still on the sunny side of 70 and so for ME using a drug that comes with the recommendation that you get liver function tests doesn't square with my current health situation.
Healthy diet, trying to stay within military BMI and physical norms, and keeping my squash sharpened with hobbies, friends and family seems like a better plan for now.

AGAIN.
Sample size = 1.

Your ACTUAL Mileage WILL vary!

 

My household's eating on the road is based mostly on ordinary grocery stores, with an ice chest in between lodgings. I was pre-type-2 three decades ago, but with retirement, getting out of the office, and increased outdoor activity, the type-2 risk has receded.

Aging eyes, not yet ready for cataract surgery, have restricted my night driving.

 

we bring food and eat in the car. allows us to cover a lot more miles per day

 

My dad was on them. Became pissy when he took them, which of course didn't help our relationship whilst apprenticing and having to live with the guy. No idea if he's still on them.

Oddly, high triglyceride's put me in the hospital before... but cholesterol's always been pretty good, low in fact. No plans on taking statins, if father's s/es were any warning. The drug for trigs (fenofibrate) would affect me enough to want to flush the bottle after taking breaks off it (only once). Not a fan of lipid-reducing drug s/es...

Now hear this, now hear this -- control trigs w/ diet and exercise. That is all

 

I’ve always had low triglycerides, I guess there’s no relationship

 

I remember big pharma trying to bribe lawmakers to make them mandatory for everyone

 

The way it were explained to me, was trigs were fuel for muscle (intestines make these water-soluble wrappers for lipid trig, called chylomicrons -- which then allow trig absorbed thru it, to be able to reach the muscles, be converted to sugar by myocytes and burned.

Chol is building material at the cellular level to repair esp oxidative damage... so both are obvi vital to proper function. But other than taking space in the bloodstream, unrelated (other than high levels caused by poor diet can be comorbid). So pharm needed to treat pathologies in each have to be different drugs w/ little or no overlap / effect on the other.

 

My docs and family providers (not the same) believe in reducing triglycerides and LDL while increasing HDL.

Crestor statin for LDL with no obvious symptoms. Used to be an expensive branded only. Some networks would force lesser statins with muscle issues. Now generic.

Lovaza (omega-3-acid ethyl esters) is a prescription medication containing EPA and DHA for high triglycerides derived from fish oil. Used to be expensive but now is generic as is Crestor. Also effective.

HDL raised with regular activity.

There is strong evidence heart disease has a genetic component and very strong evidence statins like Crestor reduce events.

No family vascular disease? Break open the smokes, steaks and couch. But consider a stress test at minimum and a nuclear stress test if any doubt exists.