This is arterial plaque. If your HDL is low, you are more likely to have unstable arterial plaques than if your LDL is high.
Today it happened again. I saw another patient who, except for a little bit of extra weight, was healthy until she was diagnosed with high total cholesterol levels.
“You’ve got to do something” they told her.
She got the usual advice: Cut butter, eggs, red meat and cheese. But cutting dietary cholesterol didn’t work, and on the next test, the cholesterol level was even higher. Afraid for her life, she asked what else she could do. No surprise, they put her on a statin: Crestor. And on the next test her total cholesterol was lower and everyone was happy. But the glow didn’t last.
She steadily gained more weight until she grew into the obese category on the BMI chart. Worse, three years after starting Crestor, her glucose levels rose to the point where she had developed early diabetes (a known side effect of Crestor and presumably other statins since the 2008 Jupiter study). Once in early diabetes, more struggles with weight, and new problems such as joint pains, nerve problems, and hypertension are on their way. (more…)
