Re: To statin or not to statin...

October 12, 2005

The doctors had a problem finding the pulses in my mother's feet too

because of her edema. (She was not on actos) They had to use a special

instrument to test. You could press the top of her foot in more than an

inch; I had the same massive edema when I was pregnant.

, you can get that edema out of your feet/foot with compression

stockings. Not out of your body, but it isn't as big a problem when it

is at your waist. Except for looks.

You need to wear them all day, and they do make nice dark ones for men.

Then the pulses will be a lot easier to find. I am surprised no doctor

has mentioned wearing these stockings to you. I get mine at e-bay;

however, Medicare will cover two pair a year.

Helen

October 12, 2005

The doctors had a problem finding the pulses in my mother's feet too

because of her edema. (She was not on actos) They had to use a special

instrument to test. You could press the top of her foot in more than an

inch; I had the same massive edema when I was pregnant.

, you can get that edema out of your feet/foot with compression

stockings. Not out of your body, but it isn't as big a problem when it

is at your waist. Except for looks.

You need to wear them all day, and they do make nice dark ones for men.

Then the pulses will be a lot easier to find. I am surprised no doctor

has mentioned wearing these stockings to you. I get mine at e-bay;

however, Medicare will cover two pair a year.

Helen

October 12, 2005

> I really didn't want to take a statin drug, either. I was doing low-carb,

> after all, and low-carb diets allow fats and the like...even unsaturated

> ones...and had been shown to still have lower cholesterol.

All these claims have a YMMV factor. They say about 25% of people show

increased cholesterol on a low-carb diet with sat fat. That was the reason

behind the GO Diet (now the Four Corners Diet), which limits sat fat.

The statins also have a YMMV factor. Not everyone gets the bad side effects.

Not everyone sees the good (Lipitor alone did nothing for my LDL, even at 80

mg).

So everyone has to make a decision based on individual factors. If your

parents developed muscle pains or statin-induced mental problems, then I

wouldn't try them. If you parents had cholesterol levels in the 400s and

lived to be 105, I wouldn't worry about high cholesterol. But if your

relatives had heart attacks in their 50s, your parents had high cholesterol,

took statins with no problem, and lived to be 105, then I'd choose a statin.

Gretchen.

October 12, 2005

> , you can get that edema out of your feet/foot with compression

> stockings.

Or you could get one of those things that lets you hang by your feet. Then

turn your computer monitor upside down and you're all set. Well, until your

head swells up too much <G>.

Gretchen

October 12, 2005

> , you can get that edema out of your feet/foot with compression

> stockings.

Or you could get one of those things that lets you hang by your feet. Then

turn your computer monitor upside down and you're all set. Well, until your

head swells up too much <G>.

Gretchen

October 12, 2005

> , you can get that edema out of your feet/foot with compression

> stockings.

Or you could get one of those things that lets you hang by your feet. Then

turn your computer monitor upside down and you're all set. Well, until your

head swells up too much <G>.

Gretchen

October 12, 2005

> So everyone has to make a decision based on individual factors. If

your

> parents developed muscle pains or statin-induced mental problems,

then I

> wouldn't try them. If you parents had cholesterol levels in the 400s

and

> lived to be 105, I wouldn't worry about high cholesterol. But if your

> relatives had heart attacks in their 50s, your parents had high

cholesterol,

> took statins with no problem, and lived to be 105, then I'd choose a

statin.

>

> Gretchen.

Hmm. Not sure where that leaves me. My mother is 70 and still going

strong. She takes statins. My father died at 71 from complications of

diabetes. He was on so much medication and had so many health problems

that it's hard to tell which ones were caused by what. He had multiple

heart attacks and strokes and about 7 bypasses. He had severe

neuropathy and pain in the limbs - could have been from medication or

just from the diabetes. He also had kidney failure and diminished

eyesight. His pharmaceutical list was a full page long by the time he

died, and I think some of the medications were to counteract the bad

effects of some of the other medications. That's why I'm so reluctant.

Christy

October 12, 2005