Re: Cholesterol lowering drugs--lipid storage

[Guest guest]

Very interesting. Your description of " fatty pastrami " with fat

deposits integrated with muscle makes me wonder: 1. Have you had a

muscle biopsy and do they indeed see large deposits of lipid in the

muscle cells? 2. Has anyone looked at your beta oxidation function

to see if it is normal, either in muscle or fibroblasts?

I do have a lipid storage disorder in addition to mito, and my first

biopsy in 1983 did reveal excess fat deposits, like a very fatty

steak. This was the primary clue that led to the first diagnosis.

I should add that I know nothing about MSL and how it might (or not)

interact with beta oxidation. Just curious.

Barbara

>

> When people speak of " high cholesterol " I'm assuming they usually

mean high

> TOTAL cholesterol, or maybe even more specifically " bad " LDL

cholesterol.

> And there's also " good " HDL which is expected to be high enough,

or at least

> not too low. Is this assumption about what people mean by " high

cholesterol "

> accurate in this group?

>

> Furthermore, my understanding is that this condition, as I've just

> described, is also the well-known widespread problem in " normal "

people. And

> that there is vast research and many theories but that this seems

to be

> driven by inheritance to SOME degree and also especially due to

diet

> (particularly high fats). In " normal " people, at least, statins

help this

> condition. Do I have all THIS right?

>

> There's also a DIFFERENT but related condition (which I have)

which has

> normal i.e. high-enough HDL, " oddly low " (or at least, normal or

only a

> little high) LDL, and especially high (sometimes, sky-high)

triglycerides

> (this latter is another, lesser mentioned, component of the entire

range of

> cholesterols). My understanding is that very high levels of this

latter

> (which BTW is also just " fatty acids " ) is an indication either

that:

>

> a) digested fat, " broken down " somewhat into fatty acids, is in

the blood

> but not getting utilized as it normally would, neither

being " burned " in the

> mitochondria of muscle cells, nor stored in adipose tissue ( " body

fat " ) as

> would normally occur when hormones (I simplify) signal that this

should be

> done because the muscles don't need the energy now, OR

>

> that adipose tissue is signaled (mistakenly or not) to release

said fatty

> acids into the blood, because the muscles need the energy now

(whether they

> really do or not), and then it's not getting burned by muscle.

>

> Whatever the cause, I understand that niacin (OTC but should be

monitored by

> doc) is very effective for this particular condition. Anyone have

feedback

> or experience on this usage? An example article is at

> http://www.riversidecardiology.com/archive/07151999.htm. LOTS more

info at

> http://www.intmed.mcw.edu/gimcme/lipids/.

>

> To go on, I have extreme exercise intolerance, as I gather most

mito

> sufferers have. For MY condition at least (MSL), there's a mystery

about why

> the above (very high blood level of fatty acids) is happening

despite my

> muscles obviously NEEDING energy. Looks like the signaling might

be working,

> but my mitochondria can't handle the fatty acids, so they " back

up " . Hence I

> favor the " b " explanation.

>

> Regarding my giant lipomas, I suppose it's possible that they

simply

> represent adipose tissue run amuck somehow. But unlike " normal "

lipomas,

> which are ordinarily dispersed around the whole body, are

frequently right

> on the " surface " (just under the skin), and are " encapsulated " ,

the lipomas

> of MSL are usually just in the upper back, shoulders, back of the

neck, and

> lower back of the scalp (i.e. the region of the big major skeletal

muscles),

> and they are very deep. Furthermore they are un-encapsulated, much

> interspersed in amongst the muscle (think: very fatty pastrami),

and

> therefore a real challenge to safely excise.

>

> I'm inclined towards an alternate explanation, namely that the

lipomas are

> actually muscle cells, or I should say, WERE muscle cells. I think

that my

> muscle cells DO take fatty acids INTO their mitochondria, but that

for one

> of many reasons, the " burned " remains of the fatty acids aren't

transported

> OUT of the mitochondria. This leads to damaged mitochondria, which

> eventually overwhelm and kill the muscle cell. And a local

accumulation of

> such blasted cell debris, mostly fatty acid components, comprises

each of my

> mysterious lipomas.

>

> I could go on with my various sub-theories about exactly WHY this

occurs,

> but I'll shut up for now. :-) Anyway, I've been running this

theory around,

> with some molecular biologists, and getting at least some favorable

> interest. And I'm TRYING to interest (or at least communicate

with) a couple

> of mito-specialist neuro docs. I bring all this up, of course,

because at

> least some of it might resonate with the conditions and

experiences in other

> types of mito. Any comments?

>

> Regards

> Steve D.

>

> > Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 12:35:47 -0400

> > From: z39z@a...

> > Subject: Cholesterol lowering drugs

> >

> >

> > All thoughts on this question will be very welcome. I would

really

> > appreciate anyone's experience with cholesterol lowering drugs.

[...]

> >

> > Sunny