Crestor: My cholesterol has been 210. My doctor put me on crestor. I read your article in Utah’s Senior Review and was impressed. I’ve always wondered if we have over reacted to cholesterol, but I’m nervous about stopping the crestor, as you recommended. My doctor says his main concern is not heart trouble, but stroke [...]

[Read more →]

I, too, took several statins - and then rheumatism symptoms caused an internist and my regular doc to put their heads together and decide it might be the statins.  It was; took quite a few months but slowly as the statins dissipated and left my body, the aches went away, the rheumatism factor went down, [...]

[Read more →]

I have a concern. I know I can trust you to give me a straight answer. I had blood work done yesterday. My ALT Serum was 16 in June 2010. Yesterday it was up to 36. I understand it should be below 33. The only difference was the Dr. put me on SloNiacin 500mg 2x/day. [...]

[Read more →]

I do most everything possible to lower cholesterol - but cannot take statins. Am on Zetia but a new Dr* says I should try a statin again. Hesitant to do it -they got me to the point of looking at the clock to see when I could take the next handful of ibuprofin for muscle [...]

[Read more →]

Can you please explain about gugulipids: interdrug reaction between gugulipids and metroprolol XL j25 mg? One JAMA study indicates decreases bioavailability of propanolol hydrochloride.
Gugulipids is a gum from an Indian mukul tree that has quite a number of positive properties, although I do not use it on a regular basis. It [...]

[Read more →]

I was told to take Niacin for part of my heart condition. I get bad flushing when I take it. I was told the non-flushing kind of Niacin is not as good for you. My doctor told me the flushing doesn’t have anything to do with the way it works and to go ahead [...]

[Read more →]

The Wall Street Journal reported a recent study, comparing the vitamin Niacin made into a drug, Niaspan, and Zetia, a cholesterol absorption blocking agent used to lower cholesterol levels in the blood.  Although there were only 208 patients, the vitamin showed a

[Read more →]

Calorie Counters Have it Right, Diet Study Says

Recently released information in the Wall Street Journal shows that calories do count—that it isn’t what you eat, but how much. Participants were put in one of four diet groups—2 low-fat groups and 2 high-fat groups, with a high-protein and normal-protein groups being the other parameter. All diets [...]

[Read more →]

Fox News

In a well-designed research study done in hospitals in the Netherlands, scientists found that the addition of a second targeted anti-cancer drug increased the colon cancer and made patients more miserable. Both drugs attacked the cancer in

[Read more →]

A recent study from the Ulleval University Hospital in Oslo, Norway, known as the SEAS study, showed an increased risk of cancer with the use of Vytorin (a combination drug with a statin, Zocor, and zetia, which blocks the absorption of cholesterol through the intestinal tract).

Since Zocor has not been associated with increased [...]

[Read more →]