Quote:
Originally Posted by TrudyM
My husbands GP took him off the statin drug he was taking (Lipitor) because his liver numbers were a little off. He did the whole eat right and exercise thing lost weight etc. His colesterol still stayed up at 206.
He almost died. He had without warning a shortness of breath and went to the doctor they did a rush angioplasty and two stints. He had a 97% blockage. The Cardo doctor said if a GP or Geriatric doctor takes you off a statin you should get an assesment by a Cardiologist and an indepth workup including sonigrams to check for blockage. If you have high cholesterol you are at risk. Adjusting your life style to bring it down and thus being able to reduce your dosage is great but don't just stop without a second opinion, my husband did with a potential disaster.
Just our expierience,
TrudyM
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Your overall message is good: "...don't just stop without a second opinion..."
But I wonder, did the Cardio doctor put him back on Lipitor after the angioplasty? If so, how were his "liver numbers"?
The other thing I wonder about is, "....the whole eat right and exercise thing lost weight etc.." What supervision or guidance did he have for that? And, if he had such guidance, did he follow it to the letter? What was his weight before he started and how much weight did he lose? What was his form of exercise? Stress control? What diet did he follow? All of this information is needed if one is to come to any kind of worthwhile conclusion
My advice to people is to eat right, control stress and exercise before trouble starts. In other words, the best thing is to not get overweight in the first place. If you wait until trouble is diagnosed, your efforts may provide too little, too late.
Having said that, it is very possible to reverse clogged arteries through diet, exercise and stress control. (Keep in mind that no one can ever give a 100% garantee because no one knows what amount of effort any person will put into any given regimen.)
Also, angioplasty doesn't get anyone "off-the-hook" as far as having to live a healthy lifestyle. If drastic lifestyle changes aren't made, the next step is more angioplasty and, eventually, bypass surgery. In the mean time, a person can get a stroke and I have seen this happen. And I'll add one more thing: Even bypass surgery won't get one off-the-hook for having to live a healthy lifestyle. Clogged arteries can come back within several months or 2 to 3 years. Angioplasty and/or bypass is not a cure, it just buys some time.