High Cholesterol: Doctor could be prescribing this now even if you don't

High Cholesterol: Doctor could be prescribing this now even if you don't

As I am getting older, diet has become a greater concernin my health as I watch my blood pressure and cholesterol numbers start to increase and become more marginal in acceptance by my doctor. I have always considered myself a relatively active personwho eats more vegetables than the averagebear, but that in combination with exercise doesn't seem to be enough. Also, I have began to consider my job stressalong with my13 plus years of shift work which constantly changes from week to week rotating through all hours of the day and night. The lines of wakefulness and sleep become more blurred as my body has never even started to adjustagainst the naturalCircadian rhythm.

I recently learned that all these factors could play a result in my high cholesterol. This encouraged me to conduct some personal research and I discovered some interesting things. Did you know that according to Forbes.com statin medicines rank in the top 15 most prescribed medications? The cholesterol drug Zocor (Simvastatin) from Merck is the No. 2 while Liptor from Pfizer is No. 7 earning the company $11.4 billion last year. The next group of medications to rank with more than one in the top 15 are for blood pressure, but theinteresting factsare yet to come. Astra Zeneca was one of the drug makers I expected to see in the top 15 for cholesterol medications but didn't, so I went looking for it. I searched Astra Zeneca's website as well as the FDA.gov's website and found out something I had never heard of before now.

The following excerpt was taken from Astra Zeneca's website:

http://www.astrazeneca.com/media/latest-press-releases/Crestor_Jupiter_Label?itemId=8403283

"US FDA Approves New Indication for Crestor (Rosuvastatin Calcium)" Published date February 9, 2010

"AstraZeneca today announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved CRESTOR (rosuvastatin calcium) to reduce the risk of stroke, myocardial infarction (heart attack) and arterial revascularization procedures in individuals without clinically evident coronary heart disease but with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease "Not only is this approval a significant milestone for AstraZeneca, but it is also important for the patients who could now benefit from CRESTOR therapy under this approved indication," said Howard Hutchinson, MD, Chief Medical Officer, AstraZeneca."

So now patients with a risk of high cholesterol without clinically evident coronary heart disease could be taking this medication to reduce or prevent their risk. This is an approved indication of the Crestor statin medicine? In light of this information, It did cross my mind that maybe Astra Zeneca wanted a part of the cholesterol medicine pie by winning this exclusive FDA approval for this indication. I use the word 'exclusive' because after hours of researching both Liptor and Zocor, I didn't find FDA approvals for them with any verbiage that came close to "..without clinically evident coronary heart disease.."

Now I question, do we now medically treat a 'not clinically evident' condition? In relation tomy health, I have spoke with nurses who advised cholesterol statins could cause liver damage and even muscle problems as previously warned by the FDA about Zocor, so do I want to take them if I don't have high cholesterol yet?

There are options to discuss with your doctor for people who don't want to take statins or have side effects from them. Recently it was brought to my attention that a little known health store supplement, Red Rice Yeastcould bring cholesterol lowering effects.So I researched some well known sites like MayoClinic.com and WebMd.com for what I felt was reliable information. Here is what I found. It's a yeast that's grown on rice in some Asian countries and contains several compounds that inhibit cholesterol synthesis. There has been legal debate as to whether this supplement should remain as such or be FDA regulated. But for now the product is called Cholestin by Pharmanex, Inc. or another source is called Cholesterice by Blue Bonnet. The Blue Bonnet Brand is combined with CoQ10 to assist in heart function. So hopefully, marginal cholestrol can be managed by a supplement instead of a marketed statin, and to boot Asians have one of the lowest levels ofcoronary heart disease in the world. So maybe, just maybe the Asians have got their cholesterol down to a science.

Please consult with your physician before changing or starting a medicine or product. This article was completed for information purposes only and was not meant to be medical advice.

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