Tuesday, August 18, 2015

It's Not Personal

I get tired of things sometimes. I recently quit going to a class at church because I was tired of it. It was an apologetics class that I really had no interest in from the start. I was attending to help the teacher, who is also my friend (I think) to get attendance up and stimulate discussion. After some time, all those things happened and so I quit going. I probably should have told him what I was doing and that I was not angry or something else stupid like that, but I didn't. Whatever. Maybe I will address it Sunday. Anyway Gary, it was not personal.

I also like to vent from time to time. People can do with that what they will and they do not have to respond to it. I am not a dripping faucet even though I behave that way from time to time, but I occasionally leak when I get frustrated. Eventually the dripping stops. I suppose someday I could burst a pipe, but I don't think that's going to happen. Sometimes I think I am the most tightly controlled person alive. That has been both good and bad. I suppose you could also say I am high strung or high maintenance, but really, I am self repairing too. No need to get out the wrenches and offer sage advice. Just let me ramble on that men may know I am mad. Don't respond. My whining WILL stop. Again, it ain't personal. You do not have to do anything about it. I just like to vent, to share the minutia. Take it all with a grain of salt. Laugh at me if you like. It's ok. I will be OK.

If it's a real emergency, I will tell you.

This is not it.

So here goes with the drips. Dad was talking to the television again last night. I have arrived at the conclusion that it is best just to let him do it and say nothing. He is also having trouble remembering how to start his lawnmower. It's a three step process and if you have Alzheimer's, chances are good that you will forget one of them. This could be a rough winter.

I have also been in one of my withdrawal moods. I do not want to be with people except from a distance. Church has been kind of dicey. It's like I am running from the building every Sunday. People always ask me the same thing - "how's your Dad?". I know you mean well, but seriously people, he has Alzheimer's, what do you expect?  He will not get better! Sometimes he is perfectly normal. You would never know there is anything wrong with him except old age. Other times he is bat shit crazy if I might be so bold. I am not sure if these conversations with people at church is what's frustrating me or possibly the off chance that I might actually tell them he is bat shit crazy? There are other times where Dad will be standing right beside me and they will say, "how's your Dad?"

Seriously? He is standing right there. Ask him yourself. What is wrong with you?

He has Alzheimer's. It's not contagious. He can still talk and carry on conversations. It's not great. His level of awareness is not high, but you can talk to him. So what if it does not necessarily make sense? He might enjoy the visit anyway and I might enjoy the break from my duties as "translator". Then again, it might be one of those days where he is making prefect sense and then you might think it's me that is bat shit crazy. Wouldn't that be fun? You could start a rumor that I made it all up and that there is nothing wrong with him.

Whatever.

I'm done dripping now...for the present. If you don't like it you can always stop reading. I feel much better.





Serious As A Heart Attack

Dr David Brownstein says that everything he was taught in medical school about cholesterol was wrong.

"Folks, what I was taught about cholesterol was 100% wrong. What I was not taught was that approximately 50% of people who suffer heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels. Furthermore, I was not taught that a higher cholesterol level was predictive of a longer life span in the elderly. Nor was I taught that lowering cholesterol levels with cholesterol-lowering medications fails well over 97% of the patients who takes them.

A recent study in Critical Care Medicine (43:1255-1264, 2015) is titled, “Lipid Paradox in Acute Myocardial Infarction- The Association with 30-Day In-Hospital Mortality.” This study followed 724 hospitalized patients who suffered an acute heart attack (i.e., myocardial infarction). The scientists attempted to clarify the relationship between the lipid profiles and the 30-day mortality in patients who suffered a heart attack.

The authors found that those with lower LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels had a significantly elevated mortality risk when compared to patients with higher LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. In fact, lower LDL-cholesterol less than 110 mmg/dl and triglyceride less than 62.5 mmg/dl were identified as optimal threshold values for predicting 30-day mortality. The lower LDL-cholesterol level was associated with a 65% increased mortality and the lower triglyceride level was associated with a 405% increased mortality. Furthermore, as compared to patients with LDL-cholesterol levels >110mg/dl and triglycerides >62.5 mg/dl, those with lowered LDL and triglyceride levels had a 990% (or 10.9x) increased risk for mortality.

Why would lowered cholesterol and triglyceride levels be associated with a higher mortality rate? Fats from triglycerides are a major energy source and LDL-cholesterol is critical for cell membrane synthesis and is needed to fight infections. Adequate LDL-cholesterol and triglyceride levels may be critical for cell function and survival in the case of a heart attack—as well as in other conditions.
Folks, we have been hoodwinked to believe that we must all take cholesterol-lowering medications in order to prevent and/or treat heart disease. People do not get heart disease because their cholesterol level is elevated. Remember, 50% of patients who suffer a heart attack have normal cholesterol levels."

Dr Brownstein is not the first doctor to say these things. I have come to believe that there are a lot of medical myths surrounding the whole heart attack / cholesterol link that just are not true. It is a mythology pushed by the pharmaceutical companies that make statin drugs which is a multi billion dollar business here in the US.

Information like this from Dr Brownstein crushes the mythology. There are also links between statin drug use and memory loss as well as muscle pain and cramps that cease immediately when the statins are discontinued. 

My thought is that if your doctor recommends a statin, do some research first. Do not allow yourself to become a statistic in a study that never sees the light of day. At the end of the day, much of what the pharmaceutical industries do is designed to make money. If you are cured of whatever it is, the gravy train stops. They have no interest in you getting better. They do have an interest in selling you pills that will require more pills to fix the side effects of the pills you are taking. Don't become a statistic.