The FastDay Forum

Yes I have and am having blood tests in two weeks - will see if it makes any difference.

Cheers MAGGIE

Anyone actually stopped using on the strength of the programs.

The program despite its flaws explicitly recommends against doing that.

Suggest you take a read of the Media Watch report on the program:
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transc ... 888657.htm

Anyone actually stopped using on the strength of the programs.

The program despite its flaws explicitly recommends against doing that.

Suggest you take a read of the Media Watch report on the program:
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transc ... 888657.htm

Wasnt suggesting people should. Just wondered if for those that agreed with some of the discussion points that they actively questioned their current medication and discussed with old doctor or new doctor.

My own personal opinion is that one shouldn't take drugs (of any sort) if they are not efficacious in any significant way or produce side effects that are "worse" than the condition you are treating. seen it too often in friends and family. e.g. blood pressure medication that produces gout. It's got me in trouble once. in that i avoided seeing a doctor after getting a sty in my eye. had i done so probably would have avoided painful needle work on my eye to remove the sty. ouch.

the link you gave for mediawatch had this long critique - not sure if posted before.

http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transc ... ation2.pdf

i still prefer butter to margarine - always thought margarine was based on petrochemicals.

thanks to link provided by @CreakyPete in a recent thread, interesting development re statins here

http://healthinsightuk.org/2013/11/06/b ... gs-coming/

Woke up this morning to the ABC Radio National news program regarding the contraversy stirred by Catalyst

the media links

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health ... 6773658412

and

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/heart-dis ... 2xjmg.html

Some surveys run by drug companies has shown some "disastrous" effects of tthe eh program. and very busy medical centres! Personally i dont think its a problem that people at least think about any medication they take. And often if people lose weight they may not need the drugs

Drug company Merck Sharp Dohme commissioned a survey of 150 doctors a week after the Catalyst program aired on ABC TV and found two in three had patients who had stopped taking the drugs or considered ceasing them.

A follow up study just released has found that had increased to three out of four doctors on two weeks later on November 21.

Again, half the patients who had dropped their medicine were considered at high risk of a heart attack.

And nine out of ten doctors told the survey they feared they had patients who had stopped their drugs without consulting a doctor.

The survey found two in three patients who wanted to drop their anti-cholesterol treatments after watching the Catalyst program cited side effects as another reason for stopping their drugs.


and some other media links since program

http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health ... 6753839228

http://www.medicalobserver.com.au/news/ ... on-statins

http://theconversation.com/worried-abou ... know-19877

http://www.lifehacker.com.au/2013/11/wh ... take-them/


Thoughts everyone

[carorees]

It's one school of thought that statins might protect against heart attack not by reducing cholesterol (though they do) but through their antiinflammatory actions. So even if cholesterol is not the bad guy, stopping statins may not be wise if you're at high risk.

For people at relatively low risk, the risk reduction by taking statins may be insignificant.

One needs to look at the bigger picture before deciding whether to start/stop statins (or any other drug).

thank you so much @carorees, as ever, the voice of reason!! I will be continuing to take my statins - I guess I am lucky in that I have no side effects, specifically my muscles are still up for 60 km on the bike. But I AM in a higher risk group with type 2 diabetes. one of the people they interviewed on the 2nd program said,"well, if you're particularly worried about dying from heart disease, I suppose you can take them" PARDON ME? MORE THAN 50% of people in the western world die of heart disease! And yes, I am particularly worried - my poor mother died from a stroke (she was 87 however I still miss her!) and her arteries were completely clogged with cholesterol from her chest to her brain (subclavian artery to circle of Willis, for those anatomists). So I do choose to keep taking them and making the drug companies rich.

quick question. if your not already prescribed Statins is it possible with weight loss whether it be through 5:2, 4:3, 16:8 Jenny Craig, LitnEasy, WW, primal diets, or whatever method that works for you is it possible to say that you can over say 2 years PREVENT the future need for any kind of STATIN medication?

[carorees]

I would say yes as long as your other risk factors are good (BP, smoking status, diabetes status etc).

However, if you have genetic high cholesterol, you'll need to convince your doc. Starting with a discussion of what cholesterol measurement is relevant and passing through the relevance of cholesterol in the context of other factors and considering what the heart disease risk of familial hypercholesterolaemia is and how much a statin might influence that!

I think my last cholesterol reading was about 5 years ago and that was in relation to a skin issue i had when i had bloods done.

I avoid doctors generally and unless your applying for a job there or have illness cholesterol readings arent mandated here i dont think.

If i go to a GP its a quick in and out job. whats your problem. ok heres the solution.

I think my last cholesterol reading was about 5 years ago and that was in relation to a skin issue i had when i had bloods done.

I avoid doctors generally and unless your applying for a job there or have illness cholesterol readings arent mandated here i dont think.

If I go to a GP its a quick in and out job. whats your problem. ok heres the solution.

They are not mandated but it's a pretty poor GP who doesn't take care of your overall health. I visit as rarely as I can but she always has a look over my records to see what I'm due for. I have no wish to go on statins but I'm glad to have a GP who cares for more than the immediate complaint I've presented with.

Its the medical centre approach here. they get bonus points if they can fix you up in less than 10 minutes

I know there are some people that make it a weekly habit of going to a GP regardless of health status. i guess they spoil it for the rest of us

I think in Japan you used to be able to book yourself in for a full medical check in a hospital. they do a complete scan


back to that original media story about 2 in 3 or 3 in 4 going to doctors

isnt the research biased.

150 people ..

research run by the drug companies marketing the stuff

Its the medical centre approach here. they get bonus points if they can fix you up in less than 10 minutes

I know there are some people that make it a weekly habit of going to a GP regardless of health status. i guess they spoil it for the rest of us

I think in Japan you used to be able to book yourself in for a full medical check in a hospital. they do a complete scan


back to that original media story about 2 in 3 or 3 in 4 going to doctors

isnt the research biased.

150 people ..

research run by the drug companies marketing the stuff

If you go to a bulk billing medical centre for a 'standard' appointment, then sure, they'll only ask you about the problem of the day. But other places should allow you to book double appointments - today, I have a double appointment with my doctor since I have a few things to ask and I don't want to be rushed. Yes, I pay more but she checks a lot!

[Debs]

I went to the doctors yesterday and had a long chat with her about statins as I stopped taking them a couple of months ago, before Catalyst. We went through the risks, which for me, are low. We discussed what cholesterol actually is and what might be the problems. She was perfectly fine with me stopping them and suggested that if I wanted to know what my real risk was, take a CT scan to check my calcium build up as this would indicate whether there was a risk of cholesterol build up in my arteries. I may do this when I have some money as it isn't covered on Medicare. She did point out though that I may wish to consider this in light of the radiation risk from CTs.
I felt she actually listened and had done some work of her own around the issue, and felt that we were able to reach a decision together. I am going to get my cholesterol tested in the near future; it will be interesting.

[carorees]

A useful risk calculator here: http://qintervention.org/index.php

This lets you enter your details like weight, blood pressure, smoking etc and gives you an idea of your heart health and diabetes risk. You can then tick a series of boxes asking what if I were to go on statins? Reduce my weight? Stop smoking etc. It shows you how these changes affect your risk.

If your risk is low, statins won't make much difference, if high that's another story. But if high then it makes sense not to rely only on statins and bp meds but to change your life as well. Of course 5:2 (or other intermittent fasting) is a good step in the right direction.