anti-cholesterol medications.

[HansNZ]

Are prescription cholesterol drugs effective in combating steroid induced high blood cholesterol?

I have been on a long cycle and I am starting to feel breatheless a lot. I am having nightmares about my arteries clogging up.

I am already doing the non-prescription options for cholesterol control, i.e. taking lots of EFAs and soy protein, but my most recent blood test came back with very high LDL and very low HDL levels. I don't think the over-the-counter options are enough.

 

[WormAAA77]

Lipoderm

 

[HansNZ]

Lipoderm

Could you elaborate?

Is lipoderm a prescription drug or is this something I can buy at a heath food shop?

 

[jboldman]

red yeast rice is an over the counter supplement that has been clinically proven to reduce cholesterol. It is available inexpensively over the internet.

 

[HansNZ]

red yeast rice is an over the counter supplement that has been clinically proven to reduce cholesterol. It is available inexpensively over the internet.

I have explored this option. I was told that its effect is only significant in some people otherwise it would be used more widely.

This may be true or not. Doctors get caught up on pharmaceutical approaches and ignore alternatives, so the lack of use of this supplement doesn't necessarily mean it's not effective. But I don't think I want to wait to find out whether it works for me or not. It could take a few months to determine that.

 

[Oliver]

This forum is not the best place to ask this question. It would be wise to talk to someone who has an MD degree rather than a bunch people, most of whom know very little about this subject. Its your health take it seriously.

 

[jboldman]

For a while it was takenoff the market becasue it actually worked as well as any of the statins, the drug mfgrs complained that it was a drug and the fda made it script only. Recently that ruling was overturned as a result of its long history of supplement use. It is not more widely used because most people do not know about it and doctors tend to "prescribe" medicine. Check out the literature on it, it is cheap and effective. Here is a note when it was taken off the market. Remember this is a real drug and should be used with caution since it has side effect(;like rising your liver enzymes)
==========================================
The FDA ruled that a red rice yeast extract, Cholestin, must be taken off of the market as it contains mevinolin which is chemically identical to lovastatin which is Merck's anti cholesterol agent called Mevacor. Mevinolin is found naturally in the red yeast, Monascus purpureus which has been used for thousands of years to ferment rice into wine as a spice and as a preservative in Asia. The company did not concentrate the rice yeast or manipulate it in any way. All they did was crush it into tiny particles and put it into capsules. Cholestin sells for $15 and Mevacor sells for $77.

I have explored this option. I was told that its effect is only significant in some people otherwise it would be used more widely.

This may be true or not. Doctors get caught up on pharmaceutical approaches and ignore alternatives, so the lack of use of this supplement doesn't necessarily mean it's not effective. But I don't think I want to wait to find out whether it works for me or not. It could take a few months to determine that.

 

[nandi12]

jboldman makes the good point that statins are thought to cause liver problems. It might not be wise to combine 17 alpha alkylated steroids with statins.

There is also a contrarian school of thought that even though testosterone lowers HDL levels it offers protection against atherogenesis via conversion to estrogen by blocking vascular cell adhesion molecules (1) (2).

In my opinion this is just one more reason to limit the use of estrogen blockers.

(1) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2002 Mar 19;99(6):4055-60

Testosterone attenuates expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 by conversion to estradiol by aromatase in endothelial cells: implications in atherosclerosis.

Mukherjee TK, Dinh H, Chaudhuri G, Nathan L.

(2)Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2001 Mar 13;98(6):3589-93

Testosterone inhibits early atherogenesis by conversion to estradiol: critical role of aromatase.

Nathan L, Shi W, Dinh H, Mukherjee TK, Wang X, Lusis AJ, Chaudhuri G.

 

[HansNZ]

OK, I'll use Red Rice Yeast, esp. since I don't want to place any more stress on my liver (I am adding anadrol to my cycle for the next 3 weeks).

I was thinking about my cholesterol tests. The soy protein and the EFAs might make no difference to these results because they don't lower choseterol but simply limit it from binding to arteries.

 

[marky]

Lipator

Ive had high cholesterol on cycles as well as off. Lipator rapidly brought my cholesterol back into the normal range. Even when cycling the statin drug kept my levels in check. No sides or interactions whatsoever. Your family history should give you a good indicator of you risks.