What do you use to lower cholesterol without statins?

Ruth, I agree. My best friend is a very experienced nurse and was taking flush free niacin herself until I told her the difference. She checked on it and switched.

Here is an article explaining the different niacin types.

niacins

I'm goin to get the slo niacin tomorrow

Thanks

I'll let all of u no at the end of the month

Walmart has Slo Niacin, just bought some there yesterday.

well I bought it and I'm gonna try it

I did a google search and webmd gave a pretty good review

I don't have a car and we r getting pounded with snow now SO I'll keep u posted

Thanks for all the advice

CP418, yes, if you were taking iodine, that could explain the problem. There is a group of doctors and naturopath types who run around the internet touting iodine supplementation. They blithely recommend taking huge doses of iodine and completely downplay the risk of it. Thing is that although iodine deficiency is indeed a bad thing, it is also fairly rare if you eat a decent and balanced diet and use iodized salt.

There was a discussion of iodine a while back (now locked) that had a lot of links and info: http://community.breastcancer.org/topic_post?forum_id=79&id=814814&page=1

Oh dear! How much iodine did your GP say was OK?

Hi, a bit off the thyroid topic...

I started statins and within a week had excruciating back muscle spasms, pain. I stopped the statins immediately. The pain has lessened but isn't gone. My CK blood levels were elevated, above normal.

As mentioned earlier, I've gone on a strict diet using most of the recommendations from this thread (not niacin.) I'll retest blood lipids at the end of march. Not sure what I will do if levels haven't gone down. My total chol was 285, up almost 80 points in one year despite no change in diet, though coincided w starting Femara. 

For those taking plant sterols, what dosage are you taking? Solgar? How much omega 3?

Thanks.

sgreenarch, did you see the post about stanols from cardiologist Dr William Davis (Wheat Belly)? 

In summary, he states that "while sterols do indeed reduce LDL cholesterol, they may also increase risk for heart disease and trigger plaque growth when ingested in more than normal quantities". 

Be careful not to fix one problem and cause another.

If your CK enzymes are elevated from taking the statin, there are several different statins to try...furthermore, you can try beginning by taking it once a week and increasing the dose week by week, carefully watching your ck levels and symptoms.   There are also cardiologists who are also endocrinologists and are lipid specialists.  Some hospitals have lipid clinics.  If your physician feels that the benefits of taking a statin outweigh the risks, then I would seek out a lipid specialist.

Thanks jg10, 

I take chelated magnesium daily and am aware of all the good things magnesium can do. I convinced my MIL to take it, too.

My TSH is fine at 1.15, What is "iodine level" called? I think I started taking it after reading about it on the Wheat Belly Blog.

Jg10, I did not know that about magnesium. I have been taking it since finishing treatment, mainly because there is no serious downside and it is supposed to help with calcium absorption (osteopenia). Good to know that it may also help against excess cholesterol.

If your HDL levels are way over 50  say...(mine is over 100) means it doesn't matter what the total is.......  Modern thinking is that HDL trumps LDL and NO MEDS R necessary.... repeat, no meds r necessary...

I quit my iodine last week. Don't know if it was related, but man I was really lethargic for several days. It seems to have passed (crossed fingers) and I hope my thyroid numbers will stay in the healthy range.

Mountains, I agree that the Total Cholesterol is not that relevant these days, but I'm not so sure about the HDL trumping all other numbers. My HDL was 61 (now 79) and my lipidologist (Dr Tara Dall) was very concerned. Specifically regarding my particle number (LDL-P over 2300), my ApoB (at 117), and my Lp(a) at 60. These are the values that we are working to reduce w/o using statins.