I just had a prescription filled today and the Dr. has increased my Cholesterol tablets from 10mgs to 20mgs. I asked the chemist if these could cause any reaction, to which he said to watch how I am feeling. My cholesterol is only 4.5 but the Dr. said it should be below 4?  My friend said his is 7 and his Dr. said that can be quite normal in some people. What is going on here? When I first started taking Crestor i had muscular aches, not looking forward to a reaction with increased medication.

My Cholesterol is about 5.5  -- I have a young Friend that has it at 13 she is very active --and her Father had it all his life at 13 and he died at 95 --  Cholesterol can be a Genetic thing -- I have known some people to have bad reactions to Statins -- I myself really know nothing about them and have refused to take them myself.

I too will be watching that show -- I do take VitC, VitD once a month (50,000mg) Zinc and Magnesium and Silica,  I have not had a cold or such in years and the Magnesium does wonders for disabling cramps

Yes I think Chemists try and push many things that make them a heap of money --that do not a zot of good

Hola, for many years I refused to take statins in spite of inherited high cholesterol. I finally gave in when my cholesterol reached 9 earlier this year and commenced 5 mgs statin daily which is the lowest dose. It brought my count back to 5.5 and my doctor said she was happy with that and no need to increase the dose. I have had no side effects whatsoever. I’m surprised you were told to increase your dosage when your cholesterol is only 4.5. Just goes to show that different doctors have varying views about what is ok/unOK regarding cholesterol. 

People are only wasting money on multi vitamins. They do nothing for you and can even create more damage.

Bad LDL can be lowered if oats and barley are part of your daily diet and if you arent getting enough sunshine, vitmin D supplement is a must.

The real challenge is that synthetic vitamins in mega-doses are the problem. How available are these man-made chemicals? Are they useful in any way when limited in range and taken in isolation from other absorptive factors such as micro-sugars and minerals? Then there is the problem of over-saturation from the size of the vitamin dosage assailing our cells. Obviously most B-vitamins are excreted within seconds of washing through our system so they are clearly only good to make expensive urine and stress our liver and kidneys.

The reality is that we are adapted to getting not just the alphabet vitamins but a host of other synergistic and complementary micronutrients including antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, anti-allergens, anticancer activity from anti-proliferatives and pro-apopototics, enzymes and enzyme regulators, good sugars, organic acids, minerals and more. Over-loading on high dose, simplistic blends of synthetic chemicals with binders and fillers usually means depleting co-factors or biochemical pathways that are needed to assimilate the vitamins. Some pill vitamins also bind to cellular receptors and block other vital antioxidants from binding and this is to our detriment.

I am clearly biased here because I see the results we get from the high antioxidant, wild food based beverage I market as LIFE (Lyophilized Indigenous Food Essentials). Btw, lyophilized means freeze-dried. The delivery of antioxidants is high due to the whole food nature of the ingredients used (minimally processed, nutrient rich, high fibre foods). Wild fruits even contain fat soluble antioxidants unlike conventional fruits which are limited to only water solubles.

An interesting observation is also that Government guidelines recommend only 2 fruits (and 5 vegetables with just one starchy veg). This is because modern fruits come stuffed with bad sugars, water and little else. Fruit antioxidants are deplete (as mentioned, fat soluble antioxidants are absent), anti-allergens are gone, anticancer compounds are down or zero, even fibre has disappeared. In comparison, wild foods are loaded with the micronutrients listed above and between 10 times better to incomparably superior. Indigenous Australians never suffered from the diseases of nutrition which are chronic ailments that are now causing childhood obesity, diabetes and a multitude of conditions often united by metabolic inflammation or metaflammation. This is like an infection from a would that just never heals and spreads throughout out system with a cascade of negative effects to our health.

Avoid chemical supplements. Choose foods that better approximate those with which we evolved which are wild or near-wild foods. Avoid the lab chemicals and watch your diet of conventional rubbish foods. Check out this blog article for more background if you are interested: http://cherikoff.net/breeding-the-nutrition-out-of-our-food/

Unfortunaltey now our food is so poor in nutrition that supplements are needed. However, not all supplements are equal. Many of them in chemists and supermarkets are very poor indeed in what they offer. Most of the products contain fillers and have very little activie ingreditents. In fact over 90% of them if they do have plant products in them, do not use the correct part of the plant anyway. Most of the ingredients are sourced from china and most of your big brands are owned by the big pharmaceutical companies, especially the big ones from China, who are openly trying to capture the Australian health industry and now the aged care industry as well.

You only pay for what you get, so if you are going to invest is supplements, make sure you're do your homework and invest in reputable brands. You might start by investigating how the big trusted brand on our shelves are not actually owned by Australia but many were brought out by China in 2015 and the plants are sourced from unreputable and often contaminated sources. We are so swayed by advertising and marketing that we beleive the claims without ever really investigating them for ourselves. They use tags such as the trusted brand and so on. Trusted by whom? Never do they present the research they keep on referring to. You cant eexpect to buy a vitiamin supplement and get 200 tables for under $20 to $40 and expect it to be effective. You are mostly buying fillers. On the other hand, paying the big dollars for all these fad products is not the answer either. Best Ive found is not in shops at all, but through word of mouth and witnessing the results that others achieve for myself.

Ho ho ho , my favourite subject !! i did have a triple by pass just on 3yrs ago and yes i was taking all the medecins that my doctor did pescripe for my condition . Firstly i was worried about the side effects and i was always feeling sleepish and no energy !!! So , 6 months ago i put them all in the bin and guess what , i am feeling so much better , play tennis 3 days a week , have been a total vegetarian now for 30yrs and do suplement my diet with B12 and magnesium ( only found in meat and fish ) I am 74 yrs old , and happy to take my chance without any drugs . By the way i do check my blood pressure every two days and flactuates between 131 to 146 ..i am happy with that . Early next year i will have another blood test done and very interested to see the results . 

Would be interested to receive some comments re my actions !!!

Cheers and good health to you all .

Hola - re cholesterol. My cardiologist had my blood tested last week. Cholesterol level 5.6. He said if it was over 7 we would need a discussion on the need for tablets.  He is 30 ish and is on the fence about it as it is mainly genetic and what you eat does not seem to affect the level much.

As for vitamins, if you eat a balanced diet there should be little need for them.

I watched some of the SBS show "Vitamania" . What amazed me was that apparently a little while ago in the US a law was passed PREVENTING the FDA from investigating the correct content and efficiency of vitamin supplements and the industry became huge. There is no oversight of what and how much of anything goes into these supplements so its playing Russian Roulette with supplements.

I have noted that our chemists shop now are awash with all sorts of vitamin and supplements to cure ailments that may or may not even exist. One would probably be better off chewing on lawn weeds. at least you would know what you are getting.

Thank you Hola , for your positive reply !! Good health to you as well . I also have my type 2 diabetes under control ( but i do love a bit of ice cream ) I do agree with you , a positive attidute is very important , Actyally i was told that stress did play a big part in having had a heart attack !! it did happen on the court !!! Cheers.

HOLA, I just tuned in to this thread And I was most surprised at your Doctor telling you that for a cholesterol reading you should be under 4. Ok I agree with the comments that every one is different and you could have a reason for a doctor to try to reach that target in your particular case. However having plenty of doctor contact in recent years , both in hospitals and GP surgeries, I have been told that 4.5 is excellent and no need to strive for lower. Mine was 4.4 three months ago ,and coincidently saw my GP today for the results of a recent test and she was very happy to say it was even a bit better this time, didn't bother to ask what it was as I had more pressing things to discuss! Couple of yrs ago I was on statins and I had muscle problems so took myself off them ( not usually a good idea without telling a doctor!) I was around 5.8 at the time. I went on a diet with plenty more fish, both fresh and canned (mostly Tuna) , ate cholesterol lowering margarine daily and drank litres of chinese teas,green and others. The doctor says keep it up if it works! I wouldn't take statins in a fit now! Like others here I take medicine only if it is absolutely necessary. Hope you find the right balance!

sageman - Congrats on the good health report. I have been eating Weetbix which is supposed to lower cholesterol by 9%, just eaten my way through 4 boxes in the last few  months and cholesterol lowering margarine. It's going to be interesting to see my bood report next week. 

HOLA, Thanks, BTW wasn't suggesting my eating regime was solely responsible for my improved Cholesterol figures ( wasn't really scientific) but I hadn't changed anything else so what could it have been, not likely divine intervention? I would however humbly suggest that you give up eating cardboard boxes as 4 in a short time seems a bit drastic to me! Although I have heard it said before that the boxes contain more nutrients than the cereal contents! Let us hope you stay on a reasonable figure and don't overfuss or worry unduly any further , as it would most likely be nitpicking in the extreme. Good Luck!