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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   1226 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for October 2, 2024

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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I started taking Berberine a few weeks ago in an effort to control my cholesterol. Here are my blood test results:

  • LDL : (165) Unchanged
  • HDL : (65) Up
  • Triglycerides : (65) Down bigly

Overall, I'm happy. My good cholesterol went up, which lowers my overall risk. And my triglycerides are very low now. My LDL is still very high unfortunately. This might not matter all that much.

The low triglycerides level is great news. I drink more than I should which would in theory cause high trigylcerides.

I'm still undecided on statins. My overall 10 year cardiac event risk is about 1.5% which is well below the 5% threshold at which people typically consider statins. But I know some doctors like Peter Attia like to push statins on even low-risk patients. I might try to find a Life Extension specialist doctor to have a conversation.

Have you had a calcium score done? My LDL was lower than yours but father had a heart attack at 51. My calcium score came back 95%ile for my age so onto statins I went.

The calcium score is relatively inexpensive though. I paid it out of pocket. Not that much reason not to do it.

I haven't. I've thought about it. I suppose there are no downsides except the cost and the very small risk from having a chest CT.

Berberine is known to interact with other drugs, have you noticed any effects?

I don't take other drugs fortunately. I have noticed bloating from the berberine however.

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