Anything that fixes the loophole in the law and removes the FDA from the equation seems like a win-win right now. When I first read about cell transplants as a potential cure for diabetes, I suspected those invested in treatments would do all they could to slow the research. The situation described in the article sounds even worse.
Parts of this story remind me of the challenges faced by patients waiting for kidney transplants, too. Until I watched the report below, I had no idea how much control for-profit healthcare has on dialysis:
You know⌠I see free standing dialysis centers all over the place these days (much like the free standing blood testing places). I can think of at least⌠4 of those places in around the areas I regularly drive.
The âgreen gooâ scenario.
Sorry for the longish story here, but some of you but be glad to hear it, or can at least relate.
I just had another experience that made me distrustful of corporate U.S. health care, this time with my âsomewhat elevatedâ level of the bad cholesterol. It starts last year, when my PCP recommended a statin, since I supposedly had a 17% risk of a heart attack. I put it off, saying Iâd like to try losing my little bit of extra weight and exercising more instead (I already eat a very heart healthy diet).
So this yearâs physical comes around, m6 bad cholesterol is at that same level (has been for years actually), and my doc presses harder for a statin. Since Iâm a year older, that scary number is now 19%. I said that various things had gotten in the way of the exercise and losing weight (not that Iâm âobeseâ btw), and he said, Yeah, no matter how much of that you do, itâs not really gonna lower that number much. Maybe your cholesterol situation is genetic, but anyway, I really recommend a statin.
Now: I had some more info this time. Two other friends had been recommended a statin, but theyâd heard about a âpulmonary calcium scoring,â a sort of photo of your heart that detects whether it has much of the dangerous plaque buildup that cholesterol can cause. Turns out they didnât! So their docs backed off on the statin rec.
As you can guess, I asked my doc about the test. Oh sure, he said, sounds great, if you get a low score on that, youâll be in the clear. But, he said, insurance doesnât cover it, itâs $150, something like that.
I didnât have the guts or whatever to confront him about why the hell he didnât recommend the test before recommending a lifelong statin with possible side effects, but whatever. I eventually got the test done after a month or so of calling around about his referral which got lost somewhere, and boom-- my score is a 7.
So if you know about that test, itâs a VERY low number. No need for a statin. Iâm relieved, but also likeâŚwtf? Whatâs with recommending a statin, when all three of us didnât need it? (Not that I think no one should take them â I instead suspect theyâre onerprescribed.) And whatâs with not recommending this heart test for plaque build up? And why doesnât insurance typically cover it?
Some answers here, maybe-- i canât vouch for the site:
The upshot? Statins are more Business than Medicine. The risk reductions, when shared with patients are so tiny that you have to squint to see them. Itâs frankly a great example of how the theater of the absurd that we call modern medicine often puts Business interests above clinical reality.
You may have been better off with bloodletting. Gotta let that black bile out to balance your humors.
/s of course
Sign me up!
A few years ago I had what turned out to be an ocular migraineâpartial blindness in one eye for about 5 minutesâso I went to the hospital for a suspected stroke. They found out I had a high level of bad cholesterol, so the last night I was there, they gave me a statin â without my permission or even telling me. I forget how I did find out. I had back pain for three nights. Later I found out that my calcium score is also very low.
BTW, while I was in the hospital I was seen by the house neurologist, who told me they found no evidence of a stroke. I asked him if it could have been a migraine aura. He said no, because that would have been in both eyes (and Iâve had those in fact). So I did some searching on my phone, and from descriptions, images showing what it looks like to the patient, the 100 year history of ocular migraines, and so on, I diagnosed the condition myself before I even left the hospital. Once home, I called my neurologist who confirmed my diagnosis. Itâs an odd condition where the arteries feeding the one eye constrict for some reason.
I should have written that hospital neurologist and suggest he look up ocular migraines. But I forgot his name.
A related(?) anecdote, FWIW:
I had a doctor for a while who sure seemed to enjoy prescribing things, statins among them. But I had a different problem with cholesterol: the overall number was good, & LDL was ok. Triglycerides were high but the other issue was that I was trying to get HDL to go up, for years. Nothing moved the needle, including a statin, which made the HDL go even lower (prescription-strength niacin didnât help, either). Within the past few years (since Covid started), I got better about exercising & eating less (mainly no, or smaller, breakfasts) & I lost a bit of weight. Even that didnât help the blood test numbers much (although A1C backed off from its highs).
Then about a month ago, the blood test came back & HDL (& triglycerides) were both normal, for the first time I think since anyone had noticed that it was off. I couldnât figure what had changed in the 6 months since the last blood test - most of the weight loss had already occurred, & I wasnât exercising more than I already had been. The 2 changes I can think of: (1) I quit drinking coffee every day (I might have one cup a month), & drinking tea instead; & (2) I quit drinking wine (or any other alcohol) every day (maybe having it once a week). (Not meant to imply youâre doing too much of those things, or of anything - & in my case it might turn out to be neither of those things, but thatâs when the numbers changed)
Good to hear! Though it sucks how often weâre on our own with corporate medicine. I hope all is okay now.
No prob, I didnât read it that way. Again, it sucks how bad the experts can be at diagnosing a problem and figuring out what to do other than throwing some drug at it.
I already limit both caffeine and alcohol to pretty much what youâre down to, or less, have for years. Good to hear it may well have done the trick for you. As I wrote, I eat just as healthily, so itâs not that either, and Iâm not especially stressed out (though the regime does do that to me). Guess I should get more committed to exercise, which might lower my weight too. Good to avoid a statin, and to gather that you have too.
I once was contacted by my health clinic that my cholesterol was dangerously high and I should come in to see the doctor immediately. This was surprising because I hadnât had any issues with high cholesterol prior to that. It turned out that the patient who was tested immediately before me had the same first name and last initial as mine, and the clinic had sent me her results.
Gaia wins this round with a stealthy move against Climate Change!
The second half of the show deals directly with RFK and his destructive attacks on health care, especially vaccinesâŚ