!!!WARNING! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS WITHOUT THE SUPPORT AND CONSENT OF A DOCTOR!!!
I have seen several articles that say that this or that particular natural remedy may help control a person’s triglycerides but most of the time I see several contradictions in the comments following. I want to tell my story so that there is at least one positive story with someone saying something specific worked for me.
I had chest pain when I was 26. Only because my father had his first heart attack at the same age did I eventually and very reluctantly go in to have some tests run.
One of the things that was brought to light was that my triglycerides were way over what they should be. I was also told that triglycerides are THE leading indicator of whether or not a person will have a heart attack.
According to what I have been told, < 150 the normal range for an adult. According to a couple websites I just looked at, it is considered borderline up to 199, high up to 499, and very high beyond that. My numbers put me well into the very high category.
For several years I was on Simvastatin and it did bring my levels down to what they should have been. The dose had to be adjusted once from 40 mg to 80 mg to get the levels where they needed to be.
Although it did the job, I felt that made me feel sluggish (although this could have been something completely unrelated). I also have heard from multiple sources that the statin drugs are not good for a person’s liver. I am NOT a medical professional so I cannot confirm or deny that this is true (you must do your own research on this).
Based on how I felt and the information that I had about the drugs affecting my liver, I decided it was time for a change. I spoke to my doctor about it and he told me there were other options but they were all in the family of statin drugs (some name brand statin drugs to not end in statin). I wasn’t satisfied with the answer. I explained that I would like to try something else and that I had done some reading online about the issue. Some articles stated that this or that may help with triglyceride levels. He told me, “This is America. I cannot force you to take the drugs but I have never had any of the things online work for anyone.” He finally agreed that I could try whatever I wanted and then be tested in 90 days to see where my levels were. The 90 days would give plenty of time for the Simvastatin to clear and whatever else I wanted to try to be in full swing.
At this point, I didn’t really have a plan. I went without anything for about a week while doing some more research online. I finally came up with 3 natural things that could help with the problem. I wanted to try them individually but I decided that my health was nothing to mess with so I would do them all together. I started taking the following:
Niacin Flush-Free 500 mg
Policosanol/ Traditional Red Yeast Rice Complex 10mg/600mg
Garlic Oil 500mg
I do happen to know that you can get all three of these from www.swansonvitamins.com This is where I get mine from but I am NOT endorsing them at all. I am sure there are several other places to get these types of things.
Since this is my risk of a heart attack I am talking about here I wanted an honest test. I did not change what I ate in the slightest (because if I did I would have to eat like that the rest of my life and I wasn’t prepared to do that at this point). I did not increase my activity level. I kept everything as much the same as I could. I am not advocating not changing your lifestyle to help with triglycerides, but I wanted to know it was the things I was taking rather than lifestyle changes that were causing changes in my levels.
I went back to the doctor when it was time for my blood test. I usually put this type of thing off as long as possible but I wanted to know if I was putting myself at risk of a heart attack or not. I got a call about another issue that I have from the blood test but they did not mention the triglyceride level so I asked about it. The nurse told me, “Your level is high – 156 – but your good cholesterol is so high that the doctor is not worried about it.” It worked!! I had brought my levels down to very close to the normal range – close enough that it did not worry the doctor. I was pretty excited.
I hope that the readers of this can take the information and make an educated decision for what is right for them. Whatever you decide, be informed and TALK WITH YOUR DOCTOR ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU DO IT.
NOTE: I did have someone tell me that they had a poor reaction to Niacin – bad enough to stop taking the medication. There ARE side effects to natural medications. I don’t have any that I know of with the ones listed above, but others do. Be careful and watch for reactions.
AGAIN, I AM NOT A DOCTOR BUT I WANT TO TELL YOU MY STORY.
!!!WARNING! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS WITHOUT THE SUPPORT AND CONSENT OF A DOCTOR!!!