Can someone help me with niacin and cholesterol?

[doxielove]

I recently posted my cholesterol numbers because my doctor said they were high and wanted me to go back on statin drugs (which I will never do again, ever), and Betty and other knowledgeable people explained to me that my numbers really weren't too high and why.

Yesterday, though, my daughter gave me an ultrasound (she is in school learning to be an ultrasound tech) on my carotid arteries (it was supervised and assisted by a licensed tech)and it turns out that I have some plaque build-up in the bulbs of the artery (the place where it branches off into two different arteries, one to the face and one to the brain) on each side. The licensed tech said it isn't extreme (yet), but that I am too young for that (47) and it's unusual for someone who has never smoked, so she put it down to cholesterol.

I know I have had read about people using niacin to lower cholesterol and I don't know if this would help, but naturally I do feel a little paranoid now. I tried a search but must be doing something wrong - any advice would be appreciated!

[2big4mysize]

Have you read Dr Atkins talk about how plaque build up was reversed in folk eating his plan during his yrs as a medical doc for those folk? it is too bad you don't have a preAtkins pic to compare it too and see if it is smaller now or not.

Niacin for cholesterol is a prescription dose much higher then what folk get in the B vits OTC. It also needs liver function monitoring because like statins it can have adverse effects on your liver. Talk with your doc about using it.

Betty uses a below prescription dose form OTC niacin, but she also runs like a deer 35 miles a week and has been eating a clean healthy atkins for 5 yrs now so determining the exact cause of her great cholesterol numbers can't be determined to a single item.

[sugarless4life]

Niacin is a great way to improve cholesterol numbers. I use the flush-free OTC 1000 mg a day and have taken it for many years. It has been proven to positively impact cholesterol, both HDL and LDL. My primary care physician recommended it way back when. I would never touch a statin drug, so its my supplement of choice, along with odorless garlic (1200 mg daily), and krill oil (omega 3). You might also google red rice yeast which works on cholesterol too. Cardiovascular exercise will raise the levels of HDL so if you're not currently exercising, I strongly recommend it. Start slow and build progressively.

I don't know whether its the niacin or the running that has improved my numbers more, but both are equally worth strong recommendations as far as I am concerned! My last bloodwork was HDL 110 / LDL 95 / Triglycerides 73. Ratio of LDL to HDL: .86.

Some links for you:

Cholesterol - Niacin: Myths and Facts
Niacin and Cholesterol

Betty

[TheWildHaggis]

Originally Posted by doxielove

I know I have had read about people using niacin to lower cholesterol and I don't know if this would help, but naturally I do feel a little paranoid now. I tried a search but must be doing something wrong - any advice would be appreciated!

This were my numbers back in March (converted to US numbers.)

Total Chol 270
Trigs 38
HDL 104
LDL 158
Ratio 2.5

My doctor didn't like some of my numbers, so I took a page out from Dr. Davis, from Track you Plaque fame. who still cares about such things as silly lipids.

This June, I left my doctor speechless with these numbers.

Total Chol 135
Trigs 15
HDL 92
LDL 38
Ratio 1.5

Now, I am on 5mg Zocor, and have been for some time, but my the dosage has been static since I started about a year ago, and shouldn't factor in these results.

How I do it? My pack with the devil began paying off!

Seriously, I was ODing on oat bran. Not exactly LC, but I'm in Atkins Maintenance and it's allowed. I would eat close to 150 to 200g of the stuff daily to offset the yokes I ate a lot of. I also had a shot of dark rum most days, usually at breakfast with the oat bran for flavouring. I also took 2grams per day of full flushing niacin daily. Finally, I started moving. I tired to get an hour of brisk walking in every day (thank God for mp3s and a play list from SugarFreeSheila's site as walking has to be the most boring thing one can do.)

I started this 30 days to the day of the test. I've back off a tad now as I did gain 4 pounds during this period due to glycogen storage and the water it requires, but I quickly lost that when I entered into ketosis again and have since balanced things out to stay under my goal weight of 172 with the added carbs.

I don't know if this will work to get your numbers down, or if it'll help clear out your arteries, but at least numbers wise, it worked for me.

[TheWildHaggis]

I forgot to mention a few other thing I did during that month. I popped a fish oil pill every morning. I added around 23g of olive oil somewhere during the day, and I ended off every night with some 30g of almonds.