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Medical Forum / General / Cardiology / March 2006Cholesterol and phenobarbital
Delurking for a question. I've been taking 90 mg phenobarbital daily as an anti-seizure preventative since the removal of a brain tumor 6 years ago. My doctor finally said that I could quit taking it and I did and I now feel a lot more alert. I don't know what my cholesterol was prior to the brain surgery, but since then my cholesterol has been high and my triglycerides have been very high. I've tried diet and various medicines, avoiding satins, to bring these into range. Until now, I've had better results with Cholesterol than with the Triglycerides. My most recent limpid check, which was after I'd discontinued the phenobarbital, shows Total C up 09 percent, HDL up 08 percent and LDL up 16 percent and my problem triglycerides have dropped 21 percent to almost in range. Could the slowing down of the liver due to the discontinuance of the pheno have caused this? If not, I'm at a loss to explain the changes, as I have been fairly stable with a very minor improvement over the past two years on the 6 month checks. 2nd question: I'm 66 years old and my doctor wants to put me on statins to drop my cholesterol. I cannot tolerate either Zetia or Welchol, due to gas, bloating and severe stomach/intestine cramps. I have this cramp problem whether or not I'm on the above medicines, but this pain and bloating problem seems to be enhanced by these two drugs, especially Welchol. Is there a cholesterol medicine that is gentle to the digestive system and is not a statin? Thanks, Ray > Delurking for a question. > [quoted text clipped - 29 lines] > Thanks, > Ray Look at / study consider Policosanol. Talk with your primary care doc. as per usual. Bill  SignatureLocated In S Jersey USA Zone 5 Shade This article is posted under fair use rules in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and is strictly for the educational and informative purposes. This material is distributed without profit. Vision Problems? Look at http://www.ocutech.com/ ~us$1500 I asked: >> Is there a cholesterol medicine that is gentle to the >>digestive system and is not a statin? William Wagner replied: > Look at / study consider Policosanol. I had been taking a single Basic brand multi-vitamin each day and had just switched to One-a-Day brand Cholesterol Plus which contains 10 mg of Policosanol. So, this was the first blood test since the change and my Cholesterol was higher, not lower! I don't think my diet has changed and my weight is within two pounds of what it was last time. > Talk with your primary care > doc. as per usual. I had just come from my scheduled Dr's appointment, which was the reason for my post. He says there was no way that my discontinuance of phenobarbital could have caused my Cholesterol to change, and he wants to switch me to Lipitor despite my almost constant problem with stomach/bowel pains. To me, the latter is a more serious problem and he is doing nothing about that. If the high cholesterol is going to do any damage, it has already done so and I fear that, at 66, I'm more at risk from the treatment. I am seriously contemplating changing doctors, if I can find one who's native language is English and is taking patients. I'm having major problems communicating with the Doctor, despite bringing my notes written down on paper each time I see him. I know I have great difficulty understanding him and I assume that he has trouble understanding me. Ray : I asked: : [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] : and my Cholesterol was higher, not lower! I don't think my diet has : changed and my weight is within two pounds of what it was last time. Have you checked that the policosanol you have been taking is made from sugar cane wax? Other sources of policosanol, like bee's wax, might not be effective. SignatureJuhana I wrote: > : So, this was the first blood test since the change > : and my Cholesterol was higher, not lower! I don't think my diet has > : changed and my weight is within two pounds of what it was last time. Juhana Harju replied: > Have you checked that the policosanol you have been taking is made from > sugar cane wax? Other sources of policosanol, like bee's wax, might not be > effective. Cuban sugar cane based policosanol is illegal to import into the US. Most of the policosanol I see locally is rice based. The product I used is sugar cane based, per the manufacturer. Ray : I wrote: : [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] : : Cuban sugar cane based policosanol is illegal to import into the US. Too bad. Perhaps you should concider lifting the Cuban embargo as US citizens suffer so much under it. ;-) : Most of the policosanol I see locally is rice based. The product I : used is sugar cane based, per the manufacturer. OK. There are still some other alternatives left, like Pantethine and Krill oil which might work. SignatureJuhana Juhana Harju replied: > OK. There are still some other alternatives left, like Pantethine and Krill > oil which might work. The first one puzzles me. Is Pantethine the same thing as Vitamin B5, Pantothenic acid and Dexpanthenol? If so, I can see the possibility of minor cholesterol reduction using this. Can you point to any studies by reliable sources? Krill? Please, I lost some weight last year and I'm no longer a whale. :-) OK, seriously, I presently take two grams of fish body oil on days when I do not eat fish (which is not too often, since I'm trying to avoid fried foods.) Would there be any significant advantage in substituting Krill oil? Thanks, Ray Ray <"Hi Cholesterol"> wrote in news:43fe78c1$0$13153$8f2e0ebb@news.shared- secrets.com: > Juhana Harju replied: > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > Thanks, > Ray Ray, Susan is the Pantethine pusher in the group. I'm sure she can supply links to studies (although I can't vouch for their reliability). L. > Susan is the Pantethine pusher in the group. I'm sure she can supply links > to studies (although I can't vouch for their reliability). I've gathered that from lurking here, but since she x-no-archive's her posts, I've almost never been able to read one. Most of the things I'd been able to find by googling "pantethine" have been very shallow, and seemed to me to be mostly just hype aimed at pushing a commercial product while providing little real data. And Juhana, I had previously seen the "lowering cholesterol" site, but skimmed over it as it seemed to me to be more hype and product-pushing than concrete information. I'll take a closer look at it this weekend. Both the "Thorne com" site and the "NLM / NIH" site link to the same document, which somehow I'd missed in my previous searching. Thanks! Ray : Juhana Harju replied: : [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] : of minor cholesterol reduction using this. Can you point to any : studies by reliable sources? It is a derivative of pantothenic acid, but not the same stuff. Here is detailed information and studies also: http://www.loweringcholesterol.net/herbal-remedies/pantethine Pantethine is considered to be very safe. : Krill? Please, I lost some weight last year and I'm no longer a : whale. :-) :-) : OK, seriously, I presently take two grams of fish body oil on days : when : I do not eat fish (which is not too often, since I'm trying to avoid : fried foods.) Would there be any significant advantage in : substituting Krill oil? Yes, Krill oil is different. In Krill oil the fatty acids are in phospholipid form increasing their efficiency. Second, Krill oil contains a very powerful antioxidant, astaxanthin. There is a company study showing huge reductions in LDL-cholesterol, triglyserides and an equally huge increase in HDL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra ct&list_uids=15656713&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum The full study: http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/9/4/420.pdf There is no need to take Pantethine and Krill oil at the same time. Taking either of them should work. SignatureJuhana > :: OK. There are still some other alternatives left, like Pantethine > :: and Krill oil which might work. (snip) > > Yes, Krill oil is different. In Krill oil the fatty acids are in > phospholipid form increasing their efficiency. Second, Krill oil contains a [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > http://www.thorne.com/altmedrev/.fulltext/9/4/420.pdf The full text PDF says, and I quote: "BMI, a tool indicating weight status in adults, was calculated according to the metric formula ([weight in kilograms/(height in centimeters) x (height in centimeters)]x 10,000). Huh! W / H x H x 10,000 = 10K times your height!! Are those brackets in the correct place? Shouldn't that be height squared: (Weight in kilograms) / [(height in centimeters) x (height in centimeters)]x 10,000). Wonder if this indicates the accuracy of the rest of the study? Sorry if I remain skeptical, but if pantethine and krill oil were of that much benefit, one would expect to be able to find them locally instead of having to order them. Are there any other studies on krill oil, especially one that is not a company study? Thanks, Ray :::: OK. There are still some other alternatives left, like Pantethine :::: and Krill oil which might work. : (snip) :: ::: Yes, Krill oil is different. In Krill oil the fatty acids are in :: phospholipid form increasing their efficiency. Second, Krill oil :: contains a very powerful antioxidant, astaxanthin. :: :: There is a company study showing huge reductions in LDL-cholesterol, :: triglyserides and an equally huge increase in HDL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstra ct&list_uids=15656713&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_docsum :: The full study: :: [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] : that much benefit, one would expect to be able to find them locally : instead of having to order them. I have some doubts also, but I guess that one can always experiment if it works. Krill oil is sold at local health stores here in Finland under the brand name TwinLab Cardio Krill Oil. : Are there any other studies on krill oil, especially one that is not a : company study? Not any cholesterol studies, unfortunately. SignatureJuhana |
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