Hi, Loretta, I just happened to think of that last night... I have stray
thoughts ricocheting around in my skull all the time! It occurred to me that
"Loretta" might be a variation of the Italian Florentine name of "Lauretta",
or vice-versa, who by the way seems to represent "justice" in the way "The
Decameron" is organized, as written by Boccacio.

If you have not read The Decameron" you might try it sometime... It is
fascinating reading, bearing in mind that it comes from the peiod of about
1350, and relates to a great plague that swept Florence and all that part of
Italy. The year of the Black Death was 1348.... As the work begins, a group
of privileged young men and women flee Florence to escape the Black Death,
and travel in the surrounding countryside to different villas for a number
of days, entertaining themselves at intervals by telling stories to their
group. In all, as I recall, there are 100 stories, hence the name
"Decameron". The character, "Lauretta", was one of the young story tellers
in the party, known as the "brigata". Shakespeare and many others of
literary import are known to have taken inspiration at times from the
"Decameron".

If you already had thought of all this in relation to your name, of if you
already knew all this stuff, please feel free to discard. Sometimes, I just
get carried away on useless tangents.... On the other hand, if it is of
interest to you, or anyone else, maybe it will help someone, somewhere, to
connect the dots, as it were, and have a deeper appreciation of what has
gone before us in our civilization and our common humanity.

I hope you are having a fine day!

Will

You said "Cholesterol 259". That's highish, but the
breakdown is important to see what's bad and what's not
before you get too concerned. Do you know the individual
breakdown - HDL, LDL and trigs? In particular, what is the
trigs/HDL ratio?

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.

Is it possible that he hasn't read the prescribing information?  Even
the TV commercials say to STOP if you develop body aches!  My mother's
doc told her to ignore them, too, and she ended up debilitated and on
steroids for a year to recover.  She didn't even have a bad lipid
profile or any hx of CVD.  Her only geriatric illness was caused by statins.

  > I am going to try it for a week and

We'll agree to disagree about what constitutes "best care."  :-/

Susan

Your doctor has "benefited" from hundreds of hours of "education" from
the people who sell these drugs which has convinced him and his peers
that his patients will all die without them.

Here are the facts. Muscle pain suggests that the drug is causing muscle
breakdown.  Left unchecked it can be fatal. Even worse, the heart, too,
is a muscle. If the drug is causing muscle breakdown in the heart, you
could be on your way to heart failure.

Doctors ignore known drug side effects all the time. They don't read the
prescribing information and get all their information about the drugs
from the pretty girls who the drug companies send out as salespeople.

Go read the complete prescribing information from Pravacol. This is the
information that the FDA insists the drug company must publish about the
drug. Any warning in it must be taken seriously.

Here's the prescribing information:
http://www.bms.com/cgi-bin/anybin.pl?sql=select%20PPI%20from%20TB_PRODUCT_PPI%20
where%20PPI_SEQ=56&key=PPI

Here's an excerpt:
Skeletal Muscle
Rare cases of rhabdomyolysis with acute renal failure secondary to
myoglobinuria have been reported with pravastatin and other drugs in
this class. Uncomplicated myalgia [muscle pain] has also been reported
in pravastatin-treated patients (see ADVERSE REACTIONS).
Myopathy, defined as muscle aching or muscle weakness in conjunction
with increases in creatine phosphokinase (CPK) values to greater than 10
times the upper limit of normal, was rare (<0.1%) in pravastatin
clinical trials. Myopathy should be considered in any patient with
diffuse myalgias, muscle tenderness or weakness, and/or marked elevation
of CPK. Patients should be advised to report promptly unexplained muscle
pain, tenderness or weakness, particularly if accompanied by malaise or
fever. Pravastatin therapy should be discontinued if markedly elevated
CPK levels occur or myopathy is diagnosed or suspected.

HAS YOUR DOCTOR DONE THE LIVER TESTS THAT THE PRESCRIBING INFORMATION
SAYS SHOULD BE DONE BEFORE PRESCRIBING THIS DRUG?  HAS HE TESTED CPK?

If not, they you might want to challenge him as to why he's ignoring the
guidelines the drug company has publicly stated for the use of this drug.

--Jenny

http://www.geocities.com/lottadata4u  Diabetes Info

http://www.alt-support-diabetes.org/newlydiagnosed.htm Get Your Blood
Sugar Under Control