The worst thing you can do to a child with fever is to treat the fever (give antipyretics like paracetamol) and fail to diagnose the underlying cause, like an ear infection or malaria. The worst thing we doctors do for clients with high cholesterol is give them drugs like the cholesterol-lowering drugs called “statin”, and we fail to diagnose and reverse the underlying cause of the high cholesterol.
Cholesterol-lowering drugs are Band-Aids on cholesterol. Cholesterol lowering drugs, including “statins”, do not address the underlying cause of high cholesterol. There are very few rare conditions that require a patient to be on statins. In fact, the statins are notorious for causing side-effects. They work by blocking a very important enzyme needed to make cholesterol and a very important coenzyme called CoQ10 and much more. Short- and long-term use of these drugs will affect all the facts mentioned above. Side effects include memory issues, muscle pains, drug-induced hepatitis (liver inflammation), nerve damage and weakness.
Action steps:
Get your comprehensive medical and physical done (preferably twice a year).
Check your blood tests including cholesterol level, at least twice a year.
If cholesterol blood level is high, ask your doctor, “Why?”
Then focus on diagnosing and fixing the “why”, i.e. the underlying cause.
If the “why” is linked to food, see a nutrition consultant.
Detox: If the “why” is linked to inflammation, consider detoxing to reduce inflammation.
If the doctor prescribes anti-cholesterol drugs without diagnosing the “why”, reconsider:
If you are already on anti-cholesterol “statin” drugs,
Check your liver function test.
Ask your doctor for a less toxic way to lower cholesterol.
Ask your doctor to address the underlying cause.
If you are having joint or muscle pains, stop it and see your doctor immediately.
If you are having memory or cognitive issues, stop it, and see your doctor immediately.
If you are having sexual difficulty, discuss with your doctor.
Cholesterol in the blood, manufactured by the liver, is actually a friend, a poorly understood friend; a very important friend we must stop vilifying. It is part of God’s amazing complex simplicity of the magnificent human body. It serves very importance functions in the body’s perfection. Without cholesterol, imagine what would happen!
Our God created perfection; we are undermining it and causing our diseases, with our earthly misunderstanding. Health is by choice.
(Continues next edition)
Dr Patrick Ijewere is host, “Wellness half-hour”, Inspiration 92.3 FM, Lagos. Sundays 1pm (www.wellnesshourng.com). For personal consultations, comprehensive health check-up, seminars, wellness coach, interviews, call: 08096604455. To sign up for our newsletters, visit: www.caribhealthng.com
