Transcription
Hi everyone, Dr. Sil Dan, medical doctor. Welcome to another video. I want to go over in this video a hypothetical conversation about what somebody would do if a statin was recommended to them if they didn't want a statin.
Now, conversations like this happen every single day across the United States, many other western countries, especially where the statin industry is very, very strong and the medical paradigm is that the LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, must be reduced at any cost.
Now, what I'm going to outline to you is not direct medical advice, of course. It's not always have a conversation with your doctor and work out whatever is best for you. I'm going to go over a hypothetical case. I've talked many times about my own doubts about the lipid cholesterol hypothesis and the over-reliance on statin medications, thinking of them as a miracle drug. Yes, of course, they fix a number, but the next question is, well, what do they do beyond fixing a number?
So let's just say that we have a 60-year-old gentleman with no significant other risk factors, and he has a lipid panel done by his doctor. Maybe the lipid panel has been monitored for a few years, and the doctor has said, "Well, your cholesterol is creeping up." So let's just say the LDL cholesterol, the bad cholesterol, is somewhere between 140 to 170, where a lot of these conversations tend to happen, especially in anyone over the age of 55. Doctors tend to get nervous with increasing LDL numbers. Although technically statins are not supposed to be started until the LDL is higher if people have no other risk factors, you will find many people with lower LDL numbers being prescribed statins.
So let's just say that the LDL cholesterol is 140, and the doctor, because they are pretty much programmed by their medical authority to put people on a statin medication to lower the cholesterol, be as aggressive as possible, at least most doctors out there will have this conversation. So the patient is kind of concerned, wants to do things naturally, not keen on medications, takes no other prescription medications. Kudos, by the way, no other prescription medications, and does everything naturally. That's great. But his doctor is saying, "Well, your LDL cholesterol is creeping up." And remember, this is a hypothetical conversation here. And the doctor says, "Well, we should probably go with a low-dose statin. I've been watching it for some time, and it's been creeping up."
So these are three questions if I was in this circumstance that I would have. Number one, what are my other risk factors for heart disease? Because presumably, that's why you want to prescribe it, to lower the risk of heart disease, lower the risk of stroke. What are my other risk factors? So specifically, if we think of other blood tests, what is my HBA1C? That's a marker for pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. If that is elevated, then it's more likely that yes, the elevated cholesterol is associated with some heart disease plaque. The other test, which I've also talked about many times before, and I actually prefer as a marker of insulin resistance, is HOMA-IR. This is where a fasting insulin is drawn at the same time as a fasting glucose level, and that will tell you often years before somebody is officially pre-diabetic whether they are insulin resistant. So if the HOMA-IR blood test is elevated, and I put a link to a video that I made not so long ago talking about this, if you're not familiar with this test, if it's elevated, then that would indicate that yes, heart disease risk is elevated beyond what it would otherwise be. What other risk factors are there for heart disease or stroke? Does the person have vascular disease? In this situation, let's just say no, they don't. And let's just say that their HOMA-IR is very close to one, and they are not pre-diabetic, then that would make me think, anyway, as a doctor, that somebody had a low risk of developing cardiac events or a lower risk.
So number two, the second question, if I was not keen on being prescribed a statin, I would say, "Okay, so you're going to prescribe the statin because you're worried about high cholesterol in my blood test, meaning that cholesterol has also accumulated in my heart blood vessels, in my coronary arteries. So would you please order a cardiac CT scan to look at my coronary arteries and tell whether or not calcium is deposited in the coronary arteries?" And I believe this is an underutilized test, and a score will be generated from the CT scan, anything ranging from zero to a number in the hundreds. And obviously, the higher it is, the more worrisome calcium deposition is in those coronary arteries. So if somebody had significant coronary artery disease by their CT scan, well, if it's very significant, then other tests like a stress test or an angio may be indicated to look further. But that would be an indication that yes, coronary risk is elevated, and maybe if you want to go all out, there would be more indication for prescribing a statin medication, assuming that nothing can be done naturally to reverse the coronary plaque.
The third question that I would highly encourage anybody to ask their doctor to sort out the men from the boys, as it were, or shall we say the women from the girls, I would ask the question, "Well, doctor, statins, I've kind of been reading about them, and I'm concerned about side effects. I want you to tell me in my specific demographic, what is the true benefit of being prescribed a statin?" Because actually, in most demographics, the results of studies when you actually follow the science are nowhere near as good as you might expect. It takes hundreds of people to be treated to prevent one heart attack or one stroke. These are all true numbers, you can go and do the research yourself. So they're not exactly a miracle drug by any stretch of the imagination. But I can almost guarantee you that your doctor will not have a clue how to answer this question because, unfortunately, the current medical paradigm, I'm not saying doctors are bad people, I'm saying the current paradigm is broken, and collectively the minds of the medical profession are broken, where they get very excited about fixing a number. Yes, of course, if you prescribe a statin medication, it will do what it's designed to do, it will lower the LDL cholesterol. But the next most important question is, well, why just get excited about fixing a number? What does that actually mean? And what does the research suggest? If my number is lowered, what will my life expectancy be improved by? What will my risk of stroke be reduced by? What will my risk of heart attack be reduced by? Surely that is following the science as opposed to jumping on a bandwagon and getting all excited about fixing a number.
So those are the three questions that I would definitely ask before deciding to start a statin medication. I'm not saying they're never indicated in some circumstances, like if somebody's just had a heart attack or a stroke and is very concerned and wants to go all in on doing anything possible by any means necessary to reduce risk, then a statin medication may be more indicated. But it's always an individual discussion with the doctor.
So number one, I want you to tell me, doctor, this is the hypothetical situation of a 60-some-year-old who is told that they have high LDL cholesterol. What are my other true risk factors for heart disease? Number two, can we do a cardiac CT scan to assess my heart arteries? Number three, I want you to truly tell me, doctor, in my particular demographic, according to the studies, because of course, you are supposed to be a follow the science person, what will the true benefits be? How much will this statin medication benefit me? And I may throw in another question at the end about what natural ways I can go about reversing cholesterol. A lot of doctors should be talking more about that as well because there's always ways, assuming that the elevated LDL bad cholesterol is a reflection of insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation. There's always other ways to do this. In some circumstances, if people have certain diets which are high in saturated fat, then the LDL cholesterol can be elevated, and that doesn't necessarily mean that there's any increased risk of heart disease. That cholesterol is not necessarily always depositing in the heart arteries.
So the bottom line is here, have good discussions with your doctor before starting statins or any medication, and make sure that the medication is right for you. I have my own concerns. I personally will not take a statin medication. I don't believe the true benefits are anywhere near as much as the mainstream media and the medical establishment make people think. And that is from me actually looking at data and understanding that elevated LDL, much like elevated glucose, is usually most of the time a sign of something else being wrong at the body. And I, as a doctor, want to address a root cause and I want to fix things as naturally as possible. Maybe a lot of people don't want to do that, they want to take a pill thinking that fixing the number is a good thing. But I'm sure a lot of you watching as well are very thoughtful people, and you want to also go down the natural route.
So I hope this video is helpful. If you or anyone you know is in this situation, feel free to share this video with them, let them have these discussions with their doctor, and make sure that any medication, especially a statin medication, is right for them.
Okay, everyone, do feel free to leave a comment down below. Check the links in the description down below for my website, all the other work I do, and our natural supplement store. Very excited to be expanding our natural supplement store. I'm a huge believer personally in natural supplements for health. That's why I wanted to create my own uniquely formulated supplements, high-quality, organic. Also, if you haven't already, my free newsletter link is down below in the description. Hit the like button if you like this video, the subscribe button for more similar videos in the future, and we will speak again very soon.