Many years ago (more than 20, I was told that my "bad cholesterol" was too high and that I should start taking this new wonder drug called Lipitor. My doctor even gave me a brown bag with several boxes of samples that were provided to him so that I could try it out. The doctor informed me that I would probably need to take choresterol medicine for the rest of my life.
I went home that night and stared at the little brown bag. At the time I was in great health, I was riding my bike over 100 miles a week and sometimes 200 miles. I was eating well and not drinking much. I told myself that I refused to take medicine like that for the rest of my life and I threw the bag away.
That was pretty much when I stopped going to the doctor.
Fast forward 20 plus years and I ended up going to a functional medicine professional. We talked about my history and I told her that story, along with how my family on my mom's side does have heart related issues. She asked me if I had ever gotten a calcium deposit scan, where the measure the calcium deposits in your arteries and veins. I told her that I have never heard of it. She said that everyone should take that test because it is the best way to determine if you are at risk of a heart attack. On a scale of 1-300 (300 being worst case and at extreme risk of having a heart attack/artery blockage), I scored a 1.
It was at that time, that the functional medicine professional told me her story about lipitor. She said that she could probably pinpoint the date my old doctor gave me that brown bag within 4 months. She said that it was at the time Lipitor came out and the ADA (or some other government entitiy) had just lowered the numbers for bad chloresterol and raised the numbers for good chloresterol. At the exact same time that Lipitor hit the market and filled as the perfect medication for someone that was not hitting within the new numbers. She went one to say that she remembered it because a colleague of hers was working for the company that sold Lipitor and she saw him at a convention where he was touting the new drug. A couple of years later, she ran into the same colleague and he was no longer working for Pfizer because he couldn't feel good about the products he was representing.
I swear I look back on those days and think that I was living my own personal redition of Dopesick, except rather than pain pills it was chloresterol medicine.
Many years ago (more than 20, I was told that my "bad cholesterol" was too high and that I should start taking this new wonder drug called Lipitor. My doctor even gave me a brown bag with several boxes of samples that were provided to him so that I could try it out. The doctor informed me that I would probably need to take choresterol medicine for the rest of my life.
I went home that night and stared at the little brown bag. At the time I was in great health, I was riding my bike over 100 miles a week and sometimes 200 miles. I was eating well and not drinking much. I told myself that I refused to take medicine like that for the rest of my life and I threw the bag away.
That was pretty much when I stopped going to the doctor.
Fast forward 20 plus years and I ended up going to a functional medicine professional. We talked about my history and I told her that story, along with how my family on my mom's side does have heart related issues. She asked me if I had ever gotten a calcium deposit scan, where the measure the calcium deposits in your arteries and veins. I told her that I have never heard of it. She said that everyone should take that test because it is the best way to determine if you are at risk of a heart attack. On a scale of 1-300 (300 being worst case and at extreme risk of having a heart attack/artery blockage), I scored a 1.
It was at that time, that the functional medicine professional told me her story about lipitor. She said that she could probably pinpoint the date my old doctor gave me that brown bag within 4 months. She said that it was at the time Lipitor came out and the ADA (or some other government entitiy) had just lowered the numbers for bad chloresterol and raised the numbers for good chloresterol. At the exact same time that Lipitor hit the market and filled as the perfect medication for someone that was not hitting within the new numbers. She went one to say that she remembered it because a colleague of hers was working for the company that sold Lipitor and she saw him at a convention where he was touting the new drug. A couple of years later, she ran into the same colleague and he was no longer working for Pfizer because he couldn't feel good about the products he was representing.
I swear I look back on those days and think that I was living my own personal redition of Dopesick, except rather than pain pills it was chloresterol medicine.
Phuck Farma!
I took Lipitor for about a month, then the body pain kicked in and I stopped. It was horrible.
Glad you realized what was causing it.
What a story! Wow! It’s devastating to think how many people did the opposite if you and caused a life of problems. This is disgusting.