Friday at MTSU, I had a busy day. Ran stadium stairs in the morning, faculty meeting, then moved 3 huge old TVs to recycling (total weight for 3 TVs = 224 lbs), then had to repair a door, door frame and a panel that had rotted out on my porch. I didn't finish until 8:30pm. On my feet the whole day, my foot and lower back were hurting.
Hoka Rocket X2s on
Stretches, drills
12 x Stadium Stairs
The stairs were a bitch because I had eaten late the night before and had acid stomach. I paused after 3 to go to the mens room. Although hard, it wasn't that great of a workout since I was resting after every rep past #8. Heart rate did hit 170+ on those sets of 3.
Incredible weather continues. It was 85º in Murfreesboro, TN yesterday. Planning doing a big bike climb with Bill tomorrow from the boat on Raccoon Mtn.
Health
My Dr. said if I had an CCTA angiography, it would cost me potentially $1000-2000 out of pocket because insurance wouldn't pay. So ordered another Coronary Calcium CT scan which is cheap, $50. That will be this week.
He again suggested to start a low dose statin. But I told him that I was going to try a few new things to see if I can delay the seemingly inevitable lifelong statin drug dependency.
I will test again with Ulta lab my lipid panel in early Dec. These are the steps things I'm going to add to my LDL lowering regimen:
- Limit espresso coffee: My abuse of coffee as an appetite suppressant is bad. I've consumed on some days up to several servings in morning cappuccinos and later in the day in iced coffee or protein drinks. Espresso contains cafestol and kahweol, which are diterpenes that can raise LDL cholesterol. But the issue is complex as these compounds also have some positive effects according to studies.
- Niacin. Niacin supplements are known to lower TriG and LDL.
- Citrus Bergamot - flavanoid clinically shown to reduce LDL: study.
- Oat bran cereal (not oatmeal) - mostly anecdotal but some evidence proves this can lower LDL.
My total testosterone was 421, normal, but my free T was low. Always has been, don't know why. Maybe a lack of cholesterol or protein in my diet?
We talked about the epidemic of T abuse among men over 50 and he strongly discourages TRT, because it is essentially creates a life-long drug dependency. I totally agreed and with that, reiterated my opposition to commence statin use until absolutely all alternatives are exhausted. He seemed to respect my point.
Weight is good. 141.8 this morning.
What calcium score won’t tell you is if you have an issue today. The best tests for that are ECG and echo stress test. That will also catch stress induced arrhythmias. Zio monitor is also a great test. Suggest to angle for those tests over the next year or two.
ReplyDeleteStatins not only lower LDL but they restructure existing plaques and can pin them in place. There is a time/dosage component to that. For those at really high risk time is of the essence so they max out the dosage to stabilize the plaques. Low dosage it takes time so the earlier you start and the longer you are on statins the greater the benefit. The “longevity by pharmacology” crowd starts early no matter their blood lipids. Their goal of course is to push out or prevent CVD as one out of three die from it. My last lipid panel was 163 total, LDL 93, Tri’s 110. Ratio 3 and calculated VLDL was slightly less than the midpoint of the normal range (too lazy to look it up). Nonetheless I have trace calcifications viewable on a chest CT which translates to a 5 to 10 percent chance of a heart attack in the next 10 years. So I’m taking low dose Lipitor as I want to make sure they are pinned in place. Loose, non calcified ones can rupture and cause a heart attack during max efforts. As far as I know there is nothing else you can do to stabilize existing plaques. Only statins. Well, having said that there is some data that says plaques on aerobic athletes are more stable than the general population. Unproven though.
So the 163 was before starting Lipitor I haven’t a read out with Lipitor yet.
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