Last yea
r when I saw my doctor for my annual check-up I discovered that my cholesterol was too high. My doctor prescribed one of those ubiquitous cholesterol-lowering meds which I tried and quickly discovered that I was one of those individuals who suffer some of the scary "adverse effects" that are usually noted by the voice-over announcer at the ends of those cholesterol commercials you hear on television. Let's just say, I like to be able to breathe and move--two behaviors that I found it difficult to do when taking Zocor.
r when I saw my doctor for my annual check-up I discovered that my cholesterol was too high. My doctor prescribed one of those ubiquitous cholesterol-lowering meds which I tried and quickly discovered that I was one of those individuals who suffer some of the scary "adverse effects" that are usually noted by the voice-over announcer at the ends of those cholesterol commercials you hear on television. Let's just say, I like to be able to breathe and move--two behaviors that I found it difficult to do when taking Zocor. At the time, I was already taking Zetia for cholesterol which was a drug that didn't bother me, so I asked the doctor if I could just take a larger dose of that. Evidently, not. Turns out, Zocor and Zetia (despite their lovely Z beginnings) are very different drugs. You can only take one dose of Zetia evidently. My doctor said that if I couldn't tolerate Zocor, it was unlikely that I'd be able to tolerate any similar cholesterol-lowering medication. My only other option was to lose weight.
So, ov
er the last year I have been working hard to lose weight. I have been exercising and watching my food intake, particularly through portion control. On Friday, when I saw my doctor and she looked at my most recent cholesterol numbers, she was shocked. My cholesterol had plummeted! My bad cholesterol was way down and my good cholesterol was up. Losing weight (15 pounds so far and counting) seemed to have worked. My doctor said I would not need to take any additional cholesterol drug.
er the last year I have been working hard to lose weight. I have been exercising and watching my food intake, particularly through portion control. On Friday, when I saw my doctor and she looked at my most recent cholesterol numbers, she was shocked. My cholesterol had plummeted! My bad cholesterol was way down and my good cholesterol was up. Losing weight (15 pounds so far and counting) seemed to have worked. My doctor said I would not need to take any additional cholesterol drug. So, let my experience serve as motivation to any of you out there who are also trying to lower your cholesterol. You can reduce your cholesterol on your own with diet and exercise. I am living proof of that!
Have you struggled like me to lower your cholesterol? Have you succeeded? How?
(graphic from www.sfu.ca and photo from www.raevenwestern.com)










