Ever get the feeling you were just completely out of touch with reality when listening to or reading a conversation? I think I need to hire a translator.
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Ever get the feeling you were just completely out of touch with reality when listening to or reading a conversation? I think I need to hire a translator.
good for you. If I may present an anecdote: I have always monitored my cholesterol carefully, and read all the proper literature from places like the Mayo Clinic about how to deal with cholesterol. My HDL has always been very very high (like in the 70s) but occasionally my LDL gets to be, by some standards, "borderline." But my crucial ratios have always been very very good, e.g. Total divided by HDL, and a few others. No heart disease in the family.
But my primary care doc and I have a genial tussle about this every year. Two years ago things got very interesting. I got what looked to me to be very good results, specifically LDL of only 85, ratio of total to HDL of around 2.5 (Mayo says less than 3.5 is optimal). So I'm feeling pretty good about my mode of eating and exercise. Yet she tells me the official calculator ( you can find this on line as I did) of American Cardiologists says I need a "moderate" dose of statins. WTF? Did not compute one bit.
So I find this "tool," insert some numbers, and to my astonishment I found that given my age, there is NO level of LDL one can achieve without having the calculator say you need statins. I put in the very lowest level of cholesterol I could think of (it only takes values down to a certain level, maybe total of 140) and I determined that there is NO level of cholesterol, no matter how good, wherein statins are not recommended. Seriously.
So I asked the doc if she knew this, ie. that the whole "calculation" is something of a pre-determined game (or farce). She did not know this at all. And a doctor friend pointed out NNT to me, very good truly medical site which discusses the pros and cons of various medications, and most importantly tells you for example how many people you need to treat with statins to save one heart attack...and how many of the statin takers may have unfortunate consequences like diabetes or muscle damage:
https://www.thennt.com/nnt/statins-f...art-disease-2/
Keep in mind the above statistics are for people who do not have a history of heart disease...for people with heart disease, I have no quibbles with the statin gods.
I'll take statins if the accepted numbers from places like the Mayo Clinic and others say I need them, but I'm heavily put off by what I see a something of a power play by the Big Pharma statin providers...I hate to say they have undue influence, but I truly believe they do. Eat well. Exercise. Do whatever you can to avoid statins unless you really must take them...
So I don't appreciate these ad hominem attacks. Actually I totally do.
I have no patience for that. Your job as a medical professional is to offer your professional opinion. You also have the responsibility to justify the things that you say. Him getting pissed off because the patient asked questions is absolutely unacceptable. I ran into this situation when my grandfather was in the hospital and they were performing medically unnecessary hats on him but he was a do not resuscitate. I flipped my lid when they talked down to me to describe the purpose of the tests when I am a respiratory therapist. I stuck in the tracheal tubes and needles in people's babies for a living. I understand what medical necessity is and is not.
The right denomination won.