***I am not a doctor, I am not a dietician***
With the above disclaimer in mind, I am a Nurse and a Respiratory Therapist. I am also a specialist in a field that i cannot name because there are so few of us here in Orlando that it would be easy for anyone to track and could cause problems for myself, my employer and the hospitals that I provide services for. Suffice to say my specialization isn't in the dietary area of medicine. I do have 30 years total in Medicine, I have an extensive knowledge of the human body, and I am very familiar with the way the health industry operates.
Now, to the conspiracy.
Few people in the medical field will argue that in general, Americans are over medicated. I could go on about antibiotics and auto-immune diseases but that's another thread. This is about the conspiracy surrounding fat, cholesterol, diet, statins, and the enormous amounts of money that the pharmaceutical companies take in with them. Statins is a class of drug that is prescribed to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
Heart Disease is a very real and very serious problem in America. No doubt about it. Here's my beef: in all likelyhood, millions of people perhaps multiples of that are taking statins for no reason.
Overworked doctors rely on studies and best-practice models to be able to treat all the patients that they must treat daily. If they spent time running their own tests, conducting their own research, or doing extensive tracking and data gathering, not only would they have twice the work they now have, their patients would suffer. Unfortunately, studies are sometimes flawed and best-practices change often. How many times in your life have you heard doctors or studies claim that such and such is bad for you and then years down the road they say the opposite? So, in other words, patients can get prescribed a medication, or warned to avoid something, or ordered to do something else and the basis of the doctor's recommendation could be wrong.
What this leads to is this. Studies were done many years ago that linked high cholesterol to heart disease. Pharmaceutical companies developed drugs to reduce cholesterol, and produced studies that showed that their drugs reduced it. now whenever a doctor sees a high cholesterol level in his patient, he prescribes the medication. Pharmaceutical companies got rich. I am not claiming that doctors on in on a conspiracy knowingly, in fact the doctor's hands are tied in fact. But a large number of people who are on statins, don't need to be.
The 3 MAIN risks for heart disease are:
1. Family History
2. Diabetes
3. Hypertension
High cholesterol isn't even in the top three risks. It is also a fact that if you have one or more of the top three, you are at high risk for heart disease even if you are on statins.
Example:
I'm 56 years old. Both of my parents are 80 years old and neither one of them have heart disease. I do not have diabetes, my blood pressure runs low-ish. I do not smoke, I do not have a whole lot of stress in my life. I am not obese (except by bogus insurance standards) even though I want to lose weight. I am a low risk for heart disease. yet, my doctor and I disagree in the fact that he wants me to take a statin and I refuse. there is no reason for me to take the drug, and I won't.
Think of all the industries that have risen around the idea of preventing heart attacks. It boggles the mind. Health food stores, prescription pharmaceuticals, low fat foods, a bajillion versions of low fat diets, exercise equipment, herbal drugs, vitamins, vegetarianism, etc. etc.
If the truth came out about fat and cholesterol, would it ever be allowed to be known?
With the above disclaimer in mind, I am a Nurse and a Respiratory Therapist. I am also a specialist in a field that i cannot name because there are so few of us here in Orlando that it would be easy for anyone to track and could cause problems for myself, my employer and the hospitals that I provide services for. Suffice to say my specialization isn't in the dietary area of medicine. I do have 30 years total in Medicine, I have an extensive knowledge of the human body, and I am very familiar with the way the health industry operates.
Now, to the conspiracy.
Few people in the medical field will argue that in general, Americans are over medicated. I could go on about antibiotics and auto-immune diseases but that's another thread. This is about the conspiracy surrounding fat, cholesterol, diet, statins, and the enormous amounts of money that the pharmaceutical companies take in with them. Statins is a class of drug that is prescribed to reduce cholesterol levels in the blood.
Heart Disease is a very real and very serious problem in America. No doubt about it. Here's my beef: in all likelyhood, millions of people perhaps multiples of that are taking statins for no reason.
Overworked doctors rely on studies and best-practice models to be able to treat all the patients that they must treat daily. If they spent time running their own tests, conducting their own research, or doing extensive tracking and data gathering, not only would they have twice the work they now have, their patients would suffer. Unfortunately, studies are sometimes flawed and best-practices change often. How many times in your life have you heard doctors or studies claim that such and such is bad for you and then years down the road they say the opposite? So, in other words, patients can get prescribed a medication, or warned to avoid something, or ordered to do something else and the basis of the doctor's recommendation could be wrong.
What this leads to is this. Studies were done many years ago that linked high cholesterol to heart disease. Pharmaceutical companies developed drugs to reduce cholesterol, and produced studies that showed that their drugs reduced it. now whenever a doctor sees a high cholesterol level in his patient, he prescribes the medication. Pharmaceutical companies got rich. I am not claiming that doctors on in on a conspiracy knowingly, in fact the doctor's hands are tied in fact. But a large number of people who are on statins, don't need to be.
The 3 MAIN risks for heart disease are:
1. Family History
2. Diabetes
3. Hypertension
High cholesterol isn't even in the top three risks. It is also a fact that if you have one or more of the top three, you are at high risk for heart disease even if you are on statins.
Example:
I'm 56 years old. Both of my parents are 80 years old and neither one of them have heart disease. I do not have diabetes, my blood pressure runs low-ish. I do not smoke, I do not have a whole lot of stress in my life. I am not obese (except by bogus insurance standards) even though I want to lose weight. I am a low risk for heart disease. yet, my doctor and I disagree in the fact that he wants me to take a statin and I refuse. there is no reason for me to take the drug, and I won't.
Think of all the industries that have risen around the idea of preventing heart attacks. It boggles the mind. Health food stores, prescription pharmaceuticals, low fat foods, a bajillion versions of low fat diets, exercise equipment, herbal drugs, vitamins, vegetarianism, etc. etc.
If the truth came out about fat and cholesterol, would it ever be allowed to be known?
