Stroke Recovery: Are You Buying Into The Great
Cholesterol Myth?
If you are on a cholesterol lowering
diet or taking a cholesterol lowering drug, you need to know this important fact about
cholesterol:
You need it!
Why?
Because cholesterol is actually
vital for the health of nerve and muscle cells in your body.
And, it’s needed for stroke
recovery.
Cholesterol helps by transporting
those essential fats that are laid around nerve pathways, to the nerves. It is an essential
building block in all cells in our body. Not enough cholesterol= not enough stroke
recovery.
It’s so important that your body
actually produces it to make sure you have enough for these essential functions.
What? I thought
cholesterol was bad!
High LDL cholesterol is bad for
you. It can lead to a buildup of cholesterol in the blood stream (atherosclerosis) which can
cause stroke.
But low cholesterol is bad for you
too. Every day, cells die and are replaced by new cells. Cholesterol
transports essential fats around the body. It is vital for the production of new
cells. So if you don’t have enough cholesterol, you aren’t able to repair or replace damaged
cells.
This includes stroke recovery!
How’s this for a shocking
truth?
Too low cholesterol causes muscle
and nerve degeneration. As the muscles and nerves aren’t able to get what they need to repair,
cells die. New cells can’t be created to replace those cells at the same rate.
If you’re taking statins, or your
loved one is, it’s important you pay attention to these important paragraphs.
Statins prevent the production of
cholesterol in the body to lower blood cholesterol levels.
Over time, this can result in muscle
and nerve degeneration, and in some cases, death!
Why?
Because the production of
cholesterol can be limited too much. This stops your body from repairing
itself. It stops your body from functioning properly..
Muscle degeneration causes broken
down muscle fibers to be excreted in to the blood stream. These fibers can overload the kidneys
causing kidney damage, and possible kidney failure. The sign of this is muscle pain, which
happens in up to 8% of statin users. Another marker is dark or red urine.
Muscle degeneration can also
influence the heart (a muscle), the chest muscles which we use to breathe and muscles used in
swallowing.
10 percent of statin users
experience these results of nerve degeneration:
- feeling of
tiredness
- difficulty in arising from a
low chair or getting out of bed
- shortness of
breath
- difficulty
walking
Other signs of damage
include:
- coordination
difficulties
- slurred
speech
- memory
problems
- tingling and burning
sensations
- numbness
- prickly
feelings
- sensitivity to
touch
- muscle
weakness.
All this from stopping cholesterol
production!
If your LDL cholesterol is high, you
have many other safer alternatives.
One of these is taking lots of
vitamin C, discussed here.
Other recommendations
include:
- eating more
fiber
- eating less foods that contain
fat and cholesterol
- exercising
regularly
- taking a good Omega 3
supplement
- losing weight if you are
overweight
If done correctly, you can lower
cholesterol levels and even reduce arterial plaque without medications.
Back to Statins:
If you are taking statins and
experience any of the symptoms above, tell your doctor immediately. The damage can be
irreversible and can cause death.
Names of statin medications
include Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol, Pravigard, Lescol, Lescol XL,
Mevacor, Advicor, Altoprev, and Livalo.
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This article contains
suggestions regarding medications, diet and supplements. Your decisions are entirely up to
you. By reading this article you indemnify www.strokeadvice.com, Aliece Willcocks, Leo
Willcocks, and any other contributors of any liability arising out of your use of this
information. Always do your own research before making any decision regarding medications,
vitamins, diet, or any decision relating to your health.
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