Rayilyn, You are a tough customer and this has been a busy day ....... I will have to do this order in several emails ...... I can't tell you what to try, but only speak to what is working for this parky. First of all, lets take a look at at some background on the lab work ....... Please understand that cholesterol is not a bad thing, and the body even manufactures it. Contrary to popular belief, fats are not bad and not to be avoided as they are a very necessary part of the nutrition for the body. It is the right mix of fats that we must be concerned with. Eggs, butter, milk, etc. are good and should not be eliminated. If you come across a Dr. who claims that just eat a low fat or no fat diet, etc. and the cholesterol will come down, run like hell..... Fat is a source of energy. It carries some vitamins around the body. It is used to make hormones and cell membranes, to protect organs and to lubricate some moving body parts. However, too much of the wrong fat in the blood increases the risk of heart disease or pancreatitis. Tri-glycerides are the most common form of fat in the body. Cholesterol is another form of fat. In order for fats to be carried in the blood, they are wrapped in protein molecules. These bundles of protein-wrapped fat are called lipoproteins. Lipoproteins come in different sizes. Smaller ones are called low-density lipoproteins (LDL) or very-low-density lipoproteins (VLDL). These molecules carry fats from the liver to other parts of the body for utilization. Too much LDL or VLDL can cause fat to build up on the walls of your arteries. This can reduce the oxygen supply to your heart muscle and cause heart disease or a heart attack. Larger lipoproteins are called high-density lipoproteins (HDL). These are called "good" lipoproteins because they remove fats from your arteries and return them to the liver for more processing. High levels of HDL seem to protect people from heart disease. Blood fats are measured as the amount (in milligrams) contained in one tenth of a liter (a deciliter) of blood, or mg/dl. Triglycerides Triglyceride levels in the blood rise quickly after you eat. You cannot eat for at least 8 hours before you give a blood sample. Triglyceride levels under 150 are considered normal. Levels greater than 1000 mg/dl can cause pancreatitis. (A high starch - potatoes, etc. prior to blood work will show elevated triglyceride levels too, so be conscious of what has been consumed for supper before a panel test) Cholesterol Total cholesterol includes the "bad" low-density and the "good" high-density lipoproteins. Total cholesterol does not change too quickly after you eat, so you can give blood any time for this test. Total cholesterol levels below 200 are considered good, and levels over 240 are considered bad. HDL Cholesterol is good cholesterol. It can be measured in a non-fasting blood sample. Higher levels of HDL cholesterol are better, and levels over 40 are considered good. LDL Cholesterol is bad cholesterol. LDL levels are calculated using a formula that includes the level of triglycerides. You need a fasting blood sample to measure triglycerides or to calculate LDL cholesterol. Levels below 100 are good, and levels over 160 are considered a high risk for heart diseaseThe ratio of the HDL to LDl should be 3 to 1 ! NOT reversed as we see it here....... OK so how to change all of this and then on to other concerns relating to ALZ aside from the usual "hardening of the arteries" stuff. Changing of the ratio, lowering total cholesterol, and reversing the build up of the bad stuff in the arteries and other places (which I will deal with later on ) is easily accomplished by eating MORE FATS ........ In this case, the use of the poly unsaturated fats and oils really help - Salads with extra oil on them are great, but watch it ..... not "crisco, cotton seed, etc. " - stay to olive, soy, peanut, cannola, corn, etc. (remember that when cooking you want to aviod the soy so as not to give you food a "fishy" taste ). Things like real mayonnaise are a plus and tuna salads are good ( all providing a necessary "lineoleic" (SP) acid ). These things will help the next item to bring the HDL / LDL ratio into line. The next item that you need to introduce and this can be taken directly by the spoonful as I do or mixed with orange juice, etc.) is granular lecithin. It comes in #1 containers and when ordered on line is usually about $6.00 a pound vs. much more in local health food stores ..... Lecithin is a fat that is derived from soy beans and the phosphadytalserinre is but 1% of this. It is made up of two phospholipids ...... choline and inositol. Lecithin is much more palatible, but taking of salad oils by the tablespoons will also get the lineolaic acid etc. ito the blood. (the lecithin won;'t hurt you either - make a note also of hair and fingernails .... dryness and brittleness are sometimes symptoms of lineoleic as well as B vit. deficiency problems.) Add extra oil to the salads. As a side note, the three current drugs of choice for ALZ are "anti-cholerinergic " in activity one way or another - Will go into this and role of other biochem in a later e-mail - but basically, they seek to inhibit the breakdown of CHOLINE ........ as ALZ is caused by a build up of fatty particles in the brain which "harden " and kill the brain cells by interfering with the supply of nutrients and all to our old friends the mitochondria within the cells. But this is not the first time we have heard of these guys (and it won' be that last .....). Back to lecithin - a minimum of 3 Tablespoons a day and increased to 6 TBLs (over a 6 month period ..... and don't stop there ! ) will lower the total chloresterol alot easily (even with eating all the fat fron the pork roast and french fried foods that I do alathough I would cut these tasty fats back in order to accelerate the breakdown of the fat linings in the arteries). The action goes beyond this and is well doccumented that by changing the ratio of the HDL / LDL, there is an action going on that is similar to putting a detergent in the blood. It emulsifies or breaks down the bad stuff and slowly removes the build-up and sends it packing to the liver for disposal. Again the need for milk thistle, Bit B-3,6, NADH etc..... Gee, wonder why the three drugs are chosen for ALZ, but one should also follow up with lecithin and other things that naturally make all of this work alot easier for the body in its effort to combat the foods and poisons we shove into it . The Lineoleic Acid additions really work whether you add Lecithin , which has more benefits than oil, or you add extra vegetable oil to your diet. Conclusions: Eat fats and oils ! ( the right ones ) Stay away from low fat or fat free foods, they usually are high in carbohydrates which really adds to weight problems. Sugar is fat free, BUT you sure dont need it either (take a look at the label on a product that touts "fat free" .....scary what people consume thinking that they are doing something good for them selves! ). Make a serious effort to reduce Carbohydrates in the diet. Whole grain foodstuffs are better than the white stuff. Natural Potatoes are better than instant. Puddings, Jellos, and most desserts are loaded so forgo them as much as possible. Realizing that we are all different, but my cholesterol went from 240 to 145 in 6 months with this program and has stayed there since. Will have to deal with the Lopid, doxycycline, and acetometaphin all later. I hope that this helped with understanding the tri-G's We also need to persue the antihistamines as there is a definate relationship to some dementia and psychosis issues in the elderly, Rob ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rayilyn Brown" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, April 04, 2002 2:53 PM Subject: Re: Rob/Glutathoine/Drugs for Dummies > Rob, should I take it? Don't tell me to ask my doctor, he is waiting for > info from me. > > Does my Lopid for high tryglycerides have a negative effect? I got PD after > being on it for couple of yrs, I'm still on it. I got off it for a year or > two while taking Evista, but went back on it. Tremor moved to right side > shortly thereafter about 3-4 mos ago.. > > Also, is acetaminophen contraindicated? A Headache PM (Diphenhydramine HCI > and aceto) not only helps me sleep, it seems to alleviate my PD symptoms > somewhat. I know antihistamines are an old PD remedy. > > Also, could you possibly do a "Drugs for Dummies" piece on this? > > Thankful, but struggling to understand, Rayilyn > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn