Stress tends to be minimized or denied, both by the victim and his/her physician.  Yet an estimated 75% to 90% of visits to primary care physicians are because of stress related problems.

What are the negative aspects of stress?  The following are 7 major ones.

1. Stress promotes chronic, silent inflammation.  This greatly contributes to coronary artery disease.  Inflammation is the mother of all heart disease. It attracts dangerous plaque deposits of LDL cholesterol, increasing the risk of blood clots or coronary artery obstructions.  Inflammation can also be a cause of arrhythmias.
2. Stress weakens the immune system.  Colds, flu and sickness in general are facilitated and accelerated when levels of stress are higher. Toxic by-products interfere with “normal” biochemistry.  The immune system is heavily taxed to handle increased inflammation.
3. Increased clotting of blood can occur due to increased blood pressure and circulation of inflammatory by-products.
4. Blood pressure increases due to anxiety and tension.
5. Insulin resistance increases, impairing the needed uptake of insulin into cells.  Some estimate 1 in 6 people now suffer from diabetes 2.  Diabetes 2 is definitely a risk factor in heart disease.  The American Diabetes Association says more than 65% of people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.
6. Heart rhythm disturbances occur when your biochemistry is flooded with inflammatory or toxic chemicals. Stress produces free radicals that are oxidative and destructive to homeostasis (body harmony and balance).  “Bad chemicals” of stress must be handled and eliminated.
7. Stress is known to cause heart attacks when there is no evidence of coronary artery blockage or disease. Disruption of heart rhythm is a sudden and fatal cause of these heart attacks.  The heart fails to beat and death occurs.
8. Depression is really a form of stress. It changes the body chemistry adversely.  It affects metabolism and normal body chemistry.  The perceived heaviness is real to your body.  Chemical changes occur that are destructive to your body.

What are 7 things you can do to reduce stress?

1. Stop over commitment to demands of time and work.
2. Take time for recreation and vacations.
3. Relax…take time to “notice and smell the flowers”.
4. Build family relationships by spending time with family members.
5. Get regular exercise…statistics clearly show you will live longer.
6. Be in right relationship with your Creator.
7. Employ the golden rule:  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Whatever you sow that will you also reap!…Denis Van Loan D.D.S.

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Technorati Tags: arrhythmias, coronary heart disease, heart attack, inflammation, LDL cholesterol, stress, stroke

Here is the problem I have with this. I believe evidence indicates it is unnecessarily expensive, unhealthy and a drug “rip off”.  Lipitor is reportedly the largest selling drug in the world, generating over 12 billion dollars for its parent company, Pfizer.

According to an alternatives researcher Gary Null, PhD., the ingredients of the pill cost 5.8 cents per pill.  It typically sold for $2.72.  Some doctors say more like $3.00 to $5.00 per pill.

If it were a scarce commodity, I could understand the enormous profit, but it is not.  If its benefits outweighed the negatives I probably would not complain. They do not. I see the sum total of good benefits are far outweighed by the bad ones. There is compelling evidence that statin drugs like Lipitor are a health hazard…studies show no significant co-relation to reduction in heart disease.

Many well controlled studies show muscle weakness in two thirds of those on cholesterol lowering drugs. (The Co enzyme, CoQ-10, is taken out with the statin drugs, causing muscle weakness especially for the heart.) According to cardiologist Steven Sinatra any slight improvement in heart attack from cholesterol lowering drugs can be explained by its mild anti-inflammatory effect. There are other more potent, less expensive, anti-inflammatory supplements.

The many cortico-steroid hormones from the adrenal cortex…testosterone, estrogens, cortisol (stress hormone) and dozens more… manufacture their hormone using the core molecule of cholesterol. Excessive depletion of cholesterol reduces these hormones as well as one of the most important vitamins to your bone health and immunity…vitamin D.

According to board certified cardiologist, Steven Sinatra, M.D., he reports that the heart failure rate of people on statin drugs (like Lipitor) is twice that of the rest of the population.

I should explain the rationale of why the idea of cholesterol lowering seemed like a good idea in order to reduce the incidence of heart disease.  Cholesterol plaque that chips off from blood vessels and plug the coronary vessels in the heart, are found in heart attack victims.  Also those plugs of plaque that block cerebral vessels of the brain cause stroke.  The simple reasoning was that lowering circulating cholesterol would lower heart attack and stroke.  Wrong!

Plenty of creditable studies have shown that the amount of circulating cholesterol does not determine whether you have a stroke or heart attack. Half the people who have heart attack are supposedly in the safe, low range statistically. Numerous studies have shown that the amount of blood cholesterol does not co-relate with a stroke or heart attack.  People with high cholesterol sometimes have no more, or can even have fewer, heart attacks than those with low cholesterol. (That includes the high ratio of LDL…the “bad kind”). The real culprit is inflammation in blood vessel linings…which  attracts cholesterol.

For more information on this subject, keep in touch through this free blog for more valuable information on heart disease and health in general. From time to time I will make posts that mainstream medicine does not address. Forward this to a friend or give them my blogsite @ http://naturalhealthsecrets.ws Denis Van Loan, DDS

Technorati Tags: cholesterol, heart attack, heart disease, heart failure, high cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, Lipitor, low cholesterol, statin drugs, stroke