Just 1 in 4 know heart attack signs

February 23, 2008 - This article from Yahoo news is brought to you as a service from Dr Steven Horvitz and The Institute for Medical Wellness.

Just 1 in 4 know heart attack signs

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical WriterThu Feb 21, 9:02 PM ET

Only about 1 in 4 Americans know the warning signs of a heart attack and what to do first, according to a new government report. That's a decline in knowledge since the last survey in 2001, which showed nearly 1 in 3 to be well informed.

The study's lead author, Dr. Jing Fang, called public awareness in the new survey "alarmingly low." Fang is with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which surveyed residents of 13 states and the District of Columbia.

Heart attack warning signs can include one or more of the following five symptoms: shortness of breath; pain or discomfort in the chest; discomfort in the arms or shoulder; a feeling of weakness or lightheadedness; and discomfort in the jaw, neck or back.

Chest pain is the most common symptom. Women are more likely than men to experience some of the other symptoms, particularly shortness of breath and back or jaw pain, according to the American Heart Association.

Anyone experiencing these symptoms should call 911, the heart association advises.

The groups best informed of heart attack warning signs and what to do about them tended to be white, highly educated, and women. Also scoring well were residents of West Virginia, which has some of the nation's highest heart attack death rates.

Each year more than 900,000 Americans suffer a heart attack, and about 157,000 of them are fatal. About half the deaths occur within an hour of symptoms occurring, experts say.

Because different people experience different symptoms, it's important to be aware of all of them, doctors say.

"It's not always massive chest pain," said Wayne Rosamond, a University of North Carolina epidemiology professor and expert on heart disease statistics.

Of course, knowing is not the same as doing: Although most of those who got the heart attack symptoms right said they would call 911, other studies show that only about half of heart attack victims go to a hospital by ambulance, Rosamond noted.

Patients' concerns about lack of health insurance status or other matters may explain why so few go to a hospital, said Rosamond, who was not involved in the new study.

The CDC's findings were based on a random-digit-dial telephone survey of about 72,000 people in 2005.

In West Virginia, more than 35 percent of respondents from that state knew all five warning signs and that they should call 911, compared with 27 percent in the overall study population.

Iowa and Minnesota also were at the top of the list. The gap between West Virginia and the two other states was not statistically significant.
West Virginia consistently ranks among the states with the highest heart attack deaths rates, and also is a leader in smoking, obesity, high cholesterol and other heart disease risk factors. But it's not clear whether personal experience was the reason the state's residents were so well informed. Public health education campaigns or other factors may also explain the result, experts said.


It is very important to know the warning signs of a heart attack. But heart attacks are only one cause of medical illness. My first job as your physician is not to treat you for your heart attack but to teach you how to prevent it and many other medical illnesses. This is different from alot of the medical community today, the majority of which are geared towards treating your lab values, and then giving you more and more medications to make your numbers look just right. They do not always take into account that treating numbers is not the same as treating disease.

Case in point. People with total cholesterol levels above 200 are responsible for 50% of the heart attacks yearly. What does that mean? It means people with total cholesterol levels below 200 are responsible for the other 50% of heart attacks. So where do you want your total cholesterol to be?

One of my goals for 2008 is to help my patients with prevention and wellness. Patients enrolled in my wellness or retainer programs will be shown many different ways to prevent illness. I will use lab numbers as an indicator of risks, but I prefer to help my patients with lifestyle adjustments as opposed to just using medications. For example, if we lower our risks through proper diet and exercise, and be proactive on other personal risk factors revealed through a comprehensive wellness program, then I feel I am doing my job correctly.

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Founder of the Institute for Medical Wellness

Open Letter to my patients

February 20, 2008

We near the end of February, nearly two months into the transition of my practice. Many of my patients, peers, friends and family have asked how the transition is going.

So far, so good.

The goals I have set for my practice are being met.

Please allow me to list a few of these:

1. Same day appointments- If you are not feeling well and need an appointment, the last thing you need to hear from your doctor’s office is that they can schedule you in three days. That just does not work! We have always offered same or next day appointments, and now if you call our office before noon on a workday, you will be offered a same day appointment. My father was also a family physician in a solo practice. He would always tell me, “Make sure you get patients into your office when they are sick, because if you wait a few days they may not be sick anymore.” I have followed my father’s advice.

2. Longer appointment times- When my office participated with health insurance companies, the large overhead expense forced us to try to see more patients per day. This would often cut into the length of time available per patient. Average appointment time prior to my transition was 12-15 minutes. Now we are scheduling for at least 20-minute appointment times, and longer for Wellness exams and physicals. My goal is that each patient gets the time they need for a full and comprehensive evaluation.

3. Less waiting time- With longer appointment times, I have finally been able to run on schedule. No one is perfect, but I have been doing a much better job of seeing patients at their scheduled appointment times. Another side benefit is less crowded waiting rooms and less time in the waiting room. In fact I am considering canceling some of my magazine subscriptions as no one is finding time to read them.

4. Creating a medical home for my patients- When contracted with health insurance companies my office staff and I would usually spend 4-6 hours per day on bureaucratic paperwork, referrals, precertifications and other health insurance nonsense that should have no place in our healthcare system. Well, no longer!! We now have time to serve as your sounding board to medical advice and treatment rendered by other caregivers and specialists. My office staff also has the time to help with the facilitation and coordination of your healthcare. This includes scheduling diagnostic tests and also referring and scheduling appointments with specialists.


I would like to restate my practice mission statement, as the words below are the standard of care that my office pursues.

To provide outstanding family medical care to our patients with a focus on comprehensive wellness and prevention.

To inform you of healthcare options that your health insurance carrier may not want you to obtain or know about.

To be an advocate for your medical care without regards to the health insurance bureaucracy.

Where patients go to be treated as a person and not as a commodity.

Where patients go to have a Physician who listens carefully and respects what the patient has to say and encourages the patient to say what is on their mind.

To give patients the ability to see their own Doctor and to make appointments without unreasonable waits.

To provide this care with an open mind, and to make your healthcare a team effort between Dr. Horvitz, his office staff, and you, the individual.


I appreciate the trust and confidence that my patients have shown in me. I take my job and my profession very seriously and I strive to treat every patient as I would want to be treated myself, and as I would treat my own family. I will always do my best to make every office visit or phone conversation worthy of your time.

If you have any suggestions or comments on how I can make my practice work better for you, please call or email. I will be happy to hear from you!

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Founder Institute for Medical Wellness

Help with picking office payment plans

I have received many patient calls about which of my office plans to choose. There are four different options. I will try to clarify the differences below and help to recommend which plan is right for you.

Individual Wellness Plans:

· Adults ages 25 and over: $300/year with office visits starting at $25/visit.
· Adults and children ages 24 and younger: $200/year with office visits starting at $25/visit.

Family Wellness Plans:

· $1000/15 months with office visits starting at $25/visit

All Wellness Plans include a once yearly Comprehensive Wellness Exam. Included in this exam is a full history and physical, review of labwork, heart testing for adults ages 25 and up, and lung testing for all ages. Other add on tests, procedures, etc will be offered at a discount to our regular price. This exam at any other medical office would cost much more than $200-300 that we charge. And no other office sharply discounts remaining follow up care. We can offer this value due to lower overhead costs which results directly from not having to deal with insurance company regulations.

Wellness Plans are excellent values for the following types of patients.

· Patients who are proactive in their health, and who like guidance for prevention and wellness.
· Patients with high deductible health insurance, health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.
· Patients who put off coming to the office for evaluation due to expected high office fees. As the majority of office visits will be $25, you no longer need to fear coming to the office.
· Patients who visit the office 4 or more times a year. The savings difference of the office visit costs between self pay and wellness plans start adding up on average by the fifth office visit for adults and by the third or fourth office visit for children and young adults. The savings happens even sooner if one of the visits is for a yearly physical exam or for patients who need extended office visits.

Retainer Plan:

· $750/year per individual, $2000/year for families – A complete wellness exam is included in the retainer plan. No fee for office visits unless as a housecall. The only other fees are for immunizations which are given at cost, and for legal work.

Retainer plans are excellent values for the following types of patients.

· Patients who are proactive in their health, and who like guidance for prevention and wellness.
· Patients with high deductible health insurance, health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts.
· Patients who put off coming to the office for evaluation due to expected high office fees. There are no office fees in the retainer plan.
· Patients who visit the office ten or more times a year.
· Patients who need more frequent follow-up care. This would include people being treated for hard to control high blood pressure and diabetes.
· Patients wanting more help with obesity who need more frequent guidance.

Self Pay:

· For established patients, office visits start at $65.
· For new patients, office visits start at $75.
· Self pay is for new and established patients who do not come to the office much, but still want value in their medical care.

Medicare:

· Our office is still participating with Medicare, but not Medicare Advantage plans. For patients enrolled directly with Medicare our office will remain business as usual.

My office is open to any further questions concerning the above options. Stop by and talk to Dr. Horvitz or call us at 856-231-0590. We will be glad to help in any way!

Flu season, and vaccine, looking worse

February 16, 2008 - This article from Yahoo news is brought to you as a service from Dr Steven Horvitz and The Institute for Medical Wellness.

Flu season, and vaccine, looking worse

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

The flu season is getting worse, and U.S. health officials say it's partly because the flu vaccine doesn't protect against most of the spreading flu bugs. The flu shot is a good match for only about 40 percent of this year's flu viruses, officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday.

The situation has even deteriorated since last week when the CDC said the vaccine was protective against roughly half the circulating strains. In good years, the vaccine can fend off 70 to 90 percent of flu bugs.

Infections from an unexpected strain have been booming, and now are the main agent behind most of the nation's lab-confirmed flu cases, said Dr. Joe Bresee, the CDC's chief of influenza epidemiology.

It's too soon to know whether this will prove to be a bad flu season overall, but it's fair to say a lot of people are suffering at the moment. "Every area of the country is experiencing lots of flu right now," Bresee said.

This week, 44 states reported widespread flu activity, up from 31 last week. The number children who have died from the flu has risen to 10 since the flu season's official Sept. 30 start.

Those numbers aren't considered alarming. Early February is the time of year when flu cases tend to peak. The 10 pediatric deaths, though tragic, are about the same number as was reported at this time in the last two flu seasons, Bresee said.

The biggest surprise has been how poorly the vaccine has performed.

Each winter, experts try to predict which strains of flu will circulate so they can develop an appropriate vaccine for the following season. They choose three strains_ two from the Type A family of influenza, and one from Type B.

Usually, the guesswork is pretty good: The vaccines have been a good match in 16 of the last 19 flu seasons, Bresee has said.

But the vaccine's Type B component turned out not to be a good match for the B virus that has been most common this winter. And one of the Type A components turned out to be poorly suited for the Type A H3N2/Brisbane-like strain that now accounts for the largest portion of lab-confirmed cases.

Over the years, the H3N2 flu has tended to cause more deaths, Bresee said.

This week, the World Health Organization took the unusual step of recommending that next season's flu vaccine have a completely different makeup from this year's. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make its decision about the U.S. vaccine next week.

H3N2 strains are treatable by Tamiflu and other antiviral drugs, but the other, H1N1 Type A strains are more resistant. Of all flu samples tested this year, 4.6 percent have been resistant to antiviral medications. That's up from fewer than 1 percent last year.

"This represents a real increase in resistance," Bresee said. __

On the Net:

The CDC's flu season update: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

Unfortunately it appears that the powers that be who chose the strains for the flu vaccine had an off year. Influenza is a nasty illness that can cause high fevers, sore throat, chills, cough and muscle aches. It lasts anywhere from 3-7 days, and in susceptible people can contribute to pneumonia. I have treated patients with the flu and they all say they never, ever , ever want to feel that sick again.
The flu vaccine is still an option for prevention of influenza. But it is not perfect and it is obviously not for everyone. This past week I have seen almost a dozen cases in my office, and spoke to more via telephone who felt too sick to come in to the office.
For patients who want some extra protection from the flu, I have been recommending extra Vitamin D as there are theories that suggest Vitamin D can help protect against this horrible illness. For more information on Vitamin D and Influenza please click here.

Dr. Steven Horvitz's practice transition

When I started my family medical practice in 1998, the majority of patient visits and hence the revenues that came into my office was for sick care. At the time, it was what my patients and the public were demanding and what I was glad to provide. But today, with the baby boomer generation getting older, and healthcare costs skyrocketing, demand has increased for medical programs to help patients stay well.

But physicians today are forced to practice under an outmoded system that rewards frequent, extensive and expensive medical care for the very sick, but does not reward for the teaching and teamwork that goes toward prevention of illness. The government in its wisdom, throws more and more money into this system which gets worse year by year. The tremendous amount of government regulations and insurance industry greed and profits has doomed our healthcare system. The present healthcare scenario will not survive as is. The government can not save it. The health insurance industry can not save it. Only patients and physicians first taking individual responsibility, and then forming a partnership in their medical care can.

In January 2008 I started my transition towards a practice that is more patient centered and patient focused. I terminated my contracts with all health insurers except Medicare. With this practice conversion, I am now able to:
1. Improve access to medical care by offering same and next day appointments.
2. Improve communication with patients through longer appointment times, easier telephone access, and internet communication via email and our new and improved website.
3. Help patients to be better managers of their care via stronger coordination of the healthcare services they obtain outside my office. Many physicians are so busy seeing 30+ patients per day that they do not have the time for this coordination of medical care. In my new practice model, We Do!!

Thus far, I have been able to turn the healthcare system upside down, by engaging patients in this team concept of wellness and prevention. I tell all my patients, “ Put your effort into true health wellness and prevention, and I will treat your illnesses for a discount, without any health insurer or third party interference.” My patients who have teamed with me for their healthcare needs by enrolling in my wellness plans, get discounted fees, usually equal to or less than their insurance copay for all their sick care at my office. I am no longer restrained by health insurer contracts what I can offer and what I can advise. By terminating my relationships with the health insurers, I can again become my patients #1 advocate in their care.

One of the nicest comments I ever received was in 1991, from a fellow medical school student who happened to be a patient in my fathers family medical practice in Philadelphia. He told me the main reason he went to medical school was because of the personal connection and trust he and his family received in their medical care from my father while growing up. This trust shaped this students life and career aspirations. Do people still have this same sense of trust in their doctors today?

Sometimes moving forward is not the answer. Sometimes we need to look backwards, to a system that worked in the past. To a system where you picked your doctor based on quality and trust and not by looking at an insurance directory filled with names of physicians you do not know. My practice will move forward and grow by looking backwards. The basic qualities of the doctor-patient relationship will be emphasized again. My patients will choose my practice for the basic qualities of a true family physician such as expertise, sincerity, personal connections, and trust.

I look forward to 2008 and all the challenges that it brings. I value each and every individual in my practice and hope to continue to offer the best family medical care possible.



Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Founder of the Institute for Medical Wellness
128 Borton Landing Road, Suite Two
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Phone 856-231-0590 Fax 856-294-0311

Email DrHorvitz@DrHorvitz.com

Website www.DrHorvitz.com

The side effects of statins: Heart healthy and head harmful?

February 14, 2008 - This article from the heart.org is brought to you as a service from Dr Steven Horvitz and The Institute for Medical Wellness.

The side effects of statins: Heart healthy and head harmful?

February 12, 2008 Michael O'Riordan

New York, NY - The cognitive side effects, especially memory loss, associated with statins resurfaced again this week with an article in the February 12, 2008 issue of the Wall Street Journal, in which some doctors voiced concerns that the cholesterol-lowering medications, specifically atorvastatin (Lipitor, Pfizer), might be helping patients' hearts but actually putting their memory in jeopardy [1]. To date, evidence for this effect is only anecdotal.

In the article, Dr Orli Etingin, vice chair of medicine at New York Presbyterian Hospital, is quoted as saying that atorvastatin, the best-selling drug on the market, "makes women stupid." Etingin told the Journal that 24 of her female patients taking atorvastatin lost the ability to concentrate or recall words. While tests showed nothing irregular, the women regained full cognitive capacity when the statin was stopped, and some women did better on other statins.

The examples cited by Etingin, founder and director of the Iris Cantor Women's Health Center (New York), are anecdotal, but she said more studies are needed to assess the cognitive effects of statins, especially in women.

These concerns, despite their observational nature, are not new and have surfaced in medical journals and meetings, as well as the mainstream media, for a number of years. As the Journal notes, "Lowering cholesterol could slow the connections that facilitate thought and memory. Statins may also lead to the formation of abnormal proteins seen in the brains of Alzheimer's patients."

The evidence, however, linking statin use to declines in cognitive function or to the development of diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, as well as to the possible protection from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, are scattershot at best. In the Journal, reporter Melinda Beck notes that Pfizer, the maker of atorvastatin, states the drug has been tested in 400 clinical trials, with no evidence establishing a causal link between atorvastatin and memory loss. Cardiologist Dr Antonio Gotto (Weill-Cornell Medical School, NY) believes the benefits of the drugs outweigh the risks, telling Beck that he "would hate to see people frightened off taking statins because they think it's going to cause memory loss."

Dr Michael Miller (University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore) commented to heartwire that he has heard anecdotal reports of cognitive declines with statin use but pointed to a recently published paper in Neurology, with lead investigator Dr Zoe Arvanitakis (Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL), showing that in nearly 1000 patients the use of statins was not related to incident Alzheimer disease, changes in cognition, or continuous measures of Alzheimer's pathology or infarction [2]. Numerous other articles, many covered by heartwire, show conflicting data supporting and not supporting a link between statin use and cognitive decline.

Speaking with heartwire, Arvanitakis said that her study involved both men and women and the results do not contradict the observational findings but simply do not support the anecdotal evidence seen in clinical practice.

"There is a lot of interest right now with respect to statins and cognitive decline and Alzheimer's, so we need to be aware of the anecdotal evidence," she said. "There are some people who do believe that statins have a negative effect on cognitive function, and others who believe it has a beneficial or protective effect, but right now we just don't know. . . . The bottom line is that the evidence is mixed."

Asked about the cognitive side effects, Dr Roger Blumenthal (Johns Hopkins University Medical Center, Baltimore) told heartwire he has had some patients "who think that they are not as sharp mentally on statins, but the numerator is very small and the denominator is very large." If there is a good reason to treat a patient with a statin, he'll try another drug or every-other-day dosing, but he noted that he does not need to do this frequently, as 90% or more patients "have no problems with statins."

Still, anecdotally, "the chronology can be very telling," Dr Gayatri Devi (New York University School of Medicine) told the Journal. She has treated six patients with memory loss traceable to statin use, with the changes occurring within six weeks of starting the cholesterol-lowering drug. "It's a handful of patients, but for them, it made a huge difference."

While cognitive declines occur in men, too, women are affected particularly harder because they are losing estrogen in menopause, something that can also cause changes in cognitive function, writes Beck. She quotes Women's Heart Program director Dr Nieca Goldberg (New York University School of Medicine) who prescribes statins only to women with elevated LDL cholesterol and who have already had an MI. For others, including those with high LDL cholesterol but no risk factors, Goldberg recommends dietary changes and exercise.

With the evidence all over the map and with observational reports not going away, studies are being conducted to examine the effects of statins on "thinking, mood, behavior, and quality of life," writes the Journal. The researchers, led by Dr Beatrice Golomb (University of California, San Diego), are collecting anecdotal experiences of patients on statins. Muscle aches are the most commonly reported side effect, thus far, with memory problems the second most common side effect, in approximately 5000 reports to date.

Sources

Beck M. Can a drug that helps hearts be harmful to the brain? Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2008. Available at: http://online.wsj.com/public/us.
Arvanitakis Z, Schneider JA, Wilson RS, et al. Statins, incident Alzheimer disease, change in cognitive function, and neuropathology. Neurology 2008; DOI:10.1212/01.wnl.0000288181.00826.63. Available at: http://www.neurology.org.


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Yet more information now being released about possible side effects of statin drugs which lower cholesterol. The experts mentioned above claim that there is only anecdotal evidence about statins and memory loss. I have seen memory loss in a small number of patients on these drugs. I have also seen other side effects, the most common being muscle aches and pains.

Statins are not the panacea to heart disease that the pharmaceutical industry has claimed. In the years to come I believe we will be using less of these medications as we find their effectiveness at preventing heart disease has been overstated.

Previous newsletters have discussed this topic.

February 6, 2008 : Cholesterol May Help Build Muscle

January 15, 2008 : Cholesterol Drug Zetia Doesn't Cut Heart Attack Risk: Study

I would also recommend www.spacedoc.net for more information on statin side effects.

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Board Certified Family Medicine
Founder of The Institute for Medical Wellness

Cigarette Smoking Causes Sleep Disturbances

February 12, 2008

This medical news about health and wellness is brought to you as a service from Dr Steven Horvitz and The Institute for Medical Wellness.

Below are excerpts from an article in Medscape concerning smoking and your health.

Cigarette Smoking Causes Sleep Disturbances

February 7, 2008 — Smoking cigarettes impairs sleep quality, possibly due to nicotine withdrawal, according to a study in the February issue of Chest, the journal of the American College of Chest Physicians.

• The results of this study could represent "yet another motivating factor" to convince smokers to quit the habit, said Dr. Punjabi. "From a preventive health perspective, I think it's very important that we now add sleep disturbance to the armamentarium of issues related to smoking."
• Smokers spent more time in light sleep and less time in deep sleep than their nonsmoking counterparts.
• The study shows that cigarette smoking "can alter sleep architecture independent of factors such as age, gender, race, anthropometric measures, caffeine and alcohol consumption, medial comorbidity, and mental health status," the authors conclude.
• The direct effects of smoking on sleep seen in this study should provide further ammunition for public health campaigns to reduce smoking. "The people who smoke are not getting a restful sleep, and that has ramifications for them on a daily basis; they're tired, they're going to be tired the next day, and most likely they will have diminished level of alertness," said Dr. Punjabi. "Those are direct effects that poor sleep quality will have on their daily living."

Chest. 2008;133:427-432.

Pauline Anderson is a freelance writer for Medscape.
Medscape Medical News 2008. © 2008 Medscape

We are learning more and more every day that people that do not get restful sleep, have more medical issues than those who get the necessary sleep. Sleep apnea, another medical disorder that causes non restful sleep, has already been linked to high blood pressure and heart disease. We have known for years that cigarette smokers have a higher risks of both these illnesses. Whether cigarette smoking directly causes high blood pressure and heart disease, or whether it may be secondary to poor sleep quality as possibly implied by the article above will stir much future debate.

But we can leave the debating to the scientists and the politicians. What we need to take from this article is that cigarette smoking causes many effects on the body, very few of which are healthy. I will again advise all my patients to refer to my battle plan for quitting smoking. It can be found by clicking here.

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Board Certified Family Medicine
Founder of The Institute for Medical Wellness

Cholesterol May Help Build Muscle

February 6, 2008

This medical news about health and wellness is brought to you as a service from Dr Steven Horvitz and The Institute for Medical Wellness.

Cholesterol May Help Build Muscle

Low cholesterol levels may be good for your heart, but cholesterol levels that are too low may negate exercise-related muscle gain, says a Texas A&M University study of 50 men and women, ages 60 to 69.

Participants took part in a 12-week exercise program that included stretching, riding a stationary bike and weightlifting. They all ate similar meals, CBC News reported.

The most impressive gains in muscle strength occurred in those with the highest cholesterol levels, rather than those with the lowest levels.

The study authors said cholesterol may play an important role in muscle tissue repair, which is critical in building muscle mass, CBC News reported.

"As you exercise, your muscles can become sore because they are rebuilding muscle mass. More cholesterol may result in a more robust inflammatory response. We know that inflammation in some areas, such as near the heart, is not good, but for building muscles it may be beneficial, and cholesterol appears to aid in this process," lead investigator Steven Riechman, assistant professor of health and kineisiology at Texas A&M, said in a prepared statement.

The study was published in the Journal of Gerontology.

The hypothesis that cholesterol is bad for your health and should be lowered at all costs is starting to unravel. As many of my patients know, I have not been a fan of cholesterol lowering medications. I view cholesterol as a marker for human health and disease, but not as a cause of disease.

Cholesterol is made by our body, in our liver, whether we eat cholesterol and fat in our diets or not. Obviously cholesterol must have some positive actions in our bodies. The article you just read appears to be one positive action. Hopefully in the near future more medical studies will be conducted and published showing more beneficial actions of cholesterol.

Achieving good cholesterol levels is important. But how you achieve those levels is more important. Using medications to improve your cholesterol levels is like painting a car with a rusty engine. The cholesterol and paint will look wonderful, but the car engine, heart and vascular system do not always benefit. A good analysis of cholesterol lowering medications was written and appears in Business Week magazine, Jan 28, 2008 edition.

I would like to provide a link to another site that reviews cholesterol lowering treatments with a slightly different analysis than you usually hear on the news. I am providing this link as fuel for thought and I would welcome any comment or feedback.

Steven Horvitz, D.O.
Board Certified Family Medicine
Your Partner in Health!