too much male hormone effect on your
by Elizabeth R. Vaughan, MD
body. You demonstrate this with your
acne, facial hair, and the fat around your
waist. So without doing any tests, I am
pretty suspicious that you have PCOS,
healing. So, decrease your exercise and has been a
and that is probably why your choles-
take these supplements: CoQ10 100 mg huge improve-
terol is up," I explained.
twice a day, l-carnitine 2 g twice a day, ment. I ran out
"You mean it’s not just a cholesterol
selenium 200 mcg a day, d-ribose 5 g 3 of some of the
problem?" asked Ursula.
times a day, and high gamma delta vita- supplements,
"No, cholesterol is only a part of the
min E 400 i.u. each day," I instructed. but I am stick-
problem and, in your case, it is a sig-
"I know what most of those are, but ing with the d-
nificant part. Your doctor was right to
what is d-ribose?" asked Ursula. ribose because
go ahead and treat your cholesterol. My
"D-ribose is a 5 carbon sugar, so it I can still feel a
guess is you also have a family history of
does not affect your blood sugar. It is the big difference with it."
cholesterol issues," I said.
rate limiting ingredient in your cellular "I want you to buy more of the sup-
"You’re right, I do. My mom and dad
power houses called mitochondria. All plements and stay on them for at least
both have high cholesterol. My dad can
of these supplements help your mito- another month so that we can make cer-
take statins, but my mom cannot," Ur-
chondria produce more energy to heal tain that your muscles are completely
sula said.
your cells, specifically your muscles back to normal. Now, let's start working
"Well, you come by some of your
cells. The d-ribose is one of the most on the rest of you," I smiled.
symptoms honestly then. You have the
important supplements you can take for I reviewed the results of her lipid
genetic tendency to have problems with
myopathy and myositis caused by statins. test, which confirmed that her total cho-
statins and cholesterol, but your genes
Once you get well, you’re going to want lesterol and triglycerides were still very
are not your destiny. We will have to use
to continue the d-ribose to enhance your high and her LDL, or bad cholesterol,
diet, exercise, supplements, and prob-
endurance when you exercise. Right was elevated and her good cholesterol,
ably some drugs to get you healthier. If
now, I want you to take it 3 times a day. or HDL, was still low. In addition to this,
you are then able to maintain a lower
When you start exercising, you will take the NMR Profile showed that she had a
weight and eat a healthy diet and con-
a dose before you work out, which will predominance of type B or small dense
tinue exercising, you’ll be able to avoid
enhance your endurance, and a dose particles and her total LDL particle num-
some of the problems that your mom
after you work out, which will shorten ber was 1,600, which was extremely
and dad developed.
your recovery period. For now, let's get elevated. “The total number of LDL par-
"What other illnesses run in your
your muscles healthier,” I explained. ticles is the most specific and sensitive
family?" I asked. "Diabetes, heart dis-
laboratory indicator of someone's risk
ease? Did your mom have heavy peri-
One month later of having a heart attack based on their
ods, fibroids, a hysterectomy? Was she
Ursula returned to the office. "I feel cholesterol. You are at significantly in-
also hairy and have acne?"
like a new person. I don't hurt the way I creased risk. The small dense particles
"All the above, and she had to have
did before. I still don't have the stamina I are much more atherogenic than large
a hysterectomy because she got uter-
had before I went on that statin, but there fluffy particles of LDL, and small dense
ine cancer," replied Ursula. “She’s okay
now.”
"That is a potential long-term com-
plication of having undiagnosed and
untreated PCOS," I explained. "So are all
the other problems your mom had."
"I want you to get a fasting NMR Li-
poProfile. That is going to help us figure
out how hard we have to treat your cho-
lesterol, and I want you to go to the lab
and get a 2-hour glucose tolerance test
and get your insulin checked at the same
time. Also, a luteinizing hormone, LH,
and follicle stimulating hormone, FSH.
These will help me determine whether
or not you have PCOS. Today, I want to
treat the muscle pain or myositis that
you have due to the statins. I do not want
you to exercise right now because you
will be asking damaged muscles to work
harder. That will slow down the rate of
FEBRUARY 2010
9
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