FIRST A LITTLE NEW YEAR'S FUN & SARCASM
I, like many people with early heart disease, suffer from high lipoprotein(a) - about 140 nmol/l. Naturally, I spend a great deal of time looking for novel methods to reduce it. Unfortunately, the front line remedies like niacin and testosterone (estrogen if you are a woman) have only been marginally effective in my case. In perhaps the most twisted ignominy of Lp(a), many of the things that will reduce it will harm or kill you some other way. For Example, neomycin is an effective Lp(a) treatment but it has nasty kidney and nervous system side effects. Additionally, a relatively new study (http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/85/6/2034.pdf) has determined that tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) also drastically reduces Lp(a). Great, instead I'll just die from internal hemoraghing.
So what does this have to do with New Year's Eve? Well, it turns out that several other studies have found that high alcohol intake may reduce Lp(a) (for example http://invention.swmed.edu/cgi-bin/etblast/abstract_local?pmid=1827857&user=hobbs&application=2) and the same is true of severe burns and sepsis (http://invention.swmed.edu/cgi-bin/etblast/abstract_local?pmid=10764684&user=hobbs&application=2). So all I have to do to reduce my Lp(a) is get drunk on New Year's Eve and set myself on fire in a wild celebration. Lucky me!
NOW ON TO SERIOUS STUFF
All the studies I cited above are in what is the most complete compendium of research studies on Lp(a) I have ever come across. You can peruse this link http://invention.swmed.edu/frisc/faculty/hobbs/profile.shtml for hours on end to get the skinny on what is going on regarding Lp(a), both the weird and the wonderful.
Happy New Year!
HeartHawk
Sunday, December 30, 2007
New Year's Eve: A Cure for Lp(a) Sufferers?
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6 comments:
If I remember Linus Pauling said that amino acid, Lysine, helps to bring down Lp(a).
Vin:
Yes, I believe Pauling and Mathias Rath advocate a cocktail of lysine, proline, and vitamin C. I beleive their theory suggests lysine is an analog for the binding site used by Lp(a). I sure would like to see some independent clinical data on its efficacy. I may even try it myself if I get desperate. Perhaps we can get Track Your Plaque to sponsor a Virtual Clinical Trial among members. Right now, I am trying fenofibrate as I had a favorable experience when I had to go off niacin for a short period (stomach problems).
HH
Hey hearthawk,
That compendium of studies is great...
Unfortunately, it's missing the seminal studies about Lp(a) assembly and Lp(a) assembly inhibition by Sally McCormick of New Zealand and her teams.
It's also missing a reference to her terrific review of the literature article of 2004. My bet is then that the most complete bibliography on Lp(a) would be the union of the one you found with the one found in her 2004 review of literature article.
Links to her work can be found at my blog HeartCipher.com. Just search for the name Sally McCormick.
Thanks for this post.
HH, I found your blog through Dr. Davis' awhile back. You have a fantastic blog. Very helpful.
I know this is an older post, but I wanted to comment concerning the Lp(a). Lp(a) runs in my family, and I tested at 76 mg/dl when I was 21 (4.5 years ago. Just found it after going through some old blood work and was surprised my doctor hadn't said anything). My dad's Lp(a) was 225 nmol/L, and he had a heart attack at 55. Not too surprising given the high number.
Before becoming familiar with TYP and Dr. Davis, I believed that the Pauling/Rath theory and treatment was THE way to go, and the answer to all our problems. I no longer think that's the case, given what I know now about the multifaceted nature of CVD, but I still wonder if Pauling's protocol has merit-- at least for Lp(a) reduction...and possibly other areas as well. I've asked Dr. Davis his opinion about it, and I hope that he might address it in a future post or something.
If you know where to get the "ingredients," you can do the lysine, proline, vitamin C protocol for around $12 a month. I'm doing it right now. Curious for the outcome. Of course, I do a lot of Dr. Davis' other recommendations as well, so it might be hard to discern where the benefit actually comes from.
Intriguing (though who really knows how trustworthy?) is the clinical study performed by Dr. Rath wherein he used the Pauling therapy and tracked the results via Ultrafast CT heart scanning: http://www.drrathresearch.org/clinical_studies/condition_atherosclerosis.html
Pauling (and Rath, and numerous others) claimed great success with this approach. Most of it is just anecdotal, though. I would be very curious about the widespread result of adding this protocol to the TYP program.
By the way, for any who are interested, here's a pretty good explanation of what the Pauling/Rath theory and treatment is all about: http://www.ourhealthcoop.com/pauling.htm
Be well,
David
David:
Let us know how it works. If you have a favorable experience perhaps we can get a number of Track Your Plaque Members to try it as well. We now have extensive test database and tracking tools at the disposal of our Members.
Regards,
HeartHawk
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