welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

cholesterol in kids

CHOLESTEROL IN KIDS
at the age of 40 i had my cholesterol check
my total cholesterol was 340
my ldl my bad cholesterol was 250
my hdl my good cholesterol was 20
those my friend are bad numbers
i call them heart attack or stroke numbers

my older brother had a heart attack at the age of 60
he was a non smoker in good health
he was active
his cholesterol was like mine

at the age of 40 i changed my diet to a low fat low cholesterol diet
and i was started on a statin drug and have been on one now for
several years

what if my brother or i had been checked at 9 years old
was started on a proper diet and possible a statin drug
at the age of 12
would he not have had his heart attack at 60
more than likely yes
hes lucky it didnt happen sooner

what if my younger brother with alzheimers disease had got
checked at 9 years of old for cholesterol and then got started
on a proper diet with the addition of a statin drug at 12
and had not smoked and controlled his blood pressure
would he not have alzheimers at his young age
possibly

the new guidelines recommended for children is to have their
cholesterol checked at the age of 9-11 and again at the age of
17-21
the risk factors for heart disease and stroke are also turning out
to be the risk factors for alzheimers disease

the recommendation for cholesterol is the same as adults
diet first then if numbers are high enough consider a statin drug
exercise regularly
maintain a normal weight

if you are genetically kin to me and your child is in this age range
you should get them tested and start some type of intervention now
so that your child willl not be like
your uncle with azheimers
your uncle with a heart attack and heart failure
your grandparents with alzhiemers heart attacks strokes and leg amputations

a life time of prevention can decrease the chances of these terrible
diseases and can delay their appearance and when they do appear
later in life the severity will be less

its up to you the parents to do something now

i think of cholesterol clogging up arteries like a water pipe in a house

over 60 years of running well water or city water into the pipes causing
them to gradually corrode so that they can be completely stopped up
with hard calcified plaques that will stop water flow

if you use rain water that corrosion doesnt happen
in fact if you change to a rain water system the rain water will
gradually over time begin to dissolve the calcified plaques in the pipes


the same thing happens with cholesterol over the years
(see the picture above of the clogged heart artery)
adding proper diet and statin drugs can gradually dissolve
some of the plaque formation
by starting treatment in kids this can be prevented

get those kids tested
make a difference in their future health
dont have them wait like me and my relatives have until
the symptoms and blockage has occurred

yes organic green living can make your life better

the organicgreen doctor

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