The content from the "mysterious" midwestern doctor is worth reading. However, like most doctors - including functional doctors - he (she?) does not understand how poor terrain leads to chronic infections and it is these buggers that cause the plaques in arteries causing heart disease.
Indeed, he discusses terrain which IS the initiator. However, if you have plaque, simply improving terrain may NOT be enough if the chronic infections take hold.
This is the thesis for heart disease presented by Malcolm Kendrick. Dr. Kendrick is part of THINCS, and he - along with the other members - appreciates the infectious mechanism of heart disease. So, in this case, the midwestern doctor quoted the incorrect thesis from the THINCS group. I am a member of THINCS, which is a group of international "statin skeptics."
Here is what he just wrote:
Presently, we believe cholesterol somehow gets into a blood vessel and then damages it, leaving an atherosclerotic plaque. Kendrick in turn argued that a competing model (that the medical profession largely buried) provides a much better explanation of the actual causes of heart disease. It is as follows:
1. Blood vessels get damaged.
2. The body repairs those damage with clots.
3. As clots heal, they are pulled inside the blood vessel wall, and a new layer of endothelium (blood vessel lining) grows over them.
4. As this occurs multiple times in the same area, the damage (plaques) under the blood vessel becomes more abnormal.
Thus, his presentation of the "facts" is NOT correct. He does not understand that LDL (he calls it cholesterol! - UGH) is there to deliver fats to repair damaged tissue from the infection. All cells are made of phospholipid bilayers and, when destroyed by the infection, must be repaired. LDL is the fire truck at the fire!
I now present some verbiage from his article that does provide insights. However, I do not present his mechanistic discussions - as they are wrong.
Cholesterol - (lewis comment: I WISH HE WOULD DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN LDL AND CHOLESTEROL. When you don't make that distinction it reinforces the hypothesis regardless.)
Cholesterol has a few different essential functions in the body. These include:
•It is the precursor to many different hormones.
•The brain’s synapses (which, amongst other things, form memories) require cholesterol to function. Since cholesterol is too big to enter the brain, glial cells (support cells of the nervous system) synthesize it within the brain. Statins, unfortunately, inhibit glial cell production of cholesterol.
•Cognition, in turn, is highly dependent upon cholesterol. For example, one study found that minor cognitive impairment could be detected in 100% of statin users if sufficiently sensitive testing was done (which again illustrates how minor injuries are more common than severe ones). Likewise, a variety of more severe adverse effects on cognition are also observed such as amnesia, forgetfulness, confusion, disorientation, and increased senility.
Their patient’s rapid descent into dementia after a statin is started is much too often written off by their doctor as senile brain changes or beginning Alzheimer's when the real culprit is their statin drug.
Note: one of the sadder side effects we have frequently observed from the COVID-19 vaccines has been a rapid cognitive decline in the elderly (who cannot often advocate for themselves). When this happens, like statin damage, it is always assumed to be due to “their age” and ignored.
In addition to cognitive impairment, numerous studies have found a significant association between low or lowered cholesterol levels and violence. Likewise, statin dementia is often characterized by aggression.
Finally, one of the most concerning side effects of statins is their tendency to cause ALS (a truly horrible rare disease—curiously also seen in association with the COVID-19 vaccines). This correlation is further supported by many reports of statin ALS improving once the statin is stopped.
Unfortunately, while statin cognitive decline frequently improves when the statin is stopped, in many cases, it instead persists.
CoQ10
CoQ10 is an essential nutrient that both the mitochondria (which power the human body) and the stability of our cell walls depend upon. CoQ10 deficiency caused by statins is generally considered the most common cause of their side effects. This is really sad because those side effects could have been prevented if CoQ10 had been given with the statin. Unfortunately, this is unlikely ever to happen, as doing so would be equivalent to an admission statins could cause harm.
Note: the best parallel I know to this is that the primary cause of childhood vaccine toxicity is too many vaccines being given too close together for a child's developing circulatory and nervous systems. Most of the harm can be avoided if vaccines are spaced apart and given later in a child's life—but sadly doctors who promote this approach are routinely targeted (as it is tantamount to an admission vaccines are not 100% safe).
Some of the common energy-related side effects of statin CoQ10 deficiency include:
•Mitochondrial damage
•Lack of Energy
•Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
•Congestive Heart Failure and Fluid Retention
•Shortness of Breath
•Gout
Some of the side effects of statin CoQ10 deficiency weakening cell wall integrity include:
•Hepatitis (interestingly, Graveline noted that the enzyme threshold needed to diagnose statin-induced liver damage was significantly raised after this issue began being commonly reported following statin usage).
•Pancreatitis
•Rhabdomyolysis (rapid breakdown of skeletal muscle tissue)
•Tendon and ligament inflammation and rupture.
Note: this side effect is commonly reported with fluoroquinolone antibiotics, which are known to damage the mitochondria. I suspect it's linked to mitochondrial damage—a subject I discussed further here—as ligamentous laxity often goes hand in hand with vaccine injuries.
Two of the most common consequences of statins CoQ10 depletion are myopathy (muscle pain, tiredness, weakness, and cramps) and peripheral neuropathy (numbness, tingling, or burning sensations, particularly in hands and feet).
Although myopathy is the most commonly reported side effect of statin usage, much of it (e.g., myositis) goes undetected. This is because the symptoms are often not accompanied by blood work showing muscle enzyme elevations and can only be detected by biopsies (which are rarely done relative to blood work). In many cases, this condition is permanent (one expert in statin injury found it was permanent for 68% of her patients, while Graveline found it was for 25% of his). Sadly, in some cases, like statin neuropathies, the myopathies will continue to progress even if the statin is stopped.
One of the sadder things about statins is how aggressively they are pushed on diabetics (under the logic that since diabetics have an increased risk of heart disease, it is critical they take a statin to prevent them from having a heart attack). To highlight the absurdity of this, statins are well known to significantly increase your risk of diabetes (multiple studies have found this), which I suspect is again due to them impairing mitochondrial function.
Similarly, peripheral neuropathy is a condition diabetics are well known to be at a high risk of. In one study, it was found that the risk of neuropathy (i.e., burning pain with tingling or numbness of the extremities) was increased by 14 to 26 times (depending on the type) for long-term users of statins. Furthermore, other nerve issues, such as neurodegeneration, can be caused by statins.
Combinations of myopathy and neuropathy also occur in statin users, such as progressive pain, weakness, and incoordination throughout the body, alongside trouble rising from a seated position, unsteadiness, and a tendency to fall. Muscles are also observed to develop a distinctive weakened and mushy characteristic and gradually shrink.
Note: in addition to preventing adverse effects from statins, CoQ10 is also one of the more helpful supplements for preventing heart disease.
Dolichol
Very few physicians know of the dolichols, which play a pivotal role in synthesizing proteins, and Graveline argues, neuropeptides throughout the body. Since neuropeptides are pivotal in your thoughts, emotions, and sensations, statins blocking their production can lead to significant issues. Dolichol abnormalities have also been linked to Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, the part of the brain where Parkinson’s disease develops has a very high concentration of dolichols.
Graveline in turn asserted that inhibition of dolichol production and therefore neuropeptide production accounts for the aggression, hostility, irritability, road rage, homicidal ideation, exacerbation of alcohol and drug addiction, depression, and suicides that are associated with statin use. These side effects are one of the sadder complications of statins I observe in families affected by them.
Note: I have not been able to verify the link between dolichols and neuropeptides. As far as I can tell, there are many unknowns about dolichols as they are an area of physiology which have not been extensively researched.
Nuclear Factor-Kappa B
Since this suppresses the immune system, it leads to various potential issues such as reduced protection from infectious disease. For example, many common infectious organisms target NF-kB to assist in infecting their host. However, the more significant issue is that Nf-kB inhibition appears to be linked to cancer.
At five hospitals in Tokyo a group of Japanese researchers studied whether cancer patients had been treated with statins more often than other people. To that end they selected patients with various forms of lymphoid cancers and control individuals of the same age and sex without cancer admitted to other departments at the same hospitals during the same period. A total of 13.3 percent of the cancer patients, but only 7.3 percent of the control individuals were or had been on statin treatment.
That's it from the article. The remainder of his text is a bit misinformed. I do believe this doctor is quite knowledgeable but I have to point out inaccuracies. However, the more open-minded doctors are getting closer to a proper understanding of how important lipids (fats) are and how inflammation is a driver. But few are able to navigate the gap between inflammation - which is an immune response - at what drives that response.
The answer is 150 years old.
Claude Bernard - Terrain
Louis Pasteur - Infection
Charles Mayo - Focal Infection
It is the combination of these 3! NOTHING ELSE.
Weekly Webinar Links: Join us for detailed health information - at no charge. All are welcome.
Monday at noon EST -
Wednesday at 8 pm EST -
Be Bold - Be Brave - Stay Well