Dr. Horvitz -- Medical Home

July 12, 2010

Institute For Medical Wellness Healthy Living Report

Cholesterol yet again!!

Back to one of my favorite topics. Statin drugs and prevention of heart disease.

Statin drugs, known by the names of Crestor, Lipitor, Simvastatin, Lovastatin, Pravastatin, and Lescol, lower cholesterol by inhibiting a reaction in our bodies that produces cholesterol. Hmmm!!! Why would our bodies produce cholesterol???

The supermajority of physicians, media pundits, and health insurers believe that cholesterol is the cause of heart and vascular disease and that the use of statin drugs diminish that risk. As we all know, supermajorities are always correct , right ?????

The health insurers are so certain in their beliefs that they may give physicians bonuses for prescribing these medications to their patients. Insurers giving bonuses to physicians for prescribing medications could be a topic of another newsletter, or better yet an encyclopedia of what is wrong with healthcare today.

But let me go back on topic. Our bodies evolved to naturally produce cholesterol. So is it a great leap to state that if our bodies produce cholesterol, that cholesterol is necessary for optimal body functions?

The experts will tell you that Crestor, the newest and most powerful statin medication, was proven to prevent heart disease in it's landmark Jupiter study. I will tell you the experts are wrong, as I had previously stated in a past newsletter from October 2008 that can be found here.

I have been fighting this battle over the meaning of cholesterol for quite a few years. It should not be difficult. It is not like we are debating the meaning of life! It is difficult at times, to re-educate people, when they have been hearing the same mantra repeated over and over again.

Cholesterol is bad!!!!

Statins are good.

Let us put statins in the drinking water!!

What is that famous saying? Oh yeah! Repeating a lie over and over again does not make it true. Cholesterol as evil, and statin medications as the cure for this evil, is for the most part, a lie.

Now, I do not believe that is a purposeful or deliberate lie. The majority of physicians do actually believe that cholesterol directly causes heart disease. Therefore anything that lowers cholesterol should lower disease. Physicians also used to believe that bleeding patients would cure them of disease. That was wrong then, and cholesterol as evil, and statins as wonder-drugs are wrong today.

Here is an example along this line of thought. A patient presents to my office with pneumonia. His symptoms include fever to 102, and a bad productive cough. I prescribe tylenol for the fever. Two hours later his temperature is normal. But he still has pneumonia!!! By treating the fever, I masked a symptom of a bigger problem, the pneumonia. Now follow the same logic for statins use in abnormal cholesterol. When we use statins to bring down cholesterol levels, we mask an important marker of heart disease. Important use of wording. I stated that we mask an important marker of heart disease, not a cause of heart disease. To put it all together for you, or if you are a verbal SAT fanatic, statins are to heart disease, as tylenol is to pneumonia. The numbers may look prettier, but it does nothing to solve the problem!

Luckily, I am not alone in my views. I prefer not to walk the plank alone against the mainstream of physician thought. Recently, a paper was published in a major medical journal lambasting the Jupiter study mentioned earlier. Here are links to some other physicians, and medical bloggers on the problems with the Jupiter study and statins in general. They can be found here, here, here and here.

As I have stated many times in the past, cholesterol is important for your overall health. I use it in my practice as a marker for metabolic and nutritional health. Abnormal cholesterol levels is a clue there is something amiss in diet and nutrition. A statin medication would mask this clue, as taking a pain pill would mask pain. The problem is not the sensation of pain, but its cause. Abnormal cholesterol is not the problem, but usually the diet and nutrition causing the abnormality.

So you have options when it comes to interpreting your cholesterol results. You can go along with the muscle-aching-crowd, fear fat and cholesterol, and be prescribed Crestor, Lipitor, or others. Or you can see the light, and be truly informed about the hows and the whys of cholesterol interpretations, and whether you truly need to change your lifestyle.

I doubt you will get this advice from your 5-minute visit with your mainstream physician. But you will get it at the Institute For Medical Wellness. At the Institute For Medical Wellness, instead of a quick knee jerk reaction to a lab value, be prepared to spend some time, and put your thinking caps on. At the Institute For Medical Wellness, we treat individuals, not lab values, not health insurers or government regulations.

I welcome the opportunity to help and to open up your mind to prevention and wellness.

Summer Specials:

Summer is a time when we all like to kick back and slow down. We like to enjoy ourselves, and indulge in activities that the colder weather does not allow. The summertime is also when our office slows down. I don't blame anyone for not wanting to go to the doctor's office when it is warm and sunny outside. But the summer is one of the best times to get your preventive health and wellness started, before the hustle-bustle of the fall and winter seasons.

So let me see if I can entice you with some special summer offers:

Special Summer 2010 Offer #1:

For any individual, couple or family that enrolls in a Traditional Wellness Plan between July 4th and Labor Day, September 6th, 2010, you will receive one Healthy Weight Program - Lite Edition, normally $99, at no charge. And if you are one of the first three to take advantage of this offer, you may also receive a one-hour massage from Julie Fischer, normally $70, also at no charge.

Special Summer 2010 Offer #2:

For Wellness Plan members whose plans are expiring, or are up for renewal, we are now able to offer monthly auto-pay options, with NO down payment or interest charges. So if you have a pre-paid Traditional Wellness Plan that has, or is about to expire, please stop by the office to set up your automatic-monthly payment plan. The new plans are valid for one year, and then continue month-to-month. This offer is valid as long as there is no lapse from your expiring plan.

Special Summer 2010 Offer #3:

In the past year, the Institute For Medical Wellness has expanded its ability to offer more cutting edge health and wellness testing and guidance. We will continue to look for the newest and best to offer you, as long as the tests or treatments are safe and effective. At present we offer:

1) Healthy Weight Program-Lite Edition

2) Therapeutic Massage

3) Cardiac-CT with Calcium Scoring for evaluating heart disease risk

4) Omega-3 testing -this index measures your omega-3 blood levels, which are increased by fish intake and supplemental fish oils. We use this test to stratify your heart disease risk, and overall level of inflammation. This value then allows individualization of your fish oil supplementation doses, if needed.

5) Specialized cholesterol and vascular risk assessment testing- This group of blood tests goes much further in depth than routine lipid testing. In my view, routine lipid/cholesterol testing for prevention of heart disease has gone the way of the VCR and Betamax. The VAP comprehensive lipid and vascular testing is by far, a huge leap in predicting future risk of vascular and heart disease, and guides our recommendations for you.

6) Comprehensive micronutrient testing- this blood test measures intracellular levels of many vitamins and nutrients. It is inside the cell that the nutrients perform their necessary functions, which makes this test a much better indicator of vitamin and nutrient status than routine blood levels.

You may purchase any two of the above tests at 20% off through Labor Day. If you do want the testing, but not until after the summer, you can put a $99 down payment to lock in the 20% discount, which will then be used towards the testing valid through December 31, 2010.

This offer can not be combined with any other offer.

Institute For Medical Wellness Supplement of the Month:

Summer is a time for getting outside and enjoying the sun and water sports. I like to joke around and say that taking supplemental fish oil makes you a better swimmer. Well, does anyone want to test this out? If so, then you may want to take advantage of our supplement of the month for July 2010.

Carlson's Fish Oil - available as follows:

Liquid 200ml bottle - regularly $20, is now $16 for the month of July.

Liquid 500ml bottle - regularly $40, is now $32 for the month of July.

Capsules- 250 per bottle - regularly $50, is now $40 for the month of July.

Other Institute For Medical Wellness Programs and Events:

1) Healthy Heart Program

2) Healthy Weight Program- Lite Edition

3) Traditional Wellness Plan

To Good Health!

Steven Horvitz, D.O,
Board Certified Family Practice
Founder of The Institute For Medical Wellness
128 Borton Landing Road, Suite Two
Moorestown, NJ 08057
Phone 856-231-0590
Fax 856-294-0311

www.drhorvitz.com

http://drhorvitz.blogspot.com/

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I would like to thank everyone for their confidence in my professional abilities and referrals of new patient's to the practice as well as to the Wellness Plans. If you are presently in the Traditional Wellness Plan, and refer a new patient to this plan, you will receive 1 month added on to your plan for the first referral, and two months added on for every other new patient you refer. Just my way of saying Thank You for your confidence!!

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