High HDL and LDL in Heart attack survivor

[BruceKelley]

I am currently residing in Merida, Yucatan, Mx. I had a 100% occclusion of the LAD immediately beyond the circumflex junction four yrs ago, all my other coronary arteries were quite clean on the angiogram and I did have a stent put in. I evidently had a lot of covascularization, for there was little pain and no real decrease in my high activity level. My last nuclear stress test, a yr ago, I went 17 minutes on the treadmill and everything checked out. I have a 55% ejection fraction, which is marginal, but I have an athletic heart that overcomes this evidently. However I have had a hard time controlling my LDL level. I reacted to Lipitor and have had some luck with zetia but now I am using red yeast rice which had kept my levels around 100 when I was clean in my diet, which is hard to do in Mx. I am 56 and in very good shape with a body fat of about 17%. I just had a lipid panel done and here are my numbers: HDL 113, LDL 131, Trg 36. My HDLs have always been very high, but never this high. I don't smoke, my BP runs 115/70 on average. I am on no meds. Should I be concerned? Thank you!

[Mukesh Garg, MD]

The good news is that the high HDL has a protective effect against plaque build up in your arteries (atherosclerosis) I don't know what your reaction to Lipitor was, but given the facr that you have had blockage of your coronaries in the past you should take a "statin" like lipitor if you can tolerate it. Talk to your doctor to see if this is an option.

[BruceKelley]

Thanks so much for your time. In answer to your question, my Doc back in the States took me off Lipitor, because it caused my CPKs to go over 500, and gave me the classic muscles aches. I do not have a Doc down here. Even though red yeast rice is a natural statin, I don't react to it. Currently I am taking 600 mg of red yeast rice twice a day. What do you think of this strategy: Increase red yeast rice to three 600 mg/day and clean up my diet. I had been ingesting probably somewhat over 200 mg of cholesterol per day.Do you think this makes sense? I look forward to hearing from you again. Saludos!