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How can I lower my LPa

I am a 46 year old man that has had two heart attacks in the past 5 years. My first episode was 9/9/02  and had just had a routine physical on that previous July and everything supposedly was just fine. Please keep in mind I had never had high cholesterol nor high blood pressure, I was always healthy, or I thought I was. My blood test in July came in at about 170 total cholesterol. When I was in the hospital with the first heart attack my cardiologist started running all kinds of tests and found that I had an elevated LPa reading of 52 and explained that it was a genetic form of cholesterol of which my regular doctor had never checked for nor did I even had a clue it existed. My cardiologist started me on niaspan 500mg and we when up to 3gms per day plus zocor 20mg per day. My blood tests are very good as to my HDL is normally around 80's and my triglycerides around 30's and my LDL is normally around 50's but my LPa keeps going up and it is now up to 168! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? Anyway, I was doing great  feeling good did my stress test every year my heart muscle showed improvements every year echos were fine my cardiologist was super happy with the progress and one moth short of my 5th year another heart attack. Now I am on lipitor 40mgs which I need to get off of because I can't sleep and I do not like the potential health risks it bring. I started increasing my vitamin c intake and I am up to 6gms a day. Is there anything else I can do?
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478112 tn?1208005381
My wife is a teacher at the Guangxi Medical University in Nanning (China). What an irony. So far she had (as far as I can see) 3 minor strokes. It is freightening to see her going through such an 'episode'..
We had ALL tests done. MRI shows some hardening of the arteries in the brain. Her heart beat is very slow (sometimes only 40), her BP 90/50. ECGs etc. etc.. seem to be ok. Doctors in both, the "Western' and TCM Hospitals cannot find anything wrong. 'Functional' they say...also slightly indicating that it may be a 'mental' problem.
Apart from the low BP and heartbeat the ONLY THING they detected was a LPa level of '78' !!!
They bought the machine that measures LPa (possibly in the US)...but none of all the 'experts' and 'specialists' knows anything about LPa !!
There is NO vit B3 available in China!!!! Although I am sure they manufacture it for other countries. Just bought some in Australia and will take it over for her.
What I found though in China is a 'new gadget'...a 'Cardio-Cerebral-Vascular' device which works on LASER. You strap it on the wrist for 30 min twice a day...and supposedly (it was developed over 17 years by a Professor of engineering and tested over 3 years in a number of  hospitals) cleans out your arteries, gets rid of plaque, cholesterol, free radicals etc.....and also LPa.
What I found is that it certainly helps to 'unclump' clumping blood. The difference can be seen after the first 'treatment' with the help of a microscope. With the experience I have made with doctors in various countries (both industrialised and 'developing') I do not trust anyone...but my own eyes.
If you are interested I will keep you informed about any progress.
Kind regards,
Hans
Helpful - 2
Avatar universal
I'm a 42 year old female who has been diagnosed with a high genetic LPa level of 1083 (NZ / UK reading - I guess you guys are in the US and they measure differently?) As the norm is between 0-300 I'm off the chart. I only checked the readings because my mother - a super fit 60 year old had a mild heart attack two years ago and advised me and my brother to get the test done. My brother's reading was 300, so he's in the clear - for now.

Anyway, my mother refered me to Linus Pauling's research and more (http://www.paulingtherapy.com/) that promotes very high levels of VitC ( up to 6000mg daily). She also found a lot of other research promoting natural remedies and now takes a handful of vitamin supplements a day, as well as no flush niacin that she gets from the States. While she was always a healthy eater - mostly vegetarian, she has improved her diet and exercise almost to perfection. She is due to have a repeat LPa reading any day now to see if the past year of change has had any effect. She recently moved to the country and reduced her stress level, and that also seems to have made a positive difference. Though she still gets tightenting of the chest every now and again, but a dose of niacin sets her right again.

As for me, after 6 months of being on increased Vitamin C, Lysine and Glocos-Omega (for my joints mostly, but this is also good for cardiovascular disease too I understand), I was surprised to find out that my LPa reading reduced by 130 points to 953! My mother is excited (perhaps more so than I as I am more sceptical, although I'm willing to give anything a try when it comes to my health) as she's quite convinced the high dose Vitamin C has helped to reduce my LPa, and is excited to see if her results have improved since the last time she got it checked a year ago.

It's still early days for me as I feel fine and have never had a heart attack - but I realise it could happen any day so I am improving my diet and exercising more regularly.

Interestingly, Hans, my heart rate and blood pressure is almost identical to your wife's. The readings of an athlete they call it! Hah! Thankfully NZ doctors are not questioning my sanity.

Thanks for the tip of the new cardio cerebral vascular device - I'll do some research and see if it makes it's way to NZ.

Regards

Shelley


Helpful - 0
290383 tn?1193100321
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
LPa  is lowered by niacin and I agree with the Niaspan.  I don"t know of anything else but diet, exercise and no smoking are the mainstays.
Helpful - 0

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