Let's Talk About Medications
Janie Ellington
I want to share with everyone a great resource. Janie Ellington is a pharmacist that runs the blog – Let’s Talk About Medications. I’m an “Ask the Expert” for The Health Central Network and frequently see questions related to medications. Medications are not my specialty, which is why I’m sharing this resource with you. I’ve posted a recent interview with Janie below.
1. What is your current position?
I am a registered pharmacist. I manage an in-house pharmacy for a nonprofit pediatric clinic for children of low-income families who do not have health insurance. We are only open weekday mornings. During the cold and flu season, our patient load requires that we stay into the afternoon a bit, but I still have some time for other pursuits. That’s where my article writing and blogging comes in.
2. What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?
Over my career as a pharmacist, I have come across so many misconceptions with regard to medications and general health concerns and I have wished I had an opportunity to clarify some of those issues for the public on a wider scale than just the one-on-one that I get when I counsel when dispensing a new medication. I enjoy helping people who want to take more responsibility for their health and to understand how to use medications safely.
3. What services can you offer to someone struggling to be heart healthy?
My best advice to people who are struggling with any health concern is to educate themselves as much as they can. I have found that people who fail to take responsibility, by learning about issues concerning their health, often have worse outcomes overall. I would encourage people to participate fully in their own care.
My interests in health in general are not limited to prescription drugs. I also enjoy studying and writing about the benefits of natural approaches.
4. Are you able to benefit individuals struggling with weight loss?
In general, I do not agree with taking medications for weight loss. If they are used, it should be for a very short time while you are learning new habits. I have been a pharmacist for thirty years and I have not seen people have health improvements due to these drugs. On the contrary, weight loss drugs can be addictive and otherwise go against the goals for good overall health. Taking a drug to help with weight loss denies the role that self responsibility plays in any health concern. You simply cannot continue bad habits and expect good outcomes. Dieting and taking medications for that purpose usually creates a vicious cycle which seems to add more fat and less muscle as the years go by.
5. Do you have a forum where questions can be submitted?
Yes, I would especially enjoy answering questions about health issues that I have written about in my blog. Go to to view articles I’ve written and submit questions via email. I can only answer specific questions based on what is known about the drug you are taking. Without access to your health information, I cannot effectively answer questions specific to your treatment.
6. What advice would you give to someone newly diagnosed with high cholesterol or blood pressure?
I think most doctors assume that people don’t want to change their bad habits. That’s pretty much what I have seen over the years in patients who are sickest. Further, doctors are not wellness experts. They are trained to treat disease.
The first step after diagnosis would be to ask your doctor if it would be safe for you to have a trial period to get your cholesterol and/or blood pressure under control through natural means. Educate yourself. There are so many approaches to cholesterol control, including plant sterols, increased fiber intake, eating better, and the list goes on. Blood pressure can often be controlled naturally too. Exercise, weight loss, stress reduction measures, proper salt intake and many other lifestyle changes can be tried before one goes on prescription drugs. Drugs can create problems of their own. They change the ecology inside the body’s systems and there are side effects and drug interactions to consider, not to mention the increased cost.
If you are willing to educate yourself and value your health and take pride in what you can do on your own, you are on your way to better health and a great feeling of accomplishment.
Thank goodness we have effective medications for people who must have them to lower cholesterol and/or blood pressure. Even if improving your diet and lifestyle doesn’t get you all the way to your goals, and your doctor still recommends drug therapy, you can start therapy armed with some valuable tools to help your medications work better and to get better results. If you do start on drug therapy, make it your goal to know more about the drugs you are taking than your doctor or pharmacist does. When you read a long list of side effects, such as you will find with cholesterol and blood pressure medications, bear in mind that all drugs have side effects.
Find out what the most common side effects are and what to be on the lookout for. Certain drugs have side effects that can be dangerous. Know if that is the case for the drug you are taking and how to recognize its onset. If you have a worrisome side effect, report it to your doctor. Sometimes a different drug within the same class of drugs will not cause the same side effects. Everyone, and their reaction to every drug, is different.
I hope you’ve found this information useful and visit Janie’s blog to learn more.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
Cholesterol Screening – Has your child been tested?
It’s a sad reality that with increased childhood obesity we now have to worry about high cholesterol and heart disease risk of our children. I recently read an article that discussed screening and treatment recommendations for children with high cholesterol. If you are interested, here’s a link – Cholesterol Screening in Children: The Current Debate.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
The Heart of Health
Trans Fats Banned in California
Good news if you live in California! Starting in 2010 restaurants will be banned from using trans fats in food preparation. This will be a major benefit to those of you struggling to lower total cholesterol, low LDL “bad” cholesterol, or raise HDL “good” cholesterol. To improve your lipid profile you should follow a diet with less than 30% daily calories from fat. Ideally your intake of trans fatty acids should be zero for heart health. Since numerous restaurants affected will be nationwide chains, hopefully the trend will start to spread and avoiding trans fats when dining out will not be an issue after a few more years.
All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
eNutritionServices
Raise HDL Cholesterol and Improve Memory
I recently published an article titled How to Raise HDL the Good Cholesterol and I just came across another great reason to boost HDL numbers.
A study published in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology indicates higher HDL levels equal higher scores on memory tests. This was a 5 year study of ~3700 men and women with an average age of 55 to 61 years-old. The memory test included hearing a list of twenty words and then writing down all the words participants could remember within 2 minutes.
No link was found between triglycerides nor total cholesterol and memory performance. Nor was a link identified between HDL and Alzheimer’s.
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Your Checklist to Lower Cholesterol
Here’s a checklist of the top 8 things you must do if you want to successfully lower your cholesterol and keep it low.
Know your numbers
Have you had a lipid profile? Do you understand the numbers? If you are going to successfully lower cholesterol you need to know your numbers and what they mean. The most effective way to raise HDL is not necessarily the best way to lower LDL.
Evaluate your lifestyle
There are risk factors for high cholesterol that you can not control, such as age, gender, and family history, but there are factors you can control. For example, you can reduce risk by not smoking, increasing your activity, and losing extra weight.
Balance your fats
Reduce unhealthy saturated fats in your diet and replace them with heart healthy unsaturated fats. Total fat intake should be 30% or less of your total daily calories. Out of this 30%, saturated fat should be limited to 7%.
Be active
Physical activity lowers triglycerides and raises HDL (good) cholesterol. Shoot for 30 minutes 5 or more days a week. If you are not currently active, check with your MD before beginning an activity program.
Eliminate trans fats
You need to be food label savvy and watch out for trans fats. Trans fats raise LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower HDL (good) cholesterol, and raise triglycerides. Limit trans fats to 1% or less of your daily caloric intake.
Understand triglycerides
Triglycerides are impacted the most by your simple sugar and alcohol intake. If you are struggling with high triglycerides, you need to use a different strategy to get your cholesterol under control.
Increase dietary fiber
A high fiber diet is necessary for heart health. You need 25-35 grams of dietary fiber daily, especially soluble fiber. For every 1-2 grams of daily soluble fiber intake, LDL (bad) cholesterol is lowered 1%.
Add omega 3 fatty acids
For heart health and lower cholesterol, you want to improve the ratio of omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids. Omega 3 fatty acids are involved in the regulation of heart rate, blood pressure, and blood clotting.
Receive a step by step plan to promote heart health with a Mini Diet Makeover. As a special New Year’s bonus you’ll recieve a complimentary copy of the Calorie Counter for Dummies. Learn more here – https://www.lisanelsonrd.com/minidietmakeover.html
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
How to Lower Cholesterol in 8 Simple Steps
Vytorin to lower cholesterol
A reader from The Heart of Health is treating high cholesterol with Vytorin. The medication Vytorin is a combination of the statin drug Zocor and the cholesterol lowering drug Zetia. The two drugs differ in that statins function mainly in the liver to reduce production of cholesterol, while Zetia works in the digestive tract to block the absorption of cholesterol from food.
Vytorin is in the press right now, because of a possible link to increased cancer risk. Studies including 20,000 patients compared cancer in those treated with Vytorin (313) to those taking a Zocor/statin drug (326). Actual cancer deaths were greater in those taking Vytorin (97) versus Zocor (72). From my perspective, that is not a significant difference; however, there are experts that agree with me and experts that disagree.
Anyway, The Heart of Health reader requested my thoughts.
First, absolutely discuss with your MD the best treatment for you. I would discuss the possibility of a statin lowering drug with proven effectiveness/safety as an alternative until the controversy regarding Vytorin is settled. Also, there is debate surrounding the effectiveness of Zetia at preventing heart disease.
Of course, I do not know your personal situation and if you have tried a statin with poor results in the past.
Anytime you have to take a medication, there is the risk of side effects. Many times it’s simply a matter of weighing the pros and cons and deciding how much risk you’re willing to take.
Of course, I promote making lifestyle and diet changes to lower cholesterol to eliminate the need for medications or at least reduce the amount of medication needed to treat your condition.
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All the best,
Lisa Nelson, RD, LN
eNutritionServices
