How about an aversive therapy cholesterol med?

[darkstar]

Think it would sell?

So I get this medicine that is supposed to take care of the cholesterol you manufacture as well as that you take in. But it made me nauseous, as in vaguely car-sick all the time and the yuckaboo sweats on my forehead and neck at its worse. Doc said "Give it a few days." I did and it didn't go away. Off that drug now and on another I tolerate better.

But while I was on it, I joked w/ ms.darkstar that that was how the drug worked: it ruined your appetite and cholesterol intake was reduced as a matter of course.

But then I thought, hmm, there really might be market for a variant of that. That is, how about a drug that lowers your cholesterol AND makes you vaguely carsick feeling, but only if you ingest too much cholesterol-laden, saturated fatty food? You know--if people chose to, of course--a drug that reinforced better eating habits and made backsliding rather unpleasant.

I know there are drugs like this for heavy drinkers and, I think, especially desperate smokers. Is there such a thing for food, perhaps, and I just missed it? Would anyone take it if it did exist? Would you?

[Katherine Brengle]

1. Just to play devil's advocate for a quick moment...

diet isn't as important in total cholesterol as the cholesterol your body naturally produces. So loss of appetite and carsickiness probably aren't long term side effects you really want to deal with.

Are there any other meds you might be able to try to see if they produce the same results without the sides?

[Redstone]

3. Fasting. Four or five days of no food will knock thoses cholesterol numbers down

into the basement, and will do wonders for the old blood pressure as well.

I just got "preffered rate" life insurance by doing just that.

Redstone

[sir_captain]

9. That isn't really true

it is accurate that not all ingested cholesterol is metabolized by the body. But some of it is, and so a high-cholesterol diet (which the vast majority of Americans eat) can easily have an enormous impact on one's lipid profile.

You are right, though, that the majority of cholesterol-lowering drugs act on the naturally synthesized variety.

[Redstone]

2. Ah, the "bad-food Antabuse." Problem would be, you'd have to keep taking it.

No fair skipping a dose because you knew there was a Pastrami Reuben in your near future.

Me? I'll go on taking my chances, and if that next cheesesteak hoagie gets me, so be it.

Redstone

[darkstar]

4. Hey...

Well you know, I'm not completely sold on the idea myself. I don't know if I would take it either. But the point is some folks do go to measures when they feel they they need help.

And then there' folks like my dad, for instance. He would always tell me it was ok that he was eating his grease-fest chili with buttered bread b/c he had the pills he was taking. The pill becomes a reason to keep on making wildly unhealthy--given his circumstances and not yours--choices.

I don't know. For me it is *likely* a moot point. I think I produce most of mine(and therein is another problem: could any pill distinguish between the ingested and produced varieties?).

I was craving a shake, a 3-4 times a year indulgence even prior to this. And I realized, for the first time, how readily my will-power can sag w/ respect to food.

[Redstone]

5. food is a strong force. After all, you need ti to stay alive. Tobacco, alcohol?

Adictive but not neccesary for survival. Food is. Calories are.

Redstone

[Mz Pip]

6. Just another reason

why that prescription of cholesterol medicine will remain untouched. I made the mistake of reading the product warning insert. Geez, there has to be a better way. My cholesterol wasn't that high anyway. So I will continue to exercise, lose a bit more weight and watch what I eat.

Cholesterol is in a lot of foods - cheese, butter, milk, meat and probably a weeks worth in those brownies I made last night. Sigh.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[sir_captain]

8. Be careful with that

high cholesterol is really very bad for you. If diet and exercise don't get it under control, you really ought to consider taking the meds.

[LeftyMom]

10. Can I tell you a really easy recipe for making cholesterol-free brownies?

Okay, you're going to need one ingredient that's probably not at your regular grocery, but it'll last nigh-unto forever and it's not expensive. Go to the health food store and get a box of Ener-G egg replacer, it's a powder in a yellow box, it will be with the bakign stuff more than likely. Mix a bit of it with water according to directions and use it in place of eggs. There's no dairy or powdered eggs in Duncan Hines brownie mix, and it comes out just fine if you make it with the egg replacer instead and your result will be vegan and thus absolutely cholesterol free.

The amount of fat still isn't all that great for you, but getting rid of the eggs is a big improvement.

[sir_captain]

7. Out of curiosity

what was the first med? Sounds like maybe a statin/bile sequestrant combo?

[darkstar]

11. Yes it was.

Pretty nasty, i.e. a bile taste in my mouth too.

Trying to avoid specifics and such, i.e. making this become a med thread. But the bile suppressant is probably what I need most. (I'm 50, 6'00", weight 156, have been eating healthy all my life and am in really good shape from swimming, i.e. can train w/ local high school swimmers, am going to swim 12 miles around Key West later this spring.)