Now! For the ‘Circus’ part and it’s management.
My BP shot up to 160-180/ 90/130…not exactly a marginal increase.
I mentioned this to the Cardiac Research Team who were monitoring Lipids, BP and ECG periodically.
I told them I know with absolute certainty that I am in the Trial Arm and not the Control Group…They responded with “You don’t know that”.
Then I dragged my GP (PCP) into the picture and explained this remarkable change in HDL and BP. He was a good, caring GP….and do you know! We spent over a year, adding different Hypertensive drugs and adjusting dosage with no success.

Meanwhile, I am keeping track of Torcetrapib on the net, and can only hear the ‘crowing’ and excitement of this ‘wonder drug’. The closest I could get to any negative..was that the HDL might in fact be a ‘false reading’ (even though the numbers go up- incidence remains the same).

As you all know…Pfizer pulled the plug with extreme haste…when only days before, they could ‘smell the money rolling in’. To me, their noble excuse (a pitiful increase in death with the Combo takers) didn’t equate to flushing hundreds of millions down the toilet. And abandoned their search for the holly grail…and never likely to return down that road. And, even though Steven(rent a quote)Nissen came in to deliver an eloquent eulogy…I have some simple questions to put to Pfizer.

What numbers were they seeing with BP and other markers?
They ‘shat themselves’ for some reason, and I don’t think we will ever know.

For my own experience in this trial…is not open to question.
As for my suspicions…..I stand to be corrected.

Adding niacin to a statin also produced disappointing results.

The Coronary Drug Project was initially disappointing, finding little benefit from niacin. However, a follow-up study performed years later showed that those in the niacin arm had a lower overall mortality 11 years later.

Perhaps the biggest challenge with niacin is compliance. The flushing effect is initially problematic and a huge barrier to compliance. Trying to prevent the flushing is almost impossible since the flushing is not caused by the increase in PGD2 only. Niacin also causes the release of serotonin from platelets, which can only be blocked by anti-psychotics.

Personally, I’ve have great success using niacin and the proper diet. I’ve taken immediate-release niacin for over 10 years. Combined with a diet low in carbohydrates, my coronary calcium score has decreased. Oddly enough, the HDL-raising effects, in terms of percentage increase, is reduced with a low carbohydrate diet. On a high carb diet, the HDL increase was typically 30 to 35%. On a low carb diet, it’s more like 20%.

Given that every man on my fathers side of the family has suffered either a cerebrovascular or cardiovascular event in their forties, I’m the exception even though I was at greatest risk. I weighed 60 lbs at two years of age, and could (and frequently did) devour a large bag of cookies in a single sitting.

I acknowledge that taking niacin may not produce any benefits but I’m trying everything I can to reduce my chance at having a heart attack or stroke. It starts with not taking my doctor’s “expert” advice on diet.