I mention this often, but I wanted to discuss heart health again. By heart health, I mean the entire cardiovascular system because if your pipes (blood vessels) get clogged, the pump (heart) doesn’t work so well.

Too many people are letting their doctors look at cholesterol levels and, in some way, thinking that those levels have any bearing on a blood vessel or heart health. Please do not let your doctor take a blood test to see high cholesterol and put you on statins. This shows a great need for more understanding of how the body works.

Before you make the life-altering choice to take a statin, at least have a calcium CT first and look for plaque, do not let a blood test that doesn’t even look for plaque determine plaque drug choices.

If you have high cholesterol and a low or zero calcium score, you do not need drugs for plaque because you do not have any. Now, I also understand that many of you do not have concierge-level doctors, so I’ll tell you the blood tests you need to run if you are worried about how you will be in the future, hint cholesterol or at least standard lipid panels are not one of them.

So remember, we are concerned about plaque, nothing else, and yes, plaque is made of cholesterol, but just because you have cholesterol does not mean you’ll have plaque. Large numbers of people with normal or good cholesterol levels die of heart attack and stroke all the time from plaque.

This should tell everyone that cholesterol isn’t the thing to look for, but most doctors still do for some reason. So what causes the cholesterol in the blood to form a plaque? That’s easy, and your body makes cholesterol plaque “patches” around damaged areas. Damage can occur in several ways, but the largest is from reactive oxidative stress or ROS. This is where the body has free radical damage, and it starts to break down the blood vessel, rubs thin, and starts to “dissolve,” for lack of a better term.

Yes, there are tests to look for ROS, which should be run every so often depending on the person, not the doctor.

Another test that I find helpful is high sensitivity C-Reactive protein. This is a chemical released by the liver when there is inflammation that the liver has to deal with. This gives a good picture of what is going on in the entire body. If you are going to run cholesterol tests, at least run an oxLDL, or oxidized LDL, this lipid is created from normal cholesterol when there is a lot of oxidative stress in the body, and this is the molecule we see from plaque most often.

Let’s say that you get these tests run and discover that you have issues or do not want to have problems. What do you do? You have to remove the oxidative stress. The number one way to do this is with hyperbaric oxygen. Suppose you can afford a chamber. Other options are higher levels of CoQ-10, Methylated B vitamins, and other liver cleaning options, like coffee enemas, to help your liver clean out the blood, stopping smoking, and nitrous oxide.

Now I want to talk about nitrous oxide or NO. Nitrous Oxide is a power vasodilator, which makes your blood vessels open up and allows blood to flow faster and in higher quantities. This allows more oxygen to get through, and oxygen destroys many bad chemicals, including ROS. Blood vessels have cells called endothelium cells. These cells are critical to the health and function of the body.

When they get damaged is when we start to see issues. NO is one of the chemicals that protect them. If you run low on NO, you will, WILL have damage. If you are wondering how we get NO, it is easy. We make it from L-Arginine, one of those amino acids I am always talking about. Yes, you can get it from good collagen.

So, get a calcium CT, a hyperbaric chamber, take your CoQ-10, get your methylated B in, do your coffee enemas, and get NO or at least L-Arginine.

Check out Chalmers Pillarsofwellness.com for Wellness updates! And ask me any questions you have at questions@chalmerswellness.com. I answer all of them and look forward to hearing from you.

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Dr. Matt Chalmers

Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. Before taking any action based on this information you should first consult with your physician or health care provider. This information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any questions regarding a medical condition, your health, or wellness.

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