H1TKDPU

Someone DM’d me and wanted to know what to say to their cardiologist when told they should be on statins. This is what I have. What do you think? Doctor: Your labs look good overall, but your LDL is elevated. Based on that, I’m recommending a statin. Patient: My HDL is high and my triglycerides are low, so I’m not concerned about my LDL or total cholesterol. Those ratios are better predictors of heart disease risk than LDL alone. Doctor: Statins can still reduce your risk of a heart attack by about 20%. Patient: That’s relative risk. In absolute terms, it’s about a 1–2% reduction over five years. That means treating 50 to 100 people to prevent one event. Those numbers don’t impress me. Doctor: Any reduction in risk is a step in the right direction and serious side effects only affect a small percent of patients. Patient: “Small” still matters when the benefit is small too. Muscle symptoms, increased diabetes risk and cognitive issues aren’t trivial, especially when the intervention is lifelong and targets a number, not an actual disease. Doctor: LDL lowering has decades of evidence behind it. Patient: I’d rather get a CAC scan and see whether there’s plaque in my arteries. I’m not taking statins because you don’t like my LDL. I like my LDL because it plays important biological roles and I’m not suppressing them unless you can show me that doing so meaningfully improves my odds of living longer without risking the quality of my life. I will not destroy my brain to save my heart.

Josh Hader said it would take him three weeks to build up after not throwing for the next three weeks, so don’t expect to see him in the regular season. Playoffs remain a possibility.

Step 1: Draft Ryan Bliss Step 2: Start Ryan Bliss Step 3: Profit