WOW

I took my first RALA pill yesterday just before lunch when I started to feel dizzy and was immediately energized and feeling like a super-woman.  The bout of dizziness I was starting got nipped in the bud. Calmed down a bit after lunch and a brisk walk but continued to feel quite well the rest of the day.  Took awhile to fall asleep but woke up with my feet tingling less!  OK so now the old aches and pains are felt more because my feet are less numb LOL
Ears are still buzzing but a bit quieter.

This is what I had ordered because it was the most reasonable price I could find for the more potent and stabilized Alpha Lipoic Acid.:
Na-RALA Lipoic Acid
(ETA: this was too potent and drove my heartrate too high all day so am cutting the capsule in half)

I wanted the more potent ALA because of the foot tingling and ear buzzing but will only be taking one a day because it is so potent.  I may order the less potent and cheaper ALA for maintenance.  Besides the more potent RALA helping my nervous system to heal, I am hoping the less potent ALA will continue to help my metabolism.  One of the many reasons I had stopped Lipitor was the threat of diabetes since my blood sugar was alittle high at least once (doctor did not share lab tests results with me unless I directly asked for a value) and triglycerides were higher than I liked (also had to ask for those results directly each time).   I may have had some insulin resistance thanks to menopause and statins because I found losing weight a ridiculous challenge and had the neuropathy in my feet and legs.  Instead of *treating* my cholesterol levels, the doctor should have been treating a possible pre-diabetic condition.  So after some research and realizing that saturated fats were not the enemy and that refined carbs may have been the culprit, I switched to limiting refined carbs.  Maybe the neuropathy wouldn't have developed if I had eaten more beef!

This is how conversations over the years went with my doctor who was also taking a statin himself:

Me: My knees have been hurting and feeling stiff
Doc: are they swollen?
Me: no
(Doc: no response)

Me: I have been feeling very hypoglycemic before lunch
Doc: No way do you have hypoglycemia, just eat something

Me: I have alot of aches and pains and muscle spasms in my feet and legs. Can I be tested for Vitamin D?
Doc: OK (but he forgot to test me so tested me next time after I had a full dose of sun the day before because I had removed myself from Lipitor and the VitD was just below normal after sitting out in the sun for quite awhile the day before)

Me: I am having terrible bouts of dizziness
Doc: so am I

Me: the hypoglycemic like fatigue has gotten better since I started CoQ10
Doc: it is a placebo effect

Me: my feet have been tingling and feeling numb
Doc: it is not the Lipitor

Not once did he bother to address my complaints or treat any.
Oh and when I mentioned how our son did so much better on his last blood tests without Statins which our doctor tried to start with son for years, he shrugged.

Anywho at least the UK doctors are starting to rebel a bit
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/11201669/GPs-refusing-to-prescribe-statins.html

From the anti-statin websites I visit, I have found the Brits are waking up well before the Yanks on this matter.  Hopefully more doctors will listen to their patients.

Sadly this experience has made me lose all faith in doctors and the medical profession.  I worked with doctors in a hospital doing statistics for a NICU and would have become a doctor, myself, if I had the stomach for it.  I saw an attempted cure for a close friend's lymphoma take her life instead of the disease.  Almost every woman I worked with died from breast cancer.  I saw lots of cancer victims die in spite of taking toxic cures, including my dad at 80.  How I wish I did not make my dad go through bypass surgery in his 70's so he could have possible died from a heart attack instead.  Maybe statins attributed to his death as well.  He had something affecting his legs so was walking less before his lung cancer was diagnosed and I know he was on a statin.
My mil died in her late 70's from Congestive Heart Failure after developing hypertension, diabetes and cancer. Maybe statins attributed to her death as well.
My fil at 65 and my mom at 84 both died instantly from possible strokes (no autopsies).  Fil was on meds but not sure which except those for hypertension,  My mom resisted most medical interventions so was not on a statin.  From all of those deaths, I would choose my mom's.
At least she was walking and independent till her last day.