Dangerous Blood Clotting - Healing C-Reactive Protein Problems

My mother had just had a mini-stroke (TIA) and my aunt on my father’s side had just told me that “all of our family dies from something heart-related”. I was sitting in my doctor’s office being debriefed on my annual lab tests, and my doctor was educating me on the relationship between a slightly elevated cholesterol count, elevated triglycerides, and my newly discovered (and dangerously high) C-Reactive Protein (CRP) blood test.
I’d never heard of C-Reactive Protein…and still many people haven’t. It’s a fairly new product that tracks how many little blood clots your blood is making. It’s an indicator of chronic inflammation. Your CRP scores should be down around .1 to 3. My CRP score was up to 8.3! Taking the new meds was a short-term safety measure.

The doctor explained how the high C-Reactive Protein number works collaboratively to indicate risk when your triglycerides and cholesterol numbers are elevated too. By themselves, my triglycerides and cholesterol numbers were borderline high (and definitely not ideal), but my CRP was very high…all three put me at risk for heart disease, and most imminently, a stroke. I was over 50, so all of this news was in line with the medical model of aging. This slide show demonstrates the risks.

In light of my mother’s recent mini-stroke, and the fact that my dad had died from heart failure, the doctor told me my condition was “genetic and not possible to reverse, even with a better diet”. If you’ve read any of my other articles, then you already know that his verdict was my invitation to defy logic! I had just reversed my thyroid problem so it seemed appropriate for my doctor to also remind me that, “You can’t control everything!” I was now faced with using Lipitor, a controversial statin drug. Lipitor is popular because it also lowers cholesterol and triglycerides at the same time that it helps your CRP numbers come down.

I agreed to take one 10mg tablet of Lipitor, but at the same time, here’s what I asked myself: “If inflammation is at the root cause of the clotting, then what can I do to reduce the inflammation?” I tried diet; I read books. I changed as much as I could, but basically, I wasn’t able to move the needle for over a year.

Then, I heard Dr. Vern Johnson mention that he was working with many CRP patients. He is the doctor for the leaders who run the XanGo Corporation in Utah. I was looking for ideas. We were already purchasing XanGo’s mangosteen juice in my household. It was helping us manage my daughter’s persistent acne and the inflammation that was ravaging her teenage complexion. I started adding one ounce twice a day, before work and after work. At the same time, my doctor was pressuring me to take two Lipitor tablets a day.

I respectfully declined, and he said defiantly that he’d be bringing it up again in six months! Using Lipitor, my CRP number was at .5 (in a safe range) down from 8.3. So I was close to my goal, but not where I needed to be yet. My cholesterol and triglycerides were also improved.

My doctor and I had a power struggle going, so when I returned in six months to hear about my newest blood tests, he caught me off guard by saying that he would quit bugging me about taking an extra Lipitor because “for whatever reason” my CRP had gone down. It was to .4! That meant (to me) that the XanGo was stronger than the Lipitor!

Now, I could see the goal clearly, so I added 1000 daily units of Vitamin D to my plan. I’d read that it helps with blood clotting and C-Reactive Protein, too. If you spend a lot of time in the sun on a daily basis, this would not be an issue for you. But I don’t, so I reasoned that taking the extra Vitamin D might boost the results I was getting.

I didn’t retest my numbers for a year. After 12 months, I took a big leap and stopped taking my Lipitor pill. Although not being on Lipitor could put me at risk in the long run, it isn’t dangerous to stop it suddenly as it is for some meds. So one day, I just stopped. I find it interesting, that using Lipitor doesn’t address root cause, because once you go off, your numbers go back up. Lipitor just lowers numbers while you take it. I wonder if it really keeps you safer.

I stopped my one 10mg dose of Lipitor and let my body clear out all traces of it before my annual blood test. Sixty days later, I went for my annual blood tests, using my regular doctor instead of my specialist with whom I’d been struggling. Why? Because if it didn’t work, I didn’t want to stress him out needlessly or get yelled at. I would just quietly go back on my meds and he’d never know.

As my doctor entered the room, she told me that my blood scores were great! I asked about my CRP. “Why do you ask? It’s perfectly normal…its .2 - that’s a perfect score! I tears in my eyes. “You have great blood scores! What’s up?” I told her what I had been working on. She was thrilled for me “How did you do it!?” “I’m so glad you are off that Lipitor!” she gave me a congratulatory hug.

I retested six months later, and now I am at .1, and I’m still drug free! I haven’t changed my diet or done anything different except to use my daily doses of mangosteen and Vitamin D. I will always monitor my CRP because I am a Type O blood type and we are prone to inflammation genetically. But you know what I say about that!

Resources:
Purchase Vitamin D or Mangosteen Juice

• Mangosteen Juice from the RX-Free Zone


• iHERB for Vitamin D Use this referral code (IMI694) and save $5 off your first order

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Articles:

Some excellent articles about Mangosteen Juice:

• All Mangosteen Juices Are NOT Created Equal


• Science of the Mangosteen and the Role of Inflammation on Chronic Disease
  
• Good News Wednesday

Great articles about Vitamin D Inflammation and Blood Clotting:

• Medical News Today
  
• NaturalNews.com
• ScienceDaily.com
  

and Attacking CRP with Vitamin D:

• The Heart Scan Blog
  
• Speno's Pythonic Avocado

Books on Liptior, Statin drugs and autoimmune disease:

• Lipitor: Thief of Memory
  
• The Autoimmune Epidemic
  
• Living Well with Autoimmune Disease