Saturday, September 13, 2014

Something's Fishy

Hello again, Readers,

This'll be a short one and one that I'm hoping will be helpful to many, not only those of us with kidney damage.

It's just the sharing of the one of the fruits of my recent googlings as, if my triglycerides don't come down significantly after the prednisone is out of my system, then likely, more drugs will have to be taken.

And as usual, said drugs are not particularly advised for those with severe kidney damage soooooo, I just wrote my Nephrologist an email inquiring if fish oil is a prescribable supplement.

With my question I also sent a few lines from this pubmed study that I wanted to share:

"The effects of fish oils supplemented with 0.3 IU/g and 1.5 IU/g of vitamin E were compared in a double-blind, cross-over study. Twelve healthy volunteers were given 30 mL/day of either oil for 3 wk. Intake of the vitamin E-rich fish oil resulted in a marked decrease in serum triglycerides (48%) and in fibrinogen (11%). After administration of the low vitamin E-containing oil there was a considerably smaller reduction of serum triglycerides and no significant reduction of fibrinogen. Both oils caused an increase in high density lipoprotein cholesterol and a decrease in the atherogenic index, but neither oil altered the total cholesterol level. Serum vitamin E was decreased by 9% and plasma malondialdehyde was increased by 122% after intake of the low vitamin E-containing oil, but both remained normal after intake of the other oil. The effect of vitamin E may be due to inhibition of fatty acid peroxidation with less formation of malondialdehyde and a larger amount of active (n-3) fatty acids in their sites of action in the liver, resulting in a greater decrease in the synthesis of triglycerides and fibrinogen."

Nice, eh?  'Course to many, this is far from news, (though I wasn't privy to the benefits of vitamin E with fish oil), and even though it's easy to find endless sources of information on the subject of fish oil out there in cyberspace, I prefer to have my info in scholarly writing.

Oh, and in other meds-news, I can now officially take ONE LESS MEDICATION PER DAY!

NICE.

I briefly saw my Neph on Friday and asked if there were any meds I could discontinue and wow, I'm sure glad I asked.

Ahem.

So that's all folks.

Autumnal vibes,

J



4 comments:

Fullmoondolphin said...

That's excellent news, Juanita! I'm so glad you are able to boot one med to the curb. Hopefully the fish oil will allow you to not have to worry about taking any others. :)

Juanita Grande said...

Hoping hard too, FMD and merci. :)

Hope you have a sweeeet weekend there.

: J

Sandy said...

Hi Juanita,
Hooray for one less medication for you!!
Will you be taking just the Fish Oil or the Vitamin E as well? I too have kidney problems, that's how my MPA was diagnosed 2 months ago, I had to have a kidney biopsy when a routine blood test came back with significant problems flagged. I took 3,000 mg of fish oil each day for a number of years. When I started the high dose prednisone and added cyclophosphamide last month, It was recommended that I cut back to 2,000mg of fish oil per day, which I still take. I do not, however, take vitamin E. I am currently tapering my prednisone from 60 mg to 20. That has NOT been easy and the physicians think it should be. I would love to email you to ask a few questions. My email is: san@neo.rr.com.
I hope you have a great week!! Fall is definitely in the air at my house. I pulled a sweatshirt out for the closet for the first time today! May need to turn the furnace on later this week.
Sandy

Juanita Grande said...

Hi, Sandy,

I just emailed you.

I'll clear the e. with my Neph before started any.

And I'll wait until I'm finally off the pred until starting it, likely.

Either that, or soon after I get a new base line for the cholesterol panel.

take care,

J